Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/222

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THE ZOOLOGIST.

the more superficial strata of the sea, though almost perpetually covered with a layer of ice, were found to abound with life, at all seasons, and in the most northerly altitudes reached. But Prof. Sars is of opinion that these pelagic animals are not strictly confined to the more superficial strata of the sea, "but that they also at times descend to considerable depths, perhaps even to the strata immediately covering the bottom." Forms also hitherto regarded as southern in distribution have been found in the Polar Sea; in the pelagic Copepoda, a Calanoid, of the genus Hemicalanus, hitherto only recorded from the Mediterranean and the tropical parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, being a case in point. Thirty-six plates illustrate this contribution.


Text-Book of Palaeontology. By Karl A. von Zittel. Translated and edited by Charles R. Eastman, Ph.D.Macmillan & Co., Limited.

It is perhaps as difficult to imagine a science of zoology divorced from the past in palæontology, as a form of theology without any reference to a future existence, or a history strictly confined to modern events alone. Palaeontology is one of the great witnesses to the truth of organic evolution, which we all regard as the philosophy of natural history.

This is not merely a translation, but rather an adaptation of Zittel's 'Grundzüge der Palaeontologie,' for though the chapters on Protozoa and Coelenterata stand essentially as in the original, "nearly all the remaining chapters have been remodelled, enlarged, and brought as nearly as possible up to date by a selected body of experts." The 'Grundzüge' itself was published as recently as the spring of 1895, and, although radical departures have been made with the author's sanction, "one must by no means presume he is thereby committed to all the innovations which are set forth." No fewer than twelve collaborators have assisted the editor, so that a "new and revised edition" is perhaps necessary to be added to the term "translation."

The present volume is devoted to what are usually considered "the lower forms of life." Seven "Sub-Kingdoms"—to use the term employed—are described, viz.: Protozoa, Coelenterata,