August S, 1SS4.1 



SCIENCE. 



117 



There still remain to be published a number 

 of reports upon Mollusca, — Huxley on the 

 cephalopods, Boog Watson on the gasteropods, 

 E. A. Craven on the pteropods and hetero- 

 pods, Rudolph Bergh on the nuclibranchiates, 

 E. A. Smith on the lamellibranchiates, and 

 Busk on the Polyzoa ; the first instalment of 

 the latter paper being announced for the next 

 volume. 



In his report upon the Brachiopoda (vol. i., 

 67 p., 4 pi. ; also 

 Proc. royal soc, 

 xxvii. p. 4 2 8), 

 Professor Thomas 

 Davidson of 

 Brighton discusses 

 the 31 species and 

 varieties obtained, 

 and presents a 

 catalogue of the 

 recent species at 

 present known. 

 Although the 

 dredge was put 

 down at 361 sta- 

 tions, brachiopods 

 were found only 

 thirty-nine times. 

 The greater bulk 

 of known species 

 live at compara- 

 tively moderate 

 depths, few as 

 deep as 500 fath- 

 oms, and are spe- 

 cif! call v rare from 

 500 to*2,900 fath- 

 oms. It is also 

 shown that the 

 same species is 

 capable of existing 

 at different 

 depths, without 

 any observable 

 modification in 

 shape and char- 

 acter. Frequent allusions are made to the 

 American authorities Dall and Morse, the 

 opinions of the former being referred to on 

 almost every page. 



Dr. F. Buchanan White, in his Report on 

 the pelagic Hemiptera (vol. vii., 82 p., 3 pi.), 

 discusses the interesting oceanic insects be- 

 longing to the genera Halobates and Haloba- 

 tocles. He concludes that the region between 

 the eastern part of the Indian Ocean and the 

 West Pacific is the birthplace of the genus 

 Halobates, whence it has spread to other parts 



THE DREDGING AND SOUNDING APPARATUS ON BOARD THE 



challenger. (Copied from The Atlantic.) 



of the world, Ilalobatodes being one of its 

 derivatives. 



The monograph of the anatomy of Peripatus, 

 begun by the late Professor Balfour, has already 

 been published under the editorship of Mose- 

 ley and Sedgwick, the latter of whom is now 

 continuing the subject by the use of material 

 collected b} T himself at the Cape of Good 

 Hope last summer. It is questionable, there- 

 fore, whether this will form part of the Chal- 

 lenger series. 



Dr. P. P. C. 

 Iloek of Leyden 

 has printed his re- 

 port upon the Pyc- 

 nogonida (vol. iii. . 

 167 p., 21 pi.), 

 which, in addition 

 to discussing the 

 41 species dredged 

 by the Challenger 

 and the Knight 

 Errant, 33 ^of 

 which were new. 

 contains a critical 

 review of the gen- 

 era and species. 

 129 in number 

 aire ad}' known to 

 science, in which 

 frequent compli- 

 ment a ry refer- 

 ences are made to 

 the work of our 

 con ntrym an . E . B . 

 Wilson, upon the 

 same group. The 

 most important 

 generalizations 

 obtained are : 1 . 

 That those genera 

 which range most 

 widely geographi- 

 cally are also those 

 which range most 

 widely in depth ; 

 2. That, though there are deep-sea species, 

 deep-sea genera do not appear to exist. The 

 author admits his inability to show any defi- 

 nite influence of deep-water habitat upon the 

 form and structure of the animals under con- 

 sideration. 



Dr. Hoek's report on the Cirripedia (vol. 

 viii., 189 p., 13 pi.) appears to be a very care- 

 fullv executed and scholarlv essav. Its use- 



fulness is greatly enhanced by 



well-made 



index, and an introduction in which the his- 

 toiy of the group, and its literature since the 



