liihUograpJiical Notices. 399 



secoiulaiii's. Oiir two male examples of this form arc not 

 quite fre.sji, and tlieretore tiic colouring below is not very 

 defined, hut it does not seem ever to have been rosy. It is 

 possible, therefore, that a still drier type may remain to be 

 discovered. 



[To be continued.] 



BIBLIOGIIAPHICAL NOTICES. 



The Life-IIistones of the British Marine Food-Fishes. By William 

 Cakmichael M'Intosii, F.R.S., Professor, and Artiiuk Thomas 

 Mastkrmax, Assistant Professor of Natural History in the 

 University of 8t. Andrews. 8vo. London, 18U7. Pp. xvi, 516. 

 Frontispiece, 20 coloured plates, and 45 woodcuts. 



St. Andrews (now "The Gatty "*) Marine Laboratory has distinctly 

 forged ahead in the issue of this volume, which is alike creditable 

 for its clear graphic style and excellence of illustration. It is just 

 such a handbook as those interested in practical ichthyology — and 

 particularly the new hand of students at work in marine laboratories 

 — should have at hand for easy reference and instruction. It will 

 save much groping for literature scattered through many scientific 

 journals &c., home and foreign — a kind of ready reckoner in its 

 way. In tlie preface the authors specify their respective shares in 

 the labour, the major part of which comprises records of work 

 accomplished at "The Gatty " itself — and a goodly show it makes of 

 "north of Tweed" fish science {perfervidum imjenium Scotorum), 



Stress is justly laid on Sars's discovery of floating eggs — truly 

 the starting-point of much of the subsequent ichthyological research. 

 They remark how difficult it is " to predicate from the habits of a 

 fish the nature of its eggs." 



Three propositions are laid down with respect to the pelagic eggs. 

 Their pelagic character : — (1) " leads to the dispersion of the S2)ecies 

 throughout the ocean " ; (2) " tends to minimize the destruction of 

 the eggs by any special agency "; (3) " appears to have played aa 

 important part in the preservation of the various food-fishes.'' The 

 first result is due to the effects of oceanic currents and tides ; the 

 second to the relative invisibility of the eggs ; and the third to the 

 lengthening of spawning discharge and very numerous diminutive 

 eggs. Howsoever these may be active agents, it nevertheless seems 

 to us to follow that the essential differences, together with the 

 greater fecundity of the pelagic, as contradistinguished from the 



* In courtesy to Ur. Charles 11. Gatty, whose handsome gift of a new 

 buildin": has infused fresh life to the institution. 



'D 



