December 15, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



861 



Cape Crozier for the purpose of obtaining 

 eggs of the emperor penguin. 



Naturally the most extensive data pertain to 

 geological subjects relative to west Victoria 

 Land, which was twice visited and explored 

 by Taylor, under conditions of extreme hard- 

 ship which tested the strength and endurance 

 of the party to the utmost. Taylor's line of 

 research specially pertained to the " effect of 

 ice in carving out the features of the earth's 

 surface." Near two great glaciers he noted: 



The grandest geological section I have ever 

 seen. It was capped by yellowish rock, which rep- 

 resents the most eastern exposure of the Beacon 

 sandstone in the valley. Beneath this were two 

 sills of dolorite . . . which represented flows of 

 lava wedged in between the granites and sand- 

 stones. . . . Above and below the lower of these 

 black sills were layers of gray granite. 



Considerable attention is given to descrip- 

 tions of cwm, or arm-chair, valleys. At one 

 point was discovered a huge deposit of mira- 

 bilite (sodium sulphate) about 10 by 50 feet 

 in surface area. 



The seaward movement of the antarctic 

 glaciers engaged Taylor's attention, and care- 

 ful measurements were made of several. Dur- 

 ing the ten coldest months one moved about 

 twenty feet. The Tongue on the east coast of 

 Victoria Land was moving seaward about a 

 yard a day in January — midsummer. 



The vitally important fossils of the expedi- 

 tion are those obtained by Scott at the head of 

 Beardmore glacier — in my opinion elsewhere 

 expressed, obtained and preserved at the cost 

 of the lives of that heroic explorer and his 

 sledge comrades — which are considered as 

 epoch-making in antarctic geological history. 

 Among these, it may be recalled, was a fern- 

 like Glossopteris, a plant of the Permo-Car- 

 boniferous age. Other fossils of the Cambrian 

 age had been brought back by Shackleton 

 from the Beardmore glacier, in 84° S., among 

 which were specimens of one fossil which 

 united the character of the sponges and corals. 



Taylor's party — Debenham, Gran and Taylor 

 ■ — contributed specimens of fossils of the 

 armor-plate of a primitive fish. They are 

 thought to pertain to the Devonian age, and 

 so are intermediate between the antarctic 



fossils of the Cambrian limestones and tho 

 Permian coal-measures. 



One must read the book itself to obtain any 

 adequate idea of the hardships and privations 

 endured by Taylor, Debenham and Gran in 

 their geological researches on Victoria Land. 

 They were accepted as part of the game, and 

 with such a spirit of comradeship and solidar- 

 ity as alleviated the inevitable miseries of 

 field life in the polar regions. This fine spirit 

 is indirectly exhibited by Taylor at the end of 

 his story, where he says : 



Only in polar lands is to be found the joy of a 

 real return to the primitive, in association with 

 the best types of strenuous youth. There, if any- 

 where, is life worth while. A. W. Geeely 



Rhynchophora or Weevils of Northeastern 

 America. By W. S. Blatchley and C. W. 

 Leng. The Nature Publishing Co., Indian- 

 apolis. Pp. 682. Price $4.00. 

 "When, in 1910, the senior author, Mr. 

 Blatchley, published his notable work on the 

 Coleoptera of Indiana, the Rhynchophora were 

 not included. We had, however, the assurance 

 of the author that a further paper covering this 

 group would be forthcoming. In the appear- 

 ance of the present volume, the promise of six 

 years ago is more than fulfilled, for we have 

 here not merely a complement to the Coleop- 

 tera of Indiana, but a review of much wider 

 usefulness, covering as it does the entire coun- 

 try east of the Mississippi River. 



Although the Rhynchophora or Weevils — ■ 

 the latter term used in the entomological 

 rather than in the popular sense — constitutes 

 only about twelve or fifteen per cent, of the 

 Coleopterous fauna of the country, still the 

 number of species is very large — no less than 

 1,084 being recognized by the authors from 

 the territory named, these being distributed 

 among nearly 300 genera. The only previous 

 work on North American Rhynchophora with 

 which the present one can be compared is that 

 published by Le Conte and Horn in 1876. 

 This Coleopterological classic, although still 

 of the greatest value as the basis of our mod- 

 ern classification, is altogether inadequate as a 

 student's handbook, the number of species 



