438 
southern hemisphere. The Diplosomidz are from tropical 
seas. The family of the Ccelocormide is only known 
from the southern hemisphere. In the Didemnida the 
genera are well represented in both hemispheres, while in 
that of the Polystyelidze the southern and northern forms 
belong to different genera. 
The Compound Ascidians are not deep-seaforms. While 
between shore-mark and a depth of 50 fathoms over 60 
species and varieties were found, but 12 species were 
met with at depths between 100 and 250 fathoms; 4 
species extended to a depth of 500; 7 species to a depth 
of 1000 fathoms ; and one strange form, Pharyugodiclyon 
mirabtle, was found at a depth of 1600 fathoms. While 
as a matter of course the shallow-water forms have been 
better known from being so much more easily collected than 
the deep-sea species, still Prof. Herdman seems amply 
justified in his conclusions that the Compound Ascidians 
are essentially ‘‘a shallow-water group, that they are 
abundant around coasts in a few fathoms of water, and 
that they rapidly decrease in numbers as greater and 
greater depths are reached.” 
As to the phylogeny of the group, the author has come 
to the conclusion that the Compound Ascidians are poly- 
phyletic in origin, being made up of several branches 
which at differing periods have arisen from the Simple 
forms. 
As introductory to the description of new genera and 
species, we find a very complete and most instructive 
chapter devoted to the history, bibliography, and anatomy 
of the group. The general anatomical details are illus- 
trated by some excellent woodcuts. The details of the 
anatomy of the various species are given in connection with 
their description, and are largely illustrated on the forty- 
nine plates drawn by Prof. Herdman which accompany 
the memoir. ‘The investigation of the Ascidians, despite 
the existence of some few brilliant memoirs, is now for 
the first time done justice to; and, while we congratulate 
the author on his excellent work, we recognise in it not 
only an elaborate Report, but in addition a monograph of 
a, to this, very imperfectly known group. 
Part 39 is a Report on the Holothuroidee, by Hjalmar 
Théel, Part 2. In the second portion of this Report on 
these soft-bodied Echinoderms, Théel has not rested 
satisfied with giving a description only of the new forms 
of the groups Apoda and Pedata, which were brought 
home by the Expedition, but he has added a series of 
short accounts of all the forms known, even quoting the 
doubtful or little-known forms. Thus we have in this 
report also a veritable monograph of another most inter- 
esting group. Although unable to say much as to the 
bathymetrical distribution of these forms, still the Cia/- 
lenger dredgings have added many facts to our previous 
knowledge: Up to 1872 very few forms were known from 
depths exceeding 100 fathoms, and scarcely one from 
below 200 fathoms. Now we know cf a number of forms 
met with at a depth of 500 fathoms, and these are gene- 
rally distinct from shallow-water forms though belonging 
to the same genera. Several species have a vast bathy- 
metrical distribution, some individuals still living near the 
shore, while others have descended without any notable 
change to depths of from 5 to 700 fathoms. Some few 
belong to genera that have no representatives in depths 
shallower than 500 fathoms. Among the very deep-sea 
NATURE 
[ Sept. 9, 1886 
forms we find Cucumaria abyssorum, at a depth of from 
1500 to 2223 fathoms ; Syzapta abyssorum, at a depth of 
2350 fathoms; Pseudostichopus villosus, at a depth of 
1375 to 2200 fathoms ; and the deepest-living of all the 
forms, Holothuria thomsoni, at a depth of from 1875 to 
2900 fathoms. Some fifty-three new species or strongly- 
marked varieties are described and figured. A valuable 
bibliography is annexed 
species have been re-described from fresh specimens, 
thus rendering this Report of immense value to the 
working zoologist. 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
Miscellaneous Papers relating to Indo-China. 
Triibner’s Oriental Series. 
Co., 1886.) 
IN Oriental matters, more than in any other branch of 
investigation, the student is beset at every step by the 
difficulty of knowing what has been done already, for, 
besides books and papers published in London and other 
European capitals (which are accessible enough), there 
are those published in the East itself by numerous Socie- 
ties as well as private individuals. In addition, many of 
the Journals and Proceedings of Societies to which the 
student would desire to refer are long since out of print, 
and many of them fetch a very high price indeed. Such 
are the Chinese Repository, the Oriental Repertory, 
Logan’s Journal of the Indian Archipelago, and many 
others that could be named. In London these can be 
consulted at the British Museum, at the libraries of the 
India Office and the Royal Asiatic Society, and perhaps 
elsewhere ; but this is of little service to the student 
elsewhere in the British Islands, and still less to 
one who is working in the very field itself, in the 
Malay Peninsula, Java, Borneo, Bangkok, or China, 
Occasionally, an enterprising Society or publisher may 
republish some of these old papers, but this is not often 
done, for the number of immediate buyers is necessarily 
small, and the return therefore slow and doubtful. 
Recent events in various parts of Further India, in- 
cluding in this term that part of Asia west of Burmah and 
south of China, have attracted the public mind to these 
regions. Accordingly, the Straits Branch of the Royal 
Asiatic Society, which has its seat at Singapore, decided 
to publish a first instalment of papers relating to Indo- 
China, but mainly to the Malay Archipelago, scattered 
about in various periodicals now beyond the reach of 
most students, and out of the question for those who are 
unable to consult large libraries. A selection of papers 
was made by officers of the Society in Singapore; these 
were carefully edited by Dr. Rost, the Librarian of the 
India Office, and the work was fortunate in being placed 
in Messrs. Triibner’s Oriental Series—a series of works 
which, whether we regard individual excellence or the 
range of Oriental knowledge which it embraces, stands 
unrivalled in the world, for in every direction it forms the 
high-water mark of European study of the East. The pre- 
sent volumes include selections from the papers published 
in Dalrymple’s Oriental Repertory, the old Astatic Re- 
searches, and the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 
It may be hoped that the Society will feel able and willing 
tocontinue theissue of similar selections from other sources. 
The papers commence about 1808, and the latest are 
dated about 1860, and they embrace almost every subject 
of interest relating to the East. Some of the earlier 
reports are now of merely historical interest, such as 
Topping’s account of Keddah, Barton’s surveys and de- 
scription of Balambangan, and the history of the forma- 
tion of the East India Company’s establishment at 
Penang. But others are of more value. There are 
2 Vols. 
(London: Triibner and 
| numerous descriptions of various economic products, as 
Many imperfectly-described — 
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