462 



NATURE 



[February i, 191 2 



J he mountain<cre«ts are not grouped along parallel chains. 

 The glacier-fields on the plateaus are from 300 to 400 

 metres thick, a fact that must be taken into account when 

 liic hfijjht of the plateau itself is eHtiinated (p. 13). 



MachaiVk very naturally sets aside Richter's iiU({fjc»tion 

 that the plateaus have been formed by the working back 

 <<f cirques and the union of their floors, and he sees in 

 them the remains of a pre-(ilacial pcneplane, which was 

 already formed by the clone (»f Mcsozoic times, and which 

 was invaded in the Christiania district by the Upper 

 < rctaccous sea. Traces of a s«'con<l {Kineplane are found 

 on the valley-sides, so that the uplift to the present level 

 otiurred in at least two stages. The author discusses the 

 forms produced by glacial erosion, and attributes the steep- 

 ness of the valley-heads (p. 52) to the concentration of the 

 i< •• descending from the plateaus, and a consequent almost 

 vi-rtical erosion at these points. 



This paper is illustrated by ten exceptionally fine photo- 

 gr.iphs, which are, however, not discussed in detail as geo- 

 .Cr.'iphical examples in the text. G. A. J. C. 



iUE STARFISHES OF THE NORTH PACIFIC 

 'PHE prolific nature of the Pacific fauna is well shown 

 by this intensive study of the starfish. The region 

 cov< red by this report includes all the waters north of a 

 line drawn from the southern end of Sakhalin to the 

 southern boundary of the United States ; and when this 

 vast area is examined, the north-east Pacific portion of it 

 turns out to be not only the most fertile section, but, as 

 regards starfishes, the most prolific in species and 

 individuals of any portion of the world. Even though the 

 deep-water forms are little known, ninety-six species (of 



ffenricia leviusculn. Specimen from Puget SounJ. 



til. twciiiy-three families under consideration) are de- 

 scribed and figured, and another bulletin is promised in 

 \yhich the remaining large super-family Forcipulata 

 (including the genus Asterias) is to be described. The 

 ■descriptions are based upon a large, often a very large, 

 amount of material, and include minute descriptions of the 

 •external features, together with other anatomical 

 characters. The compilation of such a work has involved 



' Smithsonian Institution, United States N.-itional Museum, Bulletin 76 

 Avieroidea of the North Pacific and Adjacent Waters, by Prof. W. K 

 ,.'.": •**" '•> Phanerozonia and Spinulosa, pp. vi + 4i9+i22 plate-s 

 -(Washington : Government Printing Offic-, 191 1.) 



NO. 2205, VOL. 881 



a vast aniount of labour extending over wverat ytan, and' 

 the result is a monograph of value to every museum. 

 full estimate of the work can only be made when the « 

 plementary volume is published. 



Perhaps the most interesting points in what a\> 

 first sight to be a forbidding list of systiin.ilic d- 

 lie in the distribution and variation of • 

 the ninety-six species here descril>ed, se\ 

 fined to the North Pacific, twelve cxcur iti t! 

 .Atlantic also, whilst the remainder form part of 

 and southern fauna ranging down the west const ., 

 .America. The dozen species common to th i\. .. 

 oceans include such well-known forms as Solas'.,' ru.t. 

 S. papposa, and Henricia sanguinolcnla. Thev< ai , ^p 

 ing generally, circum|H>lar forms, and they Iik Ki.i< sj,. 

 which exhibit a baffling, and as yet little analysed, ( 

 of variation. Upon this subject we cannot do better i 

 quote the judicial remarks of the author : — " ' ' • ' . oi 

 this collection of lienricia has strongly the 



possibility that all the species of a genus are d by 



intergrades, not serially, but by numerous often anasto- 

 mosing lines " (p. 270). " So great and so numerous are 

 the variations in most of the species that each is to be 

 regarded more as a centre of variation, deviations from the 

 type proceeding in many directions till they meet and often 

 merge with aberrant members of nearly related forms " 

 (p. 269). " A system of nomenclature perfected for a rather 

 limited set of animals (the higher vertebrates) may not so 

 well meet the requirements of a different class of creature? 

 . . . . which have been subjected to more modif\ 

 factors " (p. 270). 



The whole work is, from this point of view, s!.! ' 

 unconscious comment upon the need for rigorou 

 mental analysis of the genetics of this group. \\ ;. 

 wish that Dr. Fisher, who knows these animals so w 

 had imparted a more life-like aspect to the delineation 

 their characters. The very curious parasite figured on 

 Plate iii. (said to be an Ascothoracid [Cirripede] parasite) 

 is the only mention of an intrusive body we have dis- 

 covered. There must be a great mass of interesting bio- 

 nomical information about Pacific .Asteroidea, and it i< "■ 

 l)e hoped that Dr. Fisher will publish it in his next volu 

 Perhaps the most generally useful part of the present 

 lies in the " keys " for determining both genera and sp« 

 and in the valuable plates with which the volume i> 

 generously provided. 



SOME RECENT FISH LITERATURE. 

 'X'O No. 5 of the Leland Stanford Junior University 

 Publications Mr. E. A. Starks contributes three 

 articles on the osteology of certain scomberoid fishes, ''^ •• 

 first dealing with the genus Leiognathus, the second v 

 the families Gempylidje, Lepidopidx, and Trichiuridae, 

 the third with the horse-mackerels (Carangidie). In regard 

 to Leiognathus, it may be mentioned that the genus was 

 transferred by Mr. Boulenger from the scomberoid group to 

 a position in the neighbourhood of the percoids in the 

 family Gerridae ; but this view is disputed by the author, 

 who regards the genus as the type of a scomberoid family. 



.At the conclusion of an article on the breeding of tli • 

 eel, published in the September number of Himmel 

 Erde, Mr. Carl Miiller states that we are still in ignor;. 

 with regard to the age of the youngest Leptocephalu^ 

 larva at present known, namely, specimens of about 7 cm. 

 in length, it being uncertain whether these are si.x - 

 eighteen months old. Of younger larvae and the ■ 

 nothing is yet known, and we are equally ignorant a- 

 the interval which elapses between the arrival of eel> 

 the sea and their spawning. Neither is it known w ; 

 becomes of eels siibsequent to spawning ; possibly they dii. 

 soon after this event, although it is equally possible that 

 they may live for a considerable period. All that is 

 definitely known on this point is that after having once 

 entered the sea they never return to fresh water. 



To The Field of September 23 (vol. cxviii.) Mr. Bou- 

 lenger contributed an article on the eels of Africa, in which 

 it was pointed out that, although our knowledge is still 

 imperfect, there appear to be four species, of which the 

 one inhabiting North Africa (and likewise Madeira and the 

 Canaries) is identical with the European Anf^uina vulgaris. 



