ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
679 
Gammarus fragilis lias some characters by which it approaches the 
genus Niphargus. 
The author next proceeds to discuss the general fauna of the subter- 
ranean waters of Canterbury ; some small Gastropods, a small Vorticella, 
and the peculiar worm Phreodrilus subterraneus ; the characters of 
the last call to mind the chief remarkable points in Phreatoicus. 
Passing to the Canterbury Plains and their underground waters, Dr. 
Chilton draws attention to the evidence that has now accumulated as to 
the universality and great extent of underground waters. It is rash to 
speculate, but it seems probable that all the subterranean forms adopted 
the same mode of life at about the same time, and that they are not now 
being reinforced by fresh immigrants from the surface. There are 
many resemblances between the deep water fauna of the sea and espe- 
cially of freshwater lakes and the subterranean fauna. 
The special characteristics of the subterranean fauna are considered 
under the heads of colour, loss of eyes, compensation for loss of eyes, 
food, arrested development, and habits, into the interesting details 
of which the limits of our space forbid us to enter. 
Lastly, the author considers the bearings of the phenomena of sub- 
terranean life on the theory of descent, and gives weighty arguments in 
favour of the operation of Natural Selection, as against the Neo- 
Lamarckian views of Packard. The author, in the course of his studies 
on subterranean life, has been much impressed by the keenness of the 
struggle for existence, and how every spot on earth has been seized on ; 
the small and apparently helpless Amphipoda and Isopoda are found 
not only on land and in the sea, in streams and ponds, in hot springs 
and frozen pools, on mountain-tops and in mines, burrowing in mud 
and boring into wood and stone, but in dark recesses “ where no storm 
ruffles the everlasting stillness, no light illumines the thick darkness, 
and no sound breaks the eternal silence.” 
Pelagic Schizopoda.* — Mr. A. Ortmann gives a list of the known 
species and descriptions of the new forms of pelagic Schizopods dredged 
by the * Albatross * in the 1891 expedition ; there are new species of 
Thysanopoda , EupJiausia, and Boreomysis ; a synopsis is given of the 
known species of the last of these genera ; and there are some remarks 
on the vertical distribution of the Schizopoda. 
Caspian Crustacea. f — Prof. G. O. Sars has commenced a series of 
papers on the Crustacea of the Caspian Sea, of which very little is as yet 
known ; it is hoped that this study may throw much light on the sup- 
posed connection of the Caspian with other parts of the Ocean. The 
author believes that this fauna is derived from three very different 
sources ; one part is of true Arctic origin, and constitutes the remnant 
of the primitive fauna which existed when there was, perhaps, a connec- 
tion between the Caspian and Polar Seas. Another part is of a more 
southern character, and may have immigrated from the Black Sea and 
the Mediterranean. A third part consists of a number of true fresh- 
water forms which have adapted themselves to living in somewhat 
brackish water. When the abyssal region of this sea comes to be 
■explored it will be found to contain a fauna of purely Arctic character. 
The first memoir deals with the Mysidse, all the examples of which 
* Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., xv. (1894) pp. 99-191 (1 pi), 
t Bull. Ac. Imp. St Petersbourg, xxxvi. (1893) pp. 51-74 (8 pis.). 
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