Vol. XXvi] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 235 



of Entomology of Cornell University during the past six years. More 

 specifically it is an illustrated revision and elaboration of his 'Notes 

 on the Relation of Insects to Disease,' published January, 1912." It is 

 an excellent summary of present information on the subject, viewed 

 from the human side. 



The book is not, of course, limited to the insects, as one might infer 

 from the first paragraph of the Preface just quoted, but includes the 

 Arachnida, Myriopoda and, in one instance at least, the Crustacea also. 

 In the titles of the chapters, "Arthropods" is the group name mo3t 

 frequently employed. After a brief Introduction (I) on the "Early 

 suggestions regarding the transmission of disease by insects" and "The 

 ways in which Arthropods may affect the health of man," there are 

 chapters on Arthropods which are directly poisonous (II), Parasitic 

 Arthropods affecting man (III), Accidental or Facultative Parasites 

 (IV), Arthropods as simple carriers of disease (V), as Direct inocu- 

 lators of disease germs (VI), as Essential hosts of pathogenic organ- 

 isms (VII), as Essential hosts of pathogenic Protozoa (3 chapters, 

 VIII-X), and on Some possible but imperfectly known cases of Arthro- 

 pod transmission of disease (XI). The treatment of the subject is, 

 therefore, ecological rather than entomological, and the title of the 

 book seems to us misleading, as a "Handbook of Medical Entomology" 

 leads one to expect primarily a consideration of the Arthropods pro- 

 ducing certain effects than of the effects due to Arthropods. While 

 the order followed may be useful in a purely didactic course of lec- 

 tures, we do not find it well adapted to a laboratory course of instruc- 

 tion. 



The effects of mosquitoes are considered in four different places, 

 under chapters II, III, VII and VIII, those of ticks in chapters II, 

 III, IX and X. Any one who wishes to use this book to learn what 

 are all the effects upon human beings produced by any one group of 

 Arthropods must have recourse to the Index and this we have found 

 incomplete. Thus, to the entries for "mosquitoes" should be added 

 pages 186 and 291, to those for "ticks" pages 62, 221 and 230, mention- 

 ing only the lacking references to the first pages of sections or chap- 

 ters concerned, without attempting to supply a reference to every page 

 on which the word "mosquito" or "tick" happens to occur. 



The title of the book naturally suggests that of another, recently 

 published in English: Patton & Cragg's "Textbook of Medical Ento- 

 mology," noticed in the NEWS for July, 1914, pages 333-334- In the lat- 

 ter volume the arrangement is entomological throughout, the various 

 results due to the interaction of Arthropods and Man being dis- 

 cussed in connection with each taxonomic group. 



Riley and Johannsen's Handbook is a much smaller book than that 

 of their Anglo-Indian predecessors, as the American authors give no, 

 or very brief, descriptions of the structure of the Arthropods with 

 which they are concerned, assuming, no doubt, that those who will 



