490 



KNOWLEDGE. 



December. 1910. 



one descendants of the warm-room mice, and one hundred 

 and forty-five descendants of the cold-room mice in a 

 common room in which they were all exposed to identical 

 temperature conditions. Vet the same differences which h.id 

 shown themselves in the parents showed themselves also in 

 the second generation, manifested especially in the earliest 

 series of measurements, taken at the age of six weeks. Of 

 course this reappearance of the parental modifications in the 

 offspring is open to many interpretations. Some of these Dr. 

 Sumner discusses, but he maintains that no decisive verdict 

 can be given in the meantime, and he proposes to carry out 

 a sufficient series of experiments to test every possible 

 hypothesis. 



PROCESSION C.A.TERPILL.A.RS.— Mr. Edwards has 

 made a tine study at Arcachon of the well-known processional 

 lar\ae of Ciictlioccimpa piiiivora, famihar to many visitors to 

 the Riviera. The procession is always single file, the larvae 

 being arranged in head-to-tail contact. The length of the 

 procession varies greatly, but only three were found which 

 numbered over a hundred individuals. 



Experiments were made to determine how far the primite or 

 the first in the file may be regarded as the true leader. It was 

 found that any larva might function as primite. but that one 

 individual usually retained the post, and was apparently 

 capable of taking a certain initiative in the selection of a 

 path, burrowing for pupation, and forming a circulating mass. 

 Light and surface seem to be the determining factors in the 

 choice of a path. A whole procession was cast into shade, 

 and a reflected ray of light was cast under the head of the 



primite. The whole procession followed the ray, though only 

 the primite could have been influenced by the stimulus. 



Before pupation, the procession breaks up into a mass in 

 which the larvae are continually moving about among each 

 other without advancing from the same spot. This formation 

 was observed at other times also, and when the procession 

 reformed without pupation, the same larva took the lead, and 

 followed the outward bound thread back to the nest. Artificial 

 threads, or threads of other processions placed in his path, 

 were always rejected. .Artificial breaks in the tliread did not 

 prevent joining up if the distance between the two parts of the 

 procession was not great. Head to tail contact seemed of 

 more importance in keeping the procession together than the 

 thread. Before pupation the mass formed in a position 

 apparently selected by the primite. which was observed to test 

 the consistency of the sand with his mandibles. The whole 

 m.ass rotated until a gradually deepening depression was 

 formed in the sand. .\11 the while the larvae were depositing 

 their silken threads, until a regular network was formed, and 

 in this the loosened sand became entangled. The larvae 

 seemed to aid in the process by displacing the sand with their 

 mandibles, and in a few days the whole mass was buried to a 

 depth of several inches. Pupation was completed nineteen 

 days after burrowing. Larvae which had become isolated 

 buried themselves by means of their mandibles. The facts 

 seem to the observer to warrant the conclusion that, though 

 the individuals of a procession may act alike when influenced 

 by the same stimuli, yet each larva is capable of independent 

 action, and that therefore the procession cannot be said to act 

 in anv real sense as a single individual. 



REVIEWS. 



ASTRONOMY. 



Facts and Fallacies regarding the Bible. — By William 



Woods Smyth. 192 + viii. pages. 10 ilhistrations. 



S-in. X 5-in. 



(Elliot Stock. Price 3 6 net.) 



The key to this book is given in the Preface by the Author 

 in these words : " This work accepts without qualification the 

 modern ascertained facts regarding Matter, Life, and Mind, 

 and their genesis, as interpreted by our highest authorities ; 

 and exhibits them, in relation to the Bible, as the natural 

 bases of its own revealed facts and doctrines, which thev 

 illustrate, confirm, e.xtend." 



The author strongly criticises the statements and %iews of 

 Dr. Driver and others of the " Higher Criticism " school, 

 concerning the first chapter of Genesis : he adduces abundant 

 facts to refute many of those view-s, and argues in a logical 

 manner from the astronomical, geological, and natural history 

 points of view. Great stress is laid upon the use of the 

 Hebrew voice Hiphil, which is causative and is used to signify 

 unfinished, continuous, progressive creation affording evidence 

 of the power of environment in the course of evolution. But 

 space will not permit us to enter into the arguments raised in 

 this great controversy between men of science and learning ; 

 these philosophers mainly Uve for the present rather than for 

 the future existence. 



The author is evidently well read in the wide subject he 

 deals with, and qualified to refute the present-day scepticism 

 regarding the accuracy of statements as revealed in the Bible. 

 He marshals his facts and refutations with telling effect, and 

 states his arguments with convincing truth. 



The book is well printed with large type on light non-glared 

 paper, and is very free from printer's errors. But why use the 

 word meteorolites ? And %vhy no index ? We think the Book 

 should be widely read and studied. „ 



a. 



Round the Year with the Stars. — By G. P. Serviss. 

 148 pages. 60 plates. 8i-in. X a^-in. 



I Harper & Brothers. Price 5 - net.) 



A useful book to stimulate the minds and imaginations of 

 many amateur followers of the starry heavens. The book 

 will be of little use to those amateurs who possess a telescope, 

 ever so small, as other more useful and conveniently arranged 

 aids to the telescope already exist. But the author's intention 

 is declared in the preface ; — " This book represents an 

 attempt to cultivate the love of the stars " without optical aids, 

 and " turn his (the reader's) eyes to the sky, .and open his 

 mind to its plain teachings and its supernal inspirations." 



The author has dived extensively into the domains of Greek 

 and Arabic mythology and nomenclature, which alone tend to 

 excite lively imaginations and poetic fanc}-, though no 

 acquaintance with practical astronomy may result. The 

 book is suitable for those who can spare the time to look at 

 the stars and allow their minds to wander freely to the limits 

 of poetic license. The book has large type and is light to 

 handle ; the maps show the positions of the chief visible stars 

 at different times of the year. 



We demur to accepting one or two of the pronunciations on 

 pages 141 and 142. r> 



Stars Sliown to the Children. — By E. Hawks. 

 120+xii. pages. 50 plates. 6i-in.X4j-in. 



(T. C. and E. C. Jack. Price 2, 6 net.) 



This little book is the ninth of the " Shown to the Children " 

 Series, edited by L. Chisholm, and this series has been 

 adopted by the London County Council as prize books. Mr. E. 

 Hawks is an enthusiastic amateur, and honorary secretary of 

 the Leeds Astronomical Society. The book is divided into 

 thirty-three chapters. In the first eighteen chapters the Sun, 

 Moon, Planets, Comets, and Meteors are separately dealt 



