Literary Notices. 523 



rushed around among the ants, and returned to the outer chamber. In this case, 

 however, it was followed by several of its companions. This was repeated several 

 times with similar results. So interested was I in this experiment that I called in 

 Professor Mead, of the University of Chicago, and performed it before him. Evi- 

 dently, in this case, the following reaction was a response to an odor . Whether ants 

 do or do not communicate in any other way is a subject upon which I have no opin- 

 ion that I am prepared to publish. I mention this experiment merely to show that 

 this question is too complex to be solved by any experiment which is not so planned 

 as to preclude the possibility of the reaction being a response to an odor. 



The author is to be complimented for the originality displayed in devising 

 apparatus. 



C. H. TURNER. 



Jennings, H.S. Behavior of the Starfish Asterias forerri de Loriol. Univ. of Calif. Publ. in 

 Zo67o^)i, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 53-185, 19 text figures. 1907. 



The present investigation on the Pacific Coast starfish, Asterias forreri, is another 

 thorough, analytical contribution to the subject of animal behavior, in which field 

 Professor Jennings has already done such masterly work. His general plan of 

 investigation here is the same as that which first gave him an insight to the behavior 

 of Paramecium and the Protozoa in general, and which led to the conception of the 

 "motor reaction" as a stereotyped, almost universal mode of reaction to stimuli 

 among these lower oragnisms — namely, a preliminary careful, minute, descriptive 

 study of the behavior of the animal. 



The list of the headings which cover the descriptive portion of his paper will 

 give an idea of the range of the investigation; these are: "Respiration and its pro- 

 tection by the pedicellariae," "Detailed behavior of the pedicellariae," "Capture of 

 food," "Behavior of the starfish in selecting conditions of existence," "Reaction 

 to light," "Positive reactions," "The righting reaction," and "Formation of habits 

 in the starfish." Of these most attention is directed to the righting reaction, while 

 the reactions to light are least fully worked out. There is such a wealth of detailed 

 observational results that only the barest selection can be made in a review of this 

 character. They form, however, most interesting reading, in spite of their detail 

 and of the fact that the author has in places relapsed somewhat from his usual liter- 

 ary care, as, for example, in the description of the capture of food, where the tense 

 changes with confusing rapidity. Frequent reference back and forth to the inter- 

 related phenomena assists, even at the expense of some repetition, to keep in the 

 reader's mind the relationship of numerous factors which go to make up the com- 

 plicated behavior of the starfish as a whole. For the author comes very decidedly 

 to the conclusion — and the reader can hardly disagree with him — that the behavior 

 of the starfish cannot be attributed to simple direct responses to obvious stimuli. 

 On the contrary, besides the external stimuli, internal factors, depending upon past 

 actions, etc., may determine the method of behavior. The author himself states 

 that perhaps the most important thing developed in his paper is "the demonstra- 

 tion of the variability, modifiability, unity and adaptiveness in the main features 

 of the behavior of the starfish." 



The unity of the parts of the starfish in performing its various actions is an impor- 

 tant point, upon which much emphasis is placed. Thus the behavior of the pedicel- 



