28 



NA TURE 



[May 12. 1904 



the single derivatives of the hydrocnrbons, such as the 

 halogen, nitro, amide, &c. The third part is devoted 

 to the study of the poly-compounds. The sugars are 

 flere dealt with, and are very fully given. On p. 265 

 there is a very useful diagram showing schematically 

 the sugar syntheses. The fourth part treats of hetero- 

 cyclic compounds. 



The theoretical introductions at the commencement 

 of the subsections are succinct, and give one an idea 

 of the particular class of substance in a few sentences. 

 A little more space might have been given to the 

 quinones. Under this heading we only find one and 

 a half pages, most of which is devoted to benzoquinone. 

 There are, indeed, other references to quinones in the 

 book, but these do not deal with the modes of prepar- 

 ation. 



The compilation of a book such as this requires an 

 immense amount of work, and we think, taking it as 

 a whole, although there are a good many omissions, 

 that Dr. Posner is to be congratulated on having 

 brought out a really useful work. F. M. P. 



CUEESK-UnES. 

 British Tyroglyphidae. By Albert D. Michael, F.L..S., 

 F.Z.S.,' F.R^M.S., &c. Vol. ii. (London : Printed 

 for the Ray Society, 1903.) 



THIS is a second volume only by date and binding; 

 otherwise it is part and parcel of the first, com- 

 pleting the story with all the scientific skill in descrip- 

 tion and illustration, the critical acumen, and the due 

 proportion of enlivening touches to which attention 

 was directed in these columns two years ago. An 

 annotated list of the principal known or supposed 

 species, not hitherto recorded as British, is a valuable 

 supplement, here thrown in as a free gift beyond the 

 requirements of the title. An interesting addition to 

 the group of cheese-mites is furnished by the new 

 genus and species, Fusacarus laminipes, a little fusi- 

 form broad-legged acarid discovered by Mr. Michael 

 in moles' nests, sometimes abundant, yet not present 

 in every nest, and never observed upon the mole itself. 

 .'\mong statements of economic importance may be 

 noted the author's remarks on Tyroglyphus longior, 

 Gervais. Of this he says- 



" It seems to me to be found in almost all houses 

 upon dried provisions, often swarming in enormous 

 numbers. I have also found it most prolific on hay 

 and fodder, often increasing in countless millions. I 

 once had a sample of hay sent me from a large hay- 

 stack on a first-class farm in Ireland ; the whole stack 

 had practically been destroyed by this Acarus ; there 

 were, weight for weight, as large quantities of Acari 

 as of hay in the sample." 



On the other hand he vindicates Histiogaster ento- 

 mophagus (Laboulb^ne) from the reproach, conveyed 

 in its specific name, of devastating entomological collec- 

 tions. Also he agrees with the French acarologists 

 in being hard of belief that the mite which Riley and 

 Planchon called Tyroglyphus phyUoxerae was at all 

 likely to benefit the French vine-growers by its impor- 

 tation. For one thing, in his opinion, France already 

 possessed the mite in question under an earlier name, 

 NO. 1802, VOL. 70] 



and for another, he holds that cheese-mites in general 

 are not at all partial to feeding on insects until the 

 insects are not only dead, but dried, in which con- 

 dition the dreaded Phylloxera ceases to be a devastator 

 of vineyards. But if Riley's mite does the wine-pro- 

 ducer no essential good, Carpoglyphus anonynius, 

 Haller, does the wine-vendor positive harm. Anything, 

 indeed, might .be expected of a creature so reprobate 

 that it devours the gold size of the very cell in which 

 it is being reared for scientific observation. But this 

 species, which in very Irish fashion has been named 

 " the nameless," further outrages sentiment by being, 

 what the lower animals so seldom are, a set of little 

 drunkards. They defy the great wine-merchants of 

 Paris by increasing in immense quantities inside the 

 wine bottles, " maintaining their position on the 

 surface of the wine without getting drowned by stand- 

 ing on minute pieces of cork," and in this ideal home 

 for inebriates drawing their nourishment from the 

 wine. 



Directly in his preface and incidentally elsewhere 

 Mr. Michael directs attention to the unsatisfactory pro- 

 cess by which chains are being riveted on zoologists in 

 regard to nomenclature. His remarks are opportune. 

 It may easily come to be supposed that the important 

 compilation of " Das Tierreich " represents on this 

 and some other questions a consensus of opinion. But 

 that is contrary to the fact, the apparent consensus 

 meaning nothing more than a (possibly very reluctant) 

 concession to a supposed need for uniformity, by which 

 the value of " Das Tierreich " itself is not a little likely 

 to be seriously impaired. Moreover, the rules which 

 appear to have been agreed on by the committee of 

 the International Zoological Congress are themselves 

 under more than one grave disadvantage. The report 

 brought up to the highly representative meeting of that 

 congress at Cambridge in 1S98 was for some esoteric 

 reason withdrawn from discussion. This opportunity 

 being lost, a larger committee was appointed, but the 

 rules appear to have been settled by only five of the 

 members. Great Britain being left unrepresented at the 

 critical time, through the withdrawal of two members 

 and the absence of a third. After all, perhaps, it is 

 consoling to reflect that rules can only find their 

 ultimate sanction in the practice of the best writers, 

 and work like Mr. Michael's helps 'one to maintain 

 that British zoology is neither dead nor sleeping, and 

 that it cannot in the long run be left out of account. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Zoology : Descriptive and Practical. By Prof. Buel P. 



Colton. Part i. Descriptive. Pp. X-I-37S; 201 



figures. Price 4s. bd. Part ii. Practical. Pp. 



xvii-l-204. Price 2x. (London : D. C. Heath and 



Co., 1904.) 

 The author points out in an admirable preface that 

 the study of natural history in schools should follow 

 the seasons, and that animals should be studied in re- 

 lation to their surroundings. " The study of the 

 relations of animals to their surroundings is a constant 

 investigation of cause," and the pupil has above all 

 to inquire into the meanings of facts. But exercises 

 in classification, in the detailed analysis of types, in 



