REVIEWS. 
299 
lation of one of M. Quatrefage’s books has been published in this country. 
Still the name very aptly expresses the character of the work, and perhaps on 
this score the author may be forgiyeii. Indeed, all through the work we note 
the author’s tendency to ramble, and though he touches on a goodly number 
of highly important questions in Biology, he does so in so sketchy a manner 
that not one of his essays partakes of that character of completeness which 
is so very desirable in scientific contributions. Pleasant discursiye jottings 
of one who, not a professed naturalist, is a lover of nature, with enough of 
special knowledge to enable him to distinguish the peculiar from the common, 
are always enj 03 ' able. Prom this stand-point, Mr. Collingwood’s production 
is a most readable book. Its style is free and yet concise, and its descriptions 
of tropical scenery are excellent. The author’s travels were made in China, 
Pormosa, Borneo, and Singapore, and contain reference to many phenomena 
in Natural History, which are both new and remarkable, and which we 
trust Mr. Collingwood will take the trouble of investigating further. His 
account of the pill-making crab of Labuan, is a little sketch which recalls 
some of the descriptions in Darwin's Journal. The singular crustacean it 
relates to is in Mr. Spencer Bates’ hands — and it could not be in better care 
— and has been named Sphcerapoeia ColUngivoodii, or in simple English, the 
pill-making Collingwood. 
THE OCEAN WOKLD.* 
|_| ERE is another English reproduction of one of M. Piguier’s popular scien- 
-LL tific works, or rather, to be more correct, of a series of slicings from 
certain of his Natural History writings. Are we to give it unqualified praise, 
or to point out its defects ? Or shall medio tutissimus be our motto, lest 
we be crushed beneath some touching parable, like that which the trans- 
lator somewhat too literally renders in the Preface ? One of those charm- 
ing children we sometimes meet with, latel}^ said to M. Piguier, ^ They tell 
me thou art a mdgariser of Science. What is that? ’ ” Now, without com- 
menting on the acuteness of children of this kind, let us see how delightfully 
dramatic was M. Piguier’s reply : Pie took the child in his arms and carried 
it to the window, where there was a beautiful rose-tree in blossom, and 
invited it to pull a rose.” The child gathered the rose, but not without 
receiving a few of the thorns. Thou art now a vulgariser,” said M. Piguier, 
^^for thou takest to thyself the thorns and givest the flowers to others.” 
This pathetic little incident is given as a hint to severe critics, and of course 
we, among the number, have profited by it, though we must confess that we 
fail to see the exact analogy to which it points. However, let us now see the 
character of the rose which M. Piguier has plucked for us in the book upon 
our table. He attempts the description of all marine invertebrates, and of 
the cartilaginous and bony fishes, and he gives us a very handsome volume. 
* The Ocean "World,” translated from La vie et des mceurs des Animaux. 
Par Louis Piguier, illustrated by 427 Engravings. London : Chapman and 
Hall, 1868. 
