REVIEWS 37i 



not look for perfection in an elementary book which must of necessity aim at 

 simplicity, but it is extraordinary to group Hydrozoa (*>. Ccelenterata) and Porifera 

 together in one Phylum Ccelenterata. Again the inclusion of the Rotifers and 

 Nematodes as orders of the one class Aschelminthes is hardly justifiable. 



There is a looseness about the whole book that is undesirable. Thus on p. 208 

 the reader is told that the thoracic duct opens into the left sub-clavian vein and on 

 the preceding page it is carefully figured opening into the precaval vein on the 

 right. The student is instructed to examine living Entomostraca, yet the term 

 Entomostraca is not referred to in the index nor used in the classification. 



A similar looseness is also shown in expression and perhaps culminates in the 

 almost grotesque statement that " The locomotion of the animal has to do largely 

 with obtaining food, and this probably determines that the anterior end is located 

 near the mouth." The author has a remarkable way of varying the spelling of 

 words : sometimes it is Crustacea and other times crustaceae. Hermaphroditic 

 on p. 222 becomes hermaphrodytic on p. 279 and hermaphrodyte on p. 353, 

 but never does it reach the form we are accustomed to in this country. Osmose is 

 not a suitable substitute for osmosis. 



It is unnecessary to weary the reader with further examples of the above faults 

 when other more serious ones are present. On p. 216 we are told that the "green 

 glands" of the crayfish, the nephridia of the worm, and the uriniferous tubule 

 of the vertebrate are homologous. This is either a misuse of the word homologous 

 or a misstatement of fact. In dealing with the Marsupials it is asserted that 

 they have no placenta, but such a statement was shown to be untrue some 

 years ago. 



The book contains very little that is new either in subject matter or presentation 

 and is disappointing. In view of the number of elementary biological text-books 

 already available it is hard to see why it should have been printed at all save for 

 private circulation. 



C. H. O'D. 



Modern Problems of Biology. Lectures delivered at the University of Jena. 

 By Charles Sedgwick Minot, LL.D., D.Sc. [Pp. viii + 124. With 53 

 illustrations.] (Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 1913.) 



In 1912, C. S. Minot of Harvard was exchange Professor at Berlin, and as 

 Prof. Eucken of Jena had taken his place he was also invited to lecture in Jena. 

 The result was a series of six lectures which were published originally in German, 

 but have been translated in the present volume. Although those on Immortality, 

 Death and the Notion of Life suggest philosophical or even theological specula- 

 tion it is hardly necessary to add that they are approached from the purely 

 biological standpoint. 



All the subjects dealt with, especially the determination of sex, have been 

 investigated by a large number of American zoologists, among whom Minot 

 himself is by no means least. The author purposely drew mainly on the results 

 of this American school for his data and consequently the literature list, while not 

 pretending to completeness, is a valuable source of reference. 



Minot's ideas on cytomorphosis and the evolution of death are already familiar 

 to English readers. Cytomorphosis is the term proposed to include the whole of 

 the series of changes undergone by cells from their primitive, undifferentiated, 

 embryonic condition up to the time when, after becoming fully specialised, they 



