August 27, 1009] 



SCIENCE 



283 



There were two causes for this failure. First, 

 the stability was deficient, as subsequently 

 recognized, and second, Mr. Maxim did not 

 and could not know how to handle it in the 

 air, for lack of preliminary practise in free 

 flight. The gradual training which all suc- 

 cessful aviators have had to go through during 

 the last five years is an abundant demonstra- 

 tion, and one of the marvels of the evolution 

 is that so few fatal accidents have occurred to 

 the experimenters, although there have been 

 almost innumerable breakages of the machines. 

 0. Chanute 



Our Insect Friends and Enemies. By John 

 B. Smith, ScD., Professor of Entomology 

 in Eutgers College and Entomologist of the 

 New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Com- 

 pany. 1909. Pp. 314, 1 plate. $1.50. 

 The many good insect books which have ap- 

 peared during the past few years have not en- 

 tirely filled the need for more literature of the 

 right sort. A careful reading of this book 

 shows it to be quite different in scope from 

 any of its predecessors. The object is not to 

 present a scheme of classification, a manual of 

 insect anatomy, or a handbook of injurious 

 species of insects, yet these phases are treated 

 incidentally and satisfactorily. 



In the foreword the author explains that his 

 object has been to present an account of the 

 relation of insects to other living things. In 

 this he has been eminently successful, and it 

 would be difficult indeed in a book of its size 

 to give a more comprehensive and complete 

 general survey of the whole subject. To the 

 student and working entomologist this book 

 is useful, but especially to the lay reader who 

 sometimes gets an exaggerated idea of the 

 value of parasites or remedial measures in de- 

 stroying noxious species, is this volume of 

 great value because it shows these relations in 

 their true light and perspective. 



The average individual has little knowledge 

 about the recent discoveries relating to the 

 transmission of human and other animal dis- 

 eases by insects, especially flies, mosquitoes 

 and fleas. In fact, his only source of informa- 

 tion has been the newspapers, which print oc- 



casional disjointed statements regarding this 

 very important matter. Chapter IX. makes 

 this subject plain to anyone who will read it — 

 and everybody ought to read it. 



Chapters IV. and V., on the relation of in- 

 sects to each other and their relation to ani- 

 mals, are particularly good and deserve to 

 have a wide reading. 



A critical person might question the state- 

 ment regarding the formation of galls on page 

 78 : " and the remarkable point is, that the gall 

 is purely a production of the plant, and the 

 insect has apparently nothing at all to do with 

 it." That the irritation, stimulus or injury of 

 the insect which causes a gall of definite and 

 characteristic shape to form on a particular 

 plant is little known, is true, yet it can not be 

 considered that the insect has " apparently 

 nothing at all to do with it," when the attack 

 of each different species of Cynipidaj or 

 Cecidomyidse causes a different but entirely 

 characteristic gall to form on the same host 

 plant. However, this is partly explained be- 

 low on the same page by Professor Smith. 



A good colored plate of household insects 

 forms the frontispiece to the volume, which is 

 well printed on good paper, and attractively 

 bound in tan-colored linen. 



Of the 121 figures in the text about 35 are 

 new, and were made from excellent pen draw- 

 ings. 



The book is remarkably free from typo- 

 graphical or other errors, the only one noticed 

 being the mis-spelled specific name of the 

 Angoumois grain moth Gelechia cerealella 

 Oliv., on page 242. 



This volume should find a place in every 

 library of entomological works, and every 

 public library should have a copy. 



W. E. Brixton 



Agkicultubal Experiment Station, 

 New Haven, Conn. 



^-QTUS ON ENTOMOLOGY 



Mr. G. H. Verrall has completed another 



volume in the series of books on the Diptera 



of Great Britain.^ This volume includes all 



1 " British Flies," Vol. V., London, 1909, 780 



pp., 406 figs. 



