SCIENCE 



Friday, September 7, 1917 



CONTENTS 

 Plant Ecology and its Belation to Agricul- 

 ture : Dr. "Wakren G. Waterman 223 



Fish Names, Ancient and Modern, and Early 

 Illustrations of Fishes: Dr. Charles E. 

 Eastman 228 



Scientific Events: — 



California Petroleum; The States Belations 

 Service and Agricultural Instruction; Med- 

 ical Students and the Draft; Scientific Men 

 and National Service 



Scientific Notes and News 233 



University and Educational News 237 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



The Publication of Scientific Research: Dr. 



C. E. K. Mees. Popular Science: Dr. R. S. 

 Breed. Man and the Anthropoids: Dk. W. 



D. Matthew 237 



Scientific BooTcs: — 

 Burlcet's Bibliography of William H. 

 Welch: De. P. H. Garrison 240 



Special Articles: — 



What Substance is the Source of the Light 

 of the Firefly? Professor E. Newton Har- 

 vey. Inoculation on Eibes with Cronartium 

 ribicola Fischer: Perley Spaulding and 

 G. Puppo Gravatt 241 



The American Philosophical Society: Pro- 

 fessor Arthur W. Goodspeed 244 



MSS. Intended for publication and books, etc.. Intended for 

 reriew sbould be sent to Professor J. McKeen Cattell, Garrison- 

 On-Hadson, N. Y. 



PLANT ECOLOGY AND ITS RELATION 

 TO AGRICULTUREi 



I. CONTENT OP ECOLOGY 



A. Nature and Scope. — In beginning 

 this discussion, a brief statement as to the 

 nature and scope of ecology seems to be de- 

 sirable on account of the hazy popular no- 

 tions on the subject. Outside of a rather 

 narrow circle one usually finds a total ig- 

 norance of the meaning of the word itself, 

 and even among biologists, some are fa- 

 miliar only with the observational side, due 

 probably to the early prominence of the 

 "car-window" school of ecologists, while 

 others consider that the subject-matter of 

 ecology might better be divided between 

 morphology and physiology, and frankly 

 state their opinion that there is no such 

 subject as ecology. 



However, there seems to be a mass of 

 subject-matter belonging to neither depart- 

 ment exclusively, but partly to each, which 

 would fairly warrant the formation of 

 another department. This has been named 

 ecology, and may be defined as the science 

 of organisms as affected by the factors of 

 their environment. The connection with 

 phj'siology is the closer of the two, and in 

 fact, the two subjects overlap to a certain 

 extent, but whether we call this overlapping 

 segment ecological physiology or physiolog- 

 ical ecology, the character of its subject- 

 matter is sufficiently different to warrant a 

 separate category and different treatment. 



The methods of ecology have been, of 

 course, largely descriptive, but they are 

 also becoming increasinglj^ quantitative, 

 employing in many eases elaborate and deli- 



1 Delivered before the Illineig Academy of Sci- 

 ence, February 23, 1917. 



