Feb. 3, 18S7] 



NA TURE 



V^ines of the Vegetable, group ; though, as was to have 

 been expected, the early phenomena in the two king- 

 doms are to some extent the sams. The facts mentioned 

 are well up to date, and both portions of this article are 

 worthy of their authors. Animal reproduction is illustrated 

 by a few useful woodcuts ; but this help to the under- 

 standing of the text is wanting in the section on vegetable 

 reproduction. Mr. Vines very correctly criticises Stras- 

 burger's idea that the cause of sexuality in cells is purely 

 (|uantitative. In the article on Reptiles Dr. Giinther finds 

 himself on familiar ground, and in the forty p.iges placed 

 at his disposal he gives a most excellent account of the 

 history and literature of the group, and of the evolution of 

 their classification, from Linnseus to Cope, followed by 

 a brief record of some of the more important systematic 

 works on reptiles, in which the nead of a general work 

 on the subject is pointed out. The principal faunistic 

 works are alluded to, and then follow the systematic por- 

 tions, the anjtomy of the chief forms characteristic of the 

 orders, and a paragraph about the distribution of reptiles 

 in time and space. Prof A. Gamgee, in an article on 

 Respiration, dwells chiefly on the phenomena attending 

 this function in mammals, the phenomena to be observed 

 in all the other groups of the animal kingdom being 

 scarcely even alluded to. The articles on the Rhinoceros 

 and the Seal, by Mr. Flower, are quite models of ency- 

 clopaedic articles, for in them we have just the information 

 a general reader would require, and this of a thoroughly 

 trustworthy kind. The same may be said of an article on 

 Rhubarb, by Mr. E. W. Holmes. 



The article on Rotifera, in Vol. XXL, by Prof A. G. 

 Bourne, was probably printed ere the finely illustrated 

 monograph of this group by Gosse and Hudson had made 

 its appearance, but the classification given is based on 

 that of Hudson. The account of the general morphology 

 and anatomy is well done, and in a few very pertinent re- 

 marks on their affinities the author concludes that, while the 

 high development of the mastax, the specialised charac- 

 ter of the lorica in many forms, the movable spines in 

 Polyarthra, the limbs of Pedalion, and the lateral ap- 

 pendages in Asplanchna, the existence of a diminutive 

 male, the formation of two varieties of ova — all point to 

 a specialisation in the direction of the groups of the 

 Mollusca, Arthropoda, and Chajtopoda ; yet such pheno- 

 mena would not justify the definite association of the 

 Rotifera in a single phylum with any of them. The phe- 

 nomena of rotifers being desiccated, and then coming 

 into active existence, are mentioned as if actually proved 

 by exact experiment ; but is this so ? It certainly does 

 not always succeed, as, no doubt, numerous observers 

 have often noted : too frequently, from inattention, all the 

 water will evaporate from a slide with rotifers ; and so 

 far, general experience proves, that if this evaporation be 

 carried to desiccation, not all the drops of water in the 

 world w'ill set up the rotifers that were on such a slide into 

 life again. No doubt it is quite different with their ova. 



Mr. J. T. Cunningham contributes an interesting article 

 on Salmonidae, in which he presents a pretty full synopsis of 

 most of the genera and of all the British species. The life- 

 history of the British forms is given, and some account of 

 the legislation on the subject of our fisheries. The salmon- 

 disease is described. From whence the fresh salmon 

 gets affected would seem to be an, as yet, unsettled pro- 



blem. Might not one source be frog-spawn ? After the 

 tadpoles escape, the gelatinous nidus remaining will some- 

 times be found permeated with Saprolcgnia ferox, with 

 ripe oosporangia. 



The next biological article of importance in the volume 

 is on the Schizomycetes, by Prof. Marshall Ward, in- 

 cluding within this term all those Schizophyta devoid of 

 chlorophyll. The history of these forms, though dating only 

 from I S60, has of late years made rapid progress, and the 

 epitome of this history as here given is full of interest. 

 Most judiciously, while selecting the facts from writings of 

 scientific worth, the author ignores a lot of the rubbish 

 that has appeared in print on the subject. The section 

 on the morphology is very ably written, and the illustra- 

 tive figures are e.xcellent. Very thoroughly do we agree 

 with the author, that to deny the existence of species in 

 this group is to deny the existence of species altogether. 

 No doubt, before they can be properly defined, the whole 

 life-history of any one of these forms must be known ; 

 and equally certain is it that immense advance in a 

 knowledge of the life-history of many of them has been 

 made since the date of Cohn's brilliant researches. As 

 to the important question. Are the Schizomycetes 

 accompaniments only of disease, or have they any causal 

 relation to the diseased condition? no decided answer 

 is given, the discussion as to details being still an active 

 one. The theory that, by the growth and development 

 of certain forms under certain conditions, the medium 

 in which these forms live may be so atomically altered 

 that new and deadly ptomaines may arise, is not alluded 

 to. To the references to authorities given it may 

 be useful to add Just's Botanischer Jahresbericht, which 

 year by year laboriously works out the immense literature 

 of this subject. 



Dr. Giinther's article on Sharks is well illustrated, and 

 well up to date. There is a capital figure of that most 

 interesting and novel form, Chlaiiiydoselachiis anguineus, 

 S. Garman, from Japan, of which but two specimens are 

 known, one of these being in the British Museum. In 

 reference to the economic use of these fish, allusion is 

 made to the oil abstracted from the larger forms. We 

 may mention that the oil from the basking shark is 

 of considerable commercial value, and that in the case of 

 the immense Rkinodon typicus, which abounds during 

 certain seasons in the seas around the Seychelles Islands, 

 the oil is of excellent quality, and there is little doubt 

 would pay well for collecting, although owing to the dififer- 

 ences in the respiratory functions, the difficulty in captur- 

 ing large fishes is vastly greater than in capturing big 

 mammals. 



When we turn from the biological to the mathematical 

 and physical sciences, we do not find such a great wealth 

 of articles, but on the other hand some of them are 

 of the highest order, the only fault about them being, 

 perhaps, their shortness. Such are the articles on 

 "Quaternions" and "Radiation," by Prof Tait. Prof. 

 Dittmar writes on sea-water, and Prof. Ewing on seis- 

 mometers. Mr. Herbert Rix, the Assistant Secretar\' of 

 the Royal Society, gives an account of the history and 

 doings of it, which will be read with interest by many. 

 The chemists have their fair share of interest in the 

 volumes ; prussic acii, pyrotechny, salts, being among the 

 subjects treated of in all their aspects. 



