IteBTJAEY 26, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



345 



tiie Darwin celebration in Baltimore last 

 Christmas, there is need of modifying the 

 statement (p. 414) that " it is altogether 

 likely that Lamarck was wholly unacquainted 

 with " [Erasmus] " Darwin's work, which 

 had been published in England." Charles 

 Darwin lived at Downe not Downs. 



Is it true (final chapter, p. 441) that experi- 

 ments with " artificial fertilization by changes 

 in osmotic pressure . . . have greatly altered 

 opinions regarding the nature of fertilization, 

 and of certain other phenomena of develop- 

 ment," or (p. 442) that " recent advances in 

 physiological chemistry have greatly widened 

 the horizon of our view regarding the na- 

 ture of vital activities"? Would not both 

 statements be stronger if more modest in 

 their claims for the results of recent research 

 in these most important fields ? It is doubtful 

 if even in a popular book of this sort it is 

 justifiable to attempt to state the duration of 

 geologic periods in years (cf. p. 344^5). 



One finds in the book some phrases and 

 sentences whose form is not beyond criticism 

 — (p. 443) "studies of a pathological char- 

 acter " ; (p. 294) " sheep and other cattle " ; 

 (p. 383) " pigeons and other fowls " ; (p. 429) 

 Wallace is said to be "notable for the publi- 

 cation of important books, as the ' Malay 

 Archipelago,' " etc. ; the phrase " fossil life," 

 is frequently used, once it appears as " fossil 

 vertebrate life " ; it seems strange (p. 33Y) to 

 refer to Leidy, Cope and Marsh as " these 

 gentlemen" instead of these men. They 

 were big enough to deserve the bigger word. 

 Why does it seem strange (p. 335) to speak of 

 Huxley shedding light "in the province of 

 paleontology," for the phrase is good and is 

 exactly what is meant; or why does one smile 

 when the author refers (p. 190) to Johannes 

 Miiller as " one of the lights of the world." 



A few errors which escaped the proof reader 

 will doubtless be corrected in another edition. 

 The index is so incomplete as to lessen the 

 usefulness of the book. Many important 

 subjects and men treated in the text are not 

 mentioned in the index. Such a historical 

 account does not soon become out of date. It 

 will surely have a nujnber of editions and its 

 minor defects can readily be removed. 



Professor Locy has done good service in 

 bringing together into one volume informa- 

 tion as to the development of all the broader 

 phases of biology and in presenting a general 

 view which is, on the whole, so sound and well 

 balanced. 



Maynard M. Metoalf 

 Obeelin, 0., 

 January 29, 1909 



The Young of the Gray-fishes Astacus and 

 Gamlarus. By E. A. Andrews. Smith- 

 sonian Contributions to Knowledge. Vol. 

 XXXV. Pp. 1-80, pis. I.-X. Washington. 

 1907. 



The European crayfish has been upon the 

 whole exceptionally fortunate in its biograph- 

 ers, for with it are associated the names of 

 such excellent observers as Reaumur, Eoesel 

 von Eosenhof, Eathke, Huxley and Eeichen- 

 bach, whose combined work, and more especi- 

 ally that of Huxley, have made it a classical 

 type in the teaching of modern zoology. It is 

 accordingly a little surprising that the Ameri- 

 can species, especially of Cambarus, which 

 everywhere abound, should have escaped that 

 careful analysis of their habits and develop- 

 ment which their importance would seem to 

 demand, until a series of papers extending to 

 the monograph under review was begun by 

 Professor Andrews five years ago. 



The distribution and description of the 

 many species, as well as the embryology and 

 physiology of the common Astacus fiuviatilis 

 of Europe form the subject of a rather exten- 

 sive literature, while the behavior and de- 

 velopment of the young after leaving the egg, 

 and the interesting family life first described 

 by Eoesel more than a hundred and fifty years 

 ago, have hitherto received but scant atten- 

 tion. As the author suggests, this neglect 

 may be attributed in some measure to the 

 lack of a complete metamorphosis for which 

 the crayfishes have been distinguished from 

 the time of Eathke. Since their young are 

 invariably hatched in a form which closely 

 resembles the adult, greater interest has been 

 taken in the life histories of marine crabs 

 and shrimp, which, as a rule, hatch from 



