No. 395.] REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 897 
first structure simplified. Later the lens and especially the vitreous 
body degenerated more rapidly than the retina. The muscles in 
Typhlichthys have disappeared. The scleral cartilages have not 
failed to the same extent as the active structures of the eye. The 
degeneration is in no case due to arrested development. p, ¢ y 
Abbott on the Marine Fishes of Peru. — An excellent piece of 
faunal work is “The Marine Fishes of Peru,” by James Francis 
Abbott, published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sci- 
ences of Philadelphia for June, 1899. 
The paper is based on the collections made by Rear-Admiral 
L. A. Beardslee, U. S. N., at Callao, while in command of the 
Philadelphia. This accomplished officer has long taken a deep inter- 
est in natural history matters, and this collection presented by him 
to Stanford University is a proof of such interest. 
Mr. Abbott notes 102 species as recorded thus far from Peru, and 
thirty of them are included in the Beardslee collection. Mr. Abbott 
describes as new the following species from Callao: Basilichthys 
octavius, Basilichthys regillus, Basilichthys jordani, Pisciregia beardsleei, 
and Sciena gilberti. ‘The new genus Pisciregia is allied to the Califor- 
nia genus Atherinopsis, having a similar non-protractile premaxillary, 
but the vomer is armed with recurved teeth ; the outer teeth in the 
jaws are enlarged, and the first dorsal is very small. The abun- 
dance of species of large-sized Atherinidæ (Pez del Rey), constituting 
the genera Chirostoma, Atherinopsis, Atherinops, Basilichthys, and 
Pisciregia, excellent food fishes all, is one of the notable features of 
the fish fauna of the eastern Pacific. DS 1. 
Fishes of French Guiana. — Dr. Léon Vaillant has published in 
the Bulletin of the Museum at Paris a paper on fishes collected in 
French Guiana, mostly from fresh waters. 
Two new species are described: Arius physacanthus, from Rio 
Mahury; and Rivuldus geayi, from Rio Cachipour. The Arius is 
allied to emphysetus and should be placed with it in Sciadeichthys 
if the modern genera of Bleeker are adopted. D. $. J. 
Australian Tunicata. — Students of the Tunicata have known for 
some years that Professor W. A. Herdman has been occupied with the 
investigation of the collections of this group belonging to the Aus- 
tralian Museum at Sydney, New South Wales, and his report has 
