466 



NATURE 



{March i8, 1880 



The classification adopted is described as a provisional 

 one ; in it the animal kingdom is divided into eight 

 branches — Protozoa, Porifera, Ccelenterata, Echinoder- 

 mata, Vermes (flat and round worms, Polyzoa, Brachio- 

 pods, Annelids, Tunicates), Mollusca, Arthropoda, and 

 Vertebrata. It is hinted that the Tunicates might even 

 form a ninth branch, to stand next below the Vertebrates. 

 The evident aim and object of the writer has been to 

 write in the smallest possible compass a clear and intelligent 

 account of the animal kingdom, one that would give a 

 fair idea to the reader of what is already known about it, 

 and that would at the same time suggest where new work 

 might be done and how to do it. In this effort it is our 

 opinion that the author has in a very great measure 

 succeeded; but the subject is so large a one that with all 

 the help he has received he still sometimes falls short of 

 his aim. Some of the shortcomings are strange ; thus 

 Fig- 33 is a copy of Lovdn's Hyaloncma boreale, a species 

 having nothing to do with the vitreous sponges and yet 

 refetred to as typical. On p. 85 we read, " In Tubipora 

 the polyps are compound and secrete solid, calcareous, 

 bright red tubes arranged side by side " ; and yet in the 

 next paragraph but one it is stated that Heliopora differs 

 from Tubipora " in that the hard tissue of its corallium 

 shows no sign of being composed of fused spicules." To 

 call attention to all such instances as have caught our eye 

 as we looked carefully over this book would serve no 

 useful purpose. We could easily on the other hand call 

 attention to many new facts here recorded, not to be 

 found perhaps in any other manual, and we feel sure that 

 this handbook deserves a successful career. It is brought 

 out in a style in every way worthy of its publishers. 



Principles of Agriculture. Questions, Answers, Notes, 

 S**c. By S. Tomlinson, Stud. Inst. C.E. (Bradford: 

 T. Brear, 1880.) 



The object of this book is, we presume, the instruction of 

 students about to be examined in subject xxiv. of the 

 Science and Art Department. It mainly consists of such 

 answers as Mr. S. Tomlinson would have given to the 

 questions asked in the examination papers set by Mr. H. 

 Tanner in the years 1876-9. It is difficult to characterise 

 this incoherent pamphlet as it deserves. It is not merely 

 inadequate ; it is something worse than feeble ; in fact it 

 abounds in the errors, direct and implied, which a mere 

 beginner in the study of agricultural chemistry would be 

 most likely to make. We quote such statements as the 

 following in support of our adverse criticism. " Some 

 guanos contain phosphates," p. 20. Where is the guano 

 free from them ? " The general composition of cows' 

 milk is : — Water 858, casein 68, butter 38, sugar 30, 

 salts 6 ; " p. 22. It is needless to remark that the figure 

 representing butter in this analysis is the only one which 

 approaches the truth. "Fibrin in wheat; albumen in 

 corn," p. 30. What is the distinction implied here 

 between wheat and corn ? " The use of soils depends 

 upon their place amongst other rocks," p. 39. Even if 

 soils were species of the genus rock, their agricultural 

 value could not be fairly stated to depend upon their 

 geological horizon. On page 46 phosphorus is given as 

 an element essential to the constitution of albumen and 

 fibrin. But we will say no more, having already probably 

 said too much. A. H. C. 



The Cotton-Worm. By Chas. V. Riley, M.A., Ph.D. 

 Bulletin No. 3 of the United States Entomological 

 Commission. 8vo, pp. 1-144. (Washington : Govern- 

 ment Printing Office, 1880.) 



We think this monograph exceeds in value all others of 

 Prof. Riley's well-known writings on North Americin 

 injurious insects. The cotton- worm is the larva of a 

 moth of the family Noctuidcc, and belongs to that section 

 of it in which the caterpillars form what is termed a 



"half-loop" in walking, owing to one pair of pro-legs 

 being absent. It is calculated that in a year of severe 

 visitation it occasions damage to the amount of 30,000,000 

 dollars, or 15! per cent, annual average loss since the 

 war. No wonder it has become a subject of govern- 

 mental solicitude. The first forty-seven pages are occu- 

 pied by an exhaustive natural history of the pest, 

 illustrated by numerous very excellent original woodcuts, 

 and a few (not original) that are indifferent, and also 

 by a fine plate, admirably executed in colours, by what 

 is termed the lithocaustic process. This portion con- 

 sists not only of a complete history of the moth itself, 

 but also of every imaginable kind of parasite and external 

 enemy, so that it is of the greatest service to the scientific, 

 as well as to the economic entomologist. The formidable 

 nature of the subject may be readily imagined, when it is 

 stated that in the hot districts the number of broods is 

 almost continuous, and that in summer the whole life- 

 cycle may be completed in less than three weeks. As to 

 whether the perfect insect hibernates or not, there appears 

 to be considerable difference of opinion, but Prof. Riley 

 believes it does so in the southern districts, but not 

 otherwise. This biological portion is succeeded by an 

 extended examination of the remedies proved or tried, 

 and an illustrated description of the various implements 

 and appliances used to distribute these remedies, re- 

 minding one of the illustrated catalogues of some of our 

 large agricultural implement makers, only in these one 

 looks in vain for anv parallel to the " brushers," " distri- 

 butors," " atomisers," " sprinklers," &c, that here figure. 

 Considerations of the advantages of light and saccharine 

 matters for attracting the moths are not lost sight of, 

 neither is the new idea of infecting the larvae by means of 

 the yeast fungus, although this is reported upon somewhat 

 disparagingly. Our author, while admitting the efficacy, 

 in greater or lesser degrees, of other insecticides, appears 

 to fall back upon " Paris green " as the [most effective, 

 as he has done in former cases, when treating upon the 

 Colorado beetle, &c. 



Not the least interesting and amusing part of the book 

 is the appendix of answers by correspondents to a circular 

 of questions addressed to them. These answers display 

 that same amount of great knowledge and gross ignor- 

 ance combined as one finds amongst agriculturists at 

 home on similar subjects. Biologists inclined to favour 

 the theory of abiogenesis will find enthusiastic advo- 

 cates amongst cotton-planters, even in connection with 

 an animal so high in the scale as a moth ; one planter 

 expresses his decided opinion that "the atmosphere 

 created the germ right there ;" others strongly deny that 

 any pairing of the sexes takes place ; another bold theorist 

 states as his belief that " it is a peculiar parasite of the 

 cotton-plant, and as such, that the cryptic germ of the 

 insect is to be fou^d with the germ of the plant itself, 

 and, like all parasites, only requires favourable circum- 

 stances to develop it." Some, again, assert that the 

 moths are brought from the south by strong breezes ; 

 others, that the larva; are not especially attached to the 

 cotton-plant, but feed upon anything on which the eggs 

 were deposited, only then they differ from those on the 

 cotton. Even supposing all Prof. Riley's time and 

 trouble in investigating the matter to be thrown away 

 — and there is no reason to imagine it will be — so far as 

 arresting the damage, or lessening it, is concerned, he 

 will have done good service in explaining to the 

 planters the true state of things regarding the natural 

 history of the insect ; but we must not suppose all will 

 believe him. 



The moth is Aletia argillacea of systematists, Aletia 

 being a genus closely allied to Anomis, Hiibner. It has 

 also been described as Anomis bipunctina by Guenee (if 

 we mistake not), originally from a figure in Abbot's 

 beautiful work, though our author makes no mention of 

 this. 



