SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 131 



The importance of this subject, and more especially the importance of a 

 knowledge of it by the physician, can not be too much insisted on ; and 

 Dr. Solly's attempt to bring the hitherto isolated data into some sort of 

 usable order is worthy of the greatest encouragement. In so large a task, 

 it is not surprising if we find some imperfections in its carrying out. One 

 of these is a general diffuseness — a devotion of considerable space to the 

 statement of facts which every schoolboy might be expected to know, and 

 the defining of such things as weather, clouds, and fogs. These, however, 

 are minor imperfections, and the work seems, as a whole, to be worthy of 

 extreme commendation, although, owing to its attempt to cover the climates 

 and health resorts of the entire world, its treatment of individual places is 

 rather meager. The book contains a number of instructive rainfall and 

 relief maps. 



In the form of a story in which the animals talk to one another, Presi- 

 dent Jordan has given a sketch of the life history of the fur seal.* The in- 

 cidents of the story afford a description of the infancy of the pups, the life 

 of the " bachelors," and the family cares of the " beach masters," or full- 

 grown males, and the females. The various forms in which death comes 

 to the seals are also told — by starvation to the young if their mothers are 

 killed before they are weaned, by the club of the hunter in the drives of 

 bachelors, by cast of the spear to females sleeping on the water, and by old 

 age if all other vicissitudes are safely passed. The story is told in language 

 simple enough to be understood by the young, and it is meaty enough to 

 be of interest to adults. The illustrations equal the text in volume and are 

 not behind it in interest. There are over forty full-page plates from pho- 

 tographs and nearly as many small pen sketches in the text. President 

 Jordan was appointed in 1896 chief of a commission from the United States 

 to examine the seal fisheries of the Bering Sea in conjunction with simi- 

 lar commissions from Great Britain and from Canada. This book em- 

 bodies a part of the information gathered during his first summer on and 

 near the Pribilov Islands. 



The beginner who has Prof. Comstock's book for a guide can hardly 

 fail to become interested in entomology. f It gives the pupil plenty to do, 

 it explains all difficult matters clearly, its style is animated, and it is fur- 

 ther embellished by occasional poetical quotations. Observation in the 

 field and on captive specimens in the schoolroom is the keynote of the 

 book. The opening chapters are of general scope. The first describes the 

 parts of an insect, the second tells how to collect and preserve specimens of 

 each of the chief orders, while the third outlines the classification of in- 

 sects and their near relatives. The second chapter does not contain all 

 the directions for collecting. Further details on this subject and on the 

 preservation and labeling of specimens, the breeding of insects, and on ma- 

 terials and reference books are given in another division of the volume 

 occupying the last sixty pages. In the descriptive part insects are grouped 

 under the heads of pond, brook, orchard, forest, and roadside life. Pupils 

 are directed to collect eggs for hatching, and larvae and pupae to watch 



* Matka and Kotik. By David Starr Jordan. San Francisco : The Whittaker and Ray Co. Pp. 

 69, 12mo. 



t Insect Life. By John Henry Comstock. New York : D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 349, 

 12mo. Price, $2.50. 



