No. 398.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 151 
the coral reefs and rock pools, localities in which the greater number 
of the yet unknown fishes of the tropics are likely to be found. 
Evermann and Marsh are to be congratulated on the use of the 
correct name of the island of Puerto Rico, instead of the lazy cor- 
ruption of Porto Rico. This is, we believe, the first government 
document of the United States in which the name is correctly spelled. 
The spelling Puerto Rico is, however, now officially adopted by the 
Government Board of Geographical Names. i = 
Tunicates of Pribilof Islands. — Part III of “The Fur Seals 
and Fur-Seal Islands of the North Pacific Ocean," published by the 
Government, contains an account by W. E. Ritter of the Tunicates 
of Pribilof. Eleven species are reported upon, ten of which are new 
to science. 
Physiology of the Cephalopods. — An excellent résumé of our 
knowledge of the physiology of the cephalopods has been given by 
Victor Willem in the Bulletin Scientifique de la France et de la Belgique, 
Tome xxxi, pp. 31-54. The article is accompanied by an extensive 
bibliography. 
Excretion in Mollusca. — Cuénot' has studied the function of 
excretion in mollusks by means of physiological injections, and 
attains results which modify some generally accepted views derived 
from anatomical and histological data. From the review of the lit- 
erature on Mollusca one sees that the excretory function has been 
ascribed primarily to the nephridia (organs of Bojanus), then also to 
the pericardial glands of lamellibranchs, and finally without sufficient 
proof to the modified pericardial epithelium and to certain scattered 
liver cells, 
The interior of any animal maintains a relatively constant composi- 
tion, due to the presence of excretory cells which remove any excess 
of normal material or any abnormal, że., excretory, substance which 
would poison the organism. The cell exercises, however, the choice 
among such substances, thus demonstrating the varied nature of the 
excretory cells. Introduced substances may (1) enter into the cycle 
of metabolic changes; (2) be attracted and precipitated in skeletal 
or yolk material ; (3) undecomposed and unfixed, be collected by ex- 
cretory cells, and thus impart color to the excretory organs. Certain 
1 Cuénot, L. L'excrétion chez les Mollusques, Arch. de Biol., vol. xvi (1899), 
PP. 49-96, Pls. V, VI. 
