114 

remote Coelenterate ancestor. The author appears 
to forget that these chambers are formed in a 
fundamentally different way and order, by the 
ingrowing of mesenterial folds. Moreover, one 
of the many serious objections to this theory is 
that it fails utterly to bridge over the gap between 
the Coelenterate and the Ca@lomate, and leaves 
quite unexplained the structure of the Platyhel- 
minth and Nemertine. It is just here that the 
Gonoccele theory has proved so valuable, giving 
the only intelligible interpretation of the morpho- 
logy of these lower forms, founded not on vague 
speculations, but on the comparison of well-estab- 
lished facts in comparative anatomy. This theory, 
founded and supported by Hatschek, Ed. Meyer, 
Lang, and many others, Prof. MacBride dismisses 
with scorn, and the remarkable statement that any 
vogue it has obtained “is only in consequence 
of the myopic concentration of attention on the 
facts of development in a limited number of 
groups, and the neglect of the facts of develop- 
ment in other groups” (p. 166). 
The suggestion made on p. 661 that the diverti- 
cula of the gut in the Platyhelmia represent the 
ceelom takes us back some thirty years to a time 
before the structure of these animals was under- 
stood, besides being in direct opposition to the 
teaching of cell-lineage so clearly described in this 
very volume. The determination of the homology 
of the mesoblast cells in Platyhelminths, Nemer- 
tines, Annelids, and Molluscs is surely one of the 
most important contributions of modern embry- 
ology to the morphology of the Invertebrata. 
The author is less happy in his phylogenetic 
speculations than in his descriptions of develop- 
ment. So much is he under the influence of the 
recapitulation theory that almost all free-swim- 
ming larvee appear to him as scarcely modified 
ancestral forms. It need scarcely be pointed out 
that the mere prevalence of a common larval form 
in one or several groups of animals does not in 
itself prove that this larva closely resembles the 
adult common ancestor. It may be taken as good 
evidence that the ancestor also possessed such a 
larval stage, and is therefore an indication of the 
close affinity of the animals concerned. Beyond 
this it is unsafe to theorise without other evidence 
from comparative anatomy or paleontology. It 
should never be forgotten that ancestors were not 
larve, but self-supporting adults capable of re- 
production. Prof. MacBride would have done 
better to follow the example of Sir Ray Lankester, 
who long ago, when he reconstructed his famous 
Archi-mollusc, took as his model not the trocho- 
sphere nor even the veliger larva, but a creeping 
animal. If we adopted the author’s theories as to 
the ancestral significance of larval forms, we 
NO. 2370, VOL. 95] 
NATURE 

[APRIL I, 1915 
should have to suppose that a large number of the 
characters held in common by the various groups 
have been independently developed, a conclusion 
for which there would seem to be no justification. 
When discussing general questions in a final 
chapter Prof. MacBride appeals to hormones as 
affording a rational explanation of the modus 
operandi for the supposed “inheritance of ac- 
quired characters.” This view is, of course, not 
new; Delage, Vernon, and Cunningham have 
in turn supported it. But, quite apart from the 
evidence of such inheritance, it is difficult to see 
how these internal secretions could become in- 
corporated into the blastogenic factors of de- 
velopment. 
We congratulate both the author and the editor 
on the production of this handsome text-book. It 
will doubtless be warmly welcomed by, all English- 
speaking students and teachers of embryology, 
and take the place it deserves among the standard 
works on the subject. 
E. S. Goopricn. 

THE BUTTERFLIES OF AUSTRALIA. 
The Butterflies of Australia: a Monograph of the 
Australian Rhopalocera. By G. A. Waterhouse 
and G. Lyell. Pp. vit+239+plates. (Sydney: 
Angus and Robertson; London: Oxford Uni- 
versity Press, 1914.) Price 42s. net. 
HE scientific study of the butterflies of Aus- 
tralia is certain to be greatly advanced by 
the appearance of this admirable work, although it 
is to be feared that the high price will tend to 
prevent a very wide circulation. It is obvious, 
however, that a costly book is implied by the 
presence of forty-three excellent quarto plates, of 
which four are coloured. In addition to this 
abundant and most necessary illustration in plates, 
the reader is provided with numbers of text figures 
as well as a valuable map-index of localities. 
One of the plates is devoted to larvee and pupae, 
one coloured plate to the variations of the Satyrine 
butterfly Tisiphone joanna, the three others to 
special Satyrine, Lyceenide, and Hesperide. The 
remaining thirty-eight uncoloured plates contain 
793 figures, all natural size, of the 332 species 
recognised by the authors as at present known in 
Australia. 
Especial attention has been given to geo- 
graphical distribution, and the authors have made 
a point of examining long series of specimens 
wherever available. In this work they have re- 
ceived help from many students of the Australian 
Rhopalocera, while Mr. Waterhouse’s extremely 
fine collection, seen by the present writer during 
the recent visit of the British Association, has 
