Vol. xxv] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 83 
The organization of the data for his book, Dr. Shelford tells us, “is 
the result of many attempts and failures which at times made the task 
seem hopeless,” but as “here presented has in the main grown out of 
three lines of thought: (a) The physiology of organisms as opposed 
to the physiology of organs; (b) the phenomena of behavior, as illus- 
trated by the studies of Loeb, much of the data of which can be related 
to natural environments; and (c) the organized comparable data of 
plant ecology, as set forth by Cowles and Warming” (pp. v, vi). “The 
definition of ecology, like that of any growing science, is a thing to be 
modified as the science itself is modified, crystallized and limited. At 
present, ecology is that branch of general physiology which deals with 
the organism 2s a whole, with its general life processes as distin- 
guished from the more special physiology of organs, and which also 
considers the organism with particular reference to its usual environ- 
ment” (p. 1). The point of view of the ecologist is illustrated by a 
concrete example on page 314. 
The topics discussed, as worded in the chapter headings, are: Man 
and Animals, the Animal Organism and its Environmental Relations, 
The Animal environment, Its General Nature and Its Character in the 
Area of Study, Conditions of Existence of Aquatic Animals, Animal 
Communities of Large Lakes (Lake Michigan), of Streams, of Small 
Lakes, of Ponds, Conditions of Existence of Land Animals, Animal 
Communities of the Tension Lines Between Land and Water, of 
Swamp and Flood-Plain Forests, of Dry and Mesophytic Forests, of 
Thickets and Forest Margins, of Prairies; and a General Discussion. An 
Appendix suggests Methods of Study, in which emphasis is laid on 
the prime importance of experiments in the field, and some description 
of the apparatus used by the author in this new line of work is given 
(p. 322). A bibliography of 214 titles, almost exclusively in English 
(cf. p. v), and two indexes of authors and collaborators and of sub- 
jects, complete the book. 
The treatment of the chapter topics, while not identical throughout, 
is sufficiently similar to be illustrated by a single chapter, for example, 
that on Animal Communities of Ponds. A brief introduction recalls the 
causes of the general interest in pond animals and the differences in 
pond bottoms. The origin and physical characteristics of the ponds in 
the area of special study are summarized. The communities of ponds 
are classified and discussed as the Pelagic and Pioneer (or Terrigenous 
Bottom) Formations and the Submerged Vegetation and Emerging 
Vegetation Associations. 
The order of these four is that of the changes which ponds in gen- 
eral undergo, that of transformation from open water areas to swamps 
and eventually to dry land. The animals comprising each one of these 
ecological groups are, to a great extent, different and hence give each 
one a particular facies. The “characters” and “tendencies” of each 
