82 
NATURE 
| Fune 2, 1870 
which Sub-kingdom they are to be referred, very closely to 
the Crustacea”* (p. cvii.) 
Although Gegenbaur’s union of the Polyzoa and Tuni- 
cata with Vermes is not adopted, Huxley’s group of Scole- 
cida is divided into the three classes—Nematelminthes, 
Rotifera, and Platyelminthes. The Annulata again are 
divided into Annulata proper and Gephyrea, Dr, Rol- 
leston ranks the remarkable genus Sag7é/a under the 
Nematelminthes (p. cxxxvii.), again following Gegenbaur, 
instead of placing it in a class by itself, the Chatognatha 
of Huxley. 
We would here yenture to question the advantage of the 
practice so generally followed by zoologists of making a 
separate order or even class—which generally entails at 
least one new name—for every aberrant genus, If Sagd¢/a 
cannot be ranked with Annulata or Vermes, it might well 
stand under its generic head, or as the representation of 
an isolated family, In the same way we would deal with 
Sir John Lubbock’s genus Paurofus, in relation to the 
two orders of Myriopoda, with 7yvar among mammals, 
Archeopteryx among birds, and Amphioxus among fishes. 
It isin vain to try to make all our classes or orders * of 
equal value.” When natural families have been defined 
and grouped around a typical genus, the ordinal arrange- 
ment should, to a great extent, depend upon the number 
of species and other points of practical convenience. We 
learn nothing more of the single animal Amphioxrus 
lanceolatus by a special order or sub-class, variously 
named by each classifier, being framed for its reception. 
So again we do not see the necessity of marking the 
distinction of Marsufiata and Monotremata from other 
mammals by the invention of fresh names—names which 
in this case have been singularly inappropriate, since 
several placental mammals are “‘didelphous,” and the 
word “ornithodelphia” implies that birds have a uterus, 
and conceals the sauroid rather than ornithic affinities of 
Monotremata. 
The description given by Professor Rolleston of the 
Ccelenterata is somewhat meagre, but that of Echinoder- 
mata is remarkably full, and when read in conjunction 
with the descriptions of Asterias and Pentactes (pp. 
141-158, and 223-229, Plate x.), constitutes a valuable mono- 
graph of this complicated and interesting group of animals. 
Here, however, as in many other parts of the book, a few 
rough diagrams like those in the “Introduction to Classi- 
fication,” and in Prof. Greene’s admirable monograph of 
Coelenterata, would have been exceedingly useful, especially 
in explaining the more difficult points of embryology. 
In treating of the Protozoa, with which the Infusoria 
are, we think, rightly associated, Professor Rolleston 
introduces a valuable disquisition upon the limits of the 
animal and vegetable kingdoms with the admission that 
“itis not rarely difficult to differentiate a unicellular or- 
ganism as animal or vegetable, unless we happen to be 
acquainted with its past or future history” (p. clxii.). He 
does not admit Hickel’s intermediate kingdom Protista, 
agreeing with almost all English naturalists in regarding 
Monera and Protopiasta as allied to Rhizopoda, and Ayxo- 
* This sentence is a fair specimen of the author's compressed and paren- 
thetical style, which sometimes reminds the reader of Lord Bacon and some- 
times of S. Paul. -A large insertion of brackets and dashes, of which there 
is scarcely one throughout the book, would often make plain the difficulties of 
a Thucydidean sentence, but eyen then only persons of great vital capacity 
could read the book aloud. 
mycete and Slagellata as vegetable organisms. He 
justly regards the chief difficulty to lie in the establish- 
ment of such statements as that animalcules as high 
as Actinophrys have at one period undoubtedly veget- 
able characters; but at the utmost the indeterminate 
groups would include very few of the organisms claimed 
by Prof. Hackel for his new kingdom. 
In addition to the criteria usually given between animals 
and vegetables, it would seem*that in all cases of true 
ovulation, the animal embryo absorbs its yelk from inside, 
while that of a seed is itself surrounded by the albumen ; 
if this difference proves to be universal, it would be a 
remarkable foreshadowing of the mode of nourishment 
of adult animals and plants respectively. 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
The Handy Book of Bees, being a Practical Treatise on 
their Profitable Management. By A, Pettigrew. (Wil- 
liam Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.) 
Tus book will be inyaluable to the beginner in bee- 
keeping, and will probably contain many useful hints to 
the more experienced. The author is one of a family of 
beekeepers, who have always made a large profit from 
their bees. He is eminently practical, and the greater 
part of the work consists of careful notes on the various 
details of successful bee management. In the descriptive 
parts he is also very good, but is not quite so successful 
when he comes to treat of some disputed points in the 
economy of bees. For example, he maintains the theory 
that the eggs of bees are of no sex, and can be made into 
queens, workers, or drones, as the wants of the commu- 
nity render necessary. In ‘this he is opposed to all the 
great authorities who have studied bees; and he even 
gives a series of letters from Mr. Woodbury, of Exeter, on 
the question, which are almost conclusive as to eggs being 
of two sorts when laid, one producing drones only, and 
not capable by any subsequent treatment of producing 
anything else ; the other capable of producing workers or 
queens, according to the treatment they receive, His 
arguments against this view are of the weakest, and he 
suggests an experiment, which, he says, “is within the 
reach of very inexperienced persons,” and which would 
completely settle the question ; and yet he writes a book 
in which he brings up the subject, and opposes the best 
authorities, without having first taken the trouble to make 
the experiment himself! Again, he states positively that 
worker-bees live nine months only—neyer more; yet he 
gives no account of how this can be ascertained, or refers 
to the variety of opinion that exists as to their longevity. 
As an example of the valuable matter in the practical 
part of the work, we quote his recipe for fumigatione A 
few puffs of smoke from a bit of corduroy or fustian rolled 
up like a candle, stupefies and terrifies bees so much that 
they run to escape from its power. Tobacco smoke is 
more powerful still, but it has a tendency to make bees 
dizzy, and reel like a drunken man ; besides, it is far more 
expensive, and less handy. Old corduroy or fustian is 
better than new, unless the matter used to stiffen it be 
completely washed out, The stiffening matter won’t burn, 
The old worn-out and castaway fustian and corduroy 
clothes of labouring men cannot be surpassed for the pur- 
pose of stupefying bees. Let me ask the most timid bee- 
keeper in the country to try it. Geta piece the size ofa 
man’s hand, rolled up rather tight, and fired at one end— 
not to blaze, but simply to smoke. Let him now place the 
smoking end so close to the door of a hive that all 
the smoke may go in when he blows on it. After six 
or eight puffs have been sent into the hive, let him 
lift it off the board, turn it gently over upside down, 
so that the bees and combs stare him in the face, 
