Bibliographical Notice. 779 



left untouched. For the sake, however, of affording a standard of 

 comparison between the more typical crustacean and those which, 

 in response to the demands of changed environment, have become 

 more or less structurally modified, Dr. Caiman has given an intro- 

 ductory chapter on the lobster as " a type of Crustacea," and this 

 he follows up by a second chapter on classification. If those who 

 are introduced to the study of the Crustacea for the first time 

 through these pages will carefully read these two chapters they 

 will discern in those on metamorphosis, the Crustacea of the deep 

 sea, of the open ocean, and the fresh waters, an aspect of the 

 plasticity of living organisms hitherto undreamed of — an aspect 

 elusive, yet real. Thereby, perchance, new interests will be 

 aroused, and a new and wider view of the mystery of life will 

 certainly be attained. 



But this volume will appeal not merely to those to whom it is 

 primarily addressed, for now-a-days most of us are specialists, and 

 this means that we cannot keep abreast of the work done by our 

 fellows at work in fields other than our own. If, then, we would 

 gather stimulus by an exchange of thought, we have to turn to 

 just such a volume as this for inspiration — a volume devoid of the 

 technicalities which are current coin only among that particular 

 community of coiners interested in its circulation. 

 i*' Readers of the kind just referred to will long have been familiar 

 with the phenomena of phosphorescence in the animal kingdom, but 

 to some perhaps it will be new to learn that the deep-sea prawn 

 Heterocarpus alphoyisi pours out copious clouds of " a ghostly blue 

 light of sufiicient intensity to illuminate a bucket of sea-water so that 

 all its contents were visible in the clearest detail." But neither 

 Dr. Alcock, who originally described the fact, nor Dr. Caiman, who 

 again records it, seem to have any idea as to the nature of the 

 matter from which this light emanates. His remark on the colours 

 of deep-sea Crustacea should be carefully pondered over by those 

 coloration enthusiasts who insist that all colours, whatsoever, in 

 animals have been evolved for the purposes of protection. In con- 

 nection with the story of the significance of coloration, one naturally 

 turns to seek for what obtains among the Crustacea in regard to 

 modifications of form for protective purposes, and they will find 

 under this head some extremely striking facts. One is tempted to 

 demonstrate the statement by quotations, but this review has 

 already attained a somewhat unusual length ; hence we refrain. 

 Enough surely has been said to show that it is certainly a book not 

 merely to read, but to possess. 



The illustrations, we hasten to add, are not only numerous, but 

 exceedingly well done, while the " get-up " of the book leaves 

 nothinor to be desired. 



