372 Bibliographical Notices. 
of Europe,’ the price of these splendid volumes places them beyond 
the reach of the majority of working naturalists. 
The modest price at which this ook. is published makes it probable 
that a second edition will be called for. On the strength of this 
probability we venture to make a few critical remarks, which, if they 
be taken in the spirit in which they are offered, and acted upon 
accordinely, should add still further to the value of this work. 
In the first place, then, we would have its pages brought thoroughly 
up to date. In the second, we feel that diagnoses both of families 
and genera should be given. Further, we must say that Mr. Dresser’s 
book, as it at present stands, is too eclectic. He gives no reasons for 
the faith that is in him when rejecting the claims of certain forms 
to subspecific rank, and admits others in a somewhat dogmatic 
fashion difficult to understand. 
The Fauna and Geography of the Maldive and Laccadive Archipelagoes. 
Part I. Vol. IL. pls. xxvi—xxxiv. Cambridge: University Press. 
15s. net. 
Tue first part of the second volume of this valuable work in every 
way sustains the high standard set by the earlier parts already 
noticed in these pages. 
We would draw special attention to Prof. Hickson’s report on the 
Alcyonaria of the Maldives, which will doubtless be read with keen 
interest by many who have hitherto paid little or no attention to 
this group. And for this reason, in the course of his report, Prof. 
Hickson shows, in the most luminous manner, how remarkable is 
the range of variation which a species may take in adaptation to an 
environment so variable as that of a reef. 
“When I went out to Celebes,” he says, “‘ the first thing I did 
was to collect specimens of Vubipora, . .. . [and] the conclusion 
I came to was that there is only one species, which varies on the 
one reef within limits almost as wide as the limits of all the hitherto 
described species of the genus.” His remarks on the significance 
of the colours of Spongodes and Solenocaulon, for example, are of 
considerable interest, and may excite some surprise among those who 
insist on attaching a label explanatory of the meaning of conspicuous 
colours wherever they are met with. 
There is much else in this report that we would fain note, but 
space forbids. 
Sir Charles Eliot, in a paper on the Nudibranchiata, remarks that 
“Tt would seem as ‘if the marine fauna of small islands which have 
never been connected with a continent is less in number and size 
than that of the mainland and its adjacent islands.” 
Mr. Laidlaw has a short paper on a Land-Planarian, which bears 
an additional interest since no Land-Planarian has hitherto been 
recorded from any coral island in the Indian Ocean. 
Mr. Stanley Gardiner and Sir John Murray complete this bent 
with an elaborate treatise on Lagoon deposits. 
