i879'3 
Notices of Boohs . 
37i 
Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liver- 
pool. Sixty-seventh Session, 1877-78. No. XXXII. London : 
Longmans and Co. Liverpool : D. Marples and Co. (Li- 
mited). 
We have on former occasions noticed with regret that in the 
“ Proceedings of the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical 
Society ” science plays a part somewhat similar to that of the 
“ one halfpenny worth of bread ” in Falstaff’s tavern bill. It 
might, indeed, have been hoped that under the successive presi- 
dencies of the Rev. H. H. Higgins and Dr. Drysdale, both of 
whom have honourably won their spurs in biological research, a 
better day might have dawned. Such, however, is not the case. 
A little work has, indeed, been done, and is noticed in the reports 
of the successive meetings. Thus Mr. T. Higgin, F.L.S., com- 
municates an interesting notice of a fresh-water sponge 
( Spongilla coralloides) from the rapids of the River Uruguay. 
Mr. E. D. Jones, a corresponding member, residing at Sao Paulo, 
in Brazil, is making good progress in recording the metamor- 
phoses of the Lepidoptera of the district : he has observed a 
caterpillar, belonging to the Bombycidae, which, if annoyed, 
utters a low but distindl musical sound. Of fiity species of 
caterpillars which he has examined, twenty at least possess 
venomous spines : one of these, a very hairy species, of a bright 
orange, when applied to the back of the hand produced a most 
intense pain, which lasted for more than twelve hours, and ex- 
tended to the arm-pit. 
Mr. F. P. Marrat briefly describes a cohesion of shells from 
Fuca Straits and Cape Flattery, presented to the Liverpool 
Museum by Dr. D. Walker. 
Mr. T. Higgin communicates notes on the polypidom of the 
Hydradtinidae, which attach themselves to the calcareous shell 
of a mollusk, and by some unknown process convert it into a 
skeleton for themselves. 
Mr. J. Roberts describes the geological results of the borings 
at East Hoyle Bank, and the Rev. H. H. Higgins enters into 
some speculation on the peculiar structure of the jaws of 
Angosoma Neptunus. 
When we turn, however, to the pieces de resistances , the papers 
selected for publication in full and forming the body of the 
volume, we find not even one composed of the results of experi- 
mental research or original observation. 
The Presidential Address on the question “ Is Scientific Mate- 
rialism compatible with Dogmatic Theology ?” has already come 
under our notice.* 
See Quarterly Journal of Science, vol. viii. (n.s.) p. 133. 
