NA TURE 



[May 2, 1907 



not always to the point, e.g. .\nn. des Sc. (6), 1899; 

 the series should be (8) and the volume ix. 



The same number (vol. ii., part iv.) contains the 

 third instalment of Prof. Hickson's report on the 

 Alcyonaria of the Maldives, with descriptions of 

 fifteen (including two Briareidae described previously) 

 species of Gorgonacea and one Pennatulid. The 

 depths at which the material was obtained ranged 

 from 0-43 fathoms, generally between 20 and 30 

 fathoms ; two specimens of the Pennatulid (Pennatula 

 niurrayi) were taken at 43 fathoms in the Suvadiva 

 Lagoon. A general feature of many of the sub- 

 littoral Alcyonaria is their extreme variability. 



Other papers to which space does not permit us 

 to do justice beyond mentioning them are by Major 

 Alcock on Paguridae (hermit-crabs), recording twenty- 

 six species, of which nine are new to the Indian 

 Ocean, five new to science; Mr. L. A. Borradaile on 

 Hydroids, twenty-three species; Mr. A. E. Shipley 

 on two parasites; and Mr. W. L. Distant enumer- 

 ates twenty species of Rhynchota. 



The first supplement contains reports by Messrs. 

 A. O. Walker (Amphipoda), J. Stanley Gardiner 

 (Madreporaria), E. T. Browne (Scyphomedusae), 

 D. Sharp (Coleoptera), W. E. Hoyle (Cephalopoda), 

 and R. Norris Wolfenden (Copepoda). Dr. Hoyle de- 

 scribes a rare squid, Ancistrochirus lesueuri, which 

 has luminous organs ; one specimen only, the second 

 on record, was found floating dead off one of the 

 atolls. Dr. Wolfenden, whose paper is illustrated by 

 folding plates, compares the oceanic copepods of the 

 Indian Ocean with those of the Atlantic, an inter- 

 mixture of species between these two great oceans 

 being hindered by the water barrier formed by the 

 Agulhas Current; the author also points to an ex- 

 traordinary difference between the Copepod fauna of 

 the Maldive Group and that of the Gulf of Manaar, 

 owing to the paucity of littoral forms in the former 

 area. 



The second supplement contains an article by Mr. 

 R. I. Pocock (Myriopoda), an excellent systematic 

 index, a subject-index, and Mr. Stanley Gardiner's 

 concluding remarks. From his notes on the habits 

 and distribution of the land animals, we learn that 

 the mammals of the Maldives are three, the fruit bat 

 or flying fox, Pteropus mediiis (not found in Minikoi), 

 the musk shrew, Crocidura tntirina, and the rat, 

 Miis rattus ; the absence of insectivorous bats is 

 noted as a singular deficiency. The study of the 

 land fauna has confirmed his conclusion, previously 

 based on geological grounds, " that the Maldives and 

 Laccadives are recent lands." 



As is known, Mr. Gardiner has crowned his labours 

 in the Maldives by another expedition to the western 

 part of the Indian Ocean, and when these results are 

 made known the importance of his individual con- 

 tribution to Indian oceanography will doubtless be 

 fully appreciated. 



The sumptuous monograph of tlie Indian Alcyo- 

 narians of the deep sea, by Prof. J. A. Thomson 

 and Mr. W. D. Henderson, is a revelation of a 

 wealth of new forms depicted in a manner which, 

 for this class of illustration, is beyond praise. The 



N<^- 1957. VOL 76] 



authors are alive to the aesthetic possibilities of their 

 subjects, and although these arc to some extent 

 prejudiced by inevitable post-mortem changes, 

 enough remains to delight the eye and attest the 

 beauty that is hidden in the depths of the sea. Of 

 the eighty-six species included in the collection, sixty- 

 one are new ; only nine belong to the Alcyonacea 

 (leathery corals, chiefly shallow-water forms) ; eight 

 of these are new, and two of them are made the 

 types of new genera. There are forty-one species of 

 Gorgonacea (" sea-fans ") and twenty-eight species 

 of Pcnnatulacea (" sea-pens " or " sea-feathers "), 

 thus displaying a very great contrast with the 

 shallow-water fauna of the Maldives. Two genera, 

 Sympodium of the Stolonifera and Umbellula of the 

 Pennatulacea, contain a multiplicity of specific forms| 

 which the authors admit may be only mutations.* 

 In view of this possibility, it is hard to accept so 

 many names on an equal footing with those of un- 

 doubted and striking types. 



Several comparative tables of the species of variousi 

 genera are introduced in the course of the work, and , 

 these should prove of great service to future investi- 

 gators. This method of tabulation is the right 

 one, and is capable of improvement until a degree 

 of perfection is attained. In written descriptions it 

 happens frequently that the most obvious distinction 

 between allied species is a difference of verbiage. 

 Such banalities can be eliminated from tables ; thus it 

 is not much to learn that whereas the axis of 

 UnibeUiila duri.'isima is " nearly cylindrical," that of 

 Umbellula dura is "almost cylindrical." The quota- 

 tion of an isolated example of this kind is not meant 

 to detract in any way from the total value of the 

 tables. 



A special property of many deep-sea .■Mcyonarians 

 is their viviparity. The authors have found embryos 

 in eight different species belonging to the three prin- 

 cipal sections, Alcyonacea, Gorgonacea, and Penna- 

 tula'cea. A full bibliography completes the present 

 monograph, and one dealing with the littoral forms 

 is promised later. 



MEDICAL MEDITATIONS. 

 Principia Therapeutica. By Dr. Harrington Sains- 

 bury. Pp. xi + 244. (London : Methuen and Co., 

 n.d.) Price "js. 6d. net. 



IN the biological sphere, to attain by means of 

 scientific analysis to generalisations of such a 

 breadth as to justify the term of " Principia " is an 

 arduous task, even for generations of men, and is 

 one which is far beyond us at present. The attain- 

 ment of principles can only be by the long and 

 fallible ways of observation, verified by the experi- 

 mental method ; and — in medicine at any rate — we can 

 claim to have surveyed and mapped out no very wide 

 areas as yet. Now if this be true of pathology, of 

 therapeutics it is grievously truer, although on the 

 lines of pharmacology much " triangulation " is now 

 going forward. It is almost needless to guard these 

 remarks by adding that no one probably is more 

 aware of these limits of our knowledge than the 



