82 ANIMAL ECOLOGY 



plete failure to grasp the situation or to realize the 

 fundamental importance of stating explanations 

 in terms of processes. Furthermore, in several of 

 the allied sciences, the methods of dynamical inter- 

 pretation have already made considerable advance. 

 Here, then, is a resource, at present largely unworked 

 by many biologists, where a wealth of ideas and 

 explanations lies strewn over the surface and only 

 need to be picked up in order to be utilized by those 

 acquainted with this method of interpretation. . . . 

 If the signs of the times are now read correctly, the 

 most striking advance in scientific methods of 

 thinking during the present century will be in the 

 direction of interpretation from the standpoint of 

 processes dynamically." 



For these reasons I have begun the list of literature 

 with certain references which deal with the dynamic 

 relations of the environment. These publications 

 are particularly valuable not only for this method 

 of treatment, but also for their content. These 

 papers clearly emphasize the "orderly sequence of 

 external nature," a conception which must be grasped 

 much more than superficially, if one is to interpret 

 the development or evolution of environments. 

 Although this is an essential part of our problem, 

 as has been so well expressed by Brooks, yet this 

 phase is probably one of the least understood by 

 zoologists. And as long as zoological students lack 

 the proper training this condition will continue. 

 To neglect this aspect in the training of an ecologist 

 is like neglect of chemical training in a physiologist 



