22 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 705 



edition is demanded within less than four 

 years. This edition is slightly enlarged to 

 the extent of about forty pages. A short 

 chapter on thermostats has been inserted, de- 

 voted chiefly to the toluene regulator for 

 temperatures both above and below the ordi- 

 nary laboratory temperature. The chapters 

 on electric conductivity and electromotive 

 force have been enlarged, as are also those on 

 solubility and chemical dynamics. The for- 

 mer short chapter on measurement of dielec- 

 tric constants has been expanded to include 

 that of radioactivity by use of the micro- 

 electroscope and the electrometer. Among the 

 reference tables at the end of the book has 

 been now included one for the calculation of 

 the dissociation constant. 



The volume is to be commended to students 

 of physical chemistry and will be quite sure 

 to maintain its character for usefulness that 

 has been already well established. 



W. Le Conte Stevens 

 Washington and Lee Univeesity 



Mosquito Life: The habits and life cycle of 

 the known mosquitoes of the IJnited States ; 

 methods for their control ; and keys for easy 

 identification of the species in their various 

 stages. An account based on the investiga- 

 tions of the late James William Dupree, 

 M.D., surgeon general of Louisiana, and 

 upon original observations by the writer. 

 By Evelyn Geoesbeck Mitchell, A.B., 

 M.S. (Illustrated.) Pp. xxii-f281; 54 

 figures, 10 half-tone plates. New York and 

 London, G. P. Putnam's Sons, The Knicker- 

 bocker Press. 1907. 



The title is long — too long, too compre- 

 hensive, and not entirely accurate; for by her 

 own showing a goodly portion of Miss Mit- 

 chell's book is based upon the observations 

 of others than Dr. Dupree and herself. A 

 brief and altogether appreciative biographical 

 sketch of Dr. Dupree forms the major portion 

 of the introduction and throughout the book 

 are quotations from Dr. Dupree's notes; the 

 text sometimes forced so as to bring them in 

 fittingly. Indeed the book suffers from too 

 much quotation, and in her anxiety to do 



justice to authors Miss Mitchell has some- 

 times lost in continuity of statement. 



Nevertheless the book is interesting, on the 

 whole very accurate and as nearly complete 

 as a work on a living topic on which many 

 persons are engaged can ever be. Miss 

 Mitchell has a somewhat racy style, which 

 prevents the book from becoming dull, 

 wherever she herself speaks. For example, in 

 dealing with the " buzzing " she says : 



There is, to the writer, nothing on earth so 

 irritating as the shrill piping and shrieking right 

 in one's ear just as one is comfortably drifting 

 off into peaceful slumber. It rouses one up like 

 a fire alarm. The victim snatcnes wildly at the 

 air, thinking luiutterableness, with the general 

 result of a self-inflicted thumped head and the 

 escape of the tiny offender. 



Por a book which makes a popular appeal 

 the writer gives a surprising amount of 

 strictly technical information. The chapters 

 are arranged so as to bring out even the 

 details of structure in all stages and the 

 habits of the insects are elaborated at con- 

 siderable length. In the life histories there 

 is much detail and some of it, in the nature 

 of breeding records, seems rather out of place. 



In dealing with structures the author is at 

 her best and speaks from personal knowledge; 

 her drawings in illustration are good, and her 

 comments on the bearing and importance of 

 the structures are usually justified. As to the 

 classification, that is in so chaotic a condition 

 at the present time that no criticism is justi- 

 fiable. Miss Mitchell follows Coquillett in 

 general, and Mr. Coquillett is at least good 

 authority. 



An important feature in a book of this 

 kind is the discussion of the relation of mos- 

 quitoes to disease and that is up-to-date and in 

 a general way adequate. There is nothing 

 new or original, the quotations from Dr. 

 Dupree adding little, if at all, to our knowl- 

 edge, though they do bring out the close con- 

 nection of the Doctor's work with the yellow- 

 fever investigations. The discussion, in the 

 appendix, on Mosquitoes and Leprosy is in- 

 conclusive, and might have been omitted 

 without loss. 



The chapter on collecting and laboratory 



