77 



THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF WORMS. 



A | Monograph | of the Order of j Oligochaeta | By | Frank Ever- 

 Beddard I M.A. (Oxon.), F.R*S. | Prosector to the Zoological Society of 

 London | and Lecturer on Biology at Guy's Hospital | Oxford | At the 

 Clarendon Press | II DCCC xcv. [4to. pp. xii. 4-770-r 5 plates ; price 2 guineas 

 net]. 



This magnum opus brings our actual knowledge of the Oligochaeta 

 down to the end of the year 1894. Already since its publication 

 one or two papers have appeared dealing with some of the details,, 

 but for all practical purposes we have here the results of the study 

 of this long-neglected group of animals brought up to date. 

 Mr. Beddard is an accomplished and conscientious worker. His 

 various monographs have long been recognised as the most 

 authoritative productions on this subject in Great Britain, and he 

 is a worthy rival of the honoured Rosa T Vejdovsky, Yaillant, and 

 Eisen, who are labouring (with some others) abroad to make us 

 better acquainted with these much-despised but wonderful members 

 of the animal kingdom. The volume consists of a preface of four- 

 pages' length, table of contents, five plates (in part coloured), 

 a detailed account of the anatomy of the Oligochaeta (pp. 1-155), a 

 systematic classification (pp. 155-173), descriptions of genera and 

 species (pp. 174-724), a full and invaluable bibliography (pp. 

 725-752), and an index of genera and species (pp. 753-769). To deal 

 with a volume of 770 pages as it deserves would require more space 

 and time than can now be commanded. At the outset, however, it 

 may be asserted that this is a model of accurate and scholarly work- 

 manship. The author is not a mere copyist and compiler. The 

 list of his own memoirs dealing with different questions affecting 

 the Oligochsets numbers close upon a hundred, and those who have 

 seen the anatomist in his prosector's office, as I have done, can 

 testify to the practical and careful character of his researches. 

 Worms are sent to Mr. Beddard from all parts of the world, and 

 scarcely a month passes but some new species or genus is received 

 and described. On the other hand, the labours of others receive 

 the most conscientious attention, and are employed as a means of 

 checking, confirming, correcting, modifying, or elucidating his own 

 conclusions. 



There 



The author does not attempt everything. For this we are 

 grateful. We have here no allusion to the uses of earthworm- 

 from an agricultural standpoint, no attempt to deal with t 

 tant branch of the subject opened up to us by Darwin, 

 also a deliberate omission of any account of the embryology of 

 oligochsets, save as here and there an allusion is necessary to clear 

 up the meaning of some problematic organ or the like. Professor 



March 1 



