56 



THE HISTORY OF ECOLOGY 



space is given to presenting satisfactory solu- 

 tions. Such treatment does show that the 

 problems of ecological animal geography are 

 capable of exact solution and indicates further 

 in what direction, through observation and ex- 

 perimentation, the solution is to be sought. I 

 hope that this treatment will stimulate further 

 ex-peditionary researches in this field. We have 

 had an over-supply of travel which yielded ani- 

 mal pelts and alcoholic material; we need 

 rather observations on the relations between 

 animals and their environment." 



It is fair to state that Hesse attained these 

 desiderata. A tribute to his book came in 

 the next decade when, in 1937, W. C. Al- 

 ice and Karl P. Schmidt prepared a revised 

 edition in English and thereby made the 

 volume more immediately available to 

 American and English biologists. In their 

 introduction the translators said, "The ap- 

 pearance of Professor Richard Hesse's book 

 in 1924 marked the beginning of a new 

 phase in the development both of ecology 

 and of animal geography. In the latter field 

 it made the first serious attempt to apply 

 ecological methods, principles and facts to 

 the study of animal distribution on a world- 

 wide scale." 



Another book on biogeography was 

 Willis' Age and Area, (1922). This study 

 did not have the weight carried by 

 Hesse, but it was extremely provocative and 

 polemic. In a historical survey these char- 

 acteristics, rather than its scientific validity, 

 may be the significant features of a work. 

 Another important volume of the decade 

 was Tier tind Pflanze in Symhiose, by P. 

 Buchner, which appeared in second edition 

 in 1930. Buchner and his students carried 

 out extensive studies on the importance and 

 mode of transmission of symbionts (p. 

 248). 



There were other books published be- 

 tween 1921 and 1930 that ecologists found 

 useful. Some of these should be mentioned. 

 The Determination of Hijdros,en Ions by 

 Clark (1928) and Harvey's Biolos.ical 

 Chemistrtf and Physics of Sea Water 

 (1928) presented information about the 

 abiotic environment.* Robertson in 1923 

 published The Chemical Basis of Growth 

 and Senescence which contained a good 

 deal about the environment in a biochemi- 



• Harvey further contributed to this topic 

 through publication in 1945 of a small book en- 

 titled Recent Advances in the Chemistry and 

 Biology of Sea Water. 



cal sense. An important German book on 

 hydrobiology was Hentschel's GrundzUge 

 der Hydrobiologie (1923). Three limnolog- 

 ical books in German that appeared 

 during the decade should be mentioned: 

 Thienemann's (1926) Limnologie, Lenz's 

 (1928) Einfiihrung in die Biologic der 

 Siisswasserseen and Brehm's (1930) Ein- 

 fiihrung in die Limnologie. Entomologists 

 were active during the period. W. M. 

 Wheeler wrote several books, among them 

 Social Life among the Insects (1923), 

 which summarized this subject with charac- 

 teristic vigor and scholarship. War die and 

 Buckle (1923) and War die (1929) covered 

 certain aspects of economic entomology that 

 had a distinct ecological flavor. 



At this point we should mention the book 

 by Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale (1930) 

 Vertebrate Natural History of A Section of 

 Northern California through the Lassen 

 Peak Region. This monograph is an excel- 

 lent example of modern natural history. 

 Also, its mention permits us to pay 

 tribute to the late Joseph Grinnell, who 

 was, perhaps more than any other, the 

 epitome of the modern natural historian. So 

 far as we can judge from his writings and 

 lectures, Grinnell was not sympathetic to 

 analysis of ecological problems by the 

 methods of instrumentation and mensura- 

 tion. Apparently, it was his idea that the 

 organism and its responses were a far bet- 

 ter criterion of environmental reaction than 

 any measurement. Once, in correspondence 

 with one of us, he said, "The animal is 

 more sensitive than any thermometer or at- 

 mometer." 



The "Lassen Peak" study was antedated 

 by Animal Life in the Yosemite, by Grin- 

 nell and T. I. Storer (1924). This work 

 was equally comprehensive, although it may 

 not be cited so much as the former. In the 

 "Yosemite" volume one finds "an account 

 of the mammals, birds, reptiles and amphib- 

 ians in a cross-section of the Sierra Ne- 

 vada." Historically this study is significant, 

 not only because of its wealth of natural 

 history, but also because it shows how a 

 public preserve such as a national park can 

 be utilized for field research. 



In the population field in a strict sense, 

 Ravmond Pearl published four provocative 

 books: The Rate of Living (1928), deal- 

 ing with laboratory populations; The Biol- 

 ogy of Population Growth (1925), deal- 

 ing with both laboratory and human pop- 



