The Echinoidea

Abstract

DR. DÖDERLEIN has produced the first part of a very philosophical study of the beautiful Echinoidea, which are in their paradise in the Japanese seas. Some collections of considerable importance came to Dr. Doderlein from private sources, and one was the result of the collecting during the expedition of the Italian corvette Vettor Pisani. Descriptions of some of the species of Cidaridæ, Temnopleuridæ, Saleniidæ, and of a species of Hemipedina were published by this author in Wieg. Archiv, 1885, v. 51, pp. 73–112, and as some of the forms had an ancient facies they attracted attention. Dr. Döderlein seems to have been impressed with the importance of the fauna in reference to the past, and prepared the way for the present publication by studying the pre-Jurassic and Cretaceous species of Cidaridæ especially. The work now publishing in parts will evidently be worthy of a good naturalist who sees no vast biological breaks in the continuity of the Cidaridæ since the appearance of the Zechstein Eocidaris, which he shows to be inseparable from the modern family Cidaridæ. The author describes the new species, reconsiders the Cidaridae already known, pays especial attention to the growth of the structures which are used in classification, and, after describing some peculiar structures which he discovered in the St. Cassian Cidarids, passes on to subdivide the great genus so as to identify groups of species according to sub-genera in the Secondary and existing times. The descriptions of species are accompanied by fair illustrations, but it would be as well if more of the denuded tests could be shown.

Die Japanischen Seeigel.

Von Dr. L. Döderlein. Pp. 59, Pl. I.–XI, Th. I., Fam. Cidaridæ and Saleniidæ. (Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagshandlung, E. Koch, 1887.)