August 9, 1888] 



NATURE 



339 



into two sections — the Aberrantia and the Normalia. In 

 the former section of the Trichobranchiata the family 

 Galathaeidae occurs, which will form the subject of a 

 Report yet to appear by Prof. J. R. Henderson. 



The group Aberrantia of the division Phyllobranchiata 

 consists of several tribes and families that in their adult 

 condition approach more nearly to the characters common 

 to other divisions, but which nevertheless during the pro- 

 gress of development pass through a stage common to 

 the normal Phyllobranchiate Macrura. This aberrant 

 group has long been known to biologists under the name 

 of Anomura, and by some has been regarded as a distinct 

 order of Crustacea. Here it is however regarded as a 

 group of the Phyllobranchiate division of the Macrura, 

 " for undoubtedly in their earlier stages they pass through 

 a morphological change that is essentially Macrurous, in 

 which the scaphocerite and rhipidura are both present 

 as well-devoloped appendages, the latter of which they 

 never entirely lose." 



This group will be reported on by Prof. John R. 

 Henderson, although two new genera and several new 

 species are described and figured in the present Report. 



It only remains to mention that with the exception of 

 two out of the 157 plates all have been lithographed from 

 the original drawings of Mr. Spence Bate. By this fact 

 the value of this Report is intensified, as the author has 

 been able to describe and figure what he has seen with a 

 clearness and distinctness which far surpasses in effect 

 the most brilliant work of the cleverest of artists. In an 

 appendix Dr. Hoek gives a description, with figures, of 

 Sylon challengeri, a new parasite Cirriped. 



Vol. XXV. also contains but a single Report, that on 

 the Tetractinellida, by Prof. W. J. Sollas. Perhaps no 

 department of zoology has made during the last twenty 

 years such rapid progress as the Sponges, and it is aston- 

 ishing to think of the large number of forms that have 

 been very fully examined during this period. Certainly no 

 group has benefited more largely by the researches made 

 during the expedition of the Challenger, and it was the 

 greatest good fortune that the collections made were 

 submitted to such excellent workers as Polejaeff, F. E. 

 Schulze, Ridley, Dendy, and Sollas. The joint Reports 

 of these authors, and the splendid series of illustrations 

 which accompany them, form a complete history of this 

 group up to the existing state of our knowledge, a history 

 which shows the worker what is not known as well as 

 what is. 



The last of these Reports treats of the Tetractinellida, 

 and in an appendix of a small group of Monaxonida, about 

 the exact location of which there was for long some doubt. 

 In its monographic completeness it surpasses all the other 

 Reports on the Sponges, while in the fullness of its 

 morphological details it may well serve as an introduction 

 >to a knowledge of all the orders. 



The Tetractinellid Sponges of the Challenger having 

 been well preserved, it was possible to make a thorough 

 investigation of their minute anatomy, a work involving 

 an enormous amount of labour in the cutting of thousands 

 of thin sections, and the separate examination of most of 

 them. The number of species and varieties obtained by 

 the Challenger was 87, of which 73 are new to science. 

 These are arranged in 38 genera, of which 18 are new. 

 An addition there are 221 species mentioned, making the 



total number of described species 294, and of accepted 

 genera 81. 



Dividing the Sponges into the two classes of the Mega- 

 mastictora (with the single sub-class Calcarea) and 

 Micromastictora, the latter is divided into the three sub- 

 classes of Myxospongiae (Halisarca, &c), Hexactinellida, 

 and Demospongiae. The subdivision of this last may be 

 made primarily into two tribes : (1) the Tetractinellida, 

 (2) the Monaxonida. The former may be characterized 

 as Demospongiae in which some or all of the scleres are 

 tetraxons, triaenes, or desmas. The name Tetractinellida 

 was first proposed by Marshall (1876) in practically the 

 same sense as it is used now by Sollas. 



Into the details of the sub-orders and families of this 

 tribe our space forbids us to enter. Their descriptions, 

 with those of the genera, will be found in orderly 

 sequence in the introductory chapter, while the descrip- 

 tions of the species occupy 410 pages of the Report. 



In an appendix we have an account of the Sponges 

 belonging to the Spintharophorous sub-order of the 

 Monaxonida, which, under the impression that they were 

 more nearly related to the Tetractinellida, had been 

 omitted from Ridley and Dendy's Report of the Sponges 

 of this tribe. 



The figures of the Sponges on the forty-four chromo- 

 lithographic plates accompanying the Report were drawn 

 by the well-known artist, T. H. Thomas, R.C.A. The 

 Sponge portraits are really beautiful studies from the 

 originals. The figures representing structure were first 

 traced by the author with the camera lucida, and were 

 then drawn by Mr. Thomas direct from the preparation 

 under the microscope. 



MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 

 A Life of M. F. Maury, U.S.N, and C.S.N. Compiled 

 by his Daughter, Diana Fontaine Maury Corbin. 

 (London: Sampson Low, 1888.) 



A MEMOIR of the illustrious founder of the science 

 of the physical geography and meteorology of the 

 sea, written by the tender and loving hand of his daughter, 

 cannot fail to be of interest, not merely to that section 

 of thinkers and workers who are engaged in the branch 

 of science which Maury especially cultivated and adorned, 

 but to the larger world who appreciate, and are bene- 

 fited by, the perusal of the biography of a man of power- 

 ful and vitalizing imagination, disinterested labour for 

 the public good, self-denying patriotism, and indomitable 

 perseverance. 



Family memoirs are too often apt to degenerate into 

 a mere panegyric of public and private virtues, coupled 

 with a disinterment of private matters which an un- 

 biassed stranger would have too much tact and modesty 

 to expose, and which often destroy all the effects of the 

 accompanying eulogy. Mrs. Diana Corbin has, fortunately, 

 succeeded in avoiding these pitfalls, and by a judicious 

 blending of history, correspondence, and extracts from 

 lectures, has enabled the reader to form his own judgment 

 of the merits and services of her renowned father. 



Descended from the French Huguenots on one side, 

 and the English Protestants on the other, Maury seems 

 to have united in his own person the lively imagination 

 we unconsciously associate with the former, together with 



