NATURE 



{_Nov. I, 1 88 J 



names only, thus: "according to Frauenfeld, ;«iV(7«j- differs 

 from u'iillerstorfii." This is the only deijarture from the 

 ordinary rules of nomenclature that we have as yet 

 noticed in these Reports, and we call attention to it in the 

 earnest hope that it will not occur again. 



Species of llalobates are recorded in Mr. Murray's 

 journal as found twenty-one times in the Atlantic between 

 latitudes 35' N. and 20" S., and thirty-eight times in the 

 Pacific belu-ecn latitudes y]° N. and 73^ S. The majority 

 of the specimens taken by the tow net were dead when 

 brought on board, but some were taken alive and were 

 observed skimming over the surface of the water in the 

 glass globes. On one occasion a species was seen to 

 dive. Of the species of Halobates now known, five occur 

 in the Atlantic, but one only is restricted to that ocean, 

 though the headquarters of another appear to be there. 

 Six species, of which two are peculiar, occur in the Indian 

 Ocean west of long. 100° E., while to the east of this, and 

 chiefly in the West Pacific, eight species occur, of which 

 four are restricted to that region. But taking the 

 West Pacific and Indian Ocean together, we find that 

 nine out of the eleven known species occur there, 

 and five nowhere else. Of Halobatodes H. lituralus 

 occurs in the Chinese Sea, H. conipar is from India, H. 

 stiili from Ceylon. All the species are figured on three 

 plates. 



The Third Report is by Prof. Allman, on the Hydrozoa. 

 Part I. Plumularida?. Of the Hydroids, a large number 

 of exotic species have been recently described, notably 

 the collections made during the exploration of the Gulf 

 Stream, and during the expedition of H.M.S. Porcupine, 

 by Dr. Allman himself. But to this number the collec- 

 tion brought home by the Chatlcugi'r makes a large and 

 valuable addition. Of this collection the family of 

 the Plumularida; forms a considerable proportion. Only 

 one form can be identified with a species occurring in the 

 European seas. This species, Cladocarpiis fonnosiis, was 

 dredged by the Porcupine from the seas lying to the north 

 of Scotland, and by the Clialleni^er from the seas at 

 Japan. It is a well-marked species, and the great dis- 

 tance between the Atlantic and Pacific stations, without 

 any intermediate station having been discovered, is a 

 remarkable and significant fact. By far the larger num- 

 ber of the forms brought home by the Challenger consist 

 of species new to science, while among these a consider- 

 able number have had to be assigned to new genera. 

 Many of the species are of great interest from the light 

 they throw on the external morphology of the group, and 

 from the aid which they afford towards a philosophical con- 

 ception of the significance of parts otherwise enigmatical. 

 The Report is prefaced by some introductory remarks on 

 the general morphology of the Plumularidffi. While not 

 yet possessing the data necessary for a complete exposi- 

 tion of the geographical distribution of this group, it may 

 be generally asserted that it attains its greatest develop- 

 ment in the warmer seas of both hemispheres, and that 

 in tropical and subtropical regions it has its maximum in 

 multiplicity of form, in the size of the colonies and in in- 

 dividual profusion. The dredgings of the Challenger ajid 

 of the United States Exploration of the Gulf Stream 

 would further seem to point to two centres of maximum 

 development within the area thus indicated — an eastern 

 centre, which is situated in the warm seas around the 



Philippines and other islands of the East Indian Archi- 

 pelago, and a western centre, which will be found in those 

 which lie around the West Indian Islands and bathe the 

 eastern shores of Central and Equinoctial America. In 

 bathymetrical distribution the Plumularida; present con- 

 siderable variation. Among the species described some 

 are quite littoral, having been dredged from depths ranging 

 from between 8 and 20 fathoms. The greater number, how- 

 ever, have been obtained from depths between 20 and 150 

 fathoms, while three species, Aglaophenia filicula, yl. 

 acacia, and Polyplumaria pumila, are from a depth of 450 

 fathoms. The striking and beautiful genus Cladocarpus 

 consists of eminently deep-water forms, and of the two 

 species described, one — C. forinosus — was obtained in the 

 Japan seas from a depth varying between 420 and 775 

 fathoms ; the same species from the north of Scotland 

 was found at depths of from 167 to 632 fathoms. The 

 second species — C. pectiniferus — was dredged off the 

 Azores from 900 fathoms, being the greatest depth from 

 which any Plumularidan is known to have been obtained. 

 This Report is illustrated by twenty plates. 



The last Report in this volume is on the genus Orbito- 

 lites, by Dr. W. B. Carpenter, with eight beautiful plates 

 by Mr. George West, jun. Some thirty-six years ago Dr. 

 W. B. Carpenter received from Prof. Edward Forbes some 

 small discoidal bodies which had been dredged between 

 1842 and 1846 by Prof. J. Beete Jukes on the coast of Aus- 

 tralia, with the hint that these were probably the Margino- 

 pora of Quoy and Gaimard. From this time to the pre- 

 sent Dr. Carpenter has made a pretty constant study of 

 these interesting Foraminifcrs, and he gives us a highly 

 instructive account of the views held from 1823 by the 

 various authors who have written on the genus, from the 

 strange misconceptions of Ehrenberg to the accurate de- 

 scriptions of Prof. Williamson, who first clearly deter- 

 mined the close affinity between Orbitolites and Orbicu- 

 lina, thus disposing of the Bryozoic doctrine of Ehrenberg, 

 and relegating these organisms to the Foraminifera. As 

 the final result of Dr. Carpenter's laborious researches on 

 this group, he concludes that while the ordinary notions 

 of species will not apply to it any more than it will to any 

 of the Foraminifera, still particular types of form are 

 transmitted with marked genetic continuity, and he dis- 

 tinguishes four very well marked types of Orbitolites, 

 around which the entire assemblage of specimens col- 

 lected over a very wide geographical area, and from a 

 great bathymetrical range, can be grouped without diffi, 

 culty. Treating of the subject of descent, the author 

 declares that "it seems to him that the evolution of this 

 type from the simplest monothalamous Milioline has 

 taken place according to a definite plan, of which we 

 have the evidence in the wonderful uniformity and regu- 

 larity of the entire sequence of developmental changes, 

 whilst we are entirely unable to account for those changes 

 without attributing to the subjects of them a capability of 

 being affected by external agencies or modes so peculiar 

 as to indicate a previous adaptation." 



From an editorial note prefixed to this volume we learn 

 that the various large incidental collections of terrestrial 

 forms, such as insects, spiders, reptiles, &c., will not have 

 any detailed reports published concerning them, but that 

 they will be referred to in the narrative of the cruise, the 

 first volume of which is announced for 1SS4. 



