ALDER’S CATALOGUE OF ZOOPHYTES. 
63 
scribed for the first time. More than half of the species belong to one 
genus, Plumatella, which includes twelve forms, of which nine are 
British. In each of the other genera, with the exception of Alcyonella, 
which contains three, there is but a single species. Of these, perhaps, 
the most remarkable is Cristate!la, which presents us with the strange 
anomaly of a locomotive Polyzoon. 
The remarks on the history of the Polyzoon are full of interest, and 
contain an account of the successive steps which have been made to¬ 
wards a more complete knowledge of the class, since the appearance of 
Trembley’s description of the “ Polype a Panache,” in 1744, to our 
own time. We are glad to notice the honourable mention which is made 
of the valuable researches of Mr. J. Y. Thompson, and the j ust acknow¬ 
ledgment of his title to the priority of the term Polyzoa. 
We have as yet said nothing of the coloured lithographs with which 
Dr. Allman’s work is illustrated, which have been executed by Mr. 
Tuffen West, from original drawings made by the author. Of these 
plates it is impossible to speak too highly. Many of the species are now 
represented for the first time, and all are depicted with an accuracy, 
elegancy, and delicacy of colouring, which leave nothing to be desired. 
Pinally, we would conclude by expressing the obligations we are 
under to Dr. Allman for the scientific manner in which his task has been 
fulfilled, and to the Ray Society for being the means of introducing us 
to a work which may well take rank with the “ 1STudibranchiate Mol- 
lusca” of Alder and Hancock; the “Naked-eyed Medusae” of Porbes; 
or the “ Cirripedise” of Darwin. 
A Catalogue of the Zoophytes of Northumberland and Durham. 
By Joshua Alder. 8vo, pp. 72. Eight Plates. Prom the Trans¬ 
actions of the Tyneside Naturalists’ Pield Club. 1857. 
We are pleased with this Catalogue. Much care has evidently been 
spent in its preparation. The observations which it embodies are both 
numerous and valuable. The descriptions of rare, in some instances of 
new -species, which it contains, would alone suffice to render it worthy 
of our notice, but it also forms a welcome contribution to the scanty 
knowledge which we possess of the distribution of this imperfectly 
studied class of animals. Both the Zoophytes and Polyzoa are described; 
of the former, seventy-eight species are recorded as inhabiting the 
Northumberland and Durham coasts; of these, sixty-five belong to the 
Hydroid division, three to the Asteroid, and ten to the Helianthoid 
orders. The great deficiency among the number of species of the two 
last-mentioned orders is worthy of remark. The Anthea cereus is a 
stranger to our north-eastern shores. On the other hand, many forms 
occur, especially in the Hydroid group, which are scarce in other locali¬ 
ties ; and some species, altogether new to science, are here recorded. 
