Another bird of kindred species and not very unlike in plumage is Orthonyx novæguineae. In this case, however, the white on the under surface is far more extended. This hue is intruded upon by brown and black. The white above is less developed. Pomatorhinus isidorii of the same family does not differ greatly in appearance. It is rather longer than the preceding and of a prevailing brown or russet, shaded more or less. Its length is about 8 inches. The female is like the male, perhaps a trifle larger in size. A much smaller genus of birds is Crateroscelis, represented in New Guinea by two species, C. murina and C. monarcha. Here the ground color is still brown, brighter on the tail, darker on the head. Even the throat which is white is slightly tinged. So, too, the abdomen and lower parts generally. Total length 4.5 inches. The latter species has more white upon the under body, otherwise is mainly like the preceding. RECENT LITERATURE. Murray's Introduction to the Study of Sea-Weeds.'-In this work from the press of Macmillan & Co., George Murray has given. us a book which will be of much service to those beginning the study phycology. The introduction treats briefly of the history of phycology, of the geographical and littoral distribution; and the structure of seaweeds, and there is appended thereto some valuable information on the collection and preservation of material. Following the introduction there is given a well selected list of eighty books and papers on phycology. The book is illustrated by eight full paged colored plates-four on the red, two on the green and two on the brown sea-weeds- and eighty-eight figures in the text. The figures in the colored plates are somewhat crowded, and the specimens figured are in some cases rather 1 An Introduction to the Study of Sea-weeds, by George Murray, F. R. S. E., F. L. S., Keeper of the department of Botany, British Museum. With eight colored plates and eighty-eight other illustrations. London, Macmillan & Co., and New York, 1895, 271 pp., 12 mo. fragmentary, but the figures in the text are very good. Most of them having been taken from the recent works of Retuke, Solms-Lauback and the author. Five sub-classes are recognized, i. e., Phaeophyceae, Chlorophycea, Diatomacea, Rhodophycea and Cyanophycea. The general arrangement of the book is poor; the more complex groups are treated of first and the simpler last, except in the Rhodophycea, where the reverse order is followed. The Rhodophyceae moreover " present so many dif ficulties to be understood only after the study of other groups that the author has chosen the Phaophyceae with its familiar forms of seawracks and tangles for the first sub-class. The Chlorophycea and Diatomacea follow naturally. The Rhodophyceae next make a series by themselves, and finally, come the simple Cyanophyceœ. In the Phaophyceae seventeen orders are recognized which are the same as those of Kiellman in Engler and Prantl's Pflanzenfamilien with a few exceptions. Spermatochnus is placed in the Sporochnacea and Myriotrichia in the Elachistaceae instead of each standing in an order by itself; the Dictyotea are placed between the Cutlereacea and Tilopteridaceœ instead of being left out altogether; the Ralfsiacea are placed near the Sphacelariacea instead of near the Laminariacea as they have been by Kiellman and others. Splachnidium, a monotypic genus found only in the southern oceans, which has until recently been included among the Fucaceae, is placed in an order by itself-the Splachnidiacea. It has been found that the conceptacles of Splachnidium contain sporangia similar to those of the Laminariacea instead of oospores and antheridia, hence it is placed near that order. The marine Chlorophyceae are treated under eleven orders; many recent facts as to their reproduction being incorporated. At the end of two groups, the Pereclineæ and the Coccospheres and Rhabdospheres are briefly mentioned as being on the borderland between the vegetable and animal kingdom. In the twenty pages devoted to the Diatomacea, the structure, reproduction, geographical and geological distribution are quite fully discussed, but nothing is said of the arrangement of the groups and very little of its systematic position. We can agree with the author that the diatoms should not be placed in the Phaeophycea solely because they have a coloring matter closely related to that of the brown sea-weeds, but we can hardly agree that a siliceous covering and the presence of diatomine are sufficient to separate so widely two groups otherwise so closely related as the diatoms and desmids. According to the preface "the account of the Rhodophyceae is based on the scattered papers of Schmitz, who by utilizing his own researches and the splendid investigations of Thuret and Bornet, has almost wholly altered the classification of the sub-class." Four orders are recognized, based upon the development of the cystocarp; the Menalionacea, Gagartinacea, Rhodomenacea, Cryptonemiaceœ. The Bungiacea, including Perphyra, are placed at the end of the Rhodophycea as an Anhang. In the last ten pages the Cyanophyceae are briefly treated under two orders, the Nostocacea and Clerocaccaceae. Throughout the work each order and in the larger orders each family is synoptically treated under four heads; general character, thallus, reproduction and geographical distribution. In it are embodied the results of the latest investigation on all groups, much having been taken from the able investigations of the author and his associates. Errors are comparatively few, one of the most noticeable being the mentioning of genus Egregia as one of the Fucaceae (P. 55). It is again mentioned in its proper place among the Laminariaceae (P. 85). DE ALTON SAUNDERS. Taxonomy of the Crinoids.-The true position of a science in the scale of progress is measured by the degree of perfection exhibited in the systematic arrangement of the phenomena of which it treats. Its claims to philosophic recognition are proportional to the accuracy of the genetic relationships shown in its system of classification. If this be true of a general science, it is no less a reality in its various departments. There is, perhaps, nowhere a better exemplification than the Crinoids; and no zoological group has made in recent years more rapid progress towards a rational classification. The data upon which the systematic arrangement of the stemmed echinoderms rests are elaborately set forth in the lately issued work of Messrs. Charles Wachsmuth and Frank Springer. It is of great interest to know that the advancement in an understanding of the group has been almost wholly from the paleontological side and that the results are accepted practically without change by the most eminent students of the living forms. As is well known, the crinoids are to-day almost extinct; but that in past geological ages they were the most prolific forms of life. On account of the peculiar construction, unusually great opportunities are afforded for the solution of morphological problems, and full advantage has been taken. Upon so firm a foundation does the classification of the crinoids, as prepared by Wachsmuth and Springer now rest, that it is hardly probable that it will require radical change for a century to come. 2 * North American Fossil Crinoidea Camerata: Memoirs Museum Comp. Zool., 2 parts, 800 pp., and atlas of 83 plates. Cambridge, 1895. As regards the major subdivisions of the stemmed echinoderms three groups are recognized: the cystids, the blastoids, and the crinoids. These are considered as groups of equal rank. The forms of the first are earliest in time, lowest in taxonomic position, and are regarded as the ancestral types of the other two. The crinoid type itself is a very old one, dating from the Cambrian in which it is even then in a high stage of development. During the Ordivician the cystidian features had almost wholly disappeared. The crinoidal group is remarkable for the persistence it has shown in preserving its pentamerous symmetry; and although the introduction of the anal plate so disturbed it as to well nigh produce a permanent bilateral arrangement, the former was finally permanently retained. Neocrinoidea and Palæocrinoidea, the two primary groups of crinoids which were formerly almost universally recognized, are abandoned. In their stead are recognized three principal subdivisions: Inadunata, Camerata and Articulata. It is quite remarkable that this ternate grouping of the crinoids is essentially the same as Wachsmuth originally proposed more than twenty years ago, and that often being compelled by students of the recent forms to abandon it and to substitute others, a careful survey in the light of recent discoveries of all crinoids both fossil and living has clearly shown that the main subdivisions first suggested are essentially valid and are applicable to all known forms. The criteria for separating the crinoids into orders are briefly as follows: 1. Condition of arms, whether free above the radials or partly incorporated in the calyx. 2. Mode of union between plates of the calyx, whether movable or rigid. 3. Growth of stem, whether new plates are formed beneath the proximal ring of the calyx or beneath the top stem joint. The simplest forms, the Crinoidea Inadunata, have the dorsal cup composed invariably of only two circlets of plates or three where infrabasals are present; there are no supplementary ossicles except an anal piece, which is, however, not always present; the arms are free from the radials up. In the construction of the ventral disk two different plans are recognizable, and upon these are established two sub-groups, the Larviformia and Fistulata. The former has the disk in its simplest possible form, being composed of five large orals arranged in a pyramid; the second has the ventral side extended into a sae or closed tube often reaching beyond the ends of the arms. The Camerata are distinguished by the large number of supplementary pieces which bring the proximal arm plates into the calyx, thus enlarging the visceral cavity; all plates are heavy and immovable; the mouth and food grooves are tightly closed. The Articulata have to some extent the incorporation of the lower arm plates with the calyx, but the plates are movable instead of rigid. The mouth and food grooves are open. The infrabasals are fused with the top stem joint which is not the youngest plate of the stalk. According to whether or not pinnules are present two suborders are recognized the Pinnata and Impinnata. An analytical synopsis of the families of Camerata as proposed by the authors and as now understood is as follows: I. Lower brachials and interbrachials forming an important part of the A. INTERRADIALS POORLY DEFINED. dorsal cup. The lower plates of the rays more or less completely separated from the primary interradials by irregular supplementary pieces; dicyclic or monocyclic B. INTERRADIALS WELL DEFINED. 1. Dicyclic. a. Radials in contact except at the posterior side b. Radials separated all around RETROCRINIDE. THYSANOCRINIDE. RHODOCRINIDE. 2. Monocyclic. a. Radials in contact all around. Symmetry of the dorsal cup, if not strictly pentamerous, disturbed by the introduction of anals between the brachials only MELOCRINIDE. Arms borne in compartments formed by partitions attached to tegmen; dorsal cup perfectly pentamerous; plates of calyx limited to a definite number CALYPTOCRINIDAE. b. Radials in contact except at the posterior side, where they are separated by an anal plate. First anal plate heptagonal, followed by a second between two interbrachials BATOCRINIDAE. First anal plate hexagonal, followed by two interbrachials without a second anal, arms branching from two main trunks by alternate bifurcation ACTINOCRINIDAE. II. Brachials and interbrachials slightly represented in the dorsal cup. 1. DICYCLIC, Radials in contact except at the posterior side 2. MONOCYCLIC. a. Radials in contact all around; base pentagonal Basals directly followed by the radials CROTALOCRINIDAE. PLATYCRINIDAE. b. Radials separated at posterior side by an anal plate; base hexagonal. Basals separated from radials by accessory pieces HEXACRINIDAE. Regarding the terminology employed, special attention should be called to the clear and concise definitions given of the various structThe terms should be universally adopted, and they form ural parts. |