224 



NATU.RE 



[April 22, 1920 



sises the importance of close co-operation between 

 palaeontologists and geologists in all matters 

 relating to past geographies, and deprecates the 

 over-readiness of the former class of workers to 

 assume the existence of land-barriers. In illustra- 

 tion he refers to the continent of Gondwanaland, 

 the existence of which "depends more definitely 

 upon biological evidence and awaits full confirma- 

 tion." Gondwanaland is, however, by no means 

 the creation of palaeontologists alone; its founda- 

 tions are also geological. Succeeding chapters 

 are devoted to the description of different pro- 

 vinces of North America in the latter part of the 

 Palaeozoic era, and the author summarises the 

 results of an intensive study of Upper Pennsyl- 

 vanian and Permo-Carboniferous rocks in certain 

 areas. It is difficult for a reader not conversant 

 with American stratigraphy to interpret the forma- 

 tions mentioned in terms of European classifica- 

 tion, and one feels the lack of more helpful 

 correlation-tables than those provided. 



One of the most valuable features of the book 

 is the emphasis laid on the necessity for regarding 

 f<i)ssils as once living things, and for considering 

 their distribution in the strata in relall :n to the 

 problems presented to them by their environment. 

 The chapter on the climatology of the later 

 Palaeozoic is a particularly useful mine of informa- 

 tion. In the concluding chapter the author dis- 

 cus'ses the development and fate of vertebrate life 

 in the Permo-Carboniferous period in relation to 

 physical conditions. During Early Pennsylvanian 

 time fhe conditions were singularly uniform over 

 large areas, and the climate was equable and 

 humid ; a monotonous environment implies a limit 

 to the number of genera and species in a flora or 

 fauna; older and simpler types would persist 

 because the variants, which were possibly being 

 constantly produced, would not have a chance to 

 develop. This idea is elaborated, though not so 

 clearly as one could wish. It is suggested that the 

 Upper Pennsylvanian fauna, though hampered in 

 its further progress by the monotony of the envi- 

 ronment, was accumulating force preparatory to a 

 great radiation which would find expression when 

 the limitations were removed. Prof. Case adds : 

 "The fauna, long restrained from any expression 

 of its evolutionary tendencies, full fed, and in the 

 vigour of its youth, responded at once to the 

 change, and new forms appeared so suddenly as 

 to be unheralded in the preserved remains." This 

 and similar passages illustrate the more imagina- 

 tive side of the author's work. 



The palaeobotanical data are largely taken from 

 the contributions of Mr. David White, whose 

 researches are well known. The American Coal 

 NO. 2634, VOL. 105] 



Measures have unfortunately yielded scarcely any 

 petrified material comparable with that from 

 England and a few other European countries, and 

 although there is a wealth of plant impressions, 

 anatomical criteria of climatic conditions are not 

 available. A. C. Seward. 



Wheat and Wheat-growing. 



Essays on Wheat. By Prof. A. H. R. Duller. 

 Pp. XV -t- 339. (New York : The Macmillan Co. ; 

 London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1919.) Price 

 2.50 dollars. 



PROF. BULLER'S " Essays on Wheat " are 

 among the most interesting things we have 

 seen for a long time. As professor of botany in 

 the University of Manitoba, he has unrivalled 

 opportunities of studying the ramifications of the 

 wheat industry, for in no city in the world is 

 wheat so important as in Winnipeg. He is singu- 

 larly fortunate in his subject, and he tells bis story 

 remarkably well, giving the wealth of detail, the 

 figures, and the references needed by the man of 

 science, without sacrificing interest or literary 

 form. 



The first essay deals with the early history of 

 wheat growing in Manitoba. It is a story in 

 which Parkman would have revelled. The first 

 attempt was made in 1812 by a little band of 

 pioneers sent out from Scotland by Lord Selkirk 

 to colonise the 116,000 sq. miles of territory 

 granted to him by the Hudson Bay Co. ; they 

 settled at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine 

 rivers where Winnipeg now stands. The first 

 crop failed, as also did the second. The failure 

 is scarcely surprising. "There was not a plow in 

 the whole colony, the one harrow was incomplete 

 and could not be used, and all the labour of break- 

 ing up and working over the tough sod had to be 

 done with the hoe." The Indians were amazed, 

 and nicknamed the colonists " jardiniers." For- 

 tunately for the settlers, potatoes and turnips did 

 I well, or they must have had two very bitter 

 winters. The third crop succeeded. But the 

 troubles were by no means at an end. Birds were 

 a great nuisance, especially the now extinct pas- 

 senger pigeon. In the fourth year the adherents 

 of the North-West Company and their half-breeds 

 made serious trouble and caused no little blood- 

 shed, and, to crown all, in the sixth year, just as 

 the settlers were about to reap their second good 

 harvest, there came a great plague of locusts 

 which stripped the fields and gardens bare. It 

 was more than even these brave men could stand ; 

 the old record says : " The unfortunate emigrants, 

 looking up to heaven, wept." It speaks volumes 

 for their good Scottish upbringing if thev did no 



