October 9, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



523 



some East Indian types and taking its desig- 

 nation from the bivalve Daonella dubia. 



A certain kinship still exists between the 

 Middle Triassic faunas of western America 

 and Asia, due perhaps to common descent as 

 much as to migration. The relationship with 

 the Eurasian Mediterranean or " Tethys " 

 fauna begins to be strong, especially among 

 the Ceratitidse. In the west Humboldt range 

 of Nevada about twenty-five per cent, of the 

 species are either identical with, or closely 

 related to forms of the same age in the Medi- 

 terranean region. The faunas of the latter 

 and of America are more closely related to 

 each other than either is to the boreal or to 

 the East Indian fauna. These propositions 

 are exhaustively illustrated by tabulation of 

 the species. A full bibliography of the sub- 

 ject is given, followed by descriptive matter 

 which contains comparative data of great 

 value, the more welcome because so seldom 

 furnished by authors. The plates are admira- 

 ble and the typography such as usually comes 

 from the Government printing office. It may 

 save some student time to know that " Plate 

 one " on pages 144 and 145, should read 

 "Plate fifty." W. H. Dall 



Monograph of the Shallow-water Starfishes of 

 the North Pacific Coast from the Arctic 

 Ocean to California. By Addison Emery 

 Verrill. Harriman Alaska Series, Volume 

 XrV. City of Washington. Published by 

 the Smithsonian Institution. 1914. Large 

 octavo, 2 vols., text (xii-1-408 pp.) and 

 plates (110). 



For many years the remarkable starfish 

 fauna of the west coast of America has occu- 

 pied a large part of Professor Verrill's time 

 and attention, and these two fine volumes are 

 the result of his study. The short preface 

 recounts the varied sources of his material, 

 which was very extensive and included nearly 

 all of the important collections on the Amer- 

 ican continent. The original material on 

 which Dr. William Stimpson based his species 

 is fortunately still extant and the reproduction 

 of photographs of many of his types is one of 

 the notable features of Professor Verrill's book. 



A large part of the material incorporated in 

 the " Introduction " (pp. 1-19) has been pub- 

 lished by the author previously in articles in 

 scientific periodicals, but considerable new 

 matter is also included. The whole makes up 

 a very interesting, though somewhat frag- 

 mentary account of habits, senses, variability 

 and other characteristics of starfishes in gen- 

 eral and of the west coast starfishes in partic- 

 ular. The general morphology of the Asteri- 

 oidea is then taken up (pp. 20-24) and 

 naturally, the classification of the group is 

 next discussed (pp. 24-26). The family 

 AsteriidsB, which occupies more than two- 

 fifths of the entire volume, is then treated in 

 considerable detail; the morphology requires 

 more than ten pages (2Y-39) ; the classification 

 and the discussion of various genera and sub- 

 genera, many new, occupy pages 40-56; and 

 a very detailed but useful key to west coast 

 species of Asteriidse fills pages 57-67. 



There then follows (pp. 67-202) the full and 

 often elaborate account of these species, begin- 

 ning with the well-known Pisaster ochraceus 

 (Brandt). It is interesting to note that Ver- 

 rill makes the families Stichasteridse and 

 Heliasteridse, as recognized by most former 

 workers, subfamilies of the Asteriidse, a change 

 which is almost certainly in the right direc- 

 tion. The old, familiar genus Asterias, which 

 others have sought to subdivide but generally 

 on trivial grounds and with poor success, Ver- 

 riU boldly transforms into the subfamily 

 Asteriinse, and divides, on more or less impor- 

 tant morphological grounds, into more than 

 twenty genera. It is greatly to be regretted 

 that nowhere does Verrill bring his proposed 

 genera together in an analytical table or key, 

 for it is by no means easy to determine what 

 the interrelationships of his groups are. There 

 can be little doubt that many of these groups 

 are valid genera, but it is hard to believe that 

 all are. The difficulty of comprehending Ver- 

 rill's opinions regarding the groups is com- 

 plicated by the use of "subgenera" and 

 " sections," which certainly seem superfluous, 

 when one old, long-recognized genus is split 

 into more than twenty! 



In his treatment of species, too. Professor 



