August 29, 1901] 



NA TUBE 



tion with living species, or declare their bygone existence 

 as extinct species" (p. 62). 



Here Mr. Gant's meaning can only be guessed at. In 

 other cases, though the sense may be easy to grasp, the 

 langua-e shows an almost Thucydidean disregard of 

 grammatical construction. The following passage may 

 serve as an instance : — 



" This law of orderly sequence ... is unlimited in the 

 extent of its operation ; and having produced the face of 

 Nature she now presents, so, doubtless, will the portrait 

 change in the future" (p. 68). 



Here is a not unfair specimen of the author's way of 

 overloading his sentences : — 



"The moveable coccyx terminates in a blunt point, 

 which ... is a rudimentary tail ; with which so many 

 animals are provided, with diverse uses, in climbing, e.g.^ 

 some apes ; as an additional leg in bounding, or a for- 

 midable weapon for striking, e.g., the kangaroo" (p. 40). 



This calls for criticism in more respects than one. 



We pass over Mr. Gant's views on the subject of 

 heredity. They are open to question, but the main 

 point at issue is immaterial with regard to the purpose 

 of the book. The like may be said of a curious misuse 

 of the term " natural selection '' on p. 42. The reference 

 to spiders and scorpions as " insects " is less excusable. 



It is fair to state that the abrupt and disjointed style — 

 to use no harsher terms — into which the author so fre- 

 quently falls does not appear to reflect a corresponding 

 incoherence of thought. Within certain limits, his 

 chapters give the impression that what he has to say, 

 if he could only express it fitly, would be worthy of atten- 

 tion. It is unfortunate that he has failed to find a more 

 attractive method of imparting conclusions many of 

 which are in themselves sufficiently sound and sensible. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Distribution of Rainfall over the Land. By 

 Andrew J. Herbertson, Ph.D., F.R.S.E. With 13 

 maps and a plate. (London : John Murray, 1 901.) 

 Every meteorologist will be most glad to possess this 

 very valuable work on the distribution of rainfall over 

 the earth's surface. Dr. Herbertson seems to have spared 

 no pains to utilise all the available material, and the 

 result is that he is able to present us with rainfall maps 

 for every month in the year, giving not only the seasonal 

 distribution of rain, but a knowledge of the actual amount. 

 Each map is accompanied by general remarks as to the 

 position of the pressure belts, wind systems, and other 

 useful information which are fundamental in studying the 

 weather from month to month. Further, a map, with 

 descriptions, &c., is given, illustrating the mean annual 

 rainfall over the land surface. The book includes also 

 a very useful set of curves showing the monthly dis- 

 tribution of rainfall in percentages of the annual fall for 

 seventy-four selected stations. From these it can be 

 seen at a glance whether a station receives the majority 

 of its rainfall at one period of the year, such as Bombay, 

 Pekin, ISathurst, &c., or whether there are two periods 

 of rainfall each year, as at Colombo, Lagos, Peshawar, 

 &c. The importance of keeping separate the rainfall 

 that is received at one place during a year at the two 

 monsoons and not combining them when there happen 

 to be two periods of rainfall is of fundamental import- 

 ance at the present day, and the volume before us will 

 help to show when the yearly mean alone may be used. 



NO. 1661, VOL. 64] 



Dr. Herbertson concludes this valuable addition to the 

 meteorological library by giving the data he used in 

 drawing the maps, namely a useful bibliography, and 

 tables showing each station, latitude and longitude 

 of each, the period over which rainfall observations have 

 been made, the altitude, and, lastly, the mean rainfall for 

 the period for each month. 



Tierleben der Tiefsce. Von Oswald Seeliger. Pp. 



49. (Leipzig: W. Engelmann, igoi.) Price zs. 

 This is a popular exposition, by a well-known and 

 thoroughly competent zoologist, of the leadmg features of 

 deep-sea life and of the conditions under which it exists. 

 It is, of course, primarily for German readers, and is 

 evidently, and very properly, intended to direct attention 

 to the recent German Deep-Sea Expedition. The results 

 of the preceding " Plankton " Expedition are also referred 

 to. The little book contains about fifty pages, of which 

 the first thirty constitute the essay proper and the remain- 

 ing twenty are notes upon paragraphs and statements in 

 the text, and give references to the literature of the 

 subject. In such limited space it is obvious that no 

 e.xhaustive treatment is possible, many important matters 

 are barely mentioned, and in fact the whole can only be 

 regarded as, at most, a sketch of this large department 

 of oceanography. 



The subjects dealt with are :— depths, pressure and its 

 effects, the distribution of temperatures, the penetration 

 of sunlight, the deep-sea deposits, the question of food, 

 the bipolar theory of distribution, the presence of very 

 ancient animal types, the so-called " living fossils," and the 

 " phosphorescence " of the sea, with some account of the 

 light-producing organs of certain Crustacea and fishes. 

 There is also scattered through the pages a certain 

 amount of discussion of the characteristics and distribution 

 of deep-sea animals. 



The essay is illustrated by one coloured plate entitled 

 "Tiefsee-Idyll," showing, not too clearly and without 

 sufficient delicacy of detail, about twenty species of deep- 

 sea animals belonging to various groups. It is intended 

 to demonstrate the characteristic colours, and especially 

 the red coloration of so many abyssal Crustacea, 

 Echinodermata and Ccelenterata when they are brought 

 to the surface. Both in drawing and colouring, however, 

 the plate is rather crude, and probably gives an incorrect 

 impression by showing so many different kinds of animals 

 packed so close together in a very small area. 



W. A. H. 



A Guide to the Shell and Star-fish Galleries {Mollusca, 

 Polysoa, Brachiopoda, Tunicata, Echinoderma and 

 Worms), in the British Museum {Nat. Hist.). Pp. v-)- 

 130; illustrated. (London: Printed for the Trustees, 

 1901.) 

 This admirable little work, written by Messrs. Smith, 

 Bell and Kirkpatrick and sold for sixpence, may be 

 described as the best and cheapest elementary natural 

 history of the groups of which it treats hitherto 

 published. A large number of excellent text-figures 

 (some original and others borrowed from well-known 

 works) illustrate the leading external and anatomical 

 characters of the more important types. And although 

 in certain places the text is necessarily somewhat 

 technical, the diagrammatic illustrations render the 

 meaning and application of the special terms so easily 

 understood that every reader ought to experience little 

 difficulty in gaining a general idea of the various groups 

 described. This feature of the work is specially notice- 

 able in the case of the polyzoans, whose structure often 

 forms a stumbling-block to the beginner ; and we know 

 of no other book containing such a number of excellent 

 figures of this group in such a small space. 



The authors have not been unmindful of the economic 

 side of zoology ; and the reader will find much to 



