The Crayfish. By T. H. Huxley, F.R.S. (C. Kegan Paul
and Co.)— This is not a monograph on the English crayfish, nor on crayfishes in general. It is an introduction to the study of zoology, in which the common crayfish is taken as the text of a most instructive discourse. The etymology of the name, the binomial nomen- clature adopted for animals and plants, and a sketch of the natural history id the crayfish, are pleasantly and carefully discussed in chapter i. In the next two chapters, the physio- logical mechanism and physiological processes of the animal are described in detail, while the individual and the comparative morphology of this interesting crustacean constitute the subject of chapters iv. and v. The questions arising out of differences, whether specific or of smaller value, between the various forms of crayfishes occurring all over Ilse world, are handled in the last chapter of this volume ; then succeed some notes, a classified bibliographical appendix, and an index. The illustrations, eighty-two in all, but comprising a far larger number of separate figures, must met be passed over in silence. They are clear, and what is more, they are clearly lettered and explained. From beginning to end, in text and in figures, in the direct treatment of the immediate subject of his book, and in the dis- cussion of those wider problems which the humble crayfish intro- duces, Professor Huxley shows the great range of his knowledge, as well as its depth. It is needless to add that his straightforward, clear style is that of a master,—who knows how to teach.
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