160 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



stomina, of which the last is confessedly artificial, as we are told that, 

 of the two British genera which it contains, Diplophrys, " heyond 

 possessing the apertures in the test, has no affinity with the genus 

 Amphitrema." It is of interest to find that microscopists are willing 

 to put up with an unnatural classification, as well as the naked-eye 

 systematists who are supposed to be so much less scientific ; but we 

 do not blame either for doing so when it is a question of getting out 

 a needed faunal work like the present, since correctness of classifica- 

 tion may well wait — so long as we realise our artificial groupings 

 — till we know exactly what animals we have to deal with 

 in every group and every country. The Protozoa dealt with in the 

 present volume have been widely collected by various workers in our 

 islands, Mr. Wailes making his acknowledgments to many providers 

 of material, collected from districts as distant as the Shetlands and 

 Cornwall, Cambridgeshire and Ireland ; but, he tells us, much more 

 " remains to be done before we can gain any correct idea of the dis- 

 tribution of the Freshwater Bhizopoda throughout the British Isles," 

 and it is hoped that microscopists will come forward with their local 

 records — to which, we may add, our pages will always be open ; we 

 could do with many more short notes. A sketch of the life of James 

 Cash, the chief author of the first two volumes of this work, appro- 

 priately opens the present volume ; he was not a professional 

 naturalist, but a journalist, employed at first on the ' Warrington 

 Guardian,' and afterwards, from 1867 till his death, at the age of 70, 

 in 1909, on the ' Manchester Guardian.' 



The Colchester Oyster Fishery. By Heney Lavee, F.S.A. Colchester : 

 Benham & Co. 1916. 2s. 6cl. net. 

 As Chairman of the Colne Fishery Board, Dr. Laver is an 

 authority on the long-famed Colchester Oysters, and he deals in full 

 detail in this remarkably neat little work, well illustrated with photo- 

 graphs, with the antiquity and position of this Oyster fishery, the 

 methods of working it, and the quality and safety of its products. 

 The value of the Oyster, not only as a choice article of food, but as an 

 invaluable recuperative diet in cases of dyspepsia and weakness, is 

 supported by numerous instances, and in times like the present is 

 particularly worthy of being held in mind. A silver Oyster is kept 

 among the Colchester Corporation regalia, this being used as the 

 standard of the size and form of the Oyster considered the best and 

 most suitable for sale, and this is figured in the book. Other useful 

 illustrations depict the enemies of the Oyster, spat-shells and brood, 

 the measures used, and the actual adult Oysters themselves. 



