172 Bihliograph ical Notice. 



Hence in the case of such animals as corals we must recognize some 

 otlier character besides form in the specific diagnosis. We cannot 

 hope to make ' species ' true phylogenetic species unless geographical 

 distribution, and possibly geological distribution, be also taken into 

 account. Huxley suggested in ls80 that it would some day be 

 necessary ' to give up the attempt to define species, and to content 

 oneself with recording the varieties .... which accompany a defin- 

 able type in the geographical district in which the latter is indi- 

 o-euous.' It is with the meaning which Professor Huxley predicted 

 Avould some day be given to the term 'species' that it is used in 

 this monograph. I sometimes regret that in the description of this 

 coral-fauna I did not abandon tlie binomial Linnean nomenclature 

 altof^ethcr, and simply figure and describe the principal variations 

 represented in the collection " (page 20). 



" The adoption not only of a trinomial, but sometimes of a poly- 

 nomial system, is the inevitable result of the retention of a system 

 of nomenclature based on a belief in the fixity of species. That 

 system is impracticable among corals unless we have the courage 

 and patience to make the species nearly as numerous as thespecimens. 

 Thus, as Dr. Hinde has pointed out, one logical author has recently 

 founded 8G new species belonging to a single genus, and 03 per cent, 

 of the new species are represented only by single specimens. An 

 alternative course is to change the system of nomenclature, so that 

 groups of individuals or circuli may be described instead of single 

 specimens or fictitious ' species ' " (page 21). 



Three supplementary plates (comprising twenty diagrams) illus- 

 trate the specific and varietal characters in several groups : — 



Plate A, Figs. 5-9 show the relationship of some Indian to some 

 European sets of types and varieties, composing " circuli," 

 opposite page 96 ; Table no. 3, p. 97. 

 Plate B, Figs. 10-14, ditto. Opposite page 105. Tables V. and 



VI. : pages 104 and 105. 

 Plate C, Figs. 15-20, ditto. Opposite page 110 or 113. Tables 



YIII. and IX.; pages 110 and 113. 

 A systematic synopsis and a full list of the Cutch fossil corals 

 (pp. 28-33^ indicate the types and their varieties. In the list a 

 circi(his—\.h.'it is, a type and its varietal group — is specially noted 

 as Montlivaltia cornutiformis (nos. 17-23 and p. 85) and another as 

 Comoseris jumarensis (nos. 43, 44, and p. 157). 



I^ot only is Dr. J. W. Gregory preeminent in his knowledge of 

 recent and fossil Invertebrata, but he is exceptionally correct, 

 orthom-aphically and grammatically, in his use of words derived 

 from the dead languages. Only two specific names (at pages 157 

 and 1 09) have inadvertently false concord. The rehabilitation of the 

 diphthong in Astrcfa, Mceandrina, &c., will, we hope, lead others in 

 the right way. A good Index, partly " morphological &c." and 

 partly''" systematic" (pp. i-ix), completes this elaborate monograph, 

 so useful to both special and general geologists. 



