44 NATURE STUDY REVIEW [8 :1— Jan., 1912 



The Animal World. By F. W. Gamble. Xew York, Holt 

 and Co., 1911. Pp. 256. 75 cents. 



The Animal World is not a popular natural history, as the 

 title might suggest, but it is largely from the ponit of view of 

 physiology and is chiefly concerned with presenting the similarity 

 of functions through the whole series of animals. This is shown 

 by the following chapter titles : I, Structure and Classification 

 of Animals ; II, Movements, Succession, and Distribution of 

 Animals ; III, Quest for Food ; IV, How Animals Breathe ; V, 

 Colours of Animals ; \T, Senses of Animals ; VII, Societies and 

 Associations; VIII, Care of the Young; IX, Life-Histories; X, 

 Heredity and Variation. The book is an interesting contribution 

 and will appeal not only to many who are already familiar with 

 the facts, but also to many whose first study of animals is through 

 the pages of this book. - M. A. B. 



Fundamentals of Agriculture. By James Edward Halligan, 

 Louisiana State Experiment Station. Pp. 492. Published b^• 

 D. C. Heath and Company, 1911. 



This book is quite distinctive in that it represents the work 

 of thirty-one authors, each of whom treats topics that are closely 

 related to his own chief interest. As a result the book does not 

 consist of a unified development of a line of thought, but rather 

 is a collection of treatments of topics that relate in one way 

 and another to agriculture. X'^aturally the style and relative 

 simplicity of treatment varies, but this variation is much less 

 than under the circumstances would ordinarily be expected, and 

 it is at no time objectionable. 



The range of topics is the widest yet presented in any ele- 

 mentary text-book of agriculture. A surprisingly large and 

 compact amount of material is presented upon these topics and 

 there are abundant citations to additional reference reading 

 matter. The balance that is maintained between the diflferent 

 phases of agriculture is excellent. Many of the text-books in 

 agriculture have not represented the science as a whole, but have 

 dealt essentially with one or two of the other sciences from their 

 applied aspects. The text here discussed recognizes and presents 

 agricultural science as closely related to other sciences but as 

 a distinct unit, different from all other sciences. 



The large number of topics and the richness and the con- 

 densed nature of the information makes the book a compendium 

 of elementary information upon agricultural matters. Many 

 people not engaged in farming or teaching will find the book 



