4IO 



NATURE 



{March 6, 1890 



exhaustive index, together with a complete bibliography, 

 his book would befit the more special and advanced 

 student of animal life. Without these it can only appeal 

 to the dilettanti J and we shall look for them in a future 

 edition. We would point out, at the same time, that the 

 climbing perch is referred to on p. 151 as Perca, and on 

 157 zs Anabas {^^ latter being correct) ; that"Willmoes" 

 (p. 185) should read Willemoes Suhm;'*and that Mr. 

 Romanes does not lay claim to the distinction accorded 

 him on p. 25 {cf. supra). The author, as he enters into 

 details not usually met with in books of this kind, might 

 advantageously incorporate with his account of the 

 stickleback's nest, the discovery of Mobius and Prince 

 that the thread employed in weaving it is secreted by 

 the animal's kidney. So unique a fact in natural history 

 should not be allowed to pass unnoticed ; and that 

 portion of the work which deals with the luminous fishes 

 might well be brought more completely up to date. 



Dr. Cooke's treatise is one of 369 pages, with 4 litho- 

 graphic plates, 70 woodcuts, and an index. It deals with 

 marine invertebrata, in their especial relations to skeleton 

 formation ; and the volume is especially designed to make 

 good the shortcomings of the Rev. J. G. Wood's work, 

 entitled " Homes without Hands." The book has its 

 good points ; the chapter on " Coral Reefs and Islands," 

 and the " Introduction," are fairly well done. The last- 

 named deals with generalities as affecting life and the 

 conditions of life in the ocean depths ; it gives a record 

 of important explorations, from that of Ross in Baffin's 

 Bay, to the Challenger; the Bathybius controversy is 

 abstracted, and alternative theories of reef- formation are 

 summarized, both being presented in concise and impar- 

 tial language. On perusal, however, of the main portion 

 of the book, we meet with a preponderance of antiquated, 

 and often erroneous information. Lengthy citations from 

 the writings of authorities of the last two or three de- 

 cades are flaunted as if expressive of current knowledge 

 and opinion. The question of sponge affinities is discussed 

 as though settled by Clark and Kent ; that of the sig- 

 nificance of the yellow bodies of the Radiolarians as 

 though set at rest by the misconceptions of Wallich. We 

 are told that there is no proof that the Millepore is a 

 Hydroid, and so on. Upon the ill-effects which must 

 result from this method of procedure it is needless to 

 enlarge ; but in justice to the author it must be admitted 

 that he has made some use of recent literature. He ap- 

 peals to the Challenger volumes. His quotations from 

 these are, however, very capricious, and in some instances 

 inaccurate. It cannot be said that the spines of the 

 Radiolaria are " never tubular," for Haeckel (whose Re- 

 port the author quotes) has given their tubular character 

 as a diagnosis of his PhcBodaria. Writing of " sensation 

 in the Radiolaria," the author indulges (p. 103) in a re- 

 markable paragraph, which concludes as follows : — • 



" Prof. Haeckel considers that the central capsule con- 

 tains the common central vital principle, which he terms 

 the ' cell-soul,' and that it may be regarded as a simple 

 ganglion cell, comparable to the nervous centre of the 

 higher animals, whilst the pseudopodia are analogous to 

 a peripheral nervous system." 



These are not the words of the author cited, and, even 

 if they were, the introduction of such silly stuff into the 



pages of a book intended for " the large and increasing 

 section of the nature-loving public who indulge in the 

 use of the microscope as a source of instruction and 

 amusement " (p. 3) is intolerable. It is a remarkable 

 fact that, while the author has reproduced the more com- 

 monplace statements of the earlier writers in their original 

 form, he should have chosen to give us the above, his 

 own, rendering of the lucubrations of a Haeckel. In 

 doing this he betrays a sad want of sound judgment. 

 The public have a right to expect that a work of this 

 type, intended to serve (p. 3) " as a preliminary to more 

 specific knowledge, the direction of which they will there- 

 after be better able to choose," shall be up to date ; but^ 

 to fulfil the useful purpose aimed at, such a work should 

 rest upon a more authoritative foundation than the book 

 now under review. That is amusing as an example of 

 editorial piece-work among a somewhat antiquated litera- 

 ture, and to those familiar with the subjects approached 

 it suggests reflections. 



The volume by M. Houssay is one of 312 pages, with 

 47 woodcuts intercalated in the text (38 only are acknow- 

 ledged on the title-page). The bulk of the work is divided 

 into six chapters, dealing respectively with modes of cap- 

 ture of prey, of defence, of transport and storage of food, 

 of provision for the young ; of constructing or acquiring 

 nests and habitations, and of preservation and protection 

 of the same. The illustrations are, for the most part, 

 admirable ; some, which we take to be original, are fit to 

 rank with the famous woodcuts in Brehm's " Thier-Leben," 

 while others are already familiar to us from the pages of 

 that work. In the introduction the author justly asserts 

 that the naturalist of to-day lives more in the laboratory 

 than in the field, that the scalpel and microtome have re- 

 placed the pins of the collector, and that the magnifier 

 pales beside the microscope. This is, alas ! too true. It 

 cannot be denied that our present systems for the most 

 part take insufficient heed of field-work, and we fully en- 

 dorse the author's further remarks upon the changed 

 aspect of affairs. The introduction as a whole deals with 

 generalities in direct bearing upon those facts which 

 follow ; and by no means its least satisfactory feature is 

 that it clearly sets forth what the author would have his 

 readers understand by the title of his work. The main 

 portion of the book is confined to bare records of ob- 

 served fact, systematically arranged, and, where necessary, 

 brought into special relationship by cross-references. 

 That " talkee-talkee " so often forced into books of this 

 kind is here withheld. Such comments as are indulged in 

 are either confined to the introduction, or to a few concise 

 paragraphs which make up the author's " conclusion " ; 

 and the latter is, as might be expected, devoted to a brief 

 consideration of animal intelligence. In place of an index 

 there is furnished a zoological table, in which the generic 

 names of the animals written about are arranged in 

 classificatory order, each being accompanied by a paged 

 reference and a mention of that particular habit or 

 industry dwelt upon. It is a pity that the author takes 

 no cognizance of animals lower in the scale than the 

 Arthropods ; but we nevertheless heartily recommend 

 his book to our readers. It is throughout popular, and 

 written in that peculiarly pleasing, yet didactic, style, so 

 characteristic of the works of the more successful of 



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