20 ANIMAL ECOLOGY 



Darwin. . . . Buffon (1707-1788) alone among the 

 greater writers of the three past centuries empha- 

 sized that view of living things which we call 'bio- 

 nomics.' Buffon deliberately opposed himself to the 

 mere exposition of the structural resemblances and 

 differences of animals, and, disregarding classifica- 

 tion, devoted his treatise on natural history to a 

 consideration of the habits of animals and their 

 adaptations to their surroundings, whilst a special 

 volume was devoted by him to the subject of repro- 

 duction. . . . Buffon is the only prominent writer 

 who can be accorded historic rank in this study." 

 As I have access to but few of Buffon's writings, I 

 quote the above. Bionomics is seen not to be syn- 

 onymous with ecology, as defined by most students, 

 although it includes much that is ecological. The 

 chaotic and unorganized "lore of the farmer" has 

 no unifying or guiding principles, and although it 

 contains many facts, from which a science may be 

 built, to call it science seems undesirable. 

 It is of course advantageous in some ways to have 

 agreement as to the limitations of ecology, or any 

 science, but even the more exact sciences seem to fare 

 little better, as is shown by the following statement : 

 "It is not long since I heard a university professor 

 begin a lecture on physics somewhat in this way : 

 'Physics is the science of matter and energy. This 

 field is so large that it is customary at present to 

 break off the physics of the molecule and its reactions 

 and call it chemistry. Also to put to one side the 

 physics of the heavenly bodies and call this a part 

 of astronomy/ etc." (Strong, Science, N. S., Vol. 

 XXXIV, p. 409, 1911.) 

 FORBES, S. A. 



1895. On Contagious Disease in the Chinch-Bug (Blissus 

 leucopterus Say). 19th Rep. State Ent. 111. (8th 

 Rep. of S. A. Forbes), pp. 16-176. 



