3o8 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



A Monooraph of the Land and Freshwater Mollusca of 

 the British Isles. By John W. Taylor, F.L.S. 

 Part iv., pp. 193 to 256; and figures 378 to 512. 

 (Leeds : Taylor Bros., 1897.) Price 6s. 



The fourth part of this fine work is occupied by 

 the continuation of descriptions of the soft parts of 

 the animals and their functions. It brings the 

 subject well forward, and much skill is displayed in 

 dealing with the organs under treatment. Considera- 

 tion of the foot is completed and the pallium, or 

 mantle, and the visceral region are discussed. On 

 page 209, Mr. Taylor commences the description of 

 the internal organization, beginning with the 

 nervous system, which occupies fifteen pages. 

 Following come the sensory organs, with admirable 

 articles, well illustrated by drawings, on vision, 

 smell, hearing and taste. The alimentary system 

 is commenced but not quite completed in this 

 part. We venture, with the author's permission, to 

 quote a few lines and to re-produce illustrations to 

 show the good style of this book. We have 



Fig. 398. 



Fig- 399- 



Fig. 401. 



Figs, from Taylor's " Land and Freshwater Mollusca," 

 illustrating ihe stages of the process leading to the degener- 

 ation and loss of the shell owing to its enclosure within the 

 pallial lobes. Fig. sgS—Vitrina pellncida x li, showing the 

 first stages of pallial expansion. Fig. zgg—Physei fontinalts 

 X 2, illustrating a further advance ot the process. Fig. 400 — 

 Amphipeplea gluttnosa, in which the shell is almost entirely 

 enveloped by the mantle. Fig. 401. — Arion hortensis, illus- 

 trating the complete infolding of the shell by the mantle 

 and its consequent atrophy and loss. 



selected for the purpose some of his remarks on 

 the degeneration of the shell and its connection 

 with the mantle. He says: "In Vitrina we have 

 the first distinct stage in this process of the 

 degeneration of the shell by its enclosure within 

 the pallial folds, which project anteriorly in the 

 form of an incipient limacoid shield, and laterally 

 as a spatuliform lobe, both partially overspreading 

 the external surface of the shell, which is evidently 

 reduced in size as well as in substance, as the body 

 of the animal is now only capable of being wholly 

 contained within the shell during dry weather. 

 . . . The genus y4?7'(;w illustrates the disappearance 

 of a definite shell, the anterior mantle or shield, as 

 it is called, having assumed a very tough and 

 leathery consistency, its margins completely over- 

 lapping and fusing together to form a sac enclosing 

 the calcareous granulations which represent the 

 vestigial shell." 



It is in this manner that the author carries us on 

 step by step through his work, making all things 

 easy to the students of the terrestrial and fluviatile 

 mollusca who desire to know these most interesting 

 animals as they should be known. We again press 

 upon our readers the advantage of supporting Mr. 

 Taylor, by subscribing to his work, in his laud- 

 able effort to produce a really scientific monograph 

 on one of the most popular and easily accessible 

 classes available to the student of biology in the 

 British Islands. 



New Thoughts on Current Subjects : Scientific, 

 Social, Philosophical. By Rev. J. A. Dewe. 230 

 pp. 8vo. (London: Elliot Stock, 1897). Price not 

 stated. 



This book consists of a series of essays on fifteen 

 more or less abstruse subjects, which are divided 

 into three sections of five each, viz. : Scientific, 

 Social, Philosophical. So far as this magazine is 

 concerned, the first and last sections alone appeal 

 to us, though in our private capacity we find the 

 second section amusing. The liberal and sweeping 

 manner in which the author treats his subject is at 

 times appalling. For instance, we may quote a 

 sentence from his chapter on "Free Will versus 

 Heredity," in which he says : " Let us turn to the 

 converse side and contemplate the spectacle of a 

 London child ' suckled on gin and born into 

 eternal damnation,' that is to say, surrounded by 

 every stimulant to evil ; in almost every case 

 the child grows up to a bad and wicked 

 manhood or womanhood." If this is true, it 

 seems to us that the author's vocation should 

 be among benighted Londoners, rather than 

 educating the youth of superior kind at Ilkley 

 College. With regard to the Essays on Science 

 and Philosophy, such subjects as "The Nature of 

 Heat," "The Nature of Electricity," "Spiritua- 

 listic Communications," " The Dogmatic and 

 Scientific Accounts of the Creation of Man," should 

 be read and re-read to be understood. We have 

 read and candidly confess we do not yet understand 

 the theories propounded in some of them. There 

 is frequently a want of care in expression. Writing 

 of the abundance of life in the oceans, the author 

 says, " The immensity of the fishing trade, the 

 numbers that are able to gain a living by its means, 

 are sufficient indications of the enormous quantities 

 of fish, both moving and stationary,." W^hat, we 

 venture to ask, are stationary fish ? Certainly 

 the author has done his best to include thoughts 

 that are new into his book, but the reading of them 

 is apt to raise thoughts in others which are unfor- 

 tunately by no means new. 



