(38%R-) 
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 
The First Report upon the Fauna of Liverpool Bay and the 
Neighbouring Seas. Written by the Members of the 
Liverpool Marine Biology Committee, and edited by W. A. 
Herpman, D.Sc., F.L.8., Professor of Natural History in 
University College, Liverpool. With ten plates and two 
maps. London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1886. 
In the spring of 1885 Professor Herdman, of University 
College, Liverpool, who is so well known to Zoologists on 
account of his researches on the anatomy of Ascidians and on 
Marine Zoology generally, but more especially for his laborious 
‘Challenger’ reports on the Twnicata, called together a number 
of local naturalists to formulate a scheme for the investigation 
of the fauna and flora of the neighbouring seas. 
The ‘‘ Liverpool Marine Biology Committee’ was then 
constituted, and it was decided ‘‘ that steps should be taken to 
investigate the Marine Biology of Liverpool Bay during the 
coming summer, with the view of compiling a ‘Fauna’ of the 
neighbourhood.” Arrangements were made for ‘‘ (1) organizing 
dredging, tow-netting, and other collecting expeditions; (2), the 
examination and description of the specimens obtained; and 
(3), the publication of the results.” 
A well got-up 8vo volume of 372 pp., 10 plates and 2 maps, 
is one result of this enterprise. This is highly creditable and 
encouraging, and illustrates what may be accomplished by energy 
and enthusiasm. The Committee was a strong one, and the 
Editor has been seconded by able colleagues, while the fiscal 
support likewise was apparently sufficient. 
It would be well if local societies would take a lesson from 
Liverpool, and endeavour by systematic work to publish 
complete local faunas and floras. This has been done, and well 
done, for some counties and for some subjects; but Marine 
Zoology, as a whole, has been woefully neglected. There must be 
a large number of scattered workers; what is needed is that 
their individual efforts should be systematised, and that some- 
thing definite should be aimed at. This is pre-eminently a 
