Dec. 12, 1889] 



NATURE 



12 



From what has been said, it will be apparent that Prof. 

 Ferrel's book enters very fully into the many important 

 topics enumerated in the title. Indeed, its subject-matter 

 covers very much of the ground of which modern meteoro- 

 logy usually takes cognizance, and in the thoroughness of 

 its treatment we know of no modern work in our language 

 that can be brought into comparison with it. 



H. F. B. 



A NEW ATLAS OF ALG.E. 



Atlas dcutscher Meeresalgen. Heft I. Von Dr. J. Reinke 

 (Berlin: Paul Parey, 1889). 



THE German Government, operating through the 

 Kommission zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung 

 der deutschen Meere, has undertaken to bear the cost of 

 producing this sumptuous " Atlas " in the interests of 

 fishery, and students of phycology have to thank an eco- 

 nomic aspect of their study for a very remarkable addition 

 to the literature of it. Similarly, we are indebted to the 

 United States Fish Commission for the publication of 

 Prof. Farlow's " New England Algae." 



It may be said at once that Dr. Reinke's "Atlas" 

 is a success in every way, its level being that of 

 Bornet and Thuret's " Etudes Phycologiques." From 

 the point of view of technique^ the plates are splendidly 

 done, and the rest of the publication is worthy of them. 

 This first part contains twenty-five quarto plates, and the 

 text belonging to them consists of descriptions of the 

 AlgiE figured and special descriptions of the illustrations. 

 Speaking not merely from an inspection of the book, but 

 from a knowledge of the material of much of it com- 

 municated by Dr. Reinke to the British Museum, I do 

 not hesitate to state that every one of these figures has 

 great value to phycologists. They are not mere portraits 

 of Algae, taken from specimens more or less at haphazard, 

 as is too much the fashion, but they represent faithfully 

 characteristic stages in the development of the organisms 

 in point. What is commonly termed " microscopical 

 detail" fills the "Atlas," and- one can hardly imagine it 

 better done. In this portion the author (who has had the 

 assistance of Dr. F. Schiitt and P. Kuckuck) deals 

 prominently with the Phaeophyceae, which, it is well 

 known, are his particular study at present. Many of 

 them are types of his own discovery, and generally 

 unknown to workers in this field until this satisfactory 

 introduction to them. Since they are of special import- 

 ance to our native phycologists as Alga; of the North Sea 

 and Baltic, a list is given of them : — 



Halothrix lumbricalis, Kiitz., Symphoricflccus radiatts, 

 Rke., Kjellmania sorifera, Rke., Asperococcus echinains, 

 Mert., var. filiforinis, Rke., Ralfsia verrucosa, Aresch.^ 

 R. clavata, Carm , Microspotigium gelatinosum, Rke. 

 Leptonema fasciculatum, Rke., var. iiticinatuin,vds. majus^ 

 var. flagellare, Desmotrichum undulatum, J. Ag., D. 

 daltlcum, Kiitz., D. scopulorum, Rke., Scytosiphon pyg- 

 mcBiis, Rke., Ascocyclus reptans, Cr., A. ocellatus, Kiitz., 

 A. balticus, Rke., A. fcecundus, Stromf., var. seriatus, 

 Rke., A. ghbosus, Rke., Ectocarpiis sphccricus^ Derb. et 

 Sol., E. Stilophorce, Cr., E. repefis, Rke., E. ovatus, 

 Kjellm., var. arachnoideus, Rke., Rhodochorton chan- 

 transioides, Rke., Antlthamnion boreale, Gobi, var. 

 balticum, Rke , Blastophysa rhisopus, Rke., Epidadia 



Flustrce, Rke., Cladophora pygmcsa, Rke., Pringsheimia 

 scutata, Rke. 



It may be anticipated that a fairnumber of the novelties 

 among these so-called " German Algae " (the title reminds 

 one of the " Protestant trout "') may be found on our own 

 coasts. 



It should be mentioned that more systematic detail 

 with reference to many of these is to be found in the 

 author's " Algenflora des Westlichen Ostsee" (Berlin, 

 1889). 



The author very properly calls attention to the funda- 

 mental importance of a thorough knowledge of marine 

 Algai to fishery, since the plant world prepares by its 

 organs of assimilation the food of the animal world in 

 the sea. The German Commission deserve the highest 

 praise for the enlightened view of their functions em- 

 bodied in this undertaking, and no biologist will grudge 

 the warmest encouragement to Dr. Reinke in his work. 

 It is anticipated that the book, when complete, will con- 

 tain a hundred plates, with the accompanying text. In 

 these days, when the most unmitigated rubbish frequently 

 comes to us with highly pretentious illustrations, the stu- 

 dent has learned to be on his guard against " prepossess- 

 ing appearances." No plate inafiufactttre, however, can 

 produce the welcome impression of weight and import- 

 ance stamped on this " Atlas," gained to a great extent 

 by the fact that Dr. Schiitt and Herr Kuckuck, who have 

 drawn the plates, have given us the work of skilful 

 botanists, and not that of draughtsmen only. 



G. M. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Die mikroskopische Beschaffeiiheit der Meteorlten erldutert 



durch photographische Abbildungen. VonG. Tschermak. 



(Stuttgart : ' E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagshandlung [E. 



Koch], 1883-85.) 

 Die Structur iind Ztisammensctzung der Meteoreisen 



erlautert durch photographische Abbildungen gedtzter 



Schnittjidchen. Von' A. Brezina und E. Cohen. 



(Stuttgart : E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagshandlung [E. 



Koch], 1886-87.) 

 Die Meteoritensammlung des k. k. mineralog. Hofkablnetes 



in Wien. Von A. Brezina. (Wien : Alfred Holder, 



1885.) 

 The above three works together provide for the student 

 a rich treasury of information relative to the characters of 

 meteorites. The first two illustrate, by the aid of photo- 

 graphy, the structure and composition of the more typical 

 meteoric stones and irons respectively. The work deal- 

 ing with the meteoric stones is complete in three parts, 

 including 25 large plates, and has been undertaken by 

 Prof. Tschermak, who had charge of the Vienna Collec- 

 tion of Minerals from 1869 to 1877. Of that which relates 

 to the meteoric irons only two parts have as yet ap- 

 peared, but they comprise no fewer than 24 large plates : 

 it is undertaken jointly by Dr. Brezina, who succeeded 

 Prof. Tschermak in the keepership of the Vienna Collec- 

 tion, and by Prof E. Cohen, of Greifswald, whose series 

 of micro-photographs of sections of terrestrial minerals 

 and rocks is so well known. 



Photography has rarely been applied to a more satis- 

 factory purpose than the multiplication of exact represen- 

 tations either of transparent meteoritic sections, or of 

 etched meteoric irons as seen with the unassisted eye or 

 when magnified by means of the microscope. Meteoritic 

 falls are rarely so' large that the market is flooded with 



