NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 33 



dry subject to which most zoologists have frequently to refer, 

 and one which all descriptive writers will care to have near 

 them. We trust the author will complete his self-imposed task, 

 and although the labour is prodigious, and the circulation of the 

 published results only limited, he has the satisfaction of knowing 

 that the volume — and we trust volumes — must reach the hands 

 of those for whom it is designed, and long after we and our 

 views are forgotten, it is likely that the zoologists of the future 

 will often advise on this subject — " consult Sherborn." 



A Naturalist in Indian Seas, or Four Years with the Royal Indian 

 Marine Survey Ship " Investigator''' By A. Alcock, M.B., 

 LL.D., F.R.S. John Murray. 



It is more than thirty years since Collingwood published his 

 ' Rambles of a Naturalist on the Shores and Waters of the China 

 Sea,' the perusal of which we recall as we take up Dr. Alcock's 

 volume on a similar subject, pursued, however, under very 

 different methods. For since the first date, the " Challenger," 

 amongst other expeditions, has shown what can be done by 

 deep-sea dredging, and the equipment of the " Investigator " is 

 largely due to that impulse. Moreover, many biological facts 

 and propositions in relation to animal life have been gained since 

 Collingwood's time, with which Dr. Alcock has illuminated his 

 narrative. 



There is still one great unexplored area of this planet, and 

 it is questionable whether mankind will ever have but a frag- 

 mentary and inadequate knowledge of the fauna of oceanic 

 abysses. The same gloomy depths, which many believe to 

 shroud the remains of an Atlantis, must certainly contain 

 animal life which a dredge is quite incapable to retrieve from 

 the ocean floors. The sea has not yet given up her life ! It is 

 this mystery which, even taken alone, renders these pages of 

 such surpassing interest to the zoologist, who, like Dante, 



"Turns to the perilous wide waste, and stands 

 At gaze." 



The cruises of the " Investigator " here recorded have been 

 confined to the Bay of Bengal, with particular reference to the 

 Zool. 4th ser. vol. VII., January, 1903. d 



