NATURE 



145 



THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, \i 



THE ZOOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE 

 ''CHALLENGER" EXPEDITION. 



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

 "Challenger" during the Years 1873-76, under the 

 command of Captain George S. Nares, R.N., F.R.S., 

 and the late Captain Frank T. Thomson, R.N. Pre- 

 pared under the superintendence of the late Sir C. 

 Wyville Thomson, Knt., F.R.S., &c.. Director of the 

 CiviHan Staff on board, and now of John Murray, 

 LL.D., Ph.D., &c., one of the Naturalists of the 

 Expedition. Zoology — Vol. XXVII. Published by 

 Order of Her Majesty's Government. (London : 

 Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, and sold 

 by Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1888.) 



THE first Report in this volume is by Prof. J. R. 

 Henderson, M.B., on the Anomura. Some time 

 after the return of the Challenger, the collection of 

 Anomura was placed in the hands of Dr. Jules Barrois ; 

 but, not finding time sufficient for their investigation. Dr. 

 Barrois was compelled to return them, and they were 

 placed in Dr. Henderson's care towards the end of 1884. 



This group of Crustacea, taken in the sense of Dana, 

 is intermediate between the Brachyura and the Macrura, 

 but in the classification adopted in this Report the author 

 has, to a certain extent, followed the arrangement of 

 Boas, though retaining the Dromidea and Ranidea within 

 the limits of the group — this latter not without some 

 hesitation. 



The Anomura are found in all seas, but much more 

 abundantly in those of tropical or temperate climates ; 

 some few forms are terrestrial or fluviatile. The greater 

 number inhabit shallow water or moderate depths ; two 

 groups, however, the Pagurids and the Galatheids, are 

 numerously represented in the great ocean depths. The 

 collection contained 161 species or well-marked varieties, 

 referable to fifty-two genera, and of these, over one-half 

 of the species (eighty- six) and seven of the genera are 

 described as new. While some of the common shallow- 

 water forms are absent from the collection, still it adds 

 very considerably to our knowledge of the distribution 

 even of this section. 



The main interest, however, is in the deep-sea forms, 

 and these chiefly belong to the Paguridea and the Gala- 

 theidea, more than four-fifths of the species taken 

 belonging to these groups, and the latter contains the 

 greater proportion of the species. 



While the structural modifications met with in the 

 deep-sea species of the Paguridea are comparatively few 

 and unimportant, in the species of Cialatheidea the 

 abyssal forms are blind, and the eyes have undergone 

 a process of degeneration which is tolerably uniform in 

 all. In the majority of the species — with the exception 

 of those belonging to the genus Munida — the eggs carried 

 by the females were found to be few in number and of 

 remarkably large size, leading to the inference that their 

 enemies were but few. No facts in reference to their 

 coloration were observed, as the strong alcohol in which 

 Vol. XXXIX.— No. 998. 



the specimens were preserved reduced them all to a 

 dull white colour. Thirty-one plates accompany this 

 Report. 



The second Report is by Prof. P. Pelseneer, on the 

 anatomy of the deep-sea Mollusca. The material for this 

 Report could not be placed in Dr. Pelseneers hands until 

 the systematic Report on the species had been completed, 

 and it consisted exclusively of Gastropoda (not includ- 

 ing Isopleura or Amphineura) of Scaphoda, and of 

 Pelecypoda ; there was no great wealth of either species 

 or of specimens. Of certain forms there were but single 

 specimens, and in the case of others the soft parts had 

 been injured in removing them from the shells ; still, 

 many new and very interesting facts have been noted and 

 recorded, the chief conclusions from which, so far as the 

 special sense-organs are concerned, are as follows. The 

 organ of vision may atrophy and disappear, in conse- 

 quence of the absence of sufficient light, in great depths ; 

 correlatively, the organs of general sense may multiply, 

 and acquire a high degree of development, such as the 

 labial palps of Trochus infutidibulum, the siphonal ten- 

 tacles of varied structure in the deep-sea Anatinacea and 

 in Malletia ; and, lastly, the respiratory activity may 

 diminish, and the gills become rudimentary in various 

 ways, or these may retain a great simplicity of structure. 

 Four plates accompany this memoir. 



The third Report is by Prof. W. C. Mcintosh, 

 F.R.S., on Phoronis buskii, n. sp. The genus Phoro- 

 nis was established in 1856, by Dr. Strethill Wright, 

 for a minute Polyzoan, about \\ millimetre irt length. 

 Since this species {P. hippocrepia, St. Wright) was 

 described, other species, also of more or less small 

 size, have been described by various authors, from the 

 coasts of Scotland, the Mediterranean, and Eastern 

 America. One, from .Australia, is of considerable length. 

 The species dredged by the Challenger in shallow water 

 at depths varying from 10 to 20 fathoms (Station 212) 

 south of the Philippine Islands, measures 52 millimetres 

 in length, with an average diameter of about 2 milli- 

 metres at the anterior region, and of 4 to 5 millimetres at 

 the enlarged posterior end. The tentacular or branchial 

 region is from 6 to 7 millimetres in length. There has 

 always been a great deal of interest taken in the species 

 of this genus, owing to their strange metamorphosis, and 

 to the uncertainty that seemed to attach to their position 

 in the animal kingdom ; this now is settled to be in Ray 

 Lankesters section " Vermiformia," of the Polyzoa. In 

 this Report the minute structure of the Challenger 

 species, called after the late George Busk, is given in 

 detail, and figured on four plates. The history of the 

 development of this fine species remains to be written. 



The fourth Report is by Prof. W. A. Herdman, on the 

 Tunicata. The first part of this Report, published in 1882, 

 treated of the Simple Ascidians, while the second part, 

 published in 1886, was occupied mainly with an account 

 of the Compound Ascidians, with a supplementary ac- 

 count of some Simple Ascidians which had been found 

 after the publication of the first part. The present part 

 treats of the "free-swimming" Ascidians, which, how- 

 ever, fall into three very distinct groups, less allied to 

 one another than the Simple Ascidia are to the Com- 

 pound Ascidia One of these is the group of Salpiform 

 Ascidia ; the other two are the Thaliacea, including 



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