July 3, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



23 



methods is good and contains suggestions that 

 are most useful to all who have to do with 

 these little pests. The discussion of mosquito 

 remedies and enemies brings together the 

 usual recommendations in concise form, and 

 nothing is added by the author from personal 

 experience. 



Chapter XI., containing identification keys 

 and a systematic list, covers sixty pages and 

 is a most useful and ingenious production. 

 The differences in habits and life cycle be- 

 tween the species of mosquitoes are so great 

 and so radical that before practical work can 

 be intelligently done it is absolutely necessary 

 to know what species is really in fault. Many 

 hundreds of dollars have, in the past, been 

 wasted and many a mosquito campaign has in 

 the past ended in failure, simply because the 

 measures adopted failed to reach the species 

 really in fault. These tables will at least 

 help in the attempt to identify the pestiferous 

 types. 



For health inspectors, for those interested in 

 sanitation generally and for physicians this 

 book will be especially useful. 



There is a rather scanty bibliography and 

 a satisfactory index, in which the illustra- 

 tions are separately referred to. As to the 

 illustrations, those of the adults are rather 

 disappointing. It seems to be exceedingly dif- 

 ficult to get a really characteristic representa- 

 tion of an adult mosquito and Miss Mitchell 

 has not succeeded any better than others. 

 Some of the illustrations of eggs and of struc- 

 tural details are excellent. 



On the whole this is a very useful book: 

 with plenty of faults and an abundance of 

 points that might be criticized if criticism is 

 fault finding; but altogether considered it is 

 commendable. John B. Smith 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 

 The American Naturalist for May opens 

 with an article by A. E. Verrill on " Geo- 

 graphical Distribution; Origin of the Ber- 

 muda Decapod Fauna," which is considered 

 an offshoot, mainly by accidental migration, 

 from the West Indian fauna. Incidentally 

 is suggested the desirability of introducing 



new species of Crustacea to serve as food for 

 fishes. Charles T. Brues discusses " The In- 

 terpretation of Certain Tropisms of Insects," 

 concluding that we can not make satisfactory 

 progress in interpreting the behavior of in- 

 sects studied in the laboratory without careful 

 reference to their behavior in nature. The 

 third paper, on " The Evolution of Tertiary 

 Mammals, and the Importance of their Migra- 

 tions," deals with the Miocene Epoch. J. F. 

 McClendon considers " Xerophytic Adapta- 

 tions of Leaf Structure in Yuccas, Agaves 

 and Nolinas." Francis B. Sumner gives a 

 summary of the work of the season of 1907, 

 at the Biological Laboratory of the Bureau 

 of Fisheries at Woods Hole, Mass. Finally, 

 Gertrude C. and Charles B. Davenport treat 

 of the " Heredity of Hair-form in Man," 

 showing what, under various conditions, are 

 the chances of children having straight, curly 

 or wavy hair. There is a detailed review of 

 half a score of papers on crinoids by A. H. 

 Clark, and a capital summary, by H. S. Jen- 

 nings, of recent works on animal behavior. 



Bird-Lore for May-June has articles on 

 " A Family of Barred Owls," by W. C. Clarke; 

 "The Brown Thrasher," by Charles E. Heil; 

 "A Bittern Study," by Agnes M. Learned; 

 " The Nesting Habits of Henslow's Sparrow," 

 by E. S. Woodruff, and the fourth paper on 

 " The Migration of Flycatchers," by W. W. 

 Cooke. There are many illustrations and 

 many notes. The report of the Audubon 

 Societies shows continued progress and notes 

 two new bird reservations, at Tortugas Keys 

 and Fort Niabrara. 



The Bulletin of the Charleston Museum 

 for May contains articles on the "Prepara- 

 tion of Museum Exhibits" and on "The 

 Cnowy Heron in South Carolina." This spe- 

 cies, as the result of protection, has begun to 

 reestablish itself on the South Carolina coast, 

 and one rookery contained about one hundred 

 birds, another at least two hundred, besides 

 many of other species. 



A RECENT number of Smithsonian Miscel- 

 laneous Collections is devoted to a paper by 

 C. W. Gilmore on " Smithsonian Explorations 

 in Alaska in 1907 in Search of Pleistocene 



