226 Scientific Intelligence. 



the legal profession; of College entrance requirements; and 

 especially important of the various pension systems introduced 

 by institutions of learning, by the different states and by large 

 business corporations. Of the subjects mentioned, to the first 

 have been devoted the special Bulletins IV and VI ; it is further 

 discussed in the present report. The legal matter is the subject 

 of Bulletin VIII, and XV by Alfred Z. Reed, the latter published 

 the past year (see this Journal, vol. 2, p. 236). The development 

 of pension systems has been ably handled in many annual reports 

 and in none more so than the present (pp. 115-157) ; "a very slow 

 growth in the critical attitude on the subject" by the authorities 

 involved is a conclusion much to be regretted. 



2. A. Monograph of the Existing Crinoids; by Austin 

 Hob art Clark. Vol. 1, The Comatulids. Quarto. Part 1, pp. 

 1-406, with 513 text-figures and 17 plates ; part 2, pp. 1-795, with 

 949 text-figures and 57 plates. Bulletin 82, U. S. National 

 Museum. Washington, 1915 and 1921 (Government Printing 

 Office) . — This is a complete monograph of all that is known about 

 living crinoids, based upon a study of the material contained in 

 all the principal museums of the world as well as that collected 

 by the author himself on various expeditions. That the crinoids 

 are in no sense the rare creatures that they are popularly imag- 

 ined is indicated by an enlightening paragraph in the introduc- 

 tion. "During the 1906 cruise of the Albatross I handled tens of 

 thousands of specimens ; several times I saw the forward deck of 

 the steamer literally buried under several tons of individuals 

 belonging to a species exceeding any fossil form in size ; every- 

 where we went we found crinoids; we dredged them at all 

 depths. My ideas of the comparative importance of the recent 

 forms underwent a total change; surely a group so abundant, 

 even though very local and very unevenly distributed over the 

 sea floor, can not be considered as decadent or degenerate. From 

 my observations at sea I became convinced that the recent crinoids 

 are in every way as much of a factor in the present day marine 

 biology, and play fully as important a part, as the echinoids, the 

 holothurians, or the asteroids ; ecologically they are more inter- 

 esting than any of these because of their sessile mode of life and 

 curiously specialized method of procuring food. ' ' 



The first part treats exhaustively the relationships of the 

 crinoids, the general features of their organization and a detailed 

 comparison of certain of the calcareous structures of all the 

 known species. 



The second part completes the account of the calcareous struc- 

 tures and gives a full description of each of the other organ sys- 

 tems of the body, including the digestive, circulator, nervous, 

 and reproductive systems, sexual differentiation, spawning, 

 embryology, larval development, metamorphosis and growth. 

 This part also includes all that is at present known regarding the 



