August 22, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



305 



ing' and that of Luther's 'justification by 

 faith/ the profound interpretation of asceti- 

 cism, etc. Of the work as a whole one may 

 say that it is precisely its ' unsatisf actoriness,' 

 the pregnancy of its paradox in leaving so 

 many doors open and yet keeping so much 

 science within, by which it serves us best. 

 Coming when psychology has just reached the 

 study of religion, it can hardly fail to deepen 

 the whole of the research to which it bril- 

 liantly contributes. Dickinson S. Miller. 



Fishes and Fisheries of the Irish Sea: W. A. 



Herdman and Robert A. Dawson, London, 



George Philip & Son. 1902. 4to. Pp. 98. 



This is the second memoir of the Lancashire 

 Sea-Fisheries Committee, of which Professor 

 Herdman is the honorary director of the scien- 

 tific work and Mr. Dawson the fishery expert. 

 It is the outgrowth of studies of fishes of the 

 Irish Sea commenced many years ago by 

 Herdman, in connection with the work of the 

 Liverpool Marine Biology Committee. The 

 systematic consideration of the fishes consti- 

 tutes the major part of this report, but much 

 collateral information adds to its value. In 

 dedicating it to the members of the Lancashire 

 and Western sea-fisheries joint committee, 

 the authors express the hope that the work 

 may fill a want as a guide to the fish and fish- 

 eries of the region, and that it may be of value 

 to fishermen and others at home and to fishery 

 authorities and scientific men abroad. 



The physical features of the Irish Sea are 

 briefly described under the head of area, depth, 

 rivers and estuaries, temperature, specific 

 gravity, tides and currents, and bottom depos- 

 its. This sea, which has an area of about 

 17,250 square miles, may be regarded as a 

 landlocked body, for the connections with the 

 North Sea (St. George Channel and TSTorth 

 Channel) constitute only one tenth of the cir- 

 cumference. In this respect the Irish Sea is 

 said to be unique, for no other sea of equal 

 extent is so completely closed in by land be- 

 longing to one nation. " Consequently the 

 Irish Sea seems peculiarly well fitted for those 

 experiments in fisheries administration and 

 cultivation which depend upon identical fish- 

 eries regulations." 



In connection with the study of the sud- 

 den appearance and disappearance of swarms 

 of copepods and medusae, and the infiuence 

 of the movements of such and other surface 

 food materials on the migration of fishes, two 

 thousand drift bottles were dropped into the 

 sea at various places, and their behavior forms 

 the basis of the chapter on tides and currents. 

 The recovery of over forty-two per cent, of 

 the bottles furnished data as to the combined 

 effects of tides, currents, and prevailing winds 

 on the distribution of small surface organisms. 

 Considerable influence seems to be exerted by 

 winds on the movements of fish ova, fish lar- 

 vae, the fish food, and hence on the abundance 

 of particular species in a given region. The 

 two tidal streams which pour into this sea 

 meet and neutralize each other, causing a 

 zone of water, which extends from one shore 

 to the other and in places is twenty miles wide, 

 where no tidal currents exist, but only a rise 

 and fall; twelve per cent, of the drift bottles 

 were caried by winds from one tidal system to 

 the other. 



The nature of the bottom deposits is re- 

 garded as the most important of the various 

 factors determining the distribution of ani- 

 mals over the sea-bottom; and this subject, 

 therefore, receives special consideration; and, 

 in connection with the chapter on the distribu- 

 tion of fishes, etc., constitutes the most inter- 

 esting and important section of the memoir. 

 Sample lists of all species of animals taken in 

 dredge-hauls in different parts of the sea show 

 how the physical conditions influence the 

 abundance of animals as regards individuals 

 and species and make it ' clear that whether 

 it be a question of mere mass of life or variety 

 of life, haul for haul, the shallow waters can 

 hold their own against the deep sea, and form 

 in all probability the most prolific zone of life 

 on this globe.' This zone in the Irish Sea 

 affords two very distinct types of abundance: 

 the Welsh and Manx coasts are characterized 

 by rocks and sea weeds, the Lancashire and 

 Cheshire coasts by sand and mud; the shore 

 waters of the former abound in species, those 

 of the latter in individuals. 



The fishes of the Irish Sea, of which a 

 freely annotated list is given, comprise 141 



