September 24, 1896] 



NA TV RE 



491 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Text-book of Zoology. \W Ur. J. E. \'. Boas. Trans- 

 lated by J. \V. kiikaldy and E. C. Pollard. Pp. 

 .wiii + 558 ; with 427 figures. (London : Sampson 

 Low, Marston, and Co., Ltd., 1896.) 

 The "Text-book of Zoology," by Dr. Boas, which is now 

 presented to English students in this country in the form 

 of a translation by Miss Kirkaldy and Miss Pollard, has 

 this advantage over many similar books at present in 

 use, that it is complete in one volume. The translators 

 have done their work well in keeping closely to the 

 German text, and in forming clear and concise English 

 sentences made up of English words. Regarded simply 

 as a translation of a German book, it is far better than 

 most of its predecessors, and the translators may be con- 

 gratulated upon their share of the work. But the book 

 is not one which English teachers will be able to recom- 

 mend to the " beginners in the study of zoology " who 

 attend their classes, notwithstanding many excellent 

 features which may be found in several chapters. It 

 would be difficult for them to heartily recommend to 

 their students, as a guide to their studies, a book which 

 classifies Limulus with the Entomostraca, and Peripatus 

 with the .\nnelida ; nor can they consider it to be com- 

 plete, e\cn for elementary work, in the absence of any 

 account of such important forms as Balanoglossus, 

 Rhabdopleura and Phoronis. 



Apart from these blemishes of primary importance, 

 there are many others which detract very considerably 

 from its \ alue as a text-book for students. The descrip- 

 tion of .Amphioxus, for example, is so short, and the 

 figures so poor and inaccurate, that no beginner could 

 possibly recognise the importance and interest of the 

 group to which it belongs. The same may be said of 

 the group Tunicata, which is described in four pages at 

 the end of the \'ertebrata, and illustrated by only four 

 very poor rigures. 



The book, moreover, is disfigured by many strange 

 blunders ;ind inaccuracies, of which a few may be given. 

 The ri' h animal fauna of the deep sea does 110/ " resemble 

 the I avc fauna." Alcyonium is iici'cr dimorphic ; there 

 is no .-liitinous perisarc in Millepora, which is calcified ; 

 Hinido iiudkinutis is not indigenous in England. Nor 

 is the book thoroughly up to date in many particulars. 

 The account given of the gills of Lamellibranchiata 

 might have been written fifteen years ago. The results 

 of Leches important work upon the succession of mam- 

 malian teeth are not even briefly mentioned. Nor can 

 the account of the epidermal structures of Vertebrata be 

 said to be complete when no reference is made to Prof 

 Weber's extremely important observations on the scales 

 of Manis. 



It is possible, however, that some teachers in this 

 country may find the book useful for occasional reference. 

 Some of the diagrammatic figures are new and fairly 

 accurate. The introductory chapters on cells and tissues 

 and on embryology are excellent, and some of the 

 chapters on vertebrate animals are better than in any 

 modern text-book of zoology with which we are 

 acquamted. 



The .Inti Christ Legend : a Chapter in Christian and 

 lc\rish Folk-lore. Englished from the German of W. 

 Bousset, with a Prologue on the Babylonian Dragon 

 Myth. By A. H. Keane. Crown 8vo. Pp. xxxi + 307. 

 London : Hutchinson and Co., 1896.) 

 .\r various intervals certain well-meaning individuals, 

 with enthusiasm inversely proportional to their know- 

 ledge, attempt expositions of such extremely difficult 

 texts as the Books of Daniel and Revelation, and they 

 glibly profess to explain the Antichrist, and are im- 

 pressive on the Beast. They little realise that, as Bousset 

 says. '■ to understand Revelation we need a fulness of 



NO. HO4, VOL. 54] 



eschatological and mythological knowledge." One has 

 only to glance through Bousset's erudite work to be 

 convinced that it is only by the most patient and learned 

 research that such problems can be solved, and so we 

 welcome Mr. Keane's translation of this valuable study, 

 and hope (probably in vain) that the latter-day prophets 

 will cease to yield to the temptation of giving free play 

 to their fancy, and will investigate the historical growth 

 of legendary beings, and thus eventually become 

 students of folk-lore. It is evident, from the researches 

 of Bousset and Gunkel, that Belial, the Antichrist, and 

 the numerous other variants of Christian and pre- 

 Christian authors, are adaptations of the ancient Baby- 

 lonian Dragon myth. Mr. Keane goes a step further 

 back, and attempts to account for the origin of this myth. 

 He suggests that it refers to the first settlements on the 

 low-lying plains of Chald;ta, when man had to contend 

 against the periodicial freshets of the Euphrates and 

 Tigris, caused by the melting of the snows of the water- 

 sheds, and against huge crocodiles which infested the 

 estuaries. "There could be no peace or progress until 

 the waters were quelled (confined within their banks, 

 and diverted into irrigation canalsj, and until their pre- 

 siding genius (the reptile or dragon, " lord of chaos") 

 was overthrown. . . . Then the foremost champions 

 engaged in these contests acquired their apotheosis in 

 the minds of a grateful posterity, while the vanquished 

 enemy assumed more and more the form of unearthly 

 monsters and demons hostile to man. Such memories 

 easily passed on from generation to generation until they 

 acquired consistency and permanency in the written 

 records of the cultured Babylonian peoples." 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions e.x- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he nndertake 

 to return^ or to correspond 'tvith the writers of, 7-ejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications."^ 



The Utility of Specific Characters. 



I TRUST you will give me space — not to continue this dis- 

 cussion — but to correct an error in Mr. Dyer's last letter to you. 

 Mr. Dyer states that I consider that Prof. VVeldon's investiga- 

 tion of the crab's carapace "does not satisfy the canons of 

 scientific inquiry." I have made no .statement to that effect, and 

 am surprised that Mr. Dyer should put such a phrase into my 

 mouth. 



I am, I believe, almost as fully acquainted with the details ot 

 Prof. Weldon's work, and the laborious measurements carried 

 out by him in the laboratory at Plymouth and in University 

 College, as is Mr. Dyer. I have never spoken of nor regarded 

 the actual results obtained by Prof Weldon as otherwise than 

 interesting and valuable. My difference with Prof. Weldon is, 

 as I explained (I thought with sufficient clearness) in my first 

 letter to Nature on this subject, one as to the interpretation put 

 by him on these results. I do not consider that he is warranted 

 in declaring tliat a particular frontal proportion of the carapace 

 is effective in securing the survival of those crabs possessing it. 

 Moreover, I do not agree with him in holding it to be "abso- 

 lutely illogical " (as he expressed him.self at the Linnean 

 Society) to entertain the hypothesis that one or more structures 

 in a ".surviving" or "naturally-selected" organic form may be 

 effective in bringing about that survival or selection whilst other 

 structures may vary concomitantly with these and be inoperative 

 in cflecting the survival. E. Ray Lankester. 



Utrecht, September iS. 



The Position of Science at Oxford. 

 On my return to Oxford my attention has been called to an 

 article which ajipeared in your issue of July 9 last, bearing the 

 above title. (15y science is meant, of course, natural science.) 

 I do not wish to discuss the whole of the article. It is for the 

 most part tem]5cratcly written, and contains some useful criticism 

 by which we in Oxford may jirofit. 



