2 Gen. Sub. 
I. GENERAL SUBJECTS. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Upwards of 800 works are included in this Section “ General Subjects.” 
The scope of the Section was briefly described in the Introduction to it 
last year. It is clearly impossible that the Recorder should do justice to 
all the works included in this Record, and in the following brief review, he 
is aware that he is merely giving expression to opinions that he has been 
obliged to form with too great rapidity. 
Loeb (450) makes some brief but very sensible remarks on abiogenesis 
and the assumed limitations of biological research. 
Metschnikofp’s work, of which an English translation has appeared, by 
P. Chalmers Mitchell (501), contains but little zoological matter, and 
may be briefly described as a slightly optimistic view by a biologist of the 
future of man : the original work is reviewed at length by Delage in the 
An nee biologique vii, pp. 588-595. 
Three or four general works have appeared during the year. The second 
edition of Delage’s Heredity (178) has been partially brought up to date by 
means of footnotes, and references to abstracts that have appeared in his 
“ Annee biologique.” 
Le Dantec’s work (427) includes a theory of sex, which he supposes under- 
lies all biological phenomena. The work is specially intended to demonstrate 
the importance of the physico-chemical study of life, as to the cell, in 
contrast with morphological views and “ choses figurees.” His guess as to 
the nature of cellular processes assumes that each molecule is composed of 
t\/o halves, a male and a female half, and that the power of assimilation 
depends on the processes started by the polarities of the molecules. There 
are some very clearly written chapters dealing with other matters, e.g. the 
relations of biology and sociology. 
Another general work is the second part of Professor Giglio-Tos’ pro- 
blames de la vie (273). This part deals with ontogenesis. The Recorder 
regrets that he has not had time to become acquainted with it, as a slight 
inspection leads him to suppose that it is a valuable work. 
One of the most important works on phylogeny is that of Lang (415) on 
Annelids. He maintains his views opposing the Trochophore theory, and 
insists that the Trochophore is truly a larval form, not an ancestral form ; 
he gives a “ trophocol ” theory of the origin of the vascular and lymphatic 
system of Articulata. 
The two volumes of letters of Charles Darwin, Darwin & Seward (173), 
contain a great deal of matter interesting to both naturalist and historian. 
In aids to work, we should note the Catalogue of Books of the British 
Museum Natural History, Lankester (419). It is, however, unfortunately 
confined to the works actually in the Library, so that some classes of 
biological literature are very inadequately represented. 
There are no new expeditions to report, though several of those that 
have previously been recorded have received accessions to their literature. 
(See H, b, p. 56.) We may mention, however, that Racovitza (621) 
discusses the occurrence of the “sea-serpent” in Indian waters, and that 
Alluaud (5) gives a note on the supposed appearance of a kindred 
creature in Lake Victoria Nyanza, as recorded by Sir Harry Johnston. 
In the physiological section we welcome von Furth’s work (254) on the 
chemical physiology of Invertebrate animals. C. P£rez has described the 
metamorphoses of Formica rufa , and attempts an explanation of histolysis 
on the base of “a struggle for existence between the plastids of an organism” 
(583). Keeble & Gamble have continued their work on the physiology of 
coloration (257, 273). Clapari2de (138) gives a valuable dissertation on 
recent variety of opinion as to animal psychology. 
