362 



NA TURE 



[May 27, 1909 



In this matter Mr. Lister's caution may, perliaps, 

 be commended. In his arrangement of the Mala- 

 costraca, Dr. Caiman adheres to his published views, 

 in agreement with Boas and Hansen, splitting up the 

 old order Schizopoda, so that the Mvsidacea, with 

 their reduced carapace, developed brood-pouches, and 

 elongate tubular heart, are grouped with the Cumacea, 

 Isopoda, Amphipoda, &c., in a division Peracarida, 

 while the Euphausiacea are associated with the 

 Decapoda to form the division Eucarida, charac- 

 terised by an extensive carapace, a condensed heart, 

 and the absence of brood-pouches. Mr. Lister, on the 

 other hand, retains the order Schizopoda in its familiar 

 signification. Here he clings to a position that must 

 ultimately be abandoned, and he has little, except 

 the opinion of Claus, to offer in its defence. 



As might have been expected by those who have 

 followed his excellent work, Dr. Caiman's volume is 

 especially strong in the morphological and systematic 

 aspects of carcinology, while Mr. Lister deals more 

 fully with development and bionomics. For example, 

 we find in the latter author's chapter a summary of 

 Keeble and Gamble's recent important work on colour- 

 changes in the Decapoda, which has no place in Dr. 

 Caiman's volume. In both accounts of the Crustacea 

 due regard is given to pateontology, and Mr. Lister 

 appreciates no less than Dr. Caiman the great im- 

 portance of the Tasmanian Anaspides and its Palseo- 

 zoic allies. By a judicious use of the two works, no 

 student can fail to gain an admirable introduction to 

 the study of the Crustacea. 



Prof. Sedgwick has himself written the chapters 

 on the Onychophora and the IVlyriapoda included in 

 his volume. His epoch-making work on the struc- 

 ture and development of the Cape species of the 

 former class might have prepared us for the excellence 

 of his descriptions. In spite of Goodrich and Lankes- 

 ter's recent teaching on coelomoducts, he still calls the 

 peripatid excretory tubes "nephridia," a piece of 

 conservatism in which he may find support from some 

 zoologists; but it is hard to understand his rejection 

 of the generic distinctions in the group, introduced 

 by Pocock, and supported and extended by Bouvier, 

 Dendy, and other recent workers. E.xcept for Evans's 

 Eoperipatus, he refuses to use the terms of these 

 authors even in a subgeneric sense, needlessly coin- 

 ing a series of uncouth zoogeographical compounds 

 such as " Chilio-peripatus," " Congo-peripatus," and 

 " Capo-peripatus." 



The unattractive yet interesting groups of Arthro- 

 poda known as " Myriapods " are dismissed in thirty 

 pages. It is a matter for regret that the unnatural 

 " Class Myriapoda " is retained, and in the discussion 

 wherein the author defends this arrangement he does 

 not even mention the natural solution of the difficulty 

 —to treat the Chilopoda, Symphyla, and Diplopoda as 

 independent classes— though he rightly insists on the 

 insectan affinities of the Symphyla. 



Mr. A. E. Shipley contributes a good chapter on the 

 Insecta to Prof. Sedgwick's volume, giving a trust- 

 worthy account of the main structural features, and a 

 clear, if brief, introduction to in.sect embryology, 

 though the general discussion of metamorphosis' is dis- 

 NO. 2065, VOL. Sol 



appointingly curtailed. The denial of evidence for pre- 

 Carboniferous insects ignores the ephemeroid and 

 other remains described by Scudder from the American 

 Devonian. Mr. Shipley's classification of insects is 

 modified from Sharp's recent scheme; its only serious 

 fault is the presence of the unnatural group " Ana- 

 pterygota," including the Mallophaga, Anoplura, and 

 Siphonaptera. In the account of the Apterygota, the 

 two very remarkable genera, Anajapyx and Acerento- 

 mon (the latter regarded as the type of a new order), 

 recently described by Silvestri, and the systematic 

 work of Borner on the CoUembola, should not have 

 been neglected. In the description of the Lepidoptera, 

 attention should have been directed to the importance 

 of larval and pupal stages in the classification of the 

 order, as pointed out by Chapman and others; from 

 the statement on p. 710 it might be inferred that no 

 lepidopterous pupa emerges partially from its cocoon. 



The last chapter of the volume, occupying 90 pages, 

 is devoted to the Arachnida. For this also, except a 

 section on the Xiphosura by Mr. Lister, we are in- 

 debted to Mr. Shipley. The Pycnogonida, which 

 appear as a subclass of the Arachnida, are too briefly 

 dismissed ; no reference is given to the works of Sars, 

 Meinert, and Cole, nor is there any allusion to the 

 puzzling ten-legged .'\ntarctic genera; but the account 

 of the Xiphosura and Eurypterida is especially good. 

 The scorpions, spiders, and mites are excellently de- 

 scribed, while the fairly full accounts of the Phalan- 

 gidea and Palpigradi are welcome. The Tardigrada 

 and Pentastomida appear as " appendices " to the 

 Arachnida. 



It is easy in reviewing such volumes to point out 

 omissions, if not errors, and to suggest how this or 

 that feature might be better otherwise. But the lead- 

 ing thought with which one lays them down is of 

 gratitude to the authors for the labour expended on 

 them and on the other volumes of the series to which 

 thev belong. With the yearly increasing output of re- 

 search, the trustworthy text-book becomes more than 

 ever necessary, and the modern English student is 

 fortunate with sets of " Lankester " and " Sedgwick " 

 on his shelves. G. H. Carpenter. 



THE FLORA OF THE PRESIDENCY OF 

 BOMBAY. 

 The Flora of the Presidency of Bombay. By Dr. 

 Theodore Cooke. Vol. ii., parts ii. to v. (London : 

 Taylor and Francis, 1907-8.) 



THE appearance of the last part of the second 

 volume of the above completes the first instal- 

 ment of the series of local floras projected to carry 

 on the task of which " The Flora of British India," 

 by Sir Joseph Hooker, aided by other eminent 

 botanists, forms the foundation. The object of these 

 " local " (or, as they might well be styled, provincial) 

 floras is to amplify and, where necessary, to revise 

 for a particular area the taxonomic information set 

 out in the more general publication, and the present 

 volume, judged in this light, must be held to have 

 attained a high standard both in fulness and pre- 

 cision. 



The descriptions, although answering the severest 



