180 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 944 



summer died, leaving a wife and two children 

 almost penniless in Germany. It is almost im- 

 possible for Mrs. Taiisch to support herself 

 and her children in that country and unless 

 she can do so the children will be placed in an 

 orphanage. It is her wish to find means for 

 herself and her children to return to America 

 where the children were born and where she 

 herself would be able to find work as a teacher. 

 In Germany " hundreds like herself are al- 

 ready waiting for a. position wherever there is 

 an opening." Dr. Tausch published a number 

 of valuable papers, notably a sympathetic re- 

 view of Dr. James's " Pragmatism." A study 

 of the psychology of Tolstoy is still unpub- 

 lished, as well as an extensive volume on 

 pragmatic philosophy. Should any one feel 

 like granting aid to the widow of this gifted 

 but unfortunate scholar money may be sent 

 through the writer or to Madam Elizabeth 

 Tausch, care Frau von Wissman Warkotseh 

 Kreis, Strehlen, Schlesien, Germany. 



David Starr Jordan 

 Leland Stakpord Junior University 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 The Eumble-Bee, its Life History and How 

 to Domesticate it, with Descriptions of All 

 the British Species of Bomhus and Psi- 

 thyrus. By F. W. L. Sladen. London, 

 Macmillan & Company, Limited. 1912. 

 Pp. xiii -|- 283 ; 6 plates and 33 text figures. 

 $1.50 net. 



This account of the life-history of the 

 humble-bee will be more than welcome to 

 every entomologist and student of animal be- 

 havior, not only because it is written by an 

 eminent authority on the honey-bee, but be- 

 cause it is one of those rare nature books that 

 are the mature fruit of a life-long interest 

 and occupation. The author is so intimately 

 acquainted with every detail in the daily and 

 seasonal life of the British humble-bees and 

 its parasites, and handles his subject in such 

 a clever and fascinating manner, that one may 

 fail to appreciate the great amount of patient 

 observation and toilsome experimentation on 

 which his statements are based. With true 

 British independence he refrains from annoy- 



ing and confusing the reader with citations of 

 the large and scattered literature of the sub- 

 ject. Almost the only continental work he 

 cites on the habits of the humble-bee is the 

 classic memoir of Hoffer, " Die Hummeln 

 Steiermarks," published thirty years ago 

 (1882). The more recent work of Wladimir 

 Wagner, " Psychobiologische Untersuchungen 

 an Hummeln mit Bezugnahme auf die Frage 

 der Geselligkeit im Tierreiche," Zoologica, 

 Heft 46, I. and II., 1906 and 1907, is not even 

 mentioned, and one familiar with this work 

 may be pardoned if he secretely hopes that 

 Sladen has never seen it, not because it is 

 devoid of considerable merit, but because its 

 spirit gives one reason to suspect that Sladen 

 might have become sophisticated by its perusal. 

 There is, indeed, no better way of appreciating 

 the English author's work than by following 

 it with a perusal of Wagner. Both authors 

 have independently discovered and described a 

 number of important peculiarities in humble- 

 bee life that were unknown to HofEer, but how 

 different is the view-point from which their 

 observations are made! In Sladen's work the 

 humble-bee is the heroine of the story. She 

 moves before us in all the glory of her regal, 

 velvety attire, with the joyous or apprehensive 

 hum of incessant, arduous labor and self-sac- 

 rificing motherhood. In Wagner's account it 

 is Wladimir Wagner who occupies the fore- 

 ground as the somewhat bumptious scientist 

 who looks at the humble-bee, makes an ob- 

 servation, forthwith settles its connection with 

 some lop-sided hypothesis, incidentally be- 

 labors a few contrary-minded, or bestows his 

 approval on a few like-minded students of 

 animal behavior, and then repeats the process. 

 Sladen, on the other hand, writes with charm- 

 ing, sympathetic insight, and utterly unmind- 

 ful of committing one of the most deadly sins 

 that it is possible for a modern student of 

 animal behavior to commit, pens such sen- 

 tences as the following, in which the italics 

 are the reviewer's : " The queen's intelligence 

 is seen at its best while she is thus caring for 

 her brood, and her devotion to it, and her 

 alertness on the slightest approach of danger, 

 are most interesting to witness. She shows 



