NATORE 107 
Danish Dijmphna, the Dutch Varna, and the 
Russian Zarja—possibly by others also. Eight of 
THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 1912. 
MARINE LIFE IN NORTHERN SEAS. 
Campagne Arctique de 1907: Duc d’Orléans. 
Etude Lithologique de Fonds recueillis dans les 
Parages de la Nouvelle-Zemble. By Prof. J. 
Thoulet. Pp. 30+map. (1910.) 
Journal de Bord et Physique du Globe. Pp. 101 + 
10 plates+2 maps. (1911.) 
Echinodermes. By J. A. Grieg. Pp. vi+40+ 
1 plate+3 maps. (1910.) 
Mollusques et Brachiopodes. By Ph. Dautzen- 
berg and H. Fischer. Pp. v+25+map. (r1910.) 
Faune des Mousses: Tardigrades. By Ferd. 
Richters. Pp. 20+2 plates. (1g911.) 
Microplankton des Mers de Barents et de Kara. 
By Prof. Alph. Meunier. Pp. xviii+355+ 
2 maps; also a volume of xxxvi plates. (1910.) 
(Brussels: Charles Bulens, 75 rue Terre-Neuve.) 
HE Arctic and Antarctic fauna and flora bid 
fair to be better known than those of the 
tropics. Successive expeditions are bringing us 
back abundant results from both polar regions, 
and amongst these the Duc d’Orléans’s Arctic 
cruise of 1907 will form a noteworthy contribution 
to knowledge. The reports are being published in 
luxurious form by Bulens at Brussels, and the first 
six volumes of the series are now before us. 
This, the second of the Duke’s Arctic expedi- 
tions, took place in the ship Belgica, under the 
command of Captain A. de Gerlache, and was 
engaged in exploring the Barents Sea, the Kara 
Sea, and the Mourman Sea. The physical ob- 
servations taken on board, including those on the 
state of the atmosphere, the sky, and the sea, are 
reported on by M. de Gerlache, who also records 
the higher animals (mammals and birds) that were 
observed. 
The deposits collected from the bottom of these 
northern seas are discussed by Prof. J. Thoulet, 
and they seem to agree with other polar samples 
in being characterised by the very fine division of 
the mineral particles and the comparative scarcity 
of calcareous matter. 
Only a few groups of the invertebrate animals 
from the sea bottom have as yet been reported 
upon. These include the Echinodermata, dis- 
cussed by James A. Grieg, evidently a_ rich 
collection referred to twenty-five species, none 
of which, however, are described as new 
to science. This is not surprising, as, since 
the Austrian polar expedition under Payer and 
Weyprecht in 1872-74, the seas traversed by the 
Belgica have been explored by the Dutch Jillem 
Barents expedition, the Russian Yermak, the suc- 
cessive Swedish expeditions of Nordenskiéld, the 
NO. 2214, VOL. 89] 
the twenty-five Echinoderm species are known -to 
be circumpolar, and some of the others may prove 
to be so when we have fuller information as to 
their distribution to the north of the Pacific Ocean. 
The report by MM. Ph. Dautzenberg and 
H. Fischer deals with thirty-eight species of 
Mollusca and the two Brachiopods, Rhynchonella 
psittacea and Waldheimia cranium. Twenty-seven 
species of Tardigrada were obtained from collec- 
tions of mosses made at Novaya Zemblia, at Jan 
Mayen, Spitsbergen, Greenland, and the Franz- 
Joseph archipelago. We are told by Dr. Ferd. 
Richters that the best results were obtained when 
the mosses were thoroughly dried and sealed up in 
sterilised bags, from which the Tardigrada and 
other small game were months afterwards re- 
covered, and revived by the addition of water. 
The microfauna of these dried mosses was found 
to contain Tardigrada, Protozoa, Rotifers, Ori- 
batide, Oligocheta, Nematodes, and even Cope- 
poda (Moraria muscicola). Richters describes for 
us, from the Tardigrada, two new species of 
Macrobiotus and three of Diphascon. 
By far the most important, however, of these 
memoirs is that dealing with the Microplankton 
by Dr. Alph. Meunier, consisting of a large volume 
of text running to nearly four hundred pages and 
an atlas of thirty-six beautiful plates crowded 
with useful figures. This report, and especially 
perhaps the series of fine plates, will be of the 
greatest value to all planktologists working on 
these minute Protista. The groups of pelagic 
plants and animals dealt with under the convenient 
term “Microplankton ” include Peridiniacea, Dia- 
tomacea, Microphyta of coloured snow (such as 
Diamylon and two new genera, Echinum and 
Folliculus), Cryptomonadacea, _ Silicoflagellata, 
Tintinnide, Infusoria, Radiolaria, Foraminifera, 
and some smaller groups of enigmatical organisms 
such as Halosphera and Pterosperma, and quite a 
number of allied forms, for which no fewer than 
nine new genera have been created. Altogether 
twenty-five new genera and a large number of 
species previously unknown are described and 
figured in this report. All these planktonic forms, 
old and new, are the result of twenty-two vertical 
tow-net hauls and some horizontal ones taken in 
the Barents and Kara seas. 
Dr. Meunier does not always follow the classi- 
fication and nomenclature of other recent authori- 
ties, but whether we can agree with him or not 
on such points, at least we are grateful for his 
very beautiful drawings of the forms he is 
describing. In the Peridiniacea he describes a 
number of new species belonging to well-known 
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