June, 1902.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



135 



warrantuble extent, bvmauv naturalists of the present day. 

 One of the latest instances is afforded bv Dr. J. A. Allen, 

 of New York, who, in tlie BiiUetin of the American 

 Museum for February, proposes, on the strength of a 

 passage in Ziuimermann's Zooloyic.i: Geoijra^ihicH- (1777) 

 which may be the result of an error or carelessness, 

 to employ the name Duma as the generic title of the 

 American white-tailed deer. By those who regard it as 

 entitled to generic separation fron\ the red deer, the fallow- 

 deer has been invariably designated Dama fuh/m-ls, and 

 this usage ought, in our oj)inion, to bar the use of the former 

 name in any other sense, quite irrespective of whether 

 it was used by some early writer at a date when the 

 binominal system was scarcely established. It is difficult 

 enough in any case to make sportsmen and amateur 

 naturalists realise the essential difference between Americ'in 

 and Old World deer, and if a name commonly used 

 for one of the latter be transferred to the former, endless 

 confusion is likely to result. The white-tailed deer is one 

 whose uomenclatural history is singularly unfortunate. 

 The name Cariaciis by which it was generally known till a 

 few years ago was replaced by Dnrcelaphus by American 

 writers, who subsequently changed this for Odocoihiis, and 

 now we have Dama suggested. 



Accoi'ding to an article in the March number of the 

 American Nalitralint, a remarkable phenomenon was re- 

 cently observed on the Califoruian coast. One day last 

 July a streak of " red water " was noticed some distance 

 off the mouth of San Pedro Harbour, which subsequently 

 broke up into a number of patches, each of several acres in 

 extent. In the course of a few days these patches i-eached 

 the shore, when the red colour was found to be due to the 

 presence of countless myriads of animalcules belonging to 

 tlie " flagellate " group. At night the sea was brilliantly 

 phosphorescent over the red area. The most extra- 

 ordinary fact connected with the visitation was the death 

 of a large number of marine animals, including rays, 

 sharks, and sea-cucumbers, which were appareutlv poisoned 

 by the animalcules. The bodies of these creatures when 

 cast up on the beach exhaled a most pestiferous odour. 

 At least two hundred miles of coast came under the 

 influence of the " red water." 



The Annual Congress of the South Eastern Union of 

 Scientific Societies will be held this year at Canterbury, 

 from the 5th to the 7th of this month. The President- 

 elect, Mr. J. Hutchinson, will deliver the address, and 

 papers will be read by, amongst others, Prof. E. B. 

 Poulton, Prof. G. S. Boulger, Mr. S. Saunders, and Mr. 

 W. Whitaker. 



j^0t»CC8 of Boofeg. 



" Alcomolis.m : A Stldv in Hi;ki;iiitv." By G. Archdall 

 Keid. Pp. x\-i. + 'j;i3. (Fisher Un win. j Price lis. net. — Mr.Arch- 

 dall Reid is .1 philosopher whose works merit careful considera- 

 tion. He is outside the circle of what might be termed 

 professional evolutionists, but those of us who have given 

 attention to his writings have found evidence in them of an 

 original thinker possessing both knowledge and inspiration. 

 The line of argument in the present book may be exjiressed as 

 follows. There is an evolution against disease ; the native 

 races of AVest A frica are able to resist malaria because a process 

 of ehmination of those susceptible to the disease has been going 

 on for many generations. Englishmen, however, who have not 

 undergone this jirocess of selection are unable to resist the 

 disease. On the other hand, we have acquired a resisting power 

 against consumption, wliereas Polynesians and Eskimo perish 

 as surely in London as Engli.shmen in West Africa, .\gain, 

 measles is not often fatal with us, but when the disease is 

 introduced into a new race its ravages are terrible. Alcoholism 

 is a disease, and the races which hive been liable to it for the 



longest period are now the most sober. Accepting this, the 

 conclusion is that the reforms advocated by the Temperance 

 party are fundamentally wrong and can only aggravate the 

 evil. " Including the British, all races which alcohol has afflicted 

 have plainly undergone evolution, protective evolution. They 

 began their experience with a great proneness to drunkenness, 

 have ended with a lesser proneness." Nature would in time 

 eliminate those who are predisposed to drunkenness, whereas 

 temperance reformers aim at preserving them. The method 

 propo-sed by 'S\r. Reid is to eliminate the excessive drinker by a 

 Malthnsian scheme, which, though biologically .sound, is alto- 

 gether impracticable in the present condition of public opinion. 

 This is a mere sketch of the subjects dealt with, and the whole 

 book is well worth attention by general as well as scientitic 

 readers. In one or two places we fancy that the investigations 

 of other evolutionists are referred to in disparaging terms, and 

 we regard tliis as a mistaken policy. Professor Weldon (not 

 Wheldon as is printed on page 38) is contributing to our know- 

 ledge of evolution much more than Mr. Reid, though his methods 

 are different. It is unnecessary to refer slightingly to his 

 work or that of any other earnest investigator in the realm of 

 natural kcowlcdge. 



"The Fi)K.\minilf,r.\ : An lNTKoDr(TiON to tiik Study 

 or THE Pkdto/.oa."' By Frederick Chapman. .\.i..s., i'.u.m.s. 

 (Longmans, Green I'i Co.) Price '.is. net. — A well written book 

 by an acknowledged authority is always acceptable, and the 

 present volume is the more welcome because it is an attemjit to 

 supply a long-felt want. The classical monographs of Carpenter 

 and Brady are beyond the reach of many students, and the 

 innumerable papers ou the Foraminifera which regularly appear 

 in the publications of British and Continental scientific 

 societies are for specialists only. Mr. Chapman has en- 

 deavoured, and on the whole, we think, successfully, to compress 

 this .scattered knowledge into a single volume of some 36ii pages. 

 More than half the work is concerned with the classification of 

 the Foraminifera. The leading characteristics of each family 

 are briefly given, and every genus and sub-genus of any im- 

 portance is illustrated by a description of one or more types. 

 The author is not always happy in the .selection of his types, 

 which, in such a text-book, should, we think, have been selected 

 from the commonest and most widely distributed species avail- 

 able, and whenever possible, from recent forms in preference to 

 fossils. Mr. Chapman, however, shows a marked predilection 

 for fossil types, many of them being of restricted disposition 

 even as fossils. Many of the recent species selected as types 

 are also of rare or extremely local distribution, although other 

 species, common or of world-wide distribution, were ecjually 

 available for the purpose. The figures illustrating the types 

 are somewhat crude, but sufficient for their purpose. The 

 remaining illustrations are excellent, and to a large extent 

 original, a rare occurrence in text-books. The opening chapters 

 are devoted to the life-history and shell structure of the grouji, 

 aud are excellent, but the space allotted to the life-historj' is 

 altogether inadequate to the subject. The geological history of 

 the group, on the other hand, is treated at some length, and 

 being well illustrated by sections of the more important 

 foraminiferous rocks is of great interest. Mr. Chapman has 

 himself been one of the most untiring workers at the geological 

 record of the group, and in this chapter he records his opinion 

 that the earliest Foraminifera were derived from forms which 

 did not possess an external shell, but consisted merely of sarcode, 

 perhaps covered by a thin chitinous investment. As such 

 bodies could hardly become fossilized, the theorj-. credible 

 though it seems, can never be definitely proved. The older 

 theory that the earliest Foraminifera were of the arenaceous 

 type has failctl to find any support from the geological record, 

 for in the Jjower Cambriau strata the group had already obtained 

 a wide distribution and considerable range of structure, all of 

 the hi/aliiie type, while the earliest uniMi-cijui forams known 

 at present are of Silurian age. The volume concludes with a 

 good selection of the most important modern works on the 

 subject, the assimilation of which should turn the student into 

 a specialist. 



"AnNU.VL Rlil'OKT or Tin; SMnTlSO.\T.\.N InSTITLTIHN FliK 



Till; Yii.iK emunc; June 30, lOUO.'' Pp. Ixv., 7.W. Illustrated. 

 (Washington : Government Printing Office.) — One of the many 

 useful services which the Smithsonian Institution renders to 

 students of science is the publication of the Annual Report 



