November 32, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



697 



the Microdrili the Lumbriculidae, Tubiflcidfe 

 and Naidomorpha are united into the super- 

 family Lumbrioulldes ; the Perichsetidse, Crypto- 

 drilidfe and Acauthodrilidse constitute the super- 

 family Megascolicidse among the Megadrili. 

 The three groups include about 125 genera and 

 650 species, divided between thirteen families. 

 Vejdovsky's family of the Chsetogastridse is 

 abandoned, the genus Chsetogaster being placed 

 in the Naidomorpha, and no mention is made 

 of the doubtful family of Discodrilidse of the 

 same author, with its single representative, the 

 leech-like parasitic Branchiobdella, while the 

 Criodrilidffi of Vejdovsky are absorbed by the 

 Geoscolicidse. 



It is to be deplored that numerous inaccu- 

 racies occur. Many of these, no doubt, are 

 due to careless proof-reading, but some are of 

 a graver sort, and of a kind to shake the read- 

 ers confidence in the entire trustworthiness of 

 the work. On page 110 we read that "there 

 are as a rule but a single pair of glands [sper- 

 midueal glands ] in the Megascolicidse ; but ex- 

 ceptions are known ; thus with the exception 

 of Acanthrodrilus monoeystis the Acanthodril- 

 lidse have always two pairs opening onto the 

 seventeenth and eighteenth segments," but Fig. 

 45 shows that in five species of Acanthodrilus the 

 spermiducal gland pores lie in segments XVII 

 and XIX ; further in the definition of the genus 

 Diplocardia (also an Acanthodrilid ) we read 

 page 548 ' spermiducal gland pores on XVIII, 

 XX.' Again in the definition of the genus 

 Diplocardia we see ' setse paired, absent from 

 segment XIX on which lie the male pores,' 

 and turning to the definition of Diplocardia 

 communis we find ' male pores on XVIII, XX.' 

 This is worse than confusing. Occasional in- 

 accuracies as to authorities also occur ; for ex- 

 ample on page 314, where the genus Disticho- 

 pus is accredited to Verrill instead of to Leidy. 



Great praise is due to the author for the ex- 

 haustive bibliography he has collected, how- 

 ever we feel compelled to censure him for the 

 way in which it is put together, and we claim 

 a certain right to do this since he tells us, at 

 the beginning of his bibliography, that ' with a 

 few exceptions ( marked with an asterisk ) every 

 quotation has been verified by myself. ' To begin 

 with, we consider dates in bibliographical refer- 



ences to be of very great importance, but we find 

 that only a very small percentage of the titles of 

 the great list here given bear any date at all, and 

 many of these are wrong. In addition to the 

 omission of dates there are inaccurate details, 

 the effect of which is to send one astray. One 

 is not much aided by a reference without a date, 

 to Vol. II., which should read Vol. XIX., as in 

 Bergh ( 3 ) ; such references are unfortunately 

 many. Again under Rosa ( 28 ) we are referred 

 to 'ibid,' i. e., Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen ova, X., 

 whereas the paper referred to appeared in Boll. 

 Mus. Zool. Torino. II. T. Reichard appears for 

 J. Reighard, and Lnmbriculidte for Lumbricidse. 

 Such slips are not confined to the bibliograph- 

 ical list; for example on page 711 we are 

 referred to Rosa, Boll. Mus. Zool. Torino [no 

 volume] 1872, when it shovdd be twenty years 

 later, in 1892. These examples are taken at 

 random. There is no list of corrigenda. There 

 is an index to genera and species only, and one 

 is dependent upon a brief table of contents for 

 other references. The imprint of the Claren- 

 don Press is sufficient warrant for the typog- 

 raphy and press work, which is of the highest 

 order. 



In conclusion, we would say that Mr. Beddard 

 has undertaken a great task and has done it fairly 

 well ; he deserves the thanks of all students 

 of the Oligochaets. A general synoptic key or 

 table would have been a welcome addition for 

 the student in the determination of species, 

 while a careful revision of the manuscript would 

 have made the book much more satisfactory. 

 As it is, Mr. Beddard has given us an extremely 

 valuable contribution to this branch of the An- 

 nelida. W. McM. WOODWOETH. 



Frank Smith. 



A Manual of Qualitative Chemical Analysis, by 

 E. P. Harris, Ph. D., LL D., Professor of 

 Chemistry in Amherst College. New Edi- 

 tion thoroughly Revised and Corrected. Am- 

 herst, Mass. 1895. 315 pages. 

 In most colleges the course in chemistry be- 

 gins with lectures or recitations on the non- 

 metals, generally combined with laboratory 

 work, and this is followed by laboratory work 

 in qualitative analysis. A question may be 

 raised as to whether qualitative analysis is 



