504 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 743 



hunter these and other descriptions of strange 

 and unusual forms of life are fascinating. 



Several pages are occupied by general ob- 

 servations, with an interesting discussion of 

 the origin of cave life. The latter is treated 

 under three questions : (1) How did these 

 animals get into the caves? (2) What was 

 their condition when they entered? (3) How 

 have they reached their present state? An- 

 swering these inquiries the author argues 

 that cave animals originated from outside 

 forms, being predetermined to such cave con- 

 ditions as suited them; that, at first, they 

 differed slightly from similar forms, but were 

 better adapted than they for subterraneous 

 existence; and that they reached their present 

 condition by gradual adjustment to environ- 

 ment, modified by cumulative variations due 

 to heredity. 



Taking the monograph as a whole, Mr. 

 Banta is to be congratulated on having given 

 a most commendable example of what can be 

 done by an exhaustive study of a small cavern, 

 and on having thus made a valuable contri- 

 bution to scientific literature. 



HOEACE C. HOVEY 



SOIENlIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 

 Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric 

 Electricity for March contains the following 

 articles : " L'Observatoire Magnetique de Zi- 

 ka-wei," by J. de Moidrey ; " Carnegie Insti- 

 tution Comparisons of Magnetic Standards 

 during 1908," by J. A. Fleming and J. C. 

 Pearson ; " The Carnegie Institution Marine 

 Collimating Compass," by W. J. Peters; 

 " Some Problems in Eadioactivity," by A. S. 

 Eve ; " Peculiar Magnetic Disturbances in De- 

 cember, 1908," by D. L. Hazard. 



The American Naturalist for March con- 

 tains the papers read at the Darwin Memorial 

 Session of the Baltimore meeting of the Bo- 

 tanical Society of America, held December 

 29. These papers are : " Darwin as a Nat- 

 uralist: Darwin's Work on Cross Pollination 

 in Plants," by William Trelease; "Darwin's 

 Influence upon Plant Geography and Ecol- 

 ogy," by Frederic C. Clements, and " Dar- 

 win's Work on Movement in Plants," by Her- 

 bert Maule Richards. In addition there is 



" An Examination of Darwin's ' Origin of 

 Species ' in the Light of Recent Observations 

 and Experiments," by Edwin Linton. Ed- 

 ward M. East discusses " The Distinction Be- 

 tween Development and Heredity in Inbreed- 

 ing," and T. H. Morgan describes some re- 

 sults of "Breeding Experiments with Rats," 

 the species being Mus rattus, M. alexandrinus 

 and M. deeumanus. Among the " Shorter 

 Articles " is a note by Roy L. Moodie, stating 

 that in parts of the Niobrara River the chub, 

 Semotilus, has acquired the habit of feeding 

 on the horn fly that infests cattle, follows up 

 the cattle and captures flies by jumping and 

 picking them from the animal's sides. 



Bird-Lore for January-February contains 

 articles on " The Hollow Tree," by Ernest T. 

 Seton ; " The Feud of the Crows and the Owl," 

 by Frank M. Chapman ; " Birds seen in Pros- 

 pect Park, Brooklyn," by Kate P. and E. W. 

 Victor; "Notes on Pacific Coast Shore 

 Birds," by John T. Nichols, and the eighth 

 and last paper on "The Migration of Fly- 

 catchers," by W. W. Cooke. The Ninth 

 Christmas Bird Census gives the results of 

 observations from a large number of localities 

 and the "Report of Audubon Societies" re- 

 cords the painful fact that two Audubon 

 wardens have been brutally murdered. This 

 illustrates the character of some of the men 

 engaged in " the feather business." It used 

 to be said that each elephant tusk cost the 

 lives of three men and we await statistics on 

 aigrettes. 



In the American Museum Journal for Feb- 

 ruary Roy C. Andrews describes " A Summer 

 with the Pacific Coast Whales," illustrated 

 with some remarkable views from life. E. 0. 

 Hovey tells of " St. Pierre and Mt. Pele in 

 1908," giving some illustrations showing how 

 rapidly vegetation is springing up over the 

 region devastated by the eruption of 1902. 

 New exhibits have been arranged illustrating 

 the industries of the California Indians, and it 

 is noted that the museum has acquired the 

 Waters collection of Fiji objects. 



On February 28 a Brazilian tapir was bom 

 at the National Zoological Park, Washington,, 

 D. C, making the fifth of this species that 



