NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS, 877 



strong staff, amongst the names of whom we notice enrolled 

 our own countrymen, G. Mann of Oxford, J. A. Thomson of 

 Edinburgh, and B. Windle of Birmingham. Each reference is 

 in the form of a lengthy abstract and signed by its compiler, and 

 the whole subject is distributed under sections which bear the 

 names of the familiar studies which are now reconstituting the 

 aims of Zoology. As we glance through these resumes of thought 

 and work going on as it were beneath the surface of our own 

 arena, the question arises whether we do not now only constitute 

 the remnant of the " Old Guard," and that the Zoology of the 

 future will be an edifice of which our hardly wrought bricks 

 will form but the foundation. We welcome the appearance of 

 the first volume of this excellent contribution to a knowledge of 

 current Biology, and trust the work may annually increase its 

 usefulness. 



Traite de Zoologie. Publie sous la direction de Raphael 

 Blanchard. Fas. XI. Nemertiens, par Louis Joubin. 

 Fas. XVI. Mollusques, par Paul Pelseneer. Paris : 

 RueffetCie. 1897. 

 Zoology, once a playmate for the curious, a reference for the 

 collector, and the strength of a popular museum, is fast becoming 

 one of the most serious of sciences. The anatomy and physiology 

 of animals is too often neglected ; in fact, one sometimes remem- 

 bers the jest made by Edward Forbes and related by Huxley, 

 to the effect that the pure systematic zoologist was unaware that 

 the stuffed skins he named and arranged ever had contained 

 anything but straw. It is perhaps better, however, that we have 

 specialists who devote themselves to each branch of our study, 

 while our pages still remain that "home for destitute truth" 

 relating to the natural history of living animals. 



The Nemertine worms (Nemertinea) are described by Prof. 

 Louis Joubin. In writing the word "described" we are not 

 referring to specific diagnosis, but to the description of the 

 worms themselves, their exterior characteristics, anatomy, phy- 

 siology, and life-history. The principles of their zoological 

 classification are well set out, followed by an " Index biblio- 

 graphique" and a very full general index. The illustrations 

 are numerous and, we may add, excellent, and, with the recent 



