80 
this point. Heidenhain has observed that 
in suckling mammals, which must neces- 
sarily be absorbing fat, there are very few 
leucocytes present in the intestinal mucus 
membrane. He also throws doubt on the 
fatty nature of the granules observed re- 
turning leucocytes that respond to the os- 
mic-acid test, observing, with considerable 
point, ‘‘ Nicht allesist Fett, was in Osmium 
saure dunkelt.”’ It is thus possible to 
bring such observations as these of Scha- 
fer’s quoted above into line with the views 
advanced by Heidenhain. Leucocytes may, 
as described, divide, migrate out near the 
surface of the mucus membrane, take up 
food and convey it back into the lacteal, 
but the rest of the organism is not depend- 
ent upon them. 
The third phase of digestion is that which 
takes place in the cells, and consists in 
building-up of food substance into proto- 
plasm. This process is of chemical nature 
and consequently wholly beyond the reach 
of direct observation. The advances that 
are being made in the province of organic 
chemistry lead to the hope that the albu- 
men formula may eventually be discovered, 
and were this done the synthesis of proto- 
plasm would be at least a theoretical possi- 
bility. At present, however, our knowl- 
edge of the actual conditions that exist in 
living matter is so slight that even specula- 
tion is useless. 
Howarp CRAWLEY. 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 
Zoological Results based on Material from New 
Britain, New Guinea, Loyalty Islands and Else- 
where, collected during the years 1895, 1896 
and 1897. By ARTHUR WILLEY. Cambridge, 
Eng., the University Press. 4to. Part I., 
1898 ; pp viii+-120; pls. 11. Part II., 1899; 
pp. 85; pls. 12. 
The zoological materials collected by Dr. 
Arthur Willey during his search for the Pearly 
Nautilus have been distributed to specialists 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Vou. X. No. 238. 
and will form the basis for a series of five or six 
published parts, the first two of which have 
already appeared. These of themselves are a 
substantial acknowledgment to the Board of 
Managers of the Balfour Studentship and to the 
Government Grant Committee of the Royal 
Society, by whose generosity Dr. Willey was 
enabled to prosecute his researches. ! 
Part I. opens with an account, by Dr. Willey 
himself, of the anatomy and development of a 
new species of Peripatus from New Britain. 
The species hitherto described, as Sedgwick has 
shown, fall into three natural groups, corre- 
sponding to their geographical distribution : 
Neotropical, Australasian and Ethiopean. For 
each of these Pocock has proposed new generic 
names. Dr. Willey’s new species represents a 
fourth geographical group, which may be called 
the Melanesian, and for which he proposes the 
generic or subgeneric name of Paraperipatus, the 
species being P. nove—britannie. As Dr. 
Willey justly remarks, it is not to be expected 
that a new species of Peripatus would throw 
much light on the vexed question: Is Peripatus 
an annelid or an arthropod? What is probably 
needed is something between Peripatus and 
other forms rather than more Peripatus. 
The Phasmide, or walking sticks, have been 
reported by Dr. D. Sharp. Upwards of twenty 
species were collected, of which fourteen seem 
new to science. The report contains an ex- 
tended account of the eggs and pre-adult stages 
of these insects. 
The scorpions, pedipalpi and spiders were 
represented by forty-nine species, of which six- 
teen are stated by Pocock to be species novee. 
The descriptions of these include a number of 
interesting biological notes. The cocooning 
habits of Fecenia and Ordgarius are described, 
and a species of Conothele which has subvertical 
mandibles is shown for the first time to build its 
nest on trees in the same way as other trap- 
door spiders that have this structural peculiarity. 
In a new species of Plexippus the mandibles and 
maxille form a stridulating organ. 
Besides this report, Pocock has also contrib- 
uted an account of the centipedes and milli- 
pedes, of which there were twenty-one species, 
thirteen new to science. 
The first part also contains the description of 
