CONTINUOUS PROCESS OF ADJUSTMENT 131 



to so much power locked up, and rendered unavailable for 

 external use. In many groups this latent energy is so considerable 

 and is liable to such fluctuations, that a knowledge of its amounts 

 and kinds, and of the laws governing its distribution, is extremely 

 important to one interested in measuring or foreseeing the sum 

 and character of the outward-tending activities of the class." 



S. A. FORBES (1883). 



MOBIUS, K. 



1883. The Oyster and Oyster-Culture. U. S. Comm. of 

 Fish and Fisheries, Report of Comm. for 1880, 

 Part VIII, pp. 683-751. 



On pp. 721-729 the oyster is discussed as a member 

 of a social community or "bioconosis." He de- 

 scribes the succession of animals due to the overfishing 

 of the oyster beds and the invasion of cockles and 

 edible mussels which close up the available space 

 and prevent the return of the oyster. One of the 

 earliest papers to recognize clearly a social com- 

 munity in animals. A very important paper, which 

 also shows the method of applying the science of 

 ecology. 



FORBES, S. A. 



1887. The Lake as a Microcosm. Reprint from Bull. Sci. 



Associa. of Peoria, Illinois, 1887, pp. 1-15. 

 Perhaps the first paper by an American naturalist rec- 

 ognizing the interrelations of the social community. 



WHEELER, W. M. 



1911. The Ant-Colony as an Organism. Jour. Morphology, 



Vol. XXII, pp. 307-325. 



The ant colony is considered as a unit. This paper 

 furnishes an excellent example showing how "indi- 

 vidual ecology" may become transformed into an 

 "associational" unit. 



MOBIUS, K. 



1893. Ueber die Thiere der Schleswig-Holsteinischen Aus- 



