504 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
infested with, numerous fungi of many kinds. Prof. Dendy takes in 
order the various groups of the animal kingdom which send repre- 
sentatives to the assemblage, and in conclusion urges that a large 
amount of work still remains to be done. Although the animals in 
question are small, and to the ordinary observer perhaps extremely 
insignificant, they are very far from lacking interest from a biological 
point of view. They offer problems of importance to students of every 
branch of zoology, while the wholesale destruction of forests which is 
now going on in our Australasian colonies makes it important that the 
work should be done at once. 
Distribution of Southern Faunse.* — Captain F. W. Hutton suggests 
some theoretical explanations of the distribution of southern faunae. 
While the supposition that the ancestors of certain groups migrated 
from the north, where they are now extinct, explains a good deal, it 
fails to give a full and satisfactory explanation of the whole of the facts. 
A fatal objection, however, is raised to the theory of migration by way 
of an antarctic continent. The theory of the former existence of a 
south Pacific mesozoic continent, first suggested by Huxley, seems to be 
the only theory left ; it not only explains the origin of the Australian and 
South American marsupials, but also the almost simultaneous appearance 
of different Eutherian Mammals in North and South America. We 
must suppose that this continent threw off first New Zealand, then 
Australia, then Chili, and finally disappeared under the waves. At a 
later date New Zealand must have formed part of a large island joined 
to New Caledonia, but not to Australia. 
The Machine-Theory of Life.f — Herr Hans Driesch has published 
under this title an essay which is intended to explain his position. It 
seems to us that he has already explained himself copiously, though not 
sufficiently, of course, to obviate misunderstanding. When the subject 
is das Lelen, misunderstandings are inevitable. So the author begins 
by setting himself right with reference to Roux’s criticisms. Roux has 
blamed Driesch for thinking of vital processes and the structure of the 
ovum as “ very simple,” as “ coarsely physico-chemical,” but as Driesch 
responds that he was never guilty of “such nonsense” we need not 
pursue the matter further. In a subsequent paper Roux gives quotations 
from Driesch to prove his case. 
Driesch is not what might be called a “ respecter of persons,” for, 
if we understand him aright, he says that Darwinism, and that other 
“curiosum” of our century — the Hegelian philosophy, arealike varia- 
tions on the theme “ how one may lead a whole generation by the nose,” 
and not calculated to enhance the reputation of the waning nineteenth 
century. “ Inhaltlich,” he continues, “ ist die Darwin’sche Lehrc 
widerlegt, ware sie aber auch nicht widcrlegt, so wiirde sie nicht 
‘ erklaren.’ ” [It seems none the less to have strong vitality, although 
inhaltlich mderlecjt, and the proverb is worth remembering that one only 
destroys what one replaces.] After these brave words we turn with 
interest to Driesch’s Maschinentheorie des Lebens. The processes of life 
may be referred to physical and chemical phenomena, if the structure of 
* Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., xviii. (1896) p. 120. 
f Biol. Centralbl., xvi. (1896) pp. 353-68. 
