APRIL 15, 1897 | 
NATURE 
561 
work, if they had collected the information as to the 
bathymetrical limits of the deep-sea forms in some con- 
spicuous form, as has been done in the Challenger or some 
of the Blake Reports. With the absence of such a list or 
table, we have also to regret that the authors have ab- 
stained from giving us an account of the general results of 
their observations ; an account which would have been 
all the more valuable, as it would have proceeded from 
competent men who were able to form a sound judgment 
from their personal intimate acquaintance with the sub- 
ject. They evidently laboured under great disadvantages : 
they (as they state) had commenced the work in 1881, 
revising and rewriting it thrice ; it was written at odd 
hours snatched from administrative duties, always under 
the pressure of haste ; whilst later, serious illness delayed 
its printing. Under such circumstances it is not to be 
wondered at, that not a few errors, of commission and 
omission, have crept in, which the authors would or could 
have avoided if they had been in a position to apply them- 
selves with care proportionate to the magnitude of their 
task. Thus even the Ca//engerv Report on the pelagic fishes 
seems to have come to their knowledge at a time when 
it was too late to fully utilise it, as might have been done, 
at least, in the Appendix at the end of the work. Under 
Lycodes murena all reference to the Challenger descrip- 
tion and figure, and to its abundance in the Ferde 
Channel is omitted. Of other blunders of a more or less 
serious nature, we will mention one only, viz. the use of 
the same figure for two fishes of different families. Fig. 
42 is a reduced outline-copy taken from the figure of 
Alepocephalus niger in the Challenger Report ; the same 
figure, but with the addition of scales, is reproduced 
under No. 52, where it does duty for Bathythrissa 
dorsalis ! 
But this is not the place to enter critically into errors 
which in due time will be corrected by the specialist ; 
they may be annoying to him, but will little interfere 
with the usefulness of the book to every one interested in 
the subject, and will not weaken the impetus which this 
work cannot fail to give to the prosecution of oceanic 
ichthyology. We have to deplore the premature death 
of one of the authors, Dr. Brown Goode ; but it is some 
satisfaction to know that he lived, at least, long enough to 
see the completion of a work which must have been to 
him, as it is to us, and as it will be to posterity, the 
lasting record of his untiring devotion to one of the great 
tasks of his life, viz. the exploration of the marine fauna 
of his country. There was no more earnest and unselfish 
searcher of truth ; and we have no doubt that, had he 
been spared, he would have redeemed his promise to 
work out the general results of his study of the pelagic 
and bathybial fish-faunas. 
The second publication! to which we draw attention, 
treats of oceanic fishes of thé Eastern Atlantic. It is 
part of a series of volumes published by the Prince of 
Monaco, and descriptive of the results of the cruises which 
he undertook in the yacht W7zrondelle in the years 1885 to 
1888. Profiting by the experiences of the British and 
American expeditions, and personally possessing an 
intimate knowledge of every technical detail, he adapted 
his vessels especially for deep-sea work, and fitted them 
with the most perfect apparatus. In the volume before 
us the fishes are described which were collected, during 
the period named, between the Bay of Biscay and the 
Azores, and between the Azores and Newfoundland ; 
they are ninety-five in number, of which about one-half are 
bathybial or pelagic. Prof, Collett, to whom the examina- 
tion and description of these materials were entrusted, 
has carried out this task with the same care which has 
rendered his Report on the Fishes of the Norwegian 
1 Résultats des Campagnes Scientifiques accomplies sur son Yacht par 
Albert 1®* Prince Souverain de Monaco. Fasc. x. Poissons provenant 
des campagnes du yacht Aivondedle (1885-8). Par Robert Collett. Monaco, 
1896. 4to, pp. vili + 198. With six double plates. 
NO. 1433, VOL. 55] 
North Atlantic Expedition so valuable a contribution to 
our knowledge of the distribution of deep-sea fishes, as 
well as of their distinctive characters and structure. Six 
new species have been added to the Atlantic fauna in the 
present report. Some of the deep-sea forms were cap- 
tured by a method not employed in previous expeditions, 
viz. by sinking baited traps toa depth of tooo fathoms, 
thus securing species which, for some reason or other, 
were never captured by the trawl of the Hzvondelle. We 
cannot conclude this short notice without referring to the 
great artistic beauty of the illustrations of the work ; 
neither can we refrain from expressing our admiration of 
the scientific spirit which has led the Prince to devote so 
much of his leisure and wealth to the advancement of 
knowledge. 
We have included the last of the three publications on 
deep-sea fishes in the present notice, in order to show 
that even at a small expenditure of time and money 
excellent results may be obtained in oceanic exploration. 
The cruise of the French ship Cawdan was an undertaking 
of very modest pretension. Being much in need of deep- 
sea material for purposes of instruction, R. Koehler, Pro- 
fessor of Zoology at the University of Lyons, organised a 
short cruise in the Bay of Biscay. The sums required to 
defray expenses for the necessary apparatus were obtained 
by donations from scientific institutions of Lyons, Nancy 
and Toulouse, whilst the Minister of the Marine placed 
the steamer Cauwdan, of 650-horse power, at the disposal of 
Prof. Koehler for a fortnight. In this short time (August 
1895) M. Koehler, in company with three of his colleagues, 
employed the trawl thirty times, in depths varying from 
60 to 1200 fathoms, and was so successful that the results 
just published fill a handsome octavo volume of 741 pages 
and 39 plates. Its title is “ Résultats scientifiques de la 
Campagne du Cazdan dans le Golfe de Gascoigne. Par 
R. Koehler.” (Paris, 1896.) The species of fishes obtained, 
thirty-five in number, are described on pages 475 to 526, 
and some of the more remarkable forms figured on plates 
26 and 27. Five of the species are described as new, 
whilst the discovery, in the Bay of Biscay, of others known 
to exist In other most remote parts of the ocean, adds 
further evidence of the remarkable fact of the uniformity 
of the abyssal fauna all over the globe. 
Prof. Koehler’s experiences of the effect of formalde- 
hyde in the preservation of deep-sea fishes, are well worthy 
of the notice of future collectors. It is well known that 
the tissues of many deep-sea fishes are of extreme soft- 
ness and fragility; by immersion in spirits sufficiently 
strong for preservation, these tissues are much contracted, 
the natural shape of the fish often being distorted. This 
is entirely avoided by the use of the usual 4o per cent. 
formaldehyde, mixed with twenty times its volume of 
water. The specimens, however, have to be transferred 
into spirits after some days, because the formaldehyde 
has been observed to entirely destroy black pigment in a 
very short time. AIG 
THE MEMORIAL STATUE OF SIR RICHARD 
OWEN. 
Cs RICHARD OWEN’S whale has been removed 
from its familiar place in the Natural History 
Museum, and a fine bronze statue of the great naturalist, 
by Mr. T. Brock, R.A., now forms the most conspicuous 
feature on the floor of the central hall of that institution. 
The first view of the statue, as it is seen from the entrance 
to the Museum, is not prepossessing. Visitors whose 
business takes them to either of the departments on the 
ground-floor, pass by with only an uninteresting view of 
a skull-cap, a vertically corrugated doctor’s robe, and 
a pair of flaps hanging from the arms, suggestive of 
the rigid “primaries” of a cherub’s wings. The front 
view of the statue, however, is far more pleasing. Owen 
