370 Miscellaneous. 



Dr. Eggcr's views of the specific relationship of the Foraminifera 

 are liberal. Following Brady for the most part, he fuUy recognizes 

 that " varieties " are here little more than individual modifications 

 of the " species," and that these, not widely separate one from 

 another, often coalesce, leaving non-essential features as suflScient 

 characteristics for convenience of grouping and registration. With 

 all their capability of adapting themselves to varying conditions, and 

 their consequent extreme plasticity of form, they yet possess a well- 

 recognized fixity of type. Dr. Eggcr's abundant figures of individuals 

 grouped bj- certain alliances of form and structure offer strong 

 confirmation of this, and will bo of great use both to the Student 

 who wishes to become acquainted with this Protozoaii series and to 

 the more advanced Biologist who might wish to have at hand some 

 comprehensive illustrations of typical Foraminifera. 



This memoir is a very valuable addition to foregoing monographic 

 descriptions of these interesting and cosmopolitan Protozoa. "We 

 are sure that the Author's having chosen to work on the lines of 

 Brady's ' Challenger ' Report will be of advantage in securing some 

 uniformity in the treatment of the " genera " and " species " among 

 the many would-be rhizopodists of to-day, who are bewildered with 

 the almost endless varietal forms of the creatures themselves and 

 with the complicated synonymy with which they have been over- 

 loaded. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the Bates of Sowerhy's ' Genera of Recent and Fossil SJiells* 



To the Editors of the '■Annals and Magazine of Natural Jlistori/.' 



Gentlemen, — Considerable trouble has been caused by the difficulty 

 of fixing the dates of the separately published parts of this book : 

 and a recent request from Mr. W. H. Dall, of Washington, for exact 

 information has led me to investigate the matter. The book was 

 published at intervals between 1822 and 1834 (?); forty-two parts 

 were issued, the contents of which have been given by R . B. Xewton, 

 who was the first to print a collation of " The Genera " in his Svst. 

 List Edwards Collection (Catal. Brit. Mus.), 1891, p. 321. These 

 contents wore taken from a set of original wrappers, of which only 

 two are dated, preserved in the Xaturnl History ^ruseum. 



In the course of my research I have been delighted to find, through 

 the coxirtesv of Mr. Harting and 'Mr. Kappel, the original MS. Dona- 

 tion Books of the Linnean Society between 1822 (end) and 1840, in 

 a perfect condition. These manuscript records are priceless for 

 bibliographic purposes, as they show every appearance of careful 

 recording. Many periodicals have also been ransacked, particularly 

 Ferussac's 'Bulletin des Sciences Naturelles,' section ii., 1824-31, 

 the 'Zoological Journal,' 1824-34, &c., by Mr. Newton, Mr. J. 

 Saunders, and myself; but the evident exactness of the Donation 

 Book of the Linnean Society permits its quotation as sufficient 

 authority for thoso portions of the work it refers to. 



