July, 1903.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



11.- 



Founded by RICHARD A. PROCTOR. 



Vol. XXVI.] LONDON: JULY, 1903. 



[No. 213. 



The Nebular Hypothesis 

 By Agxes M. Ci.erke 

 By C. Easto.v, d.sc. (IUus.) 

 ■America" Nebula. Bv Dr. 



CO NTENT S. 



The Nobodies,— A Sea-faring Family. — VI. By the Rev. 



T. R. R. Stebbino, ma., e.r.s , f l.s. , f.z s. {Illustrated) 

 Modern Cosmogonies.— Ill 



Varied and Improved. 

 What is the IVIilky Way P 

 The Surroundings of the 



Max Wolf, f.k.a .s 



The "America" Nebula in Cygnus. (Photographic Plate.J 

 Letters : 



Rake Condition- oy THE Human Haie. By Waltee Kidd 



Solar Activity and Teekestrial Maqneiism. Bj 

 .Albert Alfred Bu.ss ... 



Circular Rainbows. By Charles C. Dixon 

 Obituary : — Andrew Ainslie Common, ll.d., f.r.? 



Notes - 



British Ornithological Notes. 



WnilERBT, F.Z. 3., M.B.O.U. . 



Notices of Books 



BooES Keceiyed 

 ■ Molecules and Heat." — A Criticism. By Edwin 



KnsER, A.K r.fc , F.rir s. .. ... ... '... ... 160 



Familiar British Wild Flowers and their Allies. IV.— 



The Compositaj. By R. Llotd Pbaegee. (IUus.)... 161 

 Microscopy. Conducted by M. I. Chos3 (Illustrated) ... 104 

 Notes on Comets and Meteors. By W. F. Denning 166 

 The Face of the Sky for July. By W. Shackleton.p.b.a.s. 166 

 Chess Column. By 0. D. Lococz, b.a 167 



Conducted by IIarrt F. 



THE NOBODIES -A SEA-FARING FAMILY. 



By the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, ma., f.e.s., f.l.s., f.z.s. 



CHAPTER VI. 

 It is a disadvantage for any group to be without a popular 

 luuiie. To call the Pycnogonida 'sea-spiders" is em- 

 barrassing, because it appears to class them with the 

 Araclmida, from which good autliorities consider them 

 distinct. To call them '• sea-insects " is still less satis- 

 factory, because it sets wingless creatures flying in the 

 face of facts. Some insects, it is true, are apterous, but 

 none of them have more tlian six legs, whereas no repre- 

 sentatives of this order have fewer than eight. Their 

 superficial rosemlilauce to the Phalangiidae would suggest 

 the term " sea-harvestmen," but it is cumbrous. The 

 title of " Nobodies," alluding to their ascetic meagreness 

 of frame, is too negative. To name them " sea-daddies," 

 out of res])ect to the attenuated elongation of their limbs, 

 might be thought undignified and over-familiar. A com- 

 pi-oniiso may be found in tlie name " sea-si)indles," agreeing 

 with their Dano-Norwegian ajipellatiou " Siispiudler." 

 Tills has several recommendations. It recalls the services 

 rinulered to the tribe's elucidation by a long series of 

 Scandinavian authors. It plainly notes the exclusively 

 marine habitat of the group, and it is justified not only by 

 the spindle-legged character of the species in -eneral, but 



by the spindle-shaped proltoscis in several, and the fusiform 

 ovarial joints in the limbs of the females at maturity. In 

 an interesting paper on the phvlogeny of the group, 

 J. E. W. Ihle ("Biol. Centralblatt," Vol. 18, p. 60;{, 

 1898) demands the acceptance of Pantopoda as its technical 

 name, but Leach's Podosomata would have a preferential 

 right, if there were the least necessity for relinquishing 

 the time-honoured designation Pycnogonida. 



Though the most critical discoveries connected with this 

 sul)ject were not first published in our language, several 

 works of primary importance for an understanding of the 

 whole matter have been given to the world in English. 

 On the other hand, our native writers, as distinguished 

 from those who have written in our native tongue, have 

 not always teen pre-eminent for clearness of description. 

 Nevertheless, it is desirable to know what they have done, 

 and where they have worked, both that we may have such 

 credit as properly belongs to us, and that opportunities 

 may be used in the future for clearing up what they have 

 left obscure in regard to species inhabiting the home 

 waters of Great Britain. 



Pennant in his " British Zoology " (Vol. IV., p. 43, 

 PI. 19, 1'ig. 7; 1777) figures Strom's Pycnoijirniim liflorale, 

 showing that the species was then already known on our 

 coasts, although its correct names did not penetrate our 

 insular science till more than half a century later. In 

 1800 a paper entitled " Descriptions of some Marine 

 Animals found on the Coast of Wales. By the late John 

 Adams, Esq., f.l.s. Read February 6th, 1798 " (" Trans. 

 Linn. Soc, London." Vol. V., p. 7), begins with the 

 following contribution to our subject: — 

 " Phalangium. 

 "1. yrossijjes. P. corpore minuto cylindrico, hu- 



meris tuberculato, pedibus longissimis. Linn. Syst. 



Nat. Ed. 13, p. 1027. Milford Haven. 



" Obs. To the minute and accurate description 



given in the Sy sterna Nat line I can have nothing to 



add, except that its colour is a dirty red. 



"2. hirsntum. P. corpore subplano decemangulo. 



Tab. II. Fiy. 1, 2. Milford Haven. Tenbigh. 

 " Ohs. Body oval with ten angles, and marked 



with a transverse band near the centre ; antenna? 



Phalangium hirsulum. Adams. From Aduiiis. 



serrated on the interior side ; feet eight, hairy ; tail 



eyliadrical, obtuse; colour palish brown; length 



\ inch." 



It is not without interest to observe what could be 



regarded as minute and accurate description in natural 



history at the close of the eighteenth century. The second 



S[iecies evidently j>oses as new, but it is more like the 



already patriarchal PycKmjnniim littorah' than anything 



else, if we mav regard the serrated anteniKV as due to an 



