496 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Insects and Human Welfare. By Charles Thomas Brues, Assistant Pro- 

 fessor of Economic Entomology, Bussey Institution, Harvard 

 University. [Pp. xii + 104, 42 figs, and charts.] (Cambridge : 

 Harvard University Press; London: Humphrey Milford, 1920. 

 Price los. bd. net.) 



This little work is an attempt to present before the lay public some of the 

 aims and methods of economic entomology in a form which will illustrate the 

 biological relationships of insects to their environment. The professed 

 entomologist will find therein little beyond what is already familiar informa- 

 tion, but the general reader should be able to glean from its pages some idea 

 of the manifold ways in which insects affect human welfare, and of the 

 enormous importance entomology has in a country like the United States of 

 America. Species of insects which are useful to man may be counted on the 

 fingers of one hand, and, apart from a passing introductory reference to the 

 honey bee, the silkworm, and the lac insect. Prof. Brues confines his 

 remarks to injurious species. Chapter I is devoted to the relation of insects to 

 public health, and it is in this aspect of the subject that the entomologist has 

 so far achieved his greatest triumphs. Reference is made to the important 

 role played by Mosquitoes in the transmission of malaria, yellow fever, dengue, 

 and filariasis. The House-fly also comes in for its share of recrimination, and 

 stress is laid upon its capacity for spreading the micro-organisms of typhoid 

 and infantile diarrhoea ; the Body-louse also is not forgotten in its relation to 

 typhus and trench fevers. Rats and plague. Tsetse-flies and sleeping sickness, 

 and Tick-borne diseases are also briefly touched upon. Chapter 11 treats of 

 some of the more severe of the crop pests ; Chapter III deals with forest insects 

 and Chapter IV with household pests. In his concluding remarks the author 

 refers to the outlook for the future. The biological method of reducing the 

 numbers of injurious insects, by pathogenic organisms and predatory and 

 parasitic enemies, is regarded by him as being the most promising field in 

 which to speculate concerning future developments. 



Although the book can only be regarded as the very briefest survey of the 

 subjects with which it deals, nevertheless the information that is given is 

 thoroughly accurate and up-to-date. Rather greater completeness might have 

 been achieved had the author added a chapter on insects in relation to 

 domestic animals. Both the letter-press and the illustrations are clear, although 

 none of the latter call for any special mention, A. D. Imms. 



ANTHROPOLOGY 



Fishing from the Earliest Times. By William Radcliffe, sometime of 

 Balliol College, Oxford. [Pp. xvii + 478, with 56 illustrations.] 

 (London : John Murray, 1921. Price 28s. net.) 

 This is a book of worth — in a worthy setting. The author has done his pains- 

 taking work of research in a masterly way, and the printer and publisher have 

 combined to place his results in an admirable form for his readers to judge of 

 their quality. 



Here is no manual on " How to Fish," and the tyro need not expect to 

 find it a guide to style in casting a salmon-fly, nor to the relative merits of a 

 " Jock Scott " and a " Butcher," any more than he will find in the famous 

 " Book of Deer " instruction on methods of stalking. 



The author has set himself to track up — as none has hitherto done — the 

 earliest references, in classical and other literature, to fishing of all kinds, 

 giving particular attention to : (i) rod fishing ; (2) first notice of the jointed 

 rod ; (3) first notice of the " fly," whether artificial or natural ; as also the 

 different kinds of bait. A practical fisherman himself, and a scholar to boot, 

 his conclusions are marked by a clear appreciation of the evidence available, 

 and he never overstrains it in favour of a preconceived opinion. The book 

 is learned but never dull, nor is it a mere classification of hooks and fishes. 



