Bibliographical Notices. 79 



evidence enough that Prof. Macalister has, as he tells us, been 

 " engaged in the practical study of comparative anatomy " for 

 many years. 



The author commences with some general remarks on the general 

 structural phenomena of animals, which occupy his first six chap- 

 ters. In these he describes protoplasm and its derivatives, and the 

 nature and grouping of organs, treats of the general principles of 

 histology and tectology, and the phenomena directly or indirectly 

 pertaining to reproduction. These chapters, in fact, constitute a 

 general introduction to the more special portion of the treatise, in 

 which the application of the principles thus laid down to the diffe- 

 rent groups of animals is explained. 



Of course the value of a treatise of this kind depends in great 

 measure upon the classification adopted ; and in this respect Prof. 

 Macalister 's book offers little at which any one can cavil. In his 

 general classification he admits eight great subkingdoms — namely, 

 Protozoa, Porifera, Coelenterata, Echinodermata, Vermes, Mollusca, 

 Arthropoda, and Vertebrata ; and although he places the Porifera 

 among Metazoa, he recognizes their wide difference from the Coelen- 

 terata, with which, as is well known, some naturalists are inclined 

 to associate them very closely, by ranging them in a distinct sub- 

 series, Polystomata, as opposed to the rest of the Metazoa, which he 

 denominates Monostomata. The recognition of the Echinodermata 

 as a distinct subkingdom is certainly a step in the right direction 

 from a morphological point of view ; but the Vermes, including 

 the remainder of Prof. Huxley's Annnloida, with the addition of 

 the Bryozoa and the Tunicata, is a sufficiently heterogeneous mix- 

 ture. This subkingdom Vermes in the hands of modern zoologists 

 takes the place of the Radiata of the older writers as the " dust- 

 heap " of the zoological domain ; it is to be hoped that it may ere 

 loug be satisfactorily sifted and sorted. 



In the general classification of the Vertebrata the author has 

 followed Prof. Huxley ; that is to say, after adopting Hackel's 

 division of the Vertebrate subkingdom into Acrania (including only 

 Amphioxus) and Craniota, he divides the latter great group into 

 Ichthyopsida, Sauropsida, and Mammalia — the first including fishes 

 and Amphibia, the second the reptiles and birds. 



The subordinate classification, with indications of characters, is 

 carried in all cases as far as the orders, sometimes to the families, 

 or the latter are indicated and typical examples cited. As might be 

 expected in a book which is a reflex of the most recent writings on 

 zoological matters, there is a tendency to multiply these lower groups ; 

 but as the author does not dwell specially upon them, or discuss 

 their morphological peculiarities in detail, this is perhaps of the less 

 consequence. Still we cannot but think that the adoption of four- 

 teen orders of insects is a mistake, and, still more, the division of 

 the Carinate birds, after Huxley's example, into eighteen orders. 



Nevertheless to the earnest student such defects as these will be 

 of little consequence ; perhaps, indeed, it may be even an advantage 

 to him to have the most recent opinions of English anatomists upon 



