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NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



A Treatise on Zoology. Edited by E. Ray Lankester, M.A., 

 LL.D., F.R.S., &c. Part III. The Echinoderma by 

 F. A. Bather, M.A., assisted by J. W. Gregory, D.Sc, 

 and E. S. Goodrich, M.A. Adam and Charles Black. 



We have during the last few years drawn the attention of 

 our readers to several volumes of the ' Cambridge Natural 

 History.' We now invite their perusal of the first volume 

 issued by the sister University. For this is really an Oxford 

 publication ; and, as the editor states in his preface, " the 

 authors are, for the most part, graduates of the University of 

 Oxford, though it may not be possible to maintain this limita- 

 tion in future sections of the work." " The work is addressed 

 to the serious student of zoology," and as such must be taken 

 and appreciated. We seem to be approaching once more the 

 high water-mark of technical zoology. These pages have dis- 

 tinctly the imprimatur of the editor, and may be accepted as 

 conveying information that is full, recent, and reliable. Prof. 

 Ray Lankester has very thoroughly identified himself with the 

 volumes, and seems to have accepted a complete responsibility 

 as editor. Mr. Bather has undertaken the greater part of the 

 work; Dr. Gregory has contributed the chapter on the Stelleroidea 

 and Echinoidea ; that on the Holothurioidea is from the pen of 

 Mr. Goodrich. 



It is to be hoped that this volume will circulate beyond the 

 arena of even the serious student, if that term is to bear a 

 restricted significance. The purely British zoologist is a recruit 

 from many non-academical centres : he is often a good observer, 

 with little technical knowledge ; his tastes are frequently biono- 

 mical rather than widely biological; his knowledge of the living 

 habits of an animal are generally in an inverse ratio to that of its 

 phylogeny and ontogeny ; he is practically a field naturalist, and 

 knows the haunts of his creatures rather than the facts of their 



