550 



NA TURE 



\0d. 5, 1882 



BRITISH SPONGES' 



NEARLY twenty years have elapsed since the pub- 

 lication of the first volume of Dr. Bowerbank's 

 "Monograph of the British Sponges" by the Ray Society, 

 and the posthumous fourth volume, just published, has 

 been edited, with additions, by the Rev. A. M. Norman. 

 That these four volumes contain an immense mass of 

 facts and observations about our native sponges ; that 

 they in addition possess a really splendid series of illus- 

 trations, few will care to deny, and yet it must be difficult 

 for a student of the more modern school of biological 

 science to fairly appreciate them. The descriptive and 

 physiological portions of the first volume, despite the 

 quarter of a century spent by the author thereof in the 

 preparation of his work, are apt to excite one's surprise, 

 while the profound ignoring by Dr. Bowerbank of the 

 work of co-temporary authors, leaves the description of 

 the species in the second and third volumes often quite 

 delusive. 



Those naturalists who can look back for some thirty 

 years or more will not find it difficult to account for all 

 this. Leaving out of the question for the moment how 

 little was then known about sponges, how clumsy and un- 

 scientific were the attempts to examine them, it is more 

 important still to recollect how few were the opportunities 

 in these islands of scientific biological training. Which of 

 our universities gave any training in modern biological 

 research? and the anxious inquirer as to the beginnings of 

 life, as to the structure of its lower forms, as to the proper 

 method of such research, could find no voice trying in 

 the many colleges of our country. 



Things have changed greatly since then, and the man 

 who at the period referred to might have been treated as 

 a master would now probably not be tolerated at all. The 

 late Dr. Bowerbank, though as a youth fond of astronomy, 

 chemistry, botany, and geology, received no scientific 

 education. A partner in an extensive business concern, he 

 amused his leisure hours with the pursuit of science as 

 an amateur ; of an active and pleasant turn of mind, we 

 owe to him in great measure the origin of our Pakeonto- 

 graphical Society, of the Microscopical Society, and also 

 of the Ray Society. 



In 1 S41 a storm occurring while he was at Brighton threw 

 a mass of sponges on the beach, and for the next thirty-five 

 years Dr. Bowerbank made the group of sponges his 

 favourite study. "He was a pioneer," writes his friend, the 

 editor of this volume, " who struck out a new line. As he 

 had begun alone, so he went on alone in his own way, not 

 so much disregarding as seldom or rarely noticing the views 

 of others." It is for this reason that hardly any synonyms 

 will be found in the previous volumes of this work ; 

 indeed Dr. Bowerbank was in the habit of not even 

 referring back to his own predescribed species. 



However differently the first three volumes of Bower- 

 bank's British Sponges may be regarded, all will agree 

 that this fourth volume is one not only indispensable for 

 the correct understanding of its predecessors, but that the 

 editor's own special additions have made it a work that 

 must be in the hands of every student of this group. 



Of the special editorial work we would notice the com- 

 plete list of species described in all the volumes, with 

 references so complete that it forms as it were a key to the 

 whole. The supplying of recent synonyms, though a most 

 laborious undertaking has been accomplished in a manner 

 to call for the warmest praise. The giving a table of geogra- 

 phical distribution, in which the columns "Abyssal" and 

 " 100-500 fathoms " have been partially filled in from Mr. 

 Carter's Repor t of the Sponges dredged in the Porcupine 

 Expedition of 1869 and 1870. This table makes it clear 

 that the Sponge Fauna of many parts of our seas remain 



1 "A Mon. graph of the British Spungida:," by the late J. S. Bowerbank, 

 LL.D., F.R S., &c. Edited, with additions, by the Rev. A. M. Norn.au, 

 M.A., F.L.S. Vol. iv. Supplementary. (Lcndon: For the Ray Society, 



almost wholly unexplored, and it is to be much hoped 

 that the very deficiencies exhibited here will have a ten- 

 dency, among other causes, to induce our younger natu- 

 ralists to take up so fine a field of research. Mr. Norman, 

 who has a more extended knowledge of the zoology of our 

 coasts than any living naturalist, unhesitatingly asserts 

 " that no other class of animals offers to the student so 

 rich a field for exploration, or one in which he is so likely 

 to meet with so many new and strange forms." 



Another important addition to this volume is the cata- 

 logue of all works and papers published on the sponges- 

 To the specialist this forms a deeply interesting appendix, 

 and while some few memoirs have escaped the patient 

 research of the author, the pains he had to take to find this 

 out only increases our admiration of the fulness of the list. 



Through all the four volumes such frequent mention is 

 made of Mr. Norman's name that it may be not without 

 interest to state that while he gave Dr. Bowerbank all the 

 aid in his power during the progress of the work, placing 

 his collection unreservedly in Dr. Bowerbank's hands, yet 

 that he found himself frequently obliged to dissent from 

 the conclusions of the author. It was hard indeed to 

 convince Dr. Bowerbank against his will, as the writer 

 knows, from a vain attempt carried on through the whole 

 of a winter's evening, to persuade him to see a Ccelen- 

 terate structure in what Dr. Bowerbank regarded as the 

 "oscula" of Hyalonema. 



It will be useful to specialists in the group of sponges 

 to know that Dr. Bowerbank's collection is now pre- 

 served in the British Museum. A brief notice of Dr. 

 Bowerbank is appended to this volume. In calling atten- 

 tion to it the editor writes : " Few naturalists of the 

 present generation will be aware, until they have read it, 

 how much the progress of natural history in Great Britain 

 in years gone by was fostered and furthered by the energy, 

 zeal, and enthusiasm of our late kind friend," and perhaps 

 on reading it some may be inclined to follow in his foot- 

 steps only working out the history of our British Sponges 

 on modern methods and with our new lights. 



EXPLORATION IN SI AM 



A CORRESPONDENT sends us the following:— 

 Mr. Carl Bock has just returned to England, 

 after a long and difficult journey from Bangkok to the 

 northern frontiers of Siam and Laos. Leaving Bangkok 

 on November 9 last, in a steamer placed at his disposal 

 by the King of Siam, Mr. Bock ascended the Menam as 

 far as Raheng, whence he proceeded overland to Lak'on, 

 which was reached on December 27. Here he was 

 dela> ed for twelve days by a dispute with the^local chiefs, 

 who imposed on him a fine of fifteen rupees for an 

 alleged assault on a Phya or notable ; but on January 7 

 he succeeded in getting away, and reached Chengmai on 

 the ntb. Here he remained, making geological observa- 

 tions till February 2. He found the country fertile, and 

 well cultivated in parts, but the people, as a rule, lazy and 

 superstitious. Leaving here with a caravan of 6 ele- 

 phants and 20 coolies, he pushed through a hilly, rugged 

 country, to a new settlement at Muang Fang, the site of 

 an ancient city, at one time the capital of Western Laos. 

 Here the few inhabitants were busy clearing the forest 

 andj jungle, and Mr. Bock had excellent opportunities of 

 adding to his collection of the fauna of the country. 

 Tigers were abundant and bold, and their raids on the 

 newly-introduced cattle were attributed to the presence 

 of the traveller. Near here he visited the famous cave 

 of Tam-tap-tau, the entrance to which is some 70 or 80 

 feet up the side of a limestone hill of about 300 feet high, 

 and which is most difficult of access. In the middle of 

 the cavern is a gigantic figure of Buddha, in a reclining 

 posture, thickly gilded, and surrounded with a curious 

 assortment of water jars, cloths, and idols of bronze, wood , 



