JANUARY 5, 1912] 
The book is sent free to members of the so- 
ciety and is also on sale through dealers. 
C. PALACHE 
Nature Sketches in Temperate America. By 
JosmpH Lane Hancock. Chicago: A. C. 
McClurg & Co. 1911. Pp. xvii 451, 12 
col. pls., 215 figs. 
The preface of this attractive book says that 
it is a “popular exposition of the facts 
gleaned from nature” which often presents 
the subject “from the artistic or esthetic 
point of view. This method does not sacrifice 
truth, which is the religion of science, but 
mitigates it, bringing about a wider reading 
cirele. . .. More consideration is given to in- 
sects than to other groups of animals” and 
“the relation of animals and plants to their 
natural surroundings has been kept constantly 
in mind.” The bearing of the subject matter 
on the theory of evolution is also considered 
in some detail. 
Chapter 1 is devoted to “ Evolution and 
Natural Selection.” It gives a brief but com- 
plete discussion of the most generally ac- 
cepted ideas concerning evolution and hered- 
ity with a few notes concerning their bearing 
on the subjects under consideration. Chapter 
2 takes up “ Adaptations in Plants and Ani- 
mals, with Examples” and presents some in- 
teresting cases of particular adaptations— 
such as: how the milkweed profits by the 
visits of its insect guests; bird flowers; and 
the seasonal procession of flowers, insects and 
birds. Chapter 3 begins with a brief discus- 
sion of the theories of protective resemblance; 
the tree toad is next described, and the writer 
then takes up the walking-stick and various 
other insects and insect larve that are pro- 
teeted by their form, color or behavior. Chap- 
ter 4 is devoted to mimicry, and after dis- 
cussing Bates’s, Miiller’s and other theories, 
describes the monarch and viceroy butterflies, 
a bumble-bee and a robber-fly, and flower-fre- 
quenting flies. Chapter 5 takes up Wallace’s 
theory of warning colors and then passes to 
a consideration of several bright colored lepi- 
doptera and lepidopterous larve. Under the 
title ‘“ Animal Behavior, with Examples,” 
SCIENCE 37 
Chapter 6 is opened with a brief statement of 
the author’s ideas on instinct and intelligence 
and a table showing the distribution of sense 
organs in insects; then follow brief descrip- 
tions of the habits of many insects, spiders 
and birds. Chapter 7 is devoted to “ General 
Observations and Sketches Afield.” It con- 
siders: the formulation of problems, origin 
by adaptation in nature, ponds, brooks, 
meadows, the bumble-bees’ night camp, ete. 
The title of Chapter 8 is “ Ecology—lInterpre- 
tation of Environment as Exemplified in the 
Orthoptera.” In it are discussed the sources 
of life after glaciation, habitats of plants and 
animals, zoogeography, nature’s reclamation 
of sterile ground, and various things concern- 
ing a number of Orthoptera. The last chap- 
ter consists of two parts: (1) a “ classified list 
of habits of various species of Orthoptera 
based on their egg-laying sites, to show their 
relation to plant formations in general” 
(which follows the classifications used by 
some plant ecologists) and (2) “ definitions of 
common environmental complexes, grouped 
under formations,’ in which seventy-six 
terms (including ocean, sea, lake, pond, pool, 
stagnant water, snow, alkali, sterile and 
man’s houses) are defined. 
The book contains many interesting de- 
scriptions of the habits of animals. Among 
the best of these the parts of chapters on the 
habits of the walking-stick, the castle-build- 
ing spider, the golden Sphex as the grass- 
hopper’s enemy and the habits of the green 
meadow grasshopper, may be mentioned. An 
excellent picture is presented of the life of the 
animals discussed. ‘The colored plates are ex- 
cellent, and the same is true of many of the 
photographic plate illustrations, but some of 
the latter are so dark that they fail to show 
the points they are intended to demonstrate. 
Hancock presents the theories of natural se- 
lection, mimicry and warning coloration in a 
rather dogmatic fashion and follows them 
with examples which have not always been 
indubitably proven to have been brought 
about in the way he intimates. A reader un- 
familiar with the field might easily believe 
that these dogmas had never been disputed, 
