March 21, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



451 



It was perhaps more than a coincidence 

 that this address was delivered soon after the 

 resignation from Brown University of Presi- 

 dent E. Benjamin Andrews. 



J. E. Creighton 



Cornell University. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 The British Tunicata. An Unfinished Mono- 

 graph hy the late Joshua Alder and the late 

 Albany Hancock, F.L.S. Edited by John 

 HoPKiNSON, F.L.S., F.G.S., etc., Secretary of 

 the Ray Society, with a history of the work 

 by the Reverend A. M. Norman, M.A., 

 D.C.L., F.R.S., etc. Volume I., 146 pp., 

 20 pis., 1905; Volume II., 162 pp., 50 pis., 

 1907; Volume III., 90 pp., 66 pis., 1912. The 

 Ray Society. 



With the appearance during the last year of 

 a third volume of Alder and Hancock's re- 

 searches on British ascidians all that is to be 

 printed of this magnificent work is now avail- 

 able to students. The earlier volumes have 

 been duly noticed by reviewers as they were 

 distributed; but for the sake of completeness 

 it will not be amiss to speak of all three vol- 

 umes together. 



The task of selecting and preparing the 

 manuscript and illustrations must have been 

 both perplexing and laborious, for we are told 

 by Canon Norman in his history of the work 

 which introduces the first volume, that the 

 drawings, particularly those by Hancock, are 

 very numerous and in many stages of comple- 

 tion. The bracketed words, sentences and 

 paragraphs scattered all through the text 

 testify to the extensive and painstaking work 

 performed by Mr. Hopkinson. 



Very wisely not much has been added to or 

 subtracted from the work as it left the hands 

 of the authors. The diagnoses of species of 

 the compound ascidians have received more 

 editorial modifications than have those of the 

 simple ones. In a few instances species and 

 genera have been included which did not ap- 

 pear as such in the manuscript, but only where 

 the notes and sketches warranted. 



The part played by Canon Norman in 

 bringing the work to the light of day was un- 



doubtedly done under the stimulus of personal 

 devotion and direct scientific interest, his 

 friendship for and association with the au- 

 thors having been intimate and of long stand- 

 ing, and he contributed much, particularly in 

 the way of specimens, to the substance of the 

 monograph. Mr. Hopkinson's role seems to 

 have been solely that of an official and a man 

 of science, and what he has done is a fine 

 testimonial to his ability in this way. 



Volume I. contains, as mentioned above, a 

 review of the origin and vicissitudes of the 

 work, by Canon Norman; an introduction by 

 the authors ; a reprint of Hancock's " On the 

 Anatomy and Physiology of the Tunicata " 

 originally published in the Journal of the 

 Linnean Society of London in 1867; and the 

 systematic treatment of all the species of the 

 genus Ascidia. Volume II. opens with a life 

 of Alder by Norman, and of Hancock by 

 Embleton, and deals with the remaining gen- 

 era, Ciona and Corella, of the family As- 

 eidiadse, and the families Molgulidfe, Cynthi- 

 adse, and Clavelinidae. Volume III. treats of 

 the " Aggregatfe," of which three families, 

 Polyclinidae, Didemnidse and Botryllidae, are 

 recognized, and ends with a supplement by 

 Mr. Hopkinson containing " Additional Ref- 

 erences and Localities " ; a " List of the 

 Species described in the Monograph, with the 

 Genera under which they would probably now 

 be placed." and a " General Index." 



There can be no question about the value of 

 this monograph, even though it represents the 

 state of knowledge of ascidians as it was forty 

 years ago, and makes no pretense of concern- 

 ing itself with other than British species. Its 

 chief utility will naturally be as a handbook 

 for British students and other persons who 

 frequent the shores of the British islands. 

 The great number and excellence of the il- 

 lustrations, particularly those of habitus of 

 the kinds, " forms," varieties and species, 

 mostly by Alder, will make it specially useful 

 in this way. Nearly all the figures, even the 

 anatomical ones from Hancock's faithful 

 brush, are in color. The authors evidently 

 devoted much less time to the compound than 

 to the simple species; and for illustrating 



