2Q4 



NATURE 



[January 26, 1893 



ramosa had nematophores on the stem, and I think so still. 

 Some of his other remarks are so very obvious as to have scarcely 

 required mention, at any rate to biological readers ; a few, how- 

 ever, are just such debateable points as I was anxious to have 

 opinions upon from as many naturalists as possible, and I am 

 glad to know Prof. Thompson's, I am glad to say a number 

 of biologists have written to me, since the scheme appeared in 

 Nature, expressing general approval, and criticising various 

 points of detail, and some of them kindly making offers of assist- 

 ance in special groups — and without that kind of assistance 

 from specialists I need scarcely say it would be impossible to 

 carry out the work satisfactorily. The proposal was first brought 

 before the Biological Society of Liverpool on November i r, 

 and it was only after some weeks of intermittent discussion with 

 some of my friends in that Society (such as Dr. Hanitsch, Mr, 

 Isaac Thompson, and Mr. A. O. Walker) who are specialists in 

 certain groups of marine invertebrata, and after correspondence 

 with Canon Norman and other biologists, that I sent the scheme 

 to Naiure, with the view of getting further opinions. Conse- 

 quently some of the debateable matters alluded to by Prof. 

 Thompson (limits of British area, introduction of certain 

 non-British forms, specific nomenclature, how to treat records of 

 size and di stribution, best terms to use for zones of depth, and, 

 I may add, for relative abundance) have already been consider- 

 ably discussed. The other points raised by Prof. Thompson in 

 connection with Antennularia only require a few words. I 

 said A. ramosa was usually branched. Prof. Thompson says 

 it "may sometimes" be unbranched. The difference between 

 these statements is slight. As to dimensions, a zoophyte which 

 grows to 12, or occasionally to 24, inches in height, will, of 

 course, be also frequently found of smaller sizes ; and it might 

 be the best plan to give the extreme range, say, i to 24 inches. 

 What I gave was the fair average size of most of the specimens 

 dredged or seen in collections, which I still consider to be 6 to 

 9 inches. 



The rest of Prof. Thompson's contention is practically that 

 there are great difficulties in the way of drawing up such a book 

 of the known British marine invertebrate animals, and that if it 

 is ever done it will be more or less incomplete, because Canon 

 Norman and others (I hope including both Prof. Thompson aud 

 myself) will continue to find new British animals. That is 

 perfectly true — ^in fact obvious — but the same objection applies 

 more or less to every work on systematic zoology that has ever 

 been published ; and I do not consider that because our British 

 Pycnogonids, and some other small groups, are still very im- 

 perfectly known, that is any sufficient reason for delaying in- 

 definitely an attempt to deal with the rest of the invertebrata. 

 On the contrary my opinion is rather that an approximation is 

 better than nothing, and that every group, or every family, re- 

 duced to " Handbook " form with specific diagnoses and figures 

 must be a distinct gain. I hope Prof. Thompson will not think 

 that I am trying to dispute all his criticisms, or that I am un- 

 grateful for the trouble he has taken. I have no doubt that he 

 could correct me in many details, and give me great assistance 

 in records, &c., of zoophytes, pycnogonids, and other groups, 

 and I hope he will do so. VV. A. Herdman. 



University College, Liverpool, January 20. 



Prof. D'Arcv Thompson's letter raises a question which is, 

 I think, well worthy of Prof. Herdman's consideration. That 

 a handbook of our marine fauna is needed cannot for a moment 

 be doubted, and the only matter that calls for discussion is one 

 of scope and method, of ways and means. Prior to the appear- 

 ance of Prof. Herdman's circular and article I htid intended, if 

 possible, to bring this very matter before the British Associa- 

 tion at its next meeting, believing that a select Committee of 

 the Association would best be able to further the interests of 

 marine zoology in this respect. But, as the matter now stands, 

 I leave any such action very willingly to Prof. Herdman's 

 initiative. 



Put broadly (although I well know that such a work in Prof. 

 Herdman's hands would by no means have the character of a 

 mere compilation), the question at issue is whether the hand- 

 book should be mainly a compilation from existing material, or 

 should express the work of various specialists and be based upon 

 a series of special investigations. For myself I agree with Prof. 

 Thompson, and for the same reasons, that the adoption of the 

 latter alternative would be likely to meet our needs most fully 

 and satisfactorily. It would ensure, as far as possible, the 

 equal treatment of the various groups, and would thus give to 



NO. I 2 13, VOL. 47J 



the book (which is important) a more permanent and authorita- 

 tive value than could be attained by a book depending upon the 

 personal labours of one zoologist. I feel confident that, should 

 Prof. Herdman admit the force of this consideration and be 

 willing to edit a handbook in which the diagnoses were drawn 

 up for the various groups by specialists or specially-chosen in- 

 vestigators, he would find no difficulty whatever in meeting 

 with willing co-operation. 



But I hardly see the point of extending the scope of the work 

 to the extent which Prof. Thompson would seem to desire. 

 We need a handbook for use around the coasts of our own 

 islands. To include the fauna of the whole North Atlantic 

 would needlessly add to the size of the work, delay the time of 

 its appearance, and even in the end be incomplete ; while it is 

 doubtful whether the advantages would at all outweigh these 

 defects. W. Garstano 



Marine Biological Association, Plymouth, January 20. 



Fossil Plants as Tests of Climate. 



Mr. J. Starkie Gardner, in his interesting review of Mr. 

 Sevwrd's valuable essay, makes a statement which I fancy may 

 be misinterpreted at page 268 of Nature, where he speaks of 

 the fragmentary character of the Arctic tertiary plants, and the 

 inexperience of the collectors. He doubtless is referring to the 

 remains of certain supposed ' ' palms and cycads in the Greenland 

 Eocene," but those who have not followed this branch of Arctic 

 research would hardly gather from the review that Prof, Heer has 

 determined a magnificent flora of more than 350 species from 

 these northern tertiaries, and that he at once pointed out the 

 absence of tropical and subtropical forms, and the fact that large 

 leaves are not only perfectly preserved up to their edges, but 

 that upright trees associated with their fruits and seeds prove 

 them to have grown on the spot. "Thus oi Sequoia Langsdorji," 

 he writes, "we see not only the twigs covered with leaves, 

 but also cones and seeds, and even a male catkin."^ 



In April 1875 I endeavoured to give an abstract of all that 

 was then known of Arctic geology, in a series of articles that 

 appeared in ycur columns (Nature, vol. xi. pp. 447, 467, 492, 

 and 508), and added some general conclusions of my own, which 

 are further accentuated in the joint communications of Colonel 

 Feilden and myself to the Geological Society in 1878, and 

 in the "Geology Appendix" to Sir George Nares' "Voy- 

 age to the Polar Sea," in which expedition Colonel 

 Feilden played a most valuable part. I have ever since 

 carefully followed the progress of Arctic research, and am 

 now of opinion that looking to the identity of a large number 

 of species (often extending to the varieties of the same) occur- 

 ring in the Silurian, Carboniferous, Lias, Oolite, Cretaceous, 

 and Tertiary strata of the Arctic regions, with those occurring 

 in similar strata in Europe and other parts of the world, they point 

 to a common temperature over these areas and probably over 

 the whole world, from Silurian to early Cretaceous times, and 

 that this was the case does not appear to me to be affected by 

 the question as to whether or not these deposits were homo- 

 taxeous. 



In late Cretaceous times commenced horizontal variation of 

 cold, or what we now term "climate," though previously 

 vertical variation had evidently been present, for the later in- 

 vestigations of Messrs. Blanford appear to place beyond doubt 

 the existence of glaciers in geological times, as was suggested 

 in 1855 by my lamented chief, Sir Andrew Ramsay ; but I 

 equally fail to see that the slightest evidence has been anywhere 

 adduced to support the theory of "recurrence of ice-ages," 

 originated by my talented colleague the late Dr. Croll, and 

 now supported with a "modification" by Sir Robert Ball. 



The facts, whether we look to the history of plant life, or 

 animal life, or the character of the rocks themselves, appear to 

 me to be all the other way, as they disclose nothing resembling 

 the refrigeration that, gradually increasing in the Tertiary epoch, 

 culminated in the Glacial episode, which choked up the North 

 and Irish Seas with an ice-sheet since man has been an occupant 

 of our islands. Chas. E. De Range. 



H.M. Geological Survey, Alderley Edge, Manchester, 



Racial Dwarfs in the Pyrenees. 

 In consequence of evidence that I had obtained as to the 

 existence of a dwarf race in Spain, I wrote to Mr. McPherson, 



I " On the Miocene Flora "of North Greenland," by Prof. Oswald Heer. 

 Translated by R. H. Scott, F.R.S., Brit. Assoc, 1867, pp. 53. 



