Books and Current Literature. 73 



BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE. 



An Ecological Survey of Isle Royale, Lake Superior, under 

 the direction of Charles C. Adams, has recently been published 

 by the State Biological Survey of Michigan. It is a work of 468 

 pages, illustrated by numerous photographs and maps, and pro- 

 vided with a very comprehensive index. 



Part I, on Isle Royale as a Biotic Environment, and Part V, 

 on the Ecological Succession of Birds, were prepared by Dr. 

 Adams; Part II, on the Ecological Relations of the Invertebrate 

 Fauna of Isle Royale, is by Dr. H. A. Gleason; Part III, on the 

 Ecological Distribution of Birds of Isle Royale, is contributed by 

 Otto McCreary; while Part IV, on the Fall Migration of Birds at 

 Washington Harbor, Isle Royale, is by Max Minor Peet. Ac- 

 knowledgment is made of financial aid from Mr. Bryant Walker, 

 of Detroit, and Hon. Peter White and Mr. H. M. Kaufman, of 

 Marquette, as well as of the cooperation of a large number of 

 specialists who determined species and otherwise aided in the 

 work. 



The aim of the work, as set forth in the words of the Director, 

 was not simply to collect specimens, but also to study the re- 

 lations of the plant and animal life (the biota) to their sur- 

 roundings. The environment as well as the biota was consid- 

 ered from a dynamic standpoint, and an effort was made to anal- 

 yze the environment in order that the dominant conditions and 

 processes of which it is composed might be recognized, and their 



laws of change be perceived and formulated. In 



preliminary work of this character, it is considered of special im- 

 portance to discover, if possible, the order of the major biotic 

 successions, because these successions must be clearly perceived 

 before their causes can undergo adequate analysis. Our knowl- 

 edge of causes generally lags far behind our recognition of suc- 

 cession. Thus throughout the study of the Isle Royale biota a 

 special effort was made to investigate the genesis or succession 



of events But the problem of succession is only 



one of several which clearly show the intimate relations and 

 responses between organisms and their environment; others 

 that remain to be investigated involve physiological and struc- 



