292 Bihliographical Notices. 



only anxious to have more, of preserving those that it already has, 

 and of improving the modes by which the more suitable are pre- 

 sented to the public eye, and others arranged for the better use 

 of the student, the publication of this lieport, like that of preceding 

 papers published in this Journal and elsewhere, proves that the 

 Admiralty and the Officers of the Navy are well aware now that 

 collections sent to the British Museum will, with all proper despatch, 

 be worked out, and the results added to the stock of human know- 

 ledge. 



While this is, in itself, a satisfactory state of things, we think 

 that yet another cause of congratulation is to be found in the well- 

 advised arrangement of presenting these results in a connected 

 form and as a complete work ; we have here one of the few means 

 by which the growing disease of specialization may be mitigated, 

 though not, we fear, cured. The volume now under consideration 

 is, then, first of all important from the point of view that it enables 

 a student to gain a very close acquaintance with a large part of the 

 marine invertebrate fauna of the Indo-Pacific Ocean as a whole ; 

 the student of the Mollusca may learn what Crustacea, Echinoderms, 

 and Sponges live with a given set of shell-fish ; and. the philosophic 

 student of the relations of different forms one with another has a 

 rich store of facts fi'om which he may work. 



In the next place, we welcome the publication of this volume 

 and the character of its contents, because we are fully convinced 

 that there are great opportunities for the naval officers of such 

 a nation as ours, if only the authorities at home will give the 

 necessary assistance to such members of the Navy as are willing to 

 follow in the steps of Dr. Coppinger, to whose great services as a 

 collector Dr. Giinther very properly ascribes the success of the 

 voyage. In this connection it is well to point out that here, as in 

 other matters of marine investigation, the American nation is far 

 in advance of the " mother-country." In the Bulletin of the 

 United States Fish Commission for 1883 (p. 239), Prof. Spencer 

 F. Baird has a note on " the instruction of naval midshipmen in 

 taxidermy, ichthyology, &c. at the United States National Museum, 

 and on board the steamers of the U. S. Fish Commission," from 

 which we learn that an experiment is now being made " to have 

 as a part of the regular force of the Navy officers competent to do 

 the scientific work for which it has generally been necessary to 

 employ civilians, as also on any cruise to be able to utilize, to 

 some extent at least, the opportunities of research which constantly 

 present themselves to the inquirer." 



In estimating the work done by Dr. Coppinger it is necessary to 

 bear in mind that when the ' Alert ' was in the Straits of Magellan 

 a large collection was made ; the report on this was likewise 

 prepared by the Stafi^ of the British Museum, and occupies the first 

 141 pages of the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1881. 

 From the Indo-Pacific, " irrespective of a number of specimens set 

 aside as duplicates, not less than 3700, referable to 1300 species, 

 were incorporated in the National Collection ; and of these more 



