52 
The Irish Naturalist. 
February, 19 14. 
A HISTORY OF SHELLFISH. 
The Life of the MoUusca : By B. B. Woodward. Pp. 158, with 
illustrations. London : Methuen & Co., 1913. Price 65. 
" This volume gives a popular but accurate summary 01 what is known 
concerning the ways, habits, and mode of life of this branch of the Animal 
Kingdom, of which the snail, the oyster, and the cuttlefish are familiar 
examples." Thus reads the inscription on the cover of Mr. Woodward's 
book, and our expectations are not disappointed on its perusal The 
Mollusks, which comprise upward of 50,000 living species, are of such 
economic value, we are brought into contact with them in so many ways, 
and they possess such varied attributes, that a work like Mr. Woodward's 
is sure to attract a good deal of public attention. When we read of one 
kind of Mollusk possessing 750,600 teeth, that another lays at one time 
one hundred^ million eggs, while some have thousands of eyes scattered 
over their bodies, one wonders how it is that these creatures have not 
made for themselves a greater reputation, and have not gained a more 
important position in the Animal Kingdom. The subject discussed by 
Mr. Woodward is a fascinating one. He has done his best to make 
himself understood by the ordinary reader, and yet certain chapters, such 
as those on Classification and Reproduction, might perhaps have been 
written in a lighter strain. The chapter on Evolution is an excellent 
piece of work, with which no fault could be found. x\ few remarks will 
probably fail to enlighten the ordinary reader, for instance (p. 13) that 
the Chaetopoda, Gephyrea, Rotifera, Bryozoa, and Brachiopoda belong 
to the same divivsion of the Animal Kingdom as the Mollusca, while his 
description of the organs of defence among the Aeolididae (p. 123) is apt 
to give the impression that these Mollusks are actually furnished with 
formidable stinging cells of the t}^e of those found in the jelly-fishes. As 
a matter of fact the stinging cells in those sea-slugs seem to be merely 
derived from the jelly-fish on which they feed, and they form no part of 
the moUuscan anatomy. Under the heading of " Uses " of Mollusks, 
Mr. Woodward quotes (p. 144) a few prices given for rare shells, and 
remarks that of late years the highest sum spent on a single shell was 
^55, paid by the British Museum for a Pleurotomaria. He fails to tell 
us that this was quite a cheap bargain for the British Museum. The 
same species has fetched -fj-^S in Berlin, while a good Conns gloriamaris 
realised £y$ in Germany. Mr. Woodward's little book is free from mis- 
prints, and has an excellent index. It is a thoroughly trustworthy 
work, and most of it is easily understood by those unacquainted with 
the subject, so that there need be no hesitation in recommending it to 
all who require a good elementary treatise. 
R. F. S. ; 
