CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTORY . 

 WHAT IS BIOLOGY 



PAGES 



A map of the book: — Ecological; Physiological; Bio-Psychological; 

 Morphological; Developmental; Palaeontological ; Etiological, 

 Biology among the Sciences. What is Life? Applications of Biology. 

 Historical i-8 



CHAPTER I 



THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANISMS 



First Triad: Persistence in spite of ceaseless change. The meta- 

 bolism of proteins. Colloidal protoplasm. Specificity. Second Triad: 

 Growth. Multiplication. Development. Third Triad: Behaviour. 

 Registration. Evolution. Summary of the characteristics of organ- 

 isms. Glimpses of Life; Crystals and organisms; The insurgence of 

 Life; The fact of beauty; the wonder of the world 9-41 



CHAPTER II 



ECOLOGICAL 



Ecology and its significance. Organisms and their environments. 

 Manifold relations between organism and environment. The march 

 of the seasons. Illustration of seasonal ecology: showers of gossamer; 

 encystations and similar reactions in difficult circumstances; latent 

 life ; true hibernation ; frozen plants. Rhythm in life. Migrations among 

 animals. Bird migration in particular. Animals in their haunts: 

 pelagic, abyssal, littoral, freshwater, terrestrial, aerial. Minor faunas, 

 such as those of caves, brackish water, and parasitism. The evolution 

 of faunas. A survey from pole to pole: e.g. the northern forests; the 

 mammals of the steppes; Antarctic animals. Inter-relations of 

 organisms. How they may be classified. Social Animals, their various 

 grades. Symbiosis. Parasitism, analysed. Illustrations of plant 

 ecology, as regards sustenance, struggle, reproduction, and partner- 

 ships, e.g. insectivorous plants, epiphytes, climbing plants, myco- 

 rhiza, parasites of various grades. Ecology of plant reproduction. 

 Ecology of the flower. Pollination, its various methods. Dispersal of 

 seeds. The Balance of Nature. Instances of inter-relations, e.g. 

 birds as pollinators, linkages between termites and other organisms, 

 the role of bracken, the reduction of wild shelters. The intricacy of life ; 

 e.g. ants and aphides, filterable viruses, the living earth, the bee 

 dance, honey, fauna of pitcher-plants 42-225 



CHAPTER III 



PHYSIOLOGICAL 



Animal Locomotion — Contractility and Movement — Amoeboid Move- 

 ment — Myonemes, Cilia, Flagella — Muscle, Structure, Contraction — 

 The Nerve Impulse — Reflex Actions — Conditioned Reflexes — The 



