446 



NATURE 



[December 24, 1914 



has not now been amended in the direction of more 

 definite leading- and instruction. Now and then 

 the accepted facts are so entangled in lengthy 

 arg^ument — of historical interest merely — that the 

 student must have difficulty in picking them out. 



The chapter on the development of the jaws is 

 brought up to date by the inclusion of a section 

 prepared by Prof. Fawcett, giving the results of 

 his own recent investigations. The editors may 

 not yet have noticed that the end of this excellent 

 resume is" wrongly indicated by misplaced quota- 

 tion marks. In another part of the same chapter, 

 on p. 237, the omission of "so that" from the 

 beginning of the sixteenth line is probably unin- 

 tentional. The statement that the first permanent 

 molar of man makes its appearance " about the 

 eleventh year " is an example of the undetected 

 clerical slip that occasionally bears a charmed 

 life through successive editions. 



In regfard to the difficulty of deciding what teeth 

 may be missing in dentitions that are reduced in 

 number from the so-called " typical " mammalian 

 formula, Dr. Marett Tims has added a useful 

 reminder : " It is doubtful whether the homologies 

 of the teeth, when one or more of the series is 

 absent, can be correctly interpreted from an ex- 

 amination of the skulls of adult animals, whether 

 recent or fossil." In order to determine the 

 position of any tooth vestiges present, a micro- 

 scopical investigation of the developing tooth 

 should (he says) be made whenever possible. The 

 same writer contributes a series of diagrams 

 which indicate clearly the number of dentitions 

 represented in the various groups of the mam- 

 malia. 



Mr. Tomes 's criticism of the well-known Cope- 

 Osborn theory of the evolution of mammalian 

 teeth has, in the present edition, been qualified 

 by one or two editorial notes presaging a more 

 diminishing belief in the doctrine of trituberculism. 

 Cope's kinetogenesis idea of the evolution of tooth 

 forms, either by a sort of plastic yielding, or a 

 stimulus to the formation of new cusps at the 

 points of the greatest wear, can scarcely be thought 

 to have survived the disintegrating objections 

 clearly and restrainedly put forward by Tomes. 

 In the second part of this edition, the arrange- 

 ment of the orders has been altered and brought 

 somewhat nearer to a logical sequence. The 

 teeth of primates are dealt with in the last chapter, 

 and here are placed tentatively — yet with a pains- 

 taking- attention to the honourable rights of pre- 

 cedency — the five or so known types (including the 

 recently-discovered Eoanthropiis dawsoni) that lie 

 upon or near to the line of descent of later man. 

 Adjudgment of the conflicting claims of these 

 " poor relations " to be the direct ancestors of 

 NO. 2356, VOL. 94] 



modern man is a most difficult matter. The sub- 

 ject is naturally a widely attractive one, so that 

 when discussions of it are forward even those 

 not ordinarily concerned with dental science will 

 prick an ear and often draw near to take a hand. 

 But when, as often happens, the clues to the 

 interpretation of fragmentary remains of man or 

 animal have to be sought mainly in the imperish- 

 able teeth, the very fullest available knowledge 

 of all the tooth tissues must be applied to thr 

 problem. 



In the sifting and evaluation of evidence, many 

 of Tomes's discussions are models of scientific 

 criticism. His handling of debatable subjects is 

 marked also by a literary style of charm and 

 flexibility, in which he moves smoothly and easily 

 forward towards a concentration on the essential 

 or significant points. It can safely be said that 

 responsibility for the editorship of this new 

 edition has fallen into competent hands. While 

 that is so, many will hope that Mr. Tomes may 

 continue to hold at least a watching- brief for 

 odontology. 



ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY FROM WEST 

 AND EAST. 



(i) ?ylanual of Fruit Insects. By the late M. V, 

 Slingerland and C. R. Crosby. Pp. xvi + 503. 

 (New York : The Macmillan Co. ; London : 

 Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1914.) Price 8s. 6d. 

 net. 



(2) Indian Forest Insects of Economic Import- 

 ance : Coleoptera. By E. P. Stebbing-. Pp. 

 xvi + 648 + 1x11 plates. (London: Printed by 

 Eyre and Spottiswoode, Ltd. ; sold by Constable 

 and Co., Ltd., and others, 1914.) Price 155. 



(3) Crop Pest Handbook for Behar and Orissa 

 {including also IVestern Bengal). Department 

 of Agriculture, Behar and Orissa. Pp. xxiii + 

 Leaflets 84 + Appendices 2 1 + plates liv. (Cal- 

 cutta : Thacker, Spink and Co., 1913.) Price 

 4 rupees. 



(i) C^TUDENTS of applied entomology all the 

 vj^ world over remember gratefully the late 

 Prof. M. V. Slingerland, whose writings in the 

 Bulletins of the Cornell L'niversity of Ithaca and 

 elsewhere, form a storehouse of information on 

 insect life-histories and on practical means for 

 destroying pests. And now Mr. C. R. Crosby 

 has completed the pious task of editing a quan- 

 tity of manuscript left unfinished by Slingerland 

 when, five years ago, he was taken from us. 

 The result of this collaboration is a handy volume 

 in which two hundred species of orchard insects 

 common in the United States are described and 

 figured. In the space allotted the descriptions are 



