124 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXSYI. No. 917 



raphy of his many publications. In the vol- 

 ume entitled " Rafinesque, A Sketch of his 

 Life with Bibliography," by Professor T. J. 

 Fitzpatrick, we have placed before us a most 

 readable account of the life of this gifted and 

 eccentric maU;, who was so tireless a student 

 and observer of nature. To this part of the 

 book fifty pages are given, every page of which 

 is full of interest. Born of French and Ger- 

 man ancestry in a suburb of Constantinople 

 in 1T83, he lived mostly in France until 1802, 

 when he came to America, remaining several 

 years. Returning to southern Europe for a 

 period, he finally came again to America, 

 where he remained until his death in 1840. 



The story of his life is told with absorbing 

 interest and no one can run over these pages 

 without feeling grateful to the writer who has 

 made the eccentric hero of the story live 

 again for us, and we may hope that many who 

 read it will be inclined to think less harshly 

 of his work, done, as it was, in a period when 

 science was little recognized in this country. 



The Bibliography will be a revelation to 

 many scientific men who have known about 

 Rafinesque only in a general way. All told 

 the list includes 941 titles. The author says 

 in his introduction that " the writings of 

 Rafinesque are varied and widely scattered.'' 

 and refers to the difficulty he experienced in 

 collecting the material upon which his list is 

 based. The list consists of titles, dates, places 

 of publication and notes, the latter often very 

 interesting as including historical facts not 

 to be found elsewhere. Here and there one 

 finds a photographic reproduction of a title 

 page, often very quaint and old-fashioned. 



After the regular bibliography a few pages 

 are given to a list of 134 articles that refer to 

 Rafinesque, some rather fully, and others only 

 incidentally. The book closes with a short 

 chapter on the portraits of Rafinesque. 



One can not turn from a reading of this 

 book of Professor Fitzpatrick's without feel- 

 ing that in Rafinesque American science had 

 a man of far more than ordinary ability, and 

 that while eccentric and erratic he has still 

 to be reckoned with as one who studied na- 



ture and found out many of her secrets, in 

 the early days when naturalists were few and 

 far between. And science owes much to the 

 author and the Historical Department of 

 Iowa for bringing together all this informa- 

 tion and issuing it in this very attractive vol- 

 ume. 



Charles E. Bessey 

 The University or Nebraska 



SPECIAL ABTICLES 



THE HISTORY OF THE GERM CELLS IN THE P^DO- 

 GENETIC LARVA OF MIASTOR 



Six years ago, when I began to study the 

 origin of the germ cells in insects, an attempt 

 was made to obtain specimens of the pado- 

 genetic larvae of certain flies belonging to the 

 family Cecidomyiida?. At that time I was in- 

 formed by one of the best authorities on the 

 Diptera that there were none in this country. 

 Since then they have been discovered (Oc- 

 tober 5, 1910) by Dr. E. P. Felt and many 

 features of their life history have been deter- 

 mined by him.^ I am indebted to Dr. Felt for 

 an abundant supply of these interesting larvae, 

 upon which work is now progressing. 



As early as 1865 the fact that the germ cells 

 (pole cells) of the psedogenetic Cecidomyiidse 

 are set aside very early in embryonic develop- 

 ment was pointed out by Leuckart" and 

 Metschnikoff." Their brief descriptions were 

 followed a year later by a more detailed ac- 

 count.* Eggs were found containing only two 

 nuclei which were supposed to result from the 

 division of the germinal vesicle. These nuclei 

 continued to give rise to others by division 



'Felt, E. P., "Miastor and Embryology," Sci- 

 ence, Vol. 33, pp. 302-303, 1911; "Miastor Amer- 

 icana, Felt; an Account of Pedogenesis," Bui. 

 147, N. Y. State Museum, pp. 82-104, 1911; 

 "Miastor," Journ. Ec. Ent., Vol. 4, p. 414, 1911. 



' Leuekart, K., ' ' Die ungeschlechtliciie Fort- 

 pflanzung der Cecidomyienlarven, " Arcli. f. 

 Naturg., Bd. 1, 1865. 



= Metschnikoff, B., "Ueber die Entwicklung der 

 Cecidomyienlarven aus dem Pseudovum, " Arch. f. 

 Naturg., Bd. 1, 1865. 



' Metschnikoff, E., " Embryologische Studien an 

 Insekten," Zeit. f. Wiss. Zool., Bd. 16, 1886. 



