October 24, 1912] 



NATURE 



tributed by Dr. Hjort and Dr. Appellof in chapters 

 vii. and viii., the former writing on the fishes, 

 the latter on the invertebrates. It is a task of 

 no httle difficulty to treat such extensive subjects 

 in a concise and yet comprehensive way. With 

 the help of a large series of figures illustrating 

 the numerous species mentioned, both authors 

 have succeeded well, and it is to be hoped that 

 their efforts may result in reviving popular as well 

 as general scientific interest in these branches of 

 marine biology, which, fascinating as they are, 

 have rather tended to become of late years 

 entirely relegated to specialists on particular 

 groups. 



Following these, chapter ix., on pelagic animal 

 life, by Dr. Hjort, contains perhaps the largest 

 proportion of original matter to be found in the 

 book. This is due to the fact that the collecting 

 gear chiefly used by the expedition consisted of 

 townets and large pelagic nets of various 

 patterns, all of them of very much greater fish- 

 ing capacity thsn the nets which have previously 



Fig. 4. — Two Gastrostomids. a. Gastrostomus bairdii^ Gill and Ryder. 

 Nat. size, 20 cm. From "The Depths of tlie Oc 



been used in ocean v.'ork. From the nature of 

 the results already reached — and the material has 

 as yet been only partially v^■orked out — it seems 

 clear, as Dr. Hjort maintains, that the qualitative 

 results obtained by the use of these large nets 

 towed for long periods give a more correct and 

 comprehensive picture of the free-swimming life 

 of the Atlantic than was obtained with the rela- 

 tively small nets used by the German plankton 

 expedition, the material from which Prof. Hensen 

 and his helpers have attempted to work out 

 quantitatively at the cost of such vast labour. 



The final chapter, entitled "General Biology," 

 is also written by Dr. Hjort. It deals with 'in- 

 numerable problems of scientific importance in 

 a most suggestive and stimulating way, and 

 maintains the high standard of the whole book 

 to the end. Among the numerous questions dealt 

 with are the colours of marine animals and their 

 relation to the conditions in which these animals 

 live, phosphorescence and luminous organs, the 

 eyes of deep-sea fishes and the meaning of the 

 NO. 2243, VOL. 90] 



great variations in their size in different species, 

 the factors which influence the floating of pelagic 

 organisms, and the organs which are special 

 adaptations for floating. 



One other subject in this final chapter must 

 not be passed without notice — namely, the valu- 

 able contribution made by the Michael Sars ex- 

 pedition to the wonderful story of the life- 

 history of the fresh-water eel. The expedition 

 secured numerous eel larvae of stages much 

 younger than any previously found, and from the 

 distribution of these larvae the conclusion seems 

 justified that the eel spawns south of the latitude 

 of the Azores, and the larvae are later carried 

 into the northern North Atlantic and towards 

 the coasts of northern Europe by the Gulf 

 Stream. 



Nothing could be more calculated than this 

 book to awaken fresh interest in the importance 

 of the thorough and complete investigation of the 

 problems of the great oceans. A knowledge of 

 the changes which take place from season to 

 season and from year to 

 year in the Atlantic would 

 be of incalculable value to 

 every country in Europe, 

 for there can now be 

 scarcely a doubt -that it is 

 upon these changes that 

 the variations in the yield 

 of the harvests both of the 

 land and of the sea are 

 mainly dependent. These 

 changes can never be 

 ascertained by single 

 cruises such as that of the 

 Michael Sars, brilliantly 

 though that cruise was 

 carried out. What we 

 now want is systematic 

 Nat. size, 47 cm. /.. New Genus, ^nd Sustained researches 

 a"' extending over a period of 



years. Great Britain did 

 the pioneer work in connection with ocean research, 

 and the time is fully ripe when a comprehensive 

 scheme of investigation in the Atlantic should 

 be organised in this country. The present notice 

 can have no better conclusion than the expression 

 of the hope that Sir John Murray will use his 

 great experience and commanding position in 

 trying to ensure that the British Government 

 should make the necessary provision for such an 

 investigation. E. J. Allen. 



THE SWISS SOCIETY OF NATURAL 

 SCIENCES. 



THE Societii Helvetique des Sciences naturelles, 

 which, in Switzerland, takes the place of a 

 scientific academy, and is the centre of all con- 

 certed action in the scientific life of that country, 

 held its annual reunion at Altdorf, in the canton 

 of Uri, on September 8—10. 



The first day was devoted to a general assembly, 

 at which various matters were discussed, and some 



