March 3, 1892 J 



NA TURE 



41 



facts leading to the conclusion that materials of extra- 

 terrestrial origin play a not unimportant part in the 

 accumulations which are taking place on the deepest 

 ocean-floors. We can only call attention, however, to 

 the clear descriptions and admirable plates which illus- 

 trate this part of the subject. The exquisite drawings of 

 magnetic spherules and of chondre upon Plate xxiii., 

 enable the reader to judge of the real nature of the evi- 

 dence rehed upon, and an examination of these figures 

 cannot but remove any lingering doubt, as to the true 

 nature of these materials, from the minds of all those 

 who are familiar with the minute structure of meteorites. 



The last chapter of the work deals with the chemical 

 products which are formed in situ upon the floor of the 

 ocean, and here, perhaps, the interest of the work for the 

 geologist culminates. We can only refer to the numerous 

 and interesting problems connected with the origin of the 

 red clay, the mode of formation of the glauconite-casts, 

 the source of the materials and the chemical processes in- 

 volved in the formation of the phillipsite and other zeolites, 

 the manganese-nodules, and the phosphatic and other 

 concretions. The 76 pages of text, and the admirable 

 drawings which illustrate this part of the subject, will 

 excite the interest of all students of the subject. They 

 enable the reader to form a clear idea of the forms and 

 structure of the remarkable manganese nodules, and of 

 the ear-bones, teeth, and other objects which, in a more 

 or less phosphatized condition, are strewn over the 

 deepest part of the ocean-floors. In an appendix is 

 given a report on the analysis of the manganese-nodules 

 by Dr. John Gibson, especial attention being directed to 

 the detection of the rarer elements by spectroscopic and 

 other methods. While traces of barium, strontium, 

 lithium, molybdenum, zinc, titanium, vanadium, and 

 thallium were found, caesium, rubidium, and the metals 

 of the cerium and yttrium groups were sought for in vain. 

 The quantitative analyses, as shown by the tabular state- 

 ments, would appear to have been executed with every 

 modern refinement, and were carried out, by Prof. Crum 

 Brown's permission, in the Chemical Laboratory of the 

 University of Edinburgh. Another appendix contains 

 an account of the analyses which have been made of the 

 different varieties of deep-sea deposits. 



In conclusion, we may point out that the work is worthy 

 of praise, not only for what it includes, but for what it 

 omits. The time has not yet arrived for a full discussion of 

 the geological bearings of many of the new and interest- 

 ing facts brought to light by the Challenger Expedition. 

 Theoretical discussions are, therefore, wisely kept, in the 

 monograph before us, within very narrow bounds. It is 

 evident that much of the work was written before the 

 publication by Messrs. Jukes-Browne and Harrison of 

 their interesting memoirs on the geology of Barbadoes, 

 and before the discovery of the Radiolarian-chert of Ayr- 

 shire and other districts. These discoveries, it is true, are 

 mentioned in footnotes, but have evidently had but little 

 influence in moulding the views of the authors. Few 

 geologists will be prepared to accept the views of Mr. 

 Murray, when he endorses the conclusion of M. Cayeux 

 that the white chalk should be classed as a terrigenous 

 deposit. But on this and other points the views of the 

 authors are stated with a commendable absence of dog- 

 matism, and a manifest desire to lay before readers of 

 NO. I 166, VOL. 45] 



the work all the facts bearing upon the questions at issue, 

 even when they are manifestly hostile to the conclusions 

 adopted. 



We cannot bring this notice to an end without con- 

 gratulating the editor of the Challenger Reports on 

 the nearly approaching close of his heavy labours. 

 Only by a worker gifted with unrivalled powers of 

 organization, as well as with indomitable energy, could 

 such a task have been brought to a successful termina- 

 tion. The mass of materials was so vast and multi- 

 farious, the interests involved in their distribution so 

 wide and often conflicting, while personal considerations 

 could not always be kept from exercising a disturbing 

 influence, that it is less surprising that criticism should 

 sometimes have been provoked, than that results so sub- 

 stantial, and, on the whole, satisfactory, should in the 

 end have been attained. 



The present Report forms the last of the series of 

 splendid monographs in which the results of this famous 

 Expedition — one which will be recorded in the history 

 of Science as perhaps the grandest concession to her 

 claims made up to the present time by the British or 

 any other Government — are fully recorded and discussed. 

 The final volume of the Challenger Reports, which, it is 

 stated, will probably be published in the course of the 

 present year, will contain lists of the organisms collected 

 at every observing station, with other details, in the 

 nature of a summary of results. John W. Judd. 



PARASITIC FUNGI AND MOULDS. 

 British Fungi: Phycojnycetes and Ustilagi?tea:. By G. 

 Massee. (London : Reeve and Co., 1S91 ) 



IT is a somewhat remarkable fact that no one has 

 hitherto written a book on the British Phycomycctes, 

 the common white moulds so often found growing on 

 decaying substances or in water, or as parasites of a 

 most destructive kind in various valuable plants ; and the 

 opportunity thus afforded to the writer of the present 

 volume was a good one, of which, it is but fair to say, he 

 has taken considerable advantage. The Ustilaginece 

 of this country had already been treated by Mr. Plow- 

 right, but there are sufficient differences between the 

 works of the two authors to make Mr. Massee's book 

 none the less noteworthy on that account. 



When we consider the great variety of " white moulds," 

 such as Mncor, that infest all kinds of rotting fruits and 

 other vegetable debris, of parasites such as the Phytoph- 

 thora of the potato disease, and the Peronosporcce which 

 destroy onions, vines, and other valuable vegetable pro- 

 duce, to say nothing of the Saprolegnia of the salmon 

 disease, the Pythiwn which decimates seedlings of all 

 kinds, and the Einpusa which kills our house-flies in 

 autumn, and glues their dead bodies to the window-panes 

 — when we regard these and a host of other extraordinary 

 and important Phycomycetous Fungi, it seems more and 

 more surprising that no one has compiled an intelligible 

 account of these things in this country ; yet so it is, and 

 the author of this little book of a couple of hundred of 

 pages of carefully, and, on the whole, pleasantly-written 

 matter, ought certainly to deserve the thanks of botanical 

 readers for undertaking the difficult task, and discharging 

 it as well as he has done. 



