162 BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE 



cussed. In the second chapter, on "the value and method of ecologi- 

 cal survej's," the reader will find a goodly number of incisively stated 

 truths which, while shamefully obvious, have been generally neglected 

 or totally ignored. A criticism of a fashionable method of carrying 

 out biological survey operations emphasizes the hopeless inadequacy, 

 for any broad purpose, of mere collections. "The student eager for 

 new and little known species is not the one to study" the dynamic 

 status of the organisms and their surroundings. "So long as the suc- 

 cess of a day's work is measured by the length of the list of novelties 

 secured, rather than by the quality and quantity of ecological relations 

 discovered, such students and surveys will not contribute largelj^ to 

 our knowledge of the economy of nature in the regions surveyed" 

 (p. 31). "His institutional authorities often judge values by the cubic 

 foot and pound, rather than by the quality of relations discovered" 

 (p. 33). 



Chapter three deals with "field study." Here again are many val- 

 uable things frequently said in a novel and convincing way. "For 

 many students it is a good plan to make out a general outline of any 



proposed study Perhaps the greatest value of such a 



plan is that it facilitates conscious effort to seek a definite goal by 

 maintaining a standard of measurement" (pp. 36-37). "To learn how 

 to study in the field, and not simply to collect, is one of the most im- 

 portant habits which a field naturalist .... has to acquire" 

 (p. 37). Note-taking is emphasized. The reader is advised to take 

 full notes in the field and to take plenty of them. Even the sort of 

 note-book best suited to the purpose receives attention. "The collec- 

 tion, preservation and determination of specimens" forms the subject 

 of the fourth chapter. "In the field study of behavior of a single spe- 

 cies there may be almost no collecting of animals but much collecting 

 of notes; but if one is devoted primarily to the .... study 

 of the composition of associations and their interrelations, much col- 

 lecting [of specimens] will have to be done" (p. 49). In the fifth chap- 

 ter are dealt with: the "scientific method;" "collecting and preserving 

 of specimens, photographing, surveying," etc., and "the preparation 

 of papers for publication," etc. The author's remarks on the last 

 topic, and many of his references should be familiar to every beginner 

 in any line of intellectual activity. It is unusual, and hence all the 

 more valuable here, to have this important phase of scientific investi- 

 gation given its proper place in a book for beginners. 



