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NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS, Etc. 



A Monograph of the British Marine Annelids. Vol. III. Part I. — 

 Text. Part II.— Plates. By Professor W. C. McIntosh, 

 F.E.S., etc. London : Dulau & Co., Ltd. 1915. Price 25s. 

 each. 



The present instalment of the Eay Society's well-known mono- 

 graphs deals with the Polychaite marine Worms of eleven families, 

 from the OpheliidcB to the Ammocharida, including over eighty 

 species. Thus, as is said in the Preface, " in this Part economically 

 valuable forms, such as the Arenicolids and Spionids, brightly phos- 

 phorescent types like Chcetopterus, the most cosmopolitan of all the 

 boring groups, viz. the Polydorse and Dodecaceridse, the complex 

 and physiologically interesting Magelona and the Capitellida), and, 

 lastly, the numerous and peculiar family of the Maldanids, fall to be 

 considered." Professor Mcintosh, in an admirably concise and lucid 

 style, deals most fully with the structure, colours, habitat and habits 

 — where ascertainable — and anatomy of these interesting organisms, 

 and many facts of interest to the general naturalist, as well as to 

 the student of marine life in general and of annelids in particular, 

 come to light in the course of the work. It is interesting, for instance, 

 to read of the familiar Lob-worm (Arenicola marina) of such import- 

 ance to fishermen for bait, that the process of breaking up and fixing 

 it for this purpose is so trying to the fingers, unless dipped before- 

 hand in a solution of alum, that they soon bleed owing to the friction 

 and the secretion produced by the worms ; and that the haemoglobin 

 in the blood of these differs little from that of such a different creature 

 as the Horse. Of the curious tube-living Chcetopterus variopedatus, 

 so remarkable for its enormously-developed and greatly-varied appen- 

 dages, " it is," says Professor Mcintosh, "most beautifully phospho- 

 rescent, bright flashes being emitted from the posterior feet, but the 

 most vivid light occurs on the dorsum, between the great sickle- 

 shaped lobes which curve forward over the first region of the body. 

 Here the phosphorescence is intense, and the copious mucus exuded 

 by the animal can be drawn out as vivid bluish-purple fire which, 

 besides, now and then gleams along the edges of the wing-like flaps, 

 illuminating the water around." Although commonly found in deep 



