RECENT TENDENCIES IN BIOLOGY 455 



Journal a place among the best published scientific periodicals. 

 After a period of cessation the publication of the Journal 

 of Morphology was resumed. In the meantime, the A merican 

 Journal of Anatomy had entered nearly the same field, and 

 these two give wider opportunity for publication of the increas- 

 ing number of researches in morphology by American investi- 

 gators. In the department of experimental work many jour- 

 nals have sprung up, as Biometrica, edited by Karl Pearson, 

 Roux's Archiv fur Entwicklungs-Mechanik, the Journal of 

 Experimental Zoology recently established in the United 



States, etc., etc. 



Exploration of the Fossil Records. — Explorations of the 

 fossil records have been recently carried out on a scale never 

 before attempted, involving the expenditure of large sums, 

 but bringing results of great importance. The American 

 Museum of Natural History, in New York City, has carried 

 on an extensive survey, which has enriched it with wonderful 

 collections of fossil animals. Besides explorations of the 

 fossil-beaiing rocks of the Western States and Territories, 

 operations in another locality of great importance are con- 

 ducted in the Faytim district of Egypt. The result of the 

 studies of these fossil animals is to make us acquainted not 

 only with the forms of ancient life, but with the actual line 

 of ancestry of many living animals. The advances in 

 this direction are most interesting and most important. 

 This extensive investigation of the fossil records is one of the 

 present tendencies in biology. 



Conclusion. — In brief, the chief tendencies in current bio- 

 logical researches are mainly included under the following 

 headings: Experimental studies in heredity, evolution, and ani- 

 mal behavior; more exact anatomical investigations, especially 

 in cytology and neurology, the promotion and dissemination 

 of knowledge through biological periodicals ; the provision of 

 better facilities in specially equipped laboratories, in the 



