216 
the draft carrying water vapor (in not very 
large quantities in this case) upwards to a 
level of cloud formation. 
Water N. Lacy 
FoocHow, CHINA, 
November 11, 1911 
ENDOCRYPTA HUNTSMANI 
To tHe Epiror or Science: My attention 
has been called to the fact that the generic 
name “ Crypta,” used on page 19, in my paper 
on “ The Hydroids of the West Coast of North 
America,” published May 13, 1911, as a bul- 
letin from the Laboratories of Natural His- 
tory of the State University of Iowa, had 
previously been applied to another genus. I 
shall change it, therefore, to “ Hndocrypta,” a 
name that I believe has not been used, and 
one that is equally significant. The new spe- 
cies described should, therefore, appear as 
Endocrypta huntsmant. 
C. McLean Fraser 
SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
The House Fly—Disease-carrier. An account 
of its dangerous activities and of the means 
of destroying it. By L. O. Howarp, Ph.D. 
New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company, 
Publishers. Pp. xx and 1-312; 40 figs. and 
1 colored plate. 
I am glad Dr. Howard starts his little book 
with a colored plate illustrating his subject, 
because it is a good one and because it ex- 
plains, if we study it carefully, why, when we 
look at the fly with a good even if low-powered 
lens, it looks like a pretty combination of 
soft velvety browns and tans, while if you 
look at it with the unaided eye you see only 
a uniform pale gray. There are other, most 
excellent figures of the house fly, his various 
parts and stages in the book, a few of them 
original, most of them from good modern 
sources, and altogether the book is well and 
practically illustrated throughout, to the very 
last sanitary privy. 
There is no doubt but that Dr. Howard 
knows his subject and no doubt either that he 
who reads it will learn much concerning the 
fly problem: he will marvel, however, at how 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 893 
much we already know, at how much work has 
been done throughout the world and at how 
much is yet unknown and remains to be done. 
Dr. Howard gives us the systematic position, 
the structure and the general development of 
the house fly, or, as he frequently drops into 
saying, the typhoid fly, and on these points he 
speaks with authority and from personal 
knowledge. In working over in detail the 
habits of the various stages he brings together 
the literature of the subject from practically 
all over the world and makes a very readable 
account of it indeed. It shows that the house 
fly has long attracted attention, everywhere. 
In dealing with the adult stage, the function 
of the insect as a disease-carrier comes in for 
careful consideration and this part of the book 
is at once the most interesting and valuable. 
Dr. Howard is fully convinced of the culpa- 
bility of his culprit, and he marshals the evi- 
dence against him in absolutely convincing 
form. JI doubt whether it is possible to read 
this series of chapters or sections showing the 
connection between the various germ diseases 
and their transmission by fly agency without 
feeling that a genuine conservatism had ani- 
mated the writer in his investigation. An- 
tagonistic evidence is brought out and ex- 
plained and a full bibliography of the subject 
is given. 
It is surprising to find that the house fly 
has no considerable number of natural ene- 
mies capable of keeping it in check and that 
one of our most promising methods of control 
rests upon a partially unverified statement 
concerning the insect’s life history. 
By the lay reader those sections dealing 
with the practical handling of the pest will 
have the most careful scrutiny and these sec- 
tions have been most carefully written. Dr. 
Howard has not only had personal experience 
with practical work in Washington; but has 
probably seen and conferred with every man 
who has had a real campaign to carry out. 
He is therefore very conservative in his sug- 
gestions and points out difficulties as well as 
successes. He also points out that actual 
number of flies alone, no matter how disgust- 
ing, is not always indicative of the presence of 
