364 



NATURE 



[Fed. 14, 1889 



any really large extent of land suitable for the growth of 

 the cacao-plant. The rubber industry in Ceylon, as else- 

 where, is mysteriously unproductive, while the cultivation 

 of vanilla, pepper, and fibres, is only in the experimental 

 stage. The total areas under the various cultivations at 

 present are : tea, 183,000 acres; coffee (Arabian), 77,000 

 acres ; coffee (Liberian), 916 acres ; cinchona, 36,000,000 , 

 trees over two years old; cacao, 12,000 acres ; cardamoms, 

 5000 acres ; rubber-trees, 386 acres ; croton, castor-oil, 

 aloes, cinnamon, vanilla, pepper, cloves, plantains, and 

 citronella grass, 7400 acres ; gum-trees, fruit-trees, sapan, 

 sapu, cocoa-nuts, areca-nuts, nutmegs, 4600 acres. 



Such are a few of the gleanings from this useful account 

 of the planting and agricultural industries of Ceylon. Mr. 

 Ferguson is favourably known as a successful journalist, 

 and as the author or joint-author of numerous publications 

 connected with the island in which he has spent the 

 greater part of his life. Indeed, it would not be too much 

 to say that Mr. Ferguson and his uncle have contributed 

 by their writings in no small degree to promote the 

 various industries upon which the prosperity of Ceylon 

 depends. To those whose interest or whose business is 

 connected with tropical cultures this summary will prove 

 most useful. It covers a wide field, but, so far as Ceylon 

 is concerned, it contains information available in no other 

 way. The historical and statistical facts, no less than the 

 points respecting the treatment of tropical plants, are col- 

 lected from trustworthy sources, and are of interest wher- 

 ever such plants are cultivated, and we may add scarcely a 

 single tropical product is passed unnoticed. D. M. 



PALEONTOLOGY. 

 Die Stdmme des Thierreiches. Von M. Neumayr. " Wir- 

 bellose Thiere." Erster Band. (Wien und Prag : 

 Tempsky, 1889.) 



'T^HE palaeontologist has been defined as a variety of 

 -*- naturalist who poses among geologists as one 

 learned in zoology, and among zoologists as one learned 

 in geology, whilst in reality his skill in both sciences is 

 diminutive. The division of zoology into palaeontology and 

 neontology is one which is, no doubt, logically defensible, 

 and so would be a division of the subject-matter of 

 zoology into as many branches as there are periods 

 recognized by geologists— cambriontologists, silurionto- 

 logists, anthrakontologists, &c. On the other hand, it 

 must be admitted that such divisions seem unlikely to 

 tend to the furtherance of our knowledge of animal life 

 in the past. The fragmentary remains of extinct animals 

 can only be interpreted by the application to them of a 

 very thorough knowledge of the form and structure of 

 living animals, and accordingly it would seem desirable 

 that, as is more usually the case in regard to the study of 

 plant remains than in regard to that of animal remains, 

 the study of palaeontology should be relegated to those 

 who also occupy themselves with neontology. The 

 botanists, with few exceptions, pursue this plan ; but 

 curiously enough, a special class of palaeontological zoo- 

 logists exists and flourishes. A further advantage to be 

 derived from the suppression of palaeontologists seems to 

 be this — that there would be a better chance for the cul- 

 Mvation of true geology, which now, to some extent, has 



its professorial positions, its museums, and its publica- 

 tions invaded by these specialists. Whatever may be 

 said in favour of the palascntologist, he cannot be allowed 

 to claim geology as his own ; nor should the capable 

 geologist, as is unfortunately and so frequently the case, 

 venture beyond his last, and discourse on zoology in the 

 disguise of a palaeontologist, for the disguise cannot 

 effectually conceal his incompetency to deal with zoo- 

 logical problems. 



Whilst believing that it is increasingly desirable 

 that the truth of the above propositions should be 

 recognized and acted upon, we are yet prepared to 

 admit that, as a practical division of labour in the great 

 field of zoological science, palaeontology must be recog- 

 nized. Human knowledge does not develop according 

 to abstract conceptions of the relations of one branch 

 of study to another, but on a much more homely 

 basis, open to philosophical objections of the most severe 

 character. The way in which things have presented 

 themselves to the hands and minds of students in conse- 

 quence of practical demands or special opportunities of 

 study is that which has determined the existence of the 

 various divisions of natural history and the consequent 

 groups of naturalists devoted to one or another unphilo- 

 sophically limited pursuit. The collecting of " fossils," 

 the hammering out of the fragments of a past world from 

 their stony graves, the cultivation of the faculty of recog- 

 nizing the significance of minute and detailed portions of 

 fossilized shells and bones, is a definite hobby, which has 

 excited the enthusiasm and stimulated the ingenuity of a 

 long Hst of remarkable men, such as Woodward, Mantel, 

 Barrande, and a host of less-known collectors. It seems 

 not improbable that, were the remains of extinct animals 

 in our great public and educational collections classified 

 and placed with those of recent forms, an injustice, not to 

 say an injury, would be done to the special phase of 

 scientific activity which has produced these collections, 

 and the important knowledge of the history of life on the 

 earth which they represent. The morphologist, dealing 

 with the complete structure of recent forms, is Hable to 

 neglect all but the more perfect remains brought to light 

 by the collector of fossils ; whilst, on the other hand, the 

 palaeontologist interprets the most obscure fragments, and 

 speculates, it may be audaciously, but not unwisely, upon 

 the significance of all that comes to his hand. 



The volume which has led to these remarks is the first 

 part of a treatise which is improperly named. It is 

 not a treatise upon the pedigree of the animal kingdom, 

 but an account of extinct animals treated in zoological 

 order — in fact, a manual of palaeontology. As an intro- 

 duction, there is an extensive essay on Darwinism, and a 

 discussion of Lamarckism and the causes of variation, 

 which are becoming more and more the absorbing topics 

 of the day. Dr. Neumayr does not appear to make any 

 contribution of general importance to the discussion ; 

 but he makes the doctrine of descent and the Darwinian 

 theory of natural selection the guiding principles of his 

 treatise. The neontologist, if we may venture to call 

 anyone by that name, will find in Dr. Neumayr's pages 

 many facts of great value in the elucidation of bio- 

 logical problems, and a number of excellent woodcuts. 

 The work promises to be one of considerable size, since 

 this first volume consists of six hundred pages royal 



