NATURE 



[NOVEMBKR lO, 1 910 



he works on to A. P. De Candolle and Schleiden (of 

 whose importance he is very appreciative), and thence 

 to Haeckel and Spencer, Karl Pearson, and Burck- 

 hardt. This laborious historical survey, which must 

 have cost the author much time and trouble, is inter- 

 esting to those who care for such questions, but it 

 seems to us to be robbed of some of its value by 

 being overloaded and by a lack of perspective. Dr. 

 Tschulok quotes classifications of the different depart- 

 ments of biology from a large number of text-books, 

 isome of which are rather humdrum performances, 

 while others are by men who left a deep mark on 

 the science, but had neither any particular interest 

 in mapping out its subdivisions, nor any special apti- 

 tude for so doing. 



To illustrate, a man like Burckhardt was a good 

 zoologist — too early lost to science — but he was also 

 a philosopher. He went the length of thinking about 

 the classification of the sciences, about the relation 

 of biology to other disciplines, about methodology, and 

 so on, his writings sometimes reminding us of those 

 of Prof. Patrick Geddes in this country. Naturally, 

 therefore, we are glad to have from Dr. Tschulok an 

 exposition of Burckhardt 's views, and we are espe- 

 cially grateful for the unearthing of an essay on the 

 history of biological " Systematiks," well-buried "an 

 einem ziemlich versteckten Orte." But what we regret 

 is the space that is given to what are really incom- 

 petent classifications. The author wearies us with 

 citations from manuals of botany, which start with 

 commonplace mappings out of the science, sometimes 

 beginning with a weird word like "Glossology," and 

 ending up with " Fossil Botany." The last is a care- 

 less usage, which in an interesting irony sometimes 

 justifies itself. Our regret that the author has been 

 .at such pains to expose the nakedness of the larid is 

 heightened when we find that he has missed most 

 of the few really illuminating British contributions 

 to the subject of his book. We may refer, for in- 

 stance, to well-known encyclopaedia articles by Prof. 

 Patrick Geddes and Sir E. Ray Lankester. 



The author divides biology into Biotaxis and Bio- 

 physik. The first has to do with the establishment of 

 conceptual relations, the second with the establishment 

 of real relations — causal and teleological. Classifica- 

 tion, for instance, is "biotactic"; physiological 

 analysis is "biophysical." He contrasts his dual 

 division with others, e.g., with morphology and physi- 

 ology (which is a "scholasticism," he says), or with 

 biostatics and biodynamics, which expresses a different 

 idea. But does Dr. Tschulok mean more than this, 

 that we have in biology, as elsewhere, to discover the 

 orderliness of sequences and to sum this up in con- 

 ceptual formulae? 



The author's chief contribution is a scheme of the 

 subdivisions of biology. His idea is that there are 

 seven kinds of inquiry which are individually indis- 

 pensable and collectively exhaustive. These are : 

 taxonomy, morphology, physiology, cecology, chor- 

 ology, chronology, and genetics. This appears to us 

 to illustrate most of the vices of classification, such 

 as overlapping, cross-division, and inequality of values. 

 It appears to us, for instance, that taxonomy and 

 NO. 2 141, VOL. 85] 



morphology are inseparably bound together; that 

 cecology, as Semper said, is part of physiology; that 

 chorology is not an independent division of the science; 

 and so on. It must be noted, however, that Dr. 

 Tschulok defends his seven-fold classification with 

 enthusiasm and learning. J. A. T. 



A MONOGRAPH OF THE PETRELS. 

 A Monograph of the Petrels (Order Tubinares). By 

 F. Du Cane Godman, F.R.S. With hand- 

 coloured plates by J. G. Keulemans. Part iv., pp. 

 233-296; part v., pp. 297-381 + Iv, (London: 

 Witherby and Co.) Price 15/. 155., bound in full 

 morocco. 



'T^HE fourth and fifth parts of the " Monograph 

 *- of the Petrels," completing this beautiful and 

 valuable work, have been received, and the whole 

 work can now be had, bound in full morocco, price 

 fifteen guineas. It contains 436 pages printed on 

 rag paper, and over one hundred hand-coloured plates 

 by Keulemans, our best ornithological artist. In 

 every respect this beautiful volume has been produced 

 in the best possible style. Nor is the letterpress anv 

 less excellent. The work was projected, if not 

 actually begun, by the late O. Salvin, who wrote 

 the "Tubinares" for the British Museum catalogue 

 of birds, and the author has endeavoured to carrv 

 out the work on the lines laid down by Salvin, 

 taking the catalogue as his guide. The final part 

 contains a masterly introduction to the order 

 Tubinares, a systematic list of species, a classification 

 and key to the genera and species, and an essay by 

 Mr. Pycraft on the systematic position of the petrels. 



Petrels apparently belong to an ancient race of 

 birds, as their remains have been found in a fossil 

 state in various parts of the world, mostly in super- 

 ficial deposits, one species, however, being known 

 from the Red Crag of Norfolk. In external appear- 

 ance the families of petrels differ in an extraordinarv 

 manner, and the, species vary in size from the tiny 

 storm petrel to the wandering albatross. Notwith- 

 standing their wide differences, petrels mav at once be 

 distinguished from all other birds by their prominent 

 tubular nostrils and by .their bills, which consist of 

 several horny pieces separated by deep grooves. Thev 

 are dispersed throughout the oceans of the world, 

 penetrating to the ice barrier at both Poles, though 

 they are more numerous in the southern than in the 

 northern hemispheres. They are oceanic wanderers, 

 and, unless storm-driven, seldom, if ever, come to land 

 except for the purpose of breeding. 



The two parts now before us comprise the rest of 

 the genus Qistrelata, and the genera Pagodroma 

 (the snowy or ice petrel) Bulweria, Macronectes (ihe 

 "stinker or Nelly" of the sailors), Fulmarus, Daption 

 (the well-known "Cape Pigeon"), Halobaena, and 

 Prion, completing the family PufTinidae; the family 

 Pelecanoididae comprising one curious genus ; and 

 the family Diomedeidae (the albatrosses), compris- 

 ing the genera Diomedea, Thalassogeron, and Phce- 

 betria. Certainly the most curious and perhaps the 

 most interesting of all these are the strange little 



