118 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IV., No. 79. 



publication of Darwin's monographs, are care- 

 fully and critically summarized. Darwin knew 

 147 species of cirripeds ; 18 were added by his 

 successors ; while, in the present report, 59 are 

 described, together with 1 new generic type ; 

 78 species, in all, having been collected. The 

 percentage of new material in this group was 

 therefore unusually great. 



Out of 34 genera known, 28 have never been 

 observed at a depth greater than 150 fathoms. 

 It is shown that there are no deep-sea genera ; 

 for, even of the two genera ranging lowest in 

 depth, species are known from shallow water. 

 Dr. Hoek's discussion of these two genera, in 

 which he shows that their occurrence in great 

 depths coincides in a striking manner with their 

 paleontological history, is very suggestive ; as 

 is also his statement, that, in the case of Scal- 

 pellum, the deep-sea rather than the shallow- 

 water forms have preserved the character of 

 the oldest fossil species of the genus, while, in 

 the case of Pollicipes, the more archaic types 

 are found in shallow water. The author also 

 points out the fact, that, while the deep-sea 

 genera have a world-wide range, the deep- 

 sea species ordinarily have only a very limited 

 distribution. 



A most laborious paper is that upon the 

 Ostracoda (vol. L, 184 p., 43 pi.), by Prof. G. 

 Stewardson Brady of Sunderland, with its 

 almost endless array of figures, at least 2,000 

 in number. The paper is almost entirely de- 

 scriptive ; families, genera, and species, old as 

 well as new, being fully characterized. Out of 

 the 220 species obtained, 143 were new ; and 

 only 15 of the entire number catalogued owe 

 their names to other authority than the author. 

 The deductions concerning geographical dis- 

 tribution are, of course, very interesting. It is 

 shown that Ostracoda occur very sparingly 

 in the oceanic abysses : only 19 species were 

 found at depths below 1,500 fathoms, and only 

 52 below 500. The materials for a stud}* of 

 the horizontal distribution of the group were 

 not very extensive ; and it is evident that there 

 is still an immense amount to be done in the 

 study of Ostracoda in all parts of the world, 

 particularly in the shallow waters, which the 

 Challenger rarely touched. 



The report upon the Copepoda, by the same 

 author (vol. viii., 142 p., 55 pi.), is also purely 

 descriptive : 106 species are enumerated, of 

 which 47 are described as new, 10 new generic 

 types being defined. It is an interesting evi- 

 dence of the exhaustive character of Dana's 

 work while connected with the Wilkes explor- 

 ing expedition, to note, that, out of the 90 

 species of free-swimming Copepoda collected, 



30 were described by him, and that sixty per 

 cent of the previously described forms in the 

 list bear his name. Professor Brady's draw- 

 ings and descriptions are admirably executed. 

 The lack of an index to text and plates is r 

 however, much to be regretted. The Chal- 

 lenger Copepoda were almost without excep- 

 tion obtained by surface towing. The only 

 undoubted deep-sea species was Pontostratiotes 

 ab}"ssicola, of which a single specimen was 

 obtained at 2,200 fathoms. 



Many of the reports on crustaceans are yet 

 to appear, — discussions of the brachyurans, 

 by E. J. Miers ; the anomurans, by Professor 

 Jules Barrois, director of the zoological labo- 

 ratory at Villefranche ; the macrurans, by C. 

 Spence Bate ; the Amphipoda, by the Rev. 

 T. R. R. Stebbing ; and the Cumacea, Schizo- 

 poda, Stomatopoda, and Isopoda, by authori- 

 ties not yet named. 



Nothing whatever has been printed upon 

 the Vermes as yet. The annelids are in the 

 hands of Dr. W. C. Mcintosh. Professor Ray 

 Lankester has the gephyreans ; and Dr. Ludwig 

 Graff, the M3 T zostomidae. The assignment of 

 the Chaetognatha to Dr. Oscar Hertwig was 

 announced in 1880 ; but this group has been 

 omitted in later lists — without explanation, 

 however, and it is to be hoped unintention- 

 ally. 



The report upon the Holothurioidea, by Dr. 

 Hjalmar Theel of Upsala (vol. iv., 176 p., 46 

 pi.), is one of the most interesting of the 

 special descriptive papers ; since the deep-sea 

 holothurians are shown to constitute a group 

 by themselves, specialty characteristic of the 

 abyssal fauna, and veiy different from the 

 littoral forms hitherto known. This group, 

 which is placed by the author in a new order, 

 Elasipoda, is believed hy him to have in certain 

 respects attained a higher development than 

 all the other echinoderms, — "a development 

 which is gradually approaching the higher 

 classes of animals." Previous to the publica- 

 tion of this report, only three animals of this 

 group were known ; these having been brought 

 in by the Swedish and Norwegian dredging 

 expeditions of 1875, 1876, and 1878. There 

 are here described 52 species and 3 varieties, 

 distributed into 19 genera. Of this entire num- 

 ber, only 4 are found at depths less than 500 

 fathoms, as many more from 500 to 1,000, 

 the remainder from 1,000 to 2,900 fathoms. 

 " Thus we learn that the Elasipoda abound 

 over the floor of the ocean at great depths, 

 and that the number of species and of individ- 

 uals is greatty reduced shorewards." 



G. Brown Goode. 



