REVIEWS. 
61 
regard to the North American species, which may be considered the special 
objects of his study, hut also in connexion with those which do not reside 
on the North American coasts, so that his work contains a summary of our 
present knowledge of the geographical distribution, habits, and synonymy of 
the living Pinnipeds, with most valuable notes upon the fossil forms which 
have been discovered in various parts of the world. The sections of the work 
dealing with the natural history of the Seals will be found most interesting, 
although, we believe, that most readers will feel their indignation rise at the 
descriptions of the proceedings of the seal-hunters, whose reckless destruction 
of unnecessary multitudes of these unfortunate creatures bids fair to extir- 
pate some of them, at any rate, from the face of the earth. We had marked 
two or three passages for quotation, in order to show the extent to which these 
horrible massacres, sometimes attended with the grossest cruelty, have 
reduced the seal population of the Northern seas ; but this notice has already 
reached too great a length. We can only express a hope that those who 
have power in their hands may, if possible, find some means of putting a 
restraint upon the operations of the sealers. Independently of the cruelty 
of such indiscriminate massacres as are to be found described in Mr. Allen’s 
pages, and the loss to the world caused by the reckless destruction of seals 
which has so long prevailed, the unfortunate inhabitants of the Arctic 
shores, who are mainly dependent upon seal’s flesh for their food, are 
rapidly diminishing in number owing to the increasing scarcity of this article 
of diet, and unless some change is made many tribes will perish off the face 
of the earth. 
INFUSORIA.* 
T HE appearance of this book promises to mark an epoch in the history of 
our knowledge of the Infusoria perhaps of more importance than any 
that have been made since the publication of the great work of Ehrenberg. 
Of course, as only one part of it is published, and this deals solely with the 
generalities of the subject, it is at present impossible to contrast the 
systematic work with that of Ehrenberg, or of any subsequent writer ; but 
there are, even in this portion, sufficient evidences of careful, painstaking, 
and thoroughgoing work, to lead us confidently to expect that the descriptive 
section, when it appears, will also be of very high quality. 
In the part now before us, Mr. Saville Kent opens with an historical 
sketch of the progress of the knowledge of the Infusoria, since the first 
discovered members of the class struck the startled vision of old Leeuwen- 
hoek some two hundred years ago. His references to the principal authors 
are arranged in chronological order, and he indicates the characteristics of 
the work done by each of them, and the effects produced by their respective 
labours, especially upon the scientific conception of these microscopic 
creatures. 
* A Manual of the Infusona, including a Description of the Flagel- 
late , Ciliate, and Tentaculiferous Protozoa, British and Foreign, and an 
Account of the Organization and Affinities of the Sponges. By W. Saville 
Kent, F.L.S., See. Part I. Super royal Bvo. London, David Bogue, 1880. 
