228 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVI. No. 1184 



quantitative work lies in the fact that the 

 factors all work together on the plant, and 

 measurement taken of individual factors 

 may not indicate the true effect of the same 

 factor working with others. Livingston's 

 suggestion of using the living plant as an 

 index is aimed at overcoming this difficulty. 



Along phj^siographic lines, Cowles's re- 

 cent work on so-called lakes of the Missis- 

 sippi valley has applied the principles of 

 plant succession in a very practical way. 

 The control of moving sand is best accom- 

 plished by application of ecological prin- 

 ciples in the choice of plants for that ex- 

 tremely xerophytic habitat. 



E. Place of Ecology in an Agricultural 

 Course of Study. — Up to the present the 

 method in agricultural texts and courses 

 has been to teach a little plant morphology, 

 a chapter on plant activities, and then nine 

 tenths of the work on agricultural practise. 

 In addition to that we would recommend 

 the insertion of a section on ecological prin- 

 ciples, covering the content of ecology as 

 outlined above. This should be general and 

 theoretical, yet so related to agricultural 

 practise as to form a suitable foundation 

 for an agricultural course. A knowledge of 

 these principles is fundamental to any real 

 grasp of the subject. 



In conclusion, emphasis should be laid on 

 the fact that this discussion does not aim to 

 criticize present agricultural activities, but 

 to emphasize what is now being done along 

 scientific lines for the development of the 

 general principles underlying the practise 

 of agriculture, and the importance of its 

 extension as far as possible. Secondly, to 

 point out the opportunities in this growing 

 branch of science and to urge the teaching 

 of some brief but comprehensive study of 

 the principles of ecology in all agricultural 

 courses. 



"W. G. Waterman 



Northwestern XJniveesity, 

 EvANSTON, III. 



FISH NAMES, ANCIENT AND MODERN, 



AND EARLY ILLUSTRATIONS 



OF FISHES 



A FAVORITE topic which has engaged the 

 attention of naturalists in all ages has been 

 the identification of the names bestowed on 

 plants and animals by ancient authors, par- 

 ticularly those of classical antiquity. 



Probably no living naturalist has made 

 more profound study of this subject than 

 Professor D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, of 

 Dundee, whose " Glossary of Greek Birds " 

 (1895) and new translation of Aristotle's 

 " History of Animals " (1910) are monuments 

 of patient industry and vast erudition, both 

 philological and zoological. So able a critic 

 as the late Dr. T. N". Gill has recorded' in 

 glowing terms his appreciation of the merits 

 of Professor Thompson's researches. 



Dr Gill's own labors in the same field have 

 illumined many an obscure point in the in- 

 terpretation of ancient Greek and Eoman 

 writers on natural history. "We may recall 

 here an article of his in the American Nat- 

 uralist for 1873 (vol. 7, pp. 458-^63) " On the 

 Status of Aristotle in Systematic Zoology"; 

 also his address before the American Associ- 

 ation in 1896 on " Some Questions 6n Nomen- 

 clature." His scientific papers and reviews 

 fairly teem with discussions of fish etymol- 

 ogies, and his article on the Glanis of Aris- 

 totle is a fine presentation of the results of 

 scholarly research." 



Dr. D. S. Jordan also, to mention only one 

 other contemporary ichthyologist, has per- 

 formed, in association with H. A. Hoffmann, a 

 valuable service in investigating vernacular 

 names, ancient and modern, as applied to the 

 fishes of the Greek peninsula and archipelago. 

 A joint paper by Jordan and Hoffmann, em- 

 bodying a catalogue of the fishes of Greece, 

 was published in the Proceedings of the Amer- 

 ican Philosophical Society for 1892. 



Among ichthyologists of the last century, 

 Georges Cuvier was probably at more pains 

 than any other author to determine what spe- 

 cies of fish were referred to under the appel- 



1 Science, Vol. 33, 1911, pp. 730-738. 



2 Bull. George Washington Univ., Vol. 5, 1906. 



