210 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[September, 1901. 



the student informed as to the titles and the contents 

 of the specialist literature. It is not, perhaps generally 

 understood how much skill and learning and industiy 

 are brought to bear upon the compiling of these records. 

 In regard to the fame, the money, and the thanks to be 

 won by such work, there is little of the first, less of the 

 second, and, one might almost say, nothing at all when 

 you come to the third. For the essential service 

 rendered it is no one's business to reward the compilers. 

 On the contrary, the infuriated student is inclined to 

 turn again and rend them, because they do not supply 

 him with money to buy or time to read or the gift of 

 tongues to understand the interminable series of books 

 and pamphlets of which they make him guiltily 

 conscious. It is not the intention of this chapter, then, 

 to compete with these unhappy recorders. Its piu'pose 

 is rather to show the general reader how lai-ge a share 

 in scientific literature is being claimed and how many 

 avenues of research are opened by a subject so modestly 

 attractive, so engagingly unpretentious as carcinology. 



This bi-anch of science can no longer be regarded as 

 unfashionable or neglected. Be it by king or prince or 

 republic, by university, museum, or private entei-prise, 

 active and generous help is given for its promotion, 

 enlightened interest displayed, knowledge of it largely 

 and rapidly extended. In point of fact, though the 

 picking up of a little crab from the bottom of the ocean 

 may be scoffed at as an insignificant feat, deep-sea 

 exploration, by whomsoever carried out, is royally 

 expensive. The effort lies idle until the results are 

 published. The animals brought to light must be 

 described and figured, and the costliness of adequate 

 illustrations is far higher than the inexperienced would 

 suppose. It should, however, be remembered that the 

 accurate and full delineation of natural objects is a 

 marvellous boon, not only to those living at the time of 

 the discoveiy, but to a long series of subsequent 

 students. It is a poor jest to ask a riddle to which there 

 is no answer, but that is just like the dull mischief of 

 introducing a new species ill described or half described, 

 carelessly figured or not figured at all. Not seldom the 

 consequence is that for ages afterwards naturalists are 

 worried with the fleeting hope of recognising the un- 

 recognizable. Fortunately the fine books which have 

 lately appeared on various branches of carcinology are 

 armed against any such reproach. It is evident that no 

 pains or expense have been spared to make them satisfy 

 the demands of modern science. The preparation has, 

 in some instances, necessarily been spread over many 

 years. In some cases the materials with which the 

 reports ai'e concerned were obtained by expeditions of 

 comparatively distant date. Thus the decapod ciiista- 

 ceans described by Milne-Edwards and Bouvier for the 

 French Government were collected by the exploring 

 vessels, the " TravaiUeur ' and the '' Talisman," in the 

 four successive years from 1880 to 1883.* In another 

 work they deal with the same group from the scientific 

 campaigns of the Prince of Monaco on board the 

 " Hirondelle " and the " Princesse Alice."t In still 



* " Expeilitions ScientiBques du 'Ti-availleur' ct du ' Talisman.' " 

 Ouvrage publii; sous lea auspices du Ministere de I'Instruction 

 Publique. Crustacea decapodes. Promiere partie. Brachyiu'es et 

 Anomoures. Par A. Milne-Edwards, Direeteur du Museum d'Histoire 

 NaturcUe, ct E. L. Bouvier, Professeur au Museum d'Histoire Natu- 

 relle. -Ito, 396 pages, 32 plates, 7 coloured. (Paris, 190(J.) 



f " Residtats des Campagncs Scientifiques accomplies sur son Yacht." 

 Par Albert ler., Prince souverain de Monaco. Fascicule XIII. Crus- 

 taccs decapodes provenant des campagncs de "1' Hirondelle" (Supple- 

 ment), et de la " Princesse Alice" (1891-97). Par A. Milne-Edwards 

 et E. L. Bouvier. 4to, 87 pages, 4 plates, 2 coloured. (Monaco, 1899.) 



earlier cruises of the " Hirondelle " the same 

 enthusiastic navigator procured the Amphipoda which 

 are so admirably treated in M. Chevreux's learned and 

 beautifully illustrated volume.]: An important group of 

 the Amphipoda, which ai'e discussed in a fine memoir by 

 Dr. Vosseler, ai-e from among the extensive fruits of 

 tho well-known Plankton Expedition of 1889. § A great 

 work by Lilljeborg|| has a different kind of origin. It 

 refers to small animals, almost all of which live in 

 fresh water. For procui'ing them it is, as a mle, not 

 necessai-y to commission a man-of-war nor to employ 

 yachts fitted with costly apparatus and the latest devices 

 of mechanical ingenuity. But procuring material and 

 bestowing upon it all the tenderest care of pen and 

 pencil will remain ineffectual unless the cost of publicar 

 tion can be defrayed. In this respect the veteran 

 professor fovind his path smoothed by the King of 

 Sweden and Norway and the Royal Society of Upsala. 

 Others will join him in his grateful acknowledgments. 

 It should not be forgotten that in the subject of this 

 grand monograph Wilhelm Lilljeborg made his mark so 

 long ago as 1853, and he now tells us that already in 

 that distant time his ambition had conceived the project 

 at length accomplished. His success in bringing out 

 such a -work at the age of eighty-four should rank among 

 romai'kable pea-formances. 



To the volume on the cnistacea of the " TravaiUeur " 

 and the " Talisman " a keenly personal interest also 

 attaches. For thi-ee-quai-ters of a century important 

 treatises on carcinology have issued at brief intervals 

 from the pen of a Milne-Edwards. The famous father 

 Henri lived to a vei-y advanced age. The famous son 

 Alphonso has not equalled him in length of days, 

 although in rendering many and great sei-vices to 

 zoology he has faithfully followed in his father's foot^ 

 steps. On the special subject of Crustacea ho has for 

 some years past been working with an invaluable ally, 

 Pi-ofessor E. L. Bouvier. Sad as it is to reflect that this 

 collaboration has now been sundered by the unexpected 

 death of Alphonse Milne-Edwards, at least it closes 

 graciously with a work nobly becoming to the high 

 reputation of both authors. 



Another striking volume published last year from 

 Professor Giard's zoological station at Wimereux will 

 presently have to be mentioned, but neither France nor 

 Sweden nor any other country can claim a monopoly of 

 the subject. In Calcutta, Major Alcock is drawing to a 

 conclusion his elaborate account of the Crustacea 

 obtained by the survey ship " Investigator."1I The 

 Cape Government has begun to publish its " Marine 

 Investigations " on the same class.* Mr. Whitelegge, of 



X " Kesultats, etc." Fascicule XVI. Aniphipodes provenant des 

 campagnes de " I'llirondelle " (1885-88). Par Ed. Chevreux. 4to, 

 195 pages, 18 plates, 1 coloured. (Monaco, 1900.) 



§ "Die Ampliipoden dcr Plankton-Expedition." Von Prof. Dr. J. 

 Vosseler. I. Theil. Hypcriidea 1. 4to, 129 pages, 11 plates, 

 2 maps, 5 figures in the text. (Kiel and Leipzig, 1901.) 



II " Cladocera Sueciee, odcr Beitrage zur Kenntniss dcr in Schwcden 

 lebeuden Krcbsthiere von dcr Ordnung der Brauchiopodcn und der 

 Unterordnung der Cladoceren." Von Wilhelm Lilljeborg, Professor 

 emeritus. 4to, 701 pages, 87 plates. (Upsala, 1900.) 



^ " Illustrations of the Zoology of the Eoyal Indian Marine survey 

 shi]) 'Investigator.'" Crustacea. Part VIII., iilates 46-48, 4to. 

 (Cali-uttii, 1900.) — An account of the deep-sea Brachyura collected hy 

 the Royal Indian Marine survey ship " Investigator." By A. Alcock, 

 II. B., C.M.Z.S., F.G.S., Superintendent of the Indian, Professor of 

 Zoology, etc. 4to. 85 pages, 4 plates. (Calcutta, 1899.) 



* " Marine Investigations in South Africa." South African 

 Crustacea. Part I., 8yo, 66 pages, 4 plates, 1 coloured. (Cape Town, 

 1900.) 



