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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 935 



their external and internal anatomy and their 

 behavior. The anatomical treatment is de- 

 tailed and comprehensive but, except for a 

 careful description of the male palpus, con- 

 tains little that is new. Professor Comstock's 

 study of the palpus forms a small treatise in 

 itself and constitutes a valuable contribution 

 to our knowledge of a peculiarly intricate 

 mechanism. The spinning glands are also 

 discussed in considerable detail as the author 

 has been much interested in the construction 

 of the web, a subject fully treated in his ac- 

 count of the " life of spiders," to the neglect 

 or abridgment of many other equally interest- 

 ing habits in these solitary organisms. No 

 general account of the geographical distribu- 

 tion of the nearctic species is attempted, al- 

 though such an account would have been very 

 timely and of great interest to many zoolo- 

 gists who are not arachnologists. The sys- 

 tematic descriptions of the genera and spe- 

 cies, and especially the tables for their identi- 

 fication, which occupy three fourths of the 

 volume, are extremely valuable. The species 

 are adequately illustrated from photographs 

 or drawings of living or recently killed speci- 

 mens, with their webs, nests, details of ana- 

 tomical structure, color patterns, etc. Most 

 of the figures have been well reproduced, but 

 in some cases the fine photographs have suf- 

 fered the customary deterioration in the 

 hands of the engraver and printer. These are, 

 of course, not the faults of the author, who 

 deserves the hearty congratulations and 

 thanks of all American zoologists for having 

 given them such a helpful and beautiful vol- 

 ume. 



W. M. Wheeler 



Due d' Orleans. Oampagne Arctique de 1907. 

 Annelides Polyehetes par Pierre Fauvel, 

 iv, 45 pp., 4°, 2 pi. ; Crustaces Malacos- 

 traces, par le Dr. Louis Staffers, xxiv, 152 

 pp., 4°, Y pi., 2 charts. Imp. Sci. Bruxelles, 

 1911. 



The annelid fauna of the Arctic seas being 

 practically eircumpolar, and investigated in 

 much detail by the Scandinavian and Ger- 

 man naturalists, it was hardly to be expected 



that the expedition of the Duke of Orleans on 

 the Belgica in 1907 would add many novel- 

 ties. As a matter of fact Sphcerodorum 

 philippi Fauvel was the only new species 

 among the sixty-two collected on the coasts of 

 Novaia Zemlaia, the Murman, Kara and Polar 

 seas. Valuable notes as to the distribution, 

 and data on the organization of several little- 

 known forms, and a useful bibliography of 

 work on Arctic annelids ensure a welcome for 

 the memoir. 



The sea north of Siberia has been but par- 

 tially explored for Crustacea, and Dr. Stap- 

 per's collection, in spite of the adverse circum- 

 stances attending work in ice-encumbered 

 waters, comprised no less than ninety-four 

 species, of which two amphipods, one isopod 

 and two sympods proved unknown to science. 



Many of the species collected were obtained 

 in considerable numbers, which permitted dis- 

 section of numerous individuals. The exact 

 data as to distribution in depth and geo- 

 graphic range render the records of the col- 

 lection especially valuable to science, and the 

 twelve pages of bibliography will prove a boon 

 to students. The execution of the plates as 

 usual with this series of reports leaves noth- 

 ing to be desired. 



Wm. H. Dall 



Beyond War: A Chapter in the Natural His- 

 tory of Man. By Vernon L. Kellogg. 

 New York, Henry Holt and Company. 

 1912. Pp. ix + l'r2. $1.00. 

 A biologist's contribution to the literature 

 of the peace movement. The argument of 

 the book runs somewhat as follows. " Man " 

 is, like any organic species, a stage in evolu- 

 tion, an organism with a past and with a 

 future. Human nature, like Nature herself, 

 is not immutable, but inevitably mutable. 

 Characteristics possessed at one time by the 

 supra-modal few come to be possessed by the 

 mode, and in passing are represented, for a 

 time, only in the sub-modal group. War is 

 such a trait — now vestigial, not rudimentary 

 — an anomaly and an anachronism; it will 

 disappear from human life when the mode of 

 the species is well beyond war. When the 



