I50 



NA TURE 



\yime 16, 1887 



inquiries were suggested by Prof. Herdman, and his 

 energy and influence have evidently contributed largely 

 to the success of the work. It is intended that the Com- 

 mittee shall endeavour to found a sea-side laboratory and 

 form a permanent organisation for marine biological 

 research, but its first operations in the summer of 1885 

 were limited to expeditions for obtaining invertebrate 

 specimens, by dredging, trawhng, and tow-netting from 

 steam tugs, and collecting on the shore at low- tide. 



The volume consists of a number of reports by the 

 members ^of the Committee and other naturalists on 

 separate portions of the collections made. The greater 

 number of these reports are lists of species, with a record 

 of the places where each occurred ; one or two of the 

 papers deal with matters of more general scientific 

 importance. Prof. Herdman himself identified the 

 Alcyonaria, the Echinodermata, the Nudibranchiata, and 

 the Tunicita, and also is jointly with two other gentle- 

 men responsible for the Hydrozoa. Mr, Hoyle records 

 the Cephalopoda. The experience of these naturalists is 

 a sufficient security for the correctness of their work. In 

 the list of Vermes given by J. A. Harvey Gibson, there 

 are one or two errors which lessen its value. Cirratulus 

 borealis, Lamarck, and C. cirratus, O. F. Miiller, are set 

 down as separate species, and it is stated that the latter, 

 of which a single specimen was dredged, has not pre- 

 'viously be:n recorded from the locality. The two names 

 are synonyms, and to what species the single specimen 

 '■• in a rather mutilated condition " belonged remains an 

 open question. Nephthys heinbergii^ And. and M. Edvv., 

 is given as a synonmyn of N. longisetosa, Oersted, but 

 the two names undoubtedly refer to distinct species, and 

 it follows that the specimans of Nephthys examined were 

 not accurately discriminated. 



Mr. Harvey Gibson contributes another paper on the 

 structure of some of the Polychseta, in which he gives 

 some interesting notes on certain anatomical points, and 

 gives reasons for concluding that Pectinarla belgica, 

 Pallas, and P. auricoinx, Miiller, are synonyms. A short 

 paper by Pi'of. Herdman, on variation in the Tunicata, 

 discusses the value of different characters in these 

 animals as diagnostic marks, and points out the necessity 

 of thorough anatomical examination in describing species, 

 or even identifying individuals. A species of Sycandra 

 which could not be identified with any already known, 

 and which is therefore probably new, is described by Mr. 

 Harvey Gibson under the name S. aspera. 



Three introductory papers precede the more special 

 part of the book : one in which Prof. Herdman gives a 

 history of the origin and work of the Liverpool Marine 

 Biology Committee; one by the Rev. H. H. Higgins, 

 ■containing a review of previous work in the domain to 

 which the volume refers ; and one by Prof. Milnes Mar- 

 shall on shallow- water faunas. In this last a short but 

 interesting comparison is made between the peculiari- 

 ties of the physical conditions of the littoral region 

 and features commonly occurring in the life-cycle of its 

 inhabitants. Prof. Herdman, in summing up the results 

 of the first year's work of the Committee, gives the 

 followmg figures : — 913 species of invertebrates have 

 now been recorded from the district under examination, 

 of which 235 are new finds made by the Committee : 16 

 of these are new to the record of the British marine 



fauna, and 7 species and 3 varieties are new to science. 

 These additions to zoological knowledge are illustrated by 

 ten lithographic plates, which, with the exception of 

 Plate II., containing coloured figures of Anthozoa, and 

 Plate IV., devoted to small crustacean forms, do not 

 attain a very high standard. There are also two maps 

 showing the district explored. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Oberplioca7i-Flora aus den Baiigrubeii des Kldrbeckens 

 bei Niederrad U7id Schleuse bet Hochst a M. T. 

 Geyler und F. Kinkelin. (Frankfort, 1837.) 



As a general rule, the more recent the fossil flora the 

 more satisfactory the determinations of the plants com- 

 prised in it will appear, though the work of Williamson 

 and others has made an exception of those of the Car- 

 boniferous period. In the late Tertiaries the species are 

 so closely allied to those still living that comparisons are 

 relatively easy ; but as we go back in time they diverge 

 more and more, and there is less to guide us. The Plio- 

 cene floras especially show us that innumerable species 

 that are now exotic were indigenous probably down 

 almost to glacial times, and their study sheds an immense 

 light on the more problematical floras which preceded 

 them. 



This work describes a Pliocene flora recently dis- 

 covered, and regarded as newer in age than those formerly 

 described from the valley of the Maine. It deals chiefly 

 with the fruits of well-known existing genera of north 

 temperate regions. A remarkable exception is an Aus- 

 tralian type of Callitris, Fi'cnelitcs, which appears to be 

 correctly determined. The pines are numerous, among 

 them being Piims inonlana, and two ^'arieties which are 

 raised to the rank of species — P. ccnibra, determined on 

 part of a cone, P. strobus on a scale, and some perfect 

 examples named P. cortesii, Ad. Brong. Other conifers 

 are the larch, the silver fir, and the Norway spruce. The 

 American swamp or deciduous cypress, so prevalent in 

 Europe from the Eocene age onward, is represented by 

 foliage. Among the rest are leaves and supposed seeds 

 of the hornbeam, the cup of an acorn, an abundance of 

 beech-nuts, described as Fagus plioccpiiica, and the horse- 

 chestnut, representing the Old World ; and fruits of 

 Liquidanibar^ Nyssa, a walnut, Juglans cinerea, and 

 another nearly allied to J. nigra, and three hickories, 

 representing the New. The European and American 

 forms thus appear about equal in number, and there is 

 one Asiatic, the horse-chestnut, and one Australian 

 form. 



The data are more trustworthy than are ordinarily ob- 

 tainable from fossil floras, and they bring into prominence 

 one significant fact — namely, that whenever we get the oak, 

 hazel, walnut, or chestnut in strata so recent as the Plio- 

 cene, or even as true Miocene, there is no uncertainty 

 about the genera, for fruits and olher organs besides leaves 

 are present ; but in the older Tertiaries no distinct fruits 

 of the kind are ever associated with the leaves ascribed 

 to these genera. The evidence I have personally collected 

 in the field seems to show that the early Eocene and pre- 

 Eocene Dicotyledons had small clustered fruits, like 

 Plataniis, Alnus, Liquidainbar, Sec. ; that leguminous 

 plants were an Eocene development ; while the larger- 

 seeded oak, beech, walnut, hazel, are of later origin. 

 The reliance placed on the mere similarity in the outward 

 appearance of leaves of common types has not been justi- 

 fied by later discoveries, and an immense amount of revi- 

 sion is requisite before the botanist and geologist can 

 safely put his trust in the descriptions of the older Tertiary 

 floras. 



J. Starkie Gardnee. 



