November 25, 1920] 



NATURE 



399 



Mr. J. T. Evans to give an account of its anatomy, 

 which is in the main Doridiform, though the 

 length of the nerve-collar, the position of the 

 cerebral ganglia, and the absence of separate 

 gastro-cesophageals diverge, and point to a con- 

 dition earlier than that in the Pleurobranchids and 

 Tritonia. The fusion of the ganglia of the visceral 

 loop, again, is a modern feature, like the loss of 

 the eyes in deep water. 



(2) The three parts of the zoology of the Terra 

 Xova antarctic expedition published by the British 

 Museum comprise the anatomy of the Pelecypoda 

 by Mr. R. M. Burne, viz. the structure of the 

 1-ilibranchiate .Aircidae, Pectinidae, and Limidae, 

 that of the Eulamellibranchiate Carditidae, 

 Veneridae, and .-Vnatinida;, and traverse much of 

 the ground worked by Pelsener. A curious feature 

 is the occurrence of a finger-shaped glandular 

 caecum on each side behind the mouth in Lissarca, 

 Adacnarca, and Philobrya, in connection with a 

 ridge of modified epithelium between the body and 

 the gill-axis. The presence of vestigial cephalic 

 eyes in these and in Barbatia is also noteworthy, 

 and the author thinks tliat at 250 fathoms their 

 function may be other than that connected with 

 light. The incubation of eggs in the mantle cavity 

 in Adacnarca, in the supra-branchial chamber of 

 Anatina, and in the interlamellar space in Vcneri- 

 cardia is rare in marine Lamellibranchs, and may 

 be an antarctic habit. 



In her report on the Pteropods, Miss A. L. 

 Massey adopts the terms of Boas, viz. Eupteropoda 

 and Pterota for the older Thecosomata and Gym- 

 nosomata, since they are really not closely related, 

 ■.cept for the presence of fins. All the seventeen 

 i>pecimens are known forms. If Bonnevic's view 

 is correct, some species frequent the surface and 

 others occur in the deeper. water, so that surface- 

 netting only might explain the absence of the 

 tatter. Miss Massey, however, does not allude to 

 possible changes of vertical distribution from tem- 

 perature, storms, light, or darkness. The 

 ninterials have been worked out most carefully, 

 structurally and otherwise. The wide distribution 

 of Limacina and Clione suggests the possibility 

 that severjil species of the former may yet be 

 'Huccd to varieties, as Vayssitre holds, and the 

 ime may be said with respect to CUone limacina 

 ind C. antarctica. 

 Prof. MacBridc's description of the Larva of 

 'hinodcrma and Enteropncusta includes four 

 nicies of the former, two of which, a Bipinnaria 

 id an .Auricularia, are new, whilst the latter is 

 presented by a species of Tornaria. It is notc- 

 ')rthy that he was enabled, by the examination of 

 ' uricularia antarctica, to confirm H. Bury's 

 original view that the anterior divi.sion of the 

 NO. 2665, VOL. 106] 



coelomic sac does not become directly converted 

 into the hydroccele. The latter grows out as a 

 bud from its hinder aspect. Interesting ptoints in 

 the structure of Auricuhiria tiudibranchiata are 

 given, demonstrating that Chun's interpretations 

 of the hydroccele were erroneous ; and what he 

 thought to be a median pouch of the intestine is 

 really double, so that the larva cannot belong to 

 the Elasipoda, in which the diverticulum is single. 

 Two examples of Tornaria furnished the author 

 with stages in the development of the so-called 

 "glomerulus," or "proboscis gland." He terms 

 the glandular tissue around the blood-space 

 "heart-gland," which he thinks an organ of in- 

 ternal secretion. All the three memoirs are illus- 

 trated by excellent figures. 



VV. C. M. 



The Physiolog:y of Pregnancy. 



Radiant Motherhood: A Book for Those -who are 

 Creating the Future. By Dr. Marie C. Stopes. 

 Pp. 246. (London : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 

 Ltd., 1920.) Price 6s. net. 



THE publication of the report of the Royal 

 Commission on Venereal Diseases in 1916, 

 and of two reports by the National Birth-rate 

 Commission in 1916 and 1920, if it did not 

 in itself bring in a new era of frank, open 

 discussion of what had been regarded as the 

 secrets of la vie intinte, at any rate gave to that 

 era oflicial recognition, and perhaps something 

 also of the nature of a benison. When, further, 

 it became evident that civilised mankind (includ- 

 ing womankind) had begun to show its intense 

 interest in its own reproduction by experimenting 

 upon it, and even by attempting to control it, it 

 followed with an almost gravitational certainty 

 that individuals would in separate volumes set 

 forth the hitherto unrcvealed aspects of such 

 subjects, and would each try to outdistance com- 

 petitors in what may be called a race to lay bare 

 all the phenomena of the sexual relations which 

 precede and of the obstetrical results which follow 

 (when they are permitted) the cohabitation of 

 man and woman. 



Dr. Marie C. Stopes is one of the authors who 

 have trodden this path in literature in her earlier 

 works, entitled "Married Love" and "Wise 

 Parenthood," and now in her latest book, which 

 she has named "Radiant Motherhood." She is a 

 doctor of science, London, a doctor of philosophy, 

 Munich, a fellow and lecturer in palaeobotany in 

 University College, London, and she was a mem- 

 ber of the National Birth-rate Commission when it 

 was preparing its second report ; but she lays no 

 claim on her title-pages to the possession of any 



