NA TURE 



533 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 191 1. 



PARKER AND HAS WELL'S ZOOLOGY. 

 A Text- Book of Zoology. Bv Prof. T. J. Parker, 

 F.R.S., and Prof. VV. A. Haswell, F.R.S. Vol i., 

 pp. xxxix + 839. Vol. ii., pp. xx + 728. (London : 

 Macmillan and Co., Ltd., igio.) Price 36$. net, the 

 two vols. 



AFTER an interval of thirteen years, this well- 

 known text-book has appeared in a second 

 edition. Its merits have earned for " Parker and 

 Haswell " a high educational rank ; the clear, terse 

 descriptions of each selected example of the various 

 classes ; the comparison of the class with its exemplar ; 

 the abundance and excellence of the illustrations ; the 

 brief but useful summaries on general topics, distri- 

 bution, history, variation. Its drawback has been 

 that whilst containing a good two years' training 

 in the subject-matter of zoology, it does not satisfy 

 the needs of more advanced students. In some ways 

 the new edition makes good this defect, but we are 

 inclined to think that it would have been a gain if 

 a good deal of elementsury descriptive matter (such as 

 students invariably obtain in other and smaller works) 

 could have made way for fresh and much-needed de 

 scriptions of such examples as a tortoise and a mam- 

 mal other than a rabbit, or for such a topic as com- 

 parative physiology. 



The most striking change in the book is the im- 

 provement, both in text and in the figures, of the 

 volume that deals with the invertebrata. The verte- 

 brates, on the other hand, remain essentially unaltered. 

 This differential treatment raises an interesting point, 

 for it corresponds ver\' closely with the relative amount 

 of interest taken by students in the two branches of 

 the subject and the relative progress, both in the 

 presentation of, and research into, the subject-matter. 

 Every experienced teacher knows — indeed, the book 

 before us shows — that our knowledge of invertebrates 

 has advanced more rapidly of late years and has a 

 more attractive appeal than our knowledge of the 

 vertebrata. Purely descriptive anatomy takes too 

 large a place in the presentation of the latter. The 

 discussions upon the origin of fins or the morphology 

 of the ear-ossicles still sound on — vague, unsatisfying, 

 unpragmatic. We do not expect our students to know 

 in detail the sclerites of an insect, but we do expect 

 them to know the hard parts of vertebrates. We still 

 regard embryology as something distinct from 

 anatomy, and the sense of dealing with the life-history 

 of a vertebrate in the way in which life-histories are 

 studied among invertebrates is never realised. Em- 

 brj'os are still treated as rarities, the phenomena of 

 colour are omitted or passed over brieflj', the questions 

 of heat-production and other problems of vital 

 mechanics are not mentioned. Is it to be wondered 

 at that our students with rare exceptions devote 

 themselves to research on invertebrata or to questions 

 of heredity? A fresh treatment of vertebrate zoology 

 is required. We regret that no attempt is made in 

 this work to put new wine into the old bottles, but 

 we cannot wonder at it. A new bottle is required. 

 NO. 2156, VOL. 85] 



With regard to the changes made in the first 

 volume, the protozoa are more fully illustrated and 

 described, but the accounts are not equally adequate. 

 For example, the life-histories of the Lobosa are not 

 referred to, the sexual dimorphism in Sporozoa 

 gregarinida is not mentioned, and much recent work 

 on forms mentioned or figured is not made use of. 

 The list of fresh-water jellyfish and hydroids on 

 p. 167 omits some interesting recent discoveries. It 

 is, of course, incorrect to repeat the statement of the 

 earlier edition that Limnocodium is only found in 

 Regent's Park. A description of the actual mode of 

 formation of a medusa would have been verj- welcome. 

 Amongst the few mistakes of nomenclature we must 

 mention Adamsia on p. 208 and on Fig. 157. The 

 anemone referred to is obviously not Adamsia but 

 Sagartia parasitica (to use the older name). The 

 accounts of the various worm-Phyla are much im- 

 proved and will prove extremely useful. The classifi- 

 cation of the Crustacea is quite the modern one, but 

 we miss any account of the recent work on para- 

 sitism and sex-production in this class. Fig. 454 

 is still incorrectly labelled. The treatment of the 

 insects might have been brought a little more up-to- 

 date in view, of the increased interest in and know- 

 ledge of the housefly and the tsetse-fly, neither of which 

 are noticed. The table of mouth-parts on p. 623 is 

 reprinted without reference apparently to the work 

 which had led to another comparison. The Aptera, 

 a most important order, are treated verj- summarily, 

 and no mention is made of the discoveries of Silvestri 

 and Berlese, which have revealed since 1907 a new 

 order, the Myrientomata. 



These criticisms, however, do not preclude a gener- 

 ous estimate of the labour which these volumes have 

 cost, nor do they seriously diminish one's estimate 

 of their value. Prof. Haswell is to be congratulated 

 on the appearance of this new edition, which will be 

 greatly appreciated by all teachers, and in the matter 

 of typography and lithography is an excellent example 

 of modern English work. F. W. Gamble. 



PAINTS AND PAINTING. 



The Materials of the Painter's Craft, in Europe and 

 Egypt from Earliest Times to the end of the Seven- 

 teenth Century, with Some Account of their Pre- 

 paration and Use. By Dr. A. P. Laurie. Pp. xv + 

 444. (London and Edinburgh : J. H. Foulis, 1910.) 

 Price 55. net. 



THE author of this interesting book, which be- 

 longs to a series treating of "The Arts and 

 Crafts of the Nations," has gathered within its covers 

 an immense amount of information concerning the 

 materials and methods of painting in early times. 

 Dr. Laurie has been, and is, an indefatigable investi- 

 gator, especially in connection with ancient processes 

 of mural painting and with the vehicles of mediaeval 

 and later days. His chief conclusions, some of which 

 have been published before, as in the little volume on 

 " Greek and Roman Methods of Painting," lately rcr 

 viewed in these columns, are now made accessible to 

 everyone interested in the subject. One has no longer 

 to search through the back numbers of a journal 



