286 lioyal Society : — On the Nature of the 



Avo may recognize the agreoineiits and dillercnces of the various 

 forms ; he then points out the jyeiieral purjtoses of chissifieation and 

 the prineij)les of nununchiture, the i>rinciples of eomparativo anatomy 

 and their application to the study of extinct animals, and the 

 general fact^s of geographical distribution. His third chapter is 

 devoted to a brief sketch of the classification of animals, the fourth 

 to their development and reproduction, and the fifth to certain 

 general observations on the food and instincts of certain species, 

 mimicry, &e. In this chapter also the author discusses the question 

 of the nature and possible origin of species. AVe most heartily 

 recommend this little volume as a first book of zoology, 



Mr. "Wilson's work, which carries the teaching much further, and 

 is really a student's manual, is also an excellent work of its kind, 

 Mr. "Wilson covers pretty nearly the same ground as Prof. Newton, 

 although of course he enters into much more detail ; and we have to 

 compliment both authors on the same characteristic of their work — • 

 namely, the total freedom from prejudice with which they have dis- 

 cxissed those unsettled questions wliich at present divide naturalists. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



EOYAL SOCIETY. 



Februarv 4, 1S75. — Joseph Dalton Hooker, C.B., President, in the 



Chair. 



" Remarks on Professor Vtville Thomsox's Preliminary Notes on 

 the Nature of the Sea-bottom procured by the Soundings of H.M.S. 

 ' Challenger.' " By William B. CAKrEXTEE, M.D., LL D., F.R.S. 



The extreme interest of two of the questions started and partly 

 discussed in Professor AVvville Thomson's communication will be 

 deemed, I trust, a sufticieut reason for my offering such contribu- 

 tions as mv own experience furnishes towards their solution. 



The first of these questions is, whether the Glohujenna', by the 

 accumulation of whose shells the GIohi(/e rina-oozo. is being formed 

 on the deep-sea bottom, Yixe and multiply on that bottom, or pass 

 their whole lives in the superjacent water (es))ecially in its upper 

 stratum), only subsiding 1o the bottom when dead. 



Having preWously held the former opinion. Prof. AVATille 

 Thomson states that he has now been led to adopt the latter, by 

 the results of Mr. Murray's explorations of the surface and sub- 

 surface waters with the tow-net — which results concur with the 

 previous observations of Midler, lliickel. Major Owen, and 

 others, in shoeing that Glohu/enncr, in common \^■ith many other 

 roramiiiifera, have a pelagic habitat; while the close relation 

 which they further indicate between the surface-fauna of any 

 particular locality and the n)aterials of the organic deposit at 

 the bottom, appears to Prof. AVyville Thomson to warrant the 

 conclusion that the latter is altogether derived from the former. 



