RECENT TENDENCIES IN BIOLOGY 447 



sents in every way an enterprise of which Americans can be 

 justly proud. The American Journal oj Anatomy is now 

 filling the field left unoccupied by the cessation of the Journal 

 oj Morphology * In the department of experimental work 

 many journals have sprung up, as Biometrica, edited by Carl 

 Pearson, Roux's Archiv jiir Entuicklungs-Mechanik, the 

 Journal oj Experimental Zoology recently established in the 

 United States, etc., etc. 



Exploration of the Fossil Records. Explorations of the 

 fossil records have been recently carried out on a scale never 

 before attempted, involving the expenditure of large sums, 

 but bringing results of great importance. The American 

 Museum of Natural History, in New York City, has carried 

 on an extensive survey, which has enriched it with wonderful 

 collections of fossil animals. Besides explorations of the 

 fossil-bearing rocks of the Western States and Territories, 

 operations in another locality of great importance are con- 

 ducted in the Favum district of Effvpt. The result of the 



J O. -I 



studies of these fossil animals is to make us acquainted not 

 only with the forms of ancient life, but with the actual line 

 of ancestry of many living animals. The advances in 

 this direction are most interesting and most important. 

 This extensive investigation of the fossil records is one of the 

 present tendencies in biology. 



Conclusion. - -In brief, the chief tendencies in current bio- 

 logical researches are mainly included under the following 

 headings: Experimental studies in heredity, evolution, and ani- 

 mal behavior; more exact anatomical investigations, especially 

 in cytology and neurology, the promotion and dissemination 

 of knowledge through biological periodicals; the provision of 

 better facilities in specially equipped laboratories, in the 



* It is a source of gratification to biologists that thanks to the Wistar 

 Institute of Anatomy the publication of the Journal 0} Morphology is to 

 be continued. 



