THE NAUTILUS. 71 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. • 



The Malacological Society of London has giren variety to 

 the last number of the Proceedings by adding a department of 

 humorous fiction. In it they print a fantastic farce entitled " A 

 synopsis of the recent and tertiary fresh-water mollusca of the 

 Californian Province." A leading part in this piece is taken by a 

 weird character called '' Syntonia," or the "Syntonic Form" — a 

 sort of djinn or genie, competent to produce any transformation 

 desired with the aid of a pinch of magnesium salts, which the author 

 obligingly supplies when it cannot be found otherwise. 



That magnesium salts are "producing the mischief" with the 

 snails is proved by an act with " balanced aquaria," — conditions, 

 results and laboratory where done not specified. 



What the Syntonic Form cannot do is readily accomplished by an 

 *' accentuation of the evolutionary influences " which, along with 

 other deviltry, are to blame for making Lymnaa auricularia out of 

 the " so-called peregra and catascopium." Curious nobody ever 

 thought of this perfectly lucid explanation before. 



But what occult influence is responsible for subgenera based on 

 forms ranked as subspecies of species belonging to other subgenera ? 

 Or putting a genus in one subfamily, its subgenera in another (done 

 several times on p. 147)? The method of classification is blamed 

 on Professor Hyatt, but we all know that Hyatt was a good natura- 

 list. He was above all a believer in strictly phylogenetic classifica- 

 tion. He had little use for such elementary trifling in taxonomy as 

 grouping together genera of different phyla which have reached 

 superficially similar or analogous evolutionary stages. 



Time wasted in looking up type specimens might be saved if 

 naturalists would get syntonic brains by judicious dosing with 

 magnesium salts. Just see what has been done to the freshwater 

 Mollusca of the Californian Province ! Synonymy can be made by 

 glancing over a few books; classification by drawing the names 

 out of a hat after they have been well shaken up. The study of 

 variation and inheritance may be be left to old fogies who want to 

 know what renlly hai)pens under known conditions. 



"We fear that the Malacological Society has started out too well in 

 its department of humorous conchology. Merely ignorant or wrong- 

 beaded articles they may possible get, but where such another 

 contribution to the gayety of nations as this ? — H. A. P. 



