No. 404.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 675 
females are somewhat more attractive than are fertilized ones of 
the same age. If the eyes of a male are covered with Brunswick 
black so as to prevent sight, the male will still mate in a normal way 
if placed near a female. If the wings of a female, which are of a 
reddish-blue, are cut off, and the wings of a male, which are darker, 
are glued to the stumps of the wings on the female, the female insect 
can be made to look much like the male, and yet males will mate 
normally with such individuals. Males provided with female wings 
apparently suffer no disadvantage in mating with females. These 
and other similar observations lead the author to conclude that the 
sexes pay no attention to the appearances of their partners, and that 
the dark coloration of the male has not been brought about through 
sexual selection on the part of the female. P. 
A New Text-Book on Echinoderms.' — It is difficult to character- 
ize this part of 4 Treatise om Zoology, edited by Professor E. Ray 
Lankester. What it contains has already been presented to students 
in a far better form and free from the insular prejudices which are 
apparent throughout the work. One might almost imagine from the 
preface that there was a British natural history of echinoderms, as 
contrasted with that found in the text-books of Zittel, Claus, Neu- 
mayer, Hertwig, Korschelt, Heider, and many others which will 
naturally suggest themselves to the student of echinoderms. 
The great value of a text-book consists in an impartial presenta- 
tion of well-ascertained facts and not in spreading before the reader 
the peculiar views held by the authors, especially when they are 
mere speculations reminding us of the elaborate. disquisitions of 
Haeckel on the imaginary crinoids he so carefully figures and 
describes in his last memoir on the subject. 
It would be difficult to write a general description of the echino- 
derms more likely to confuse the students than the one given by Mr. 
Bather in the introductory chapter to-this part of Lankester’s Zrea- 
tise on Zoilogy. It is noted for dwelling on what is not known and 
for giving us as little as possible (for a work of such pretension) on 
the structure and embryology of the groups. 
The speculations of Mr. Bather might make an article in a geologi- 
cal magazine, but have no place in a text-book designed for “ senior 
Students of zodlogy.” With the mass of material available to illus- 
1 A Treatise on Zoilogy, edited by E. Ray Lankester ; Pt. iii, The Echinoderma, 
by F. A. Bather, assisted by J. W. Gregory and E. S. Goodrich. London, 1900. 
Adam and Charles Black. Svo, 344 pp», 11 figs. 
