Jan. 5, 1888] 



NATURE 



219 



and without an exact reference, for a valuable paper. 

 The number of papers of permanent value in these old 

 periodicals is very small : subsequent researches have 

 thrown them out of date ; the mere efflux of time has 

 proved some of them to be useless ; many deal with 

 temporary subjects, which are now of no importance to 

 anyone. Such a periodical, for example, as the old 

 China Repository, printed partly in Canton — the Canton 

 of the old days — now fetches an absurd price. Sets have 

 been sold in recent years at from ^30 to ^50 ; yet 

 all that it contains of value now could be placed in 

 two volumes such as these before us. The demand 

 for special works of this character, however, is too small 

 to induce any publisher to incur the risk of producing 

 them ; and hence it is that we are thrown back on the 

 learned Societies, which represent the students of to-day, 

 to place within our reach the labours of past generations 

 of scholars, and of the literary and intellectual fathers 

 that begat them. This, however, is a question for the 

 Societies themselves, for their own members must 

 feel more acutely than anyone else the truth of these 

 observations. 



We have already mentioned a few of the papers of 

 scientific interest in the present series. If Mr. Logan's 

 paper on the peculiar rocks of Pulo Ubin, an island near 

 Singapore, is not out of date at present, it probably soon 

 will be if the long-promised survey of the part of the 

 Malay Peninsula under British influence is to be tho- 

 roughly carried out. Dr. F. Stoliczka has a short paper 

 on some species of Malayan Amphibia and Reptilia, and 

 a longer one on the land-shells of Penang ; while Father 

 Borie describes the Mantras, amongst whom he laboured 

 as a missionary for some years. This is one of the 

 aboriginal tribes of the peninsula, which were driven 

 inland by the great Malay invasion of the twelfth century. 

 Of these, the Karens inhabit the north and part of Bur- 

 mah, the Semangs the States of Kedah, Pera'c, and 

 Selangore, the Mantras the region lying between the 

 latter territory and Mount Ophir, the Jakons and Sam- 

 binbangs the southern part of the peninsula. The writer 

 describes the manners and habits of the people in some 

 detail. A most interesting paper, and one of the longest, 

 is Dr. Friederich's account of the language, literature, 

 religion, and castes of the people of Bali, an island which 

 occupies a peculiar relation in the history of the civiliza- 

 tion of the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago. The 

 editor in his introduction describes that position in these 

 words : — 



"The continued existence, in unabated vitality, of a 

 nationalized Hinduism, blended with pre-Hindu customs 

 and practices, among a spirited and vigorous people is 

 not only ... a kind of commentary on the ancient condi- 

 tion of the natives of Java, it allows us also to draw a 

 fair inference as to the kind of Hinduism at one time 

 prevailing in other parts of Malaysia less favoured by 

 historical records, where ruthless Islam has since obli- 

 terated to a great extent the traces of other creeds, 

 traditions, and institutions. It is, indeed, essential to a 

 proper understanding and estimate of the religious and 

 social condition of the various and wide-spread Malayan 

 tribes that the influence which Hindu civilization has, in 

 a greater or lesser degree, exerted upon them, should as 

 far as possible be investigated." 



It should be mentioned that the last number of the 

 Proceedings of the Dutch Geographical Society contains 



a paper on the same subject by Count Limburg Sturm, 

 who visited the island last year. 



Finally, there are certain " Notices on Zoological Sub- 

 jects," and " Descriptions of Malayan Plants," reprinted 

 from an English periodical published at Bencoolen nearly 

 seventy years ago, with a note to the letter by Sir Joseph 

 Hooker and Mr. Hervey, correcting the terminology. In 

 the preface the editor quotes part of a letter from Sir 

 Joseph pointing to a speedy investigation of the flora of 

 the Malay Peninsula, for which he has urged the Colonial 

 Government to contribute funds. Seeing that Dr. Rost 

 has had to go back to 1820 for an account of the flora, it 

 seems almost time that Sir Joseph Hooker's advice should 

 be taken by Sir Cecil Smith and the Legislative Council 

 of the Straits Settlements. 



THE ZOOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE 

 " CHALLENGER " EXPEDITION. 



Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H. M.S. 

 " Challenger" during the Years iSj2)-7^, under the com- 

 mand of Capt. George S. Nares, R.N., E.R.S., and the 

 late Capt. F. T. Thomson, R.N. Prepared under the 

 superintendence of the late Sir C. Wyville Thomson, 

 Knt., F.R.S., &c., and now of John Murray, one of the 

 Naturalists of the Expedition. Zoology— Vol. XXII. 

 (Published by Order of Her Majesty's Government, 

 1887.) 



VOLUME XXII. contains the Report, by Dr. Gunther, 

 Keeper of the Department of Zoology in the British 

 Museum, on the deep-sea fishes collected during, the 

 cruise. 



Originally it was intended to fix an arbitrary depth as 

 distinguishing between the shore and deep-sea fishes, 

 and accordingly, in the author's previous Report on the 

 shore fishes of the Challenger Expedition, all those fishes 

 captured at a less depth than 350 fathoms were treated as 

 more or less littoral forms. However, the subsequent 

 Norwegian and North American explorations brought to 

 light instances of fishes with an unmistakably bathybial 

 organization occurring at a much shallower depth than 

 the forms discovered by the Challeftgerj or, on the other 

 hand, showed that certain littoral forms descend not only 

 to 100 but even to beyond 300 fathoms. 



In the present Report, the loo-fathom line is adopted 

 as the boundary at which, with the extinction of sunlight, 

 the bathybial fauna commences, sporadically, no doubt, 

 and largely mixed with surface forms. 



The material which forms the subject of this Report 

 consisted of 794 specimens, of which 610 were obtained 

 during the voyage of the Challenger, 88 on the cruises 

 of the Knight-Errant and Triton, and 96 from other 

 sources. These specimens are referred to 266 species, 

 177 falling to the share of the Challenger, and 14 being 

 due to the exploration of the Faroe Channel. The number 

 of new species discovered by the Challettger amounts to 

 144, whilst by the deep-sea exploration of the Faroe 

 Channel 10 species have been added to the fauna of the 

 British seas. 



In the introduction we have a history of our present 

 knowledge of the fish-fauna of the deep-sea, some account 

 of the characteristics of deep-sea fish, and an account of 

 their vertical and horizontal distribution. . 



