174 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 27. 



philosophically' narrow ; and he sometimes uses 

 the epithets of the pessimist in a manner un- 

 worthy the philosopher. 



FRUIT -INSECTS. 



Insects injurious to fruits. Illustrated with 440 cuts. 

 By William Saunders. Philadelphia, Lippin- 

 cott, 1883. 436 p. 8°. 



The author has enjoj'ed exceptional advan- 

 tages for the preparation of the work he has 

 undertaken. Not only has he been acquainted 

 with the work of economic entomologists 

 through his own participation in it, and as 

 editor of one of our principal entomological 

 periodicals, but for twenty j-ears past he has 

 been an extensive fruit-grower as well. He is 

 thus entirely familiar with what is wanted, and 

 has produced a practical book of considerable 

 value. Not that it contains much that is ori- 

 ginal or of novel presentment : it is rather a 

 plain and judicious statement of what is known, 

 but accessible to few because scattered in peri- 

 odical literature. One is surprised at the size 

 of the book when he sees that no effort is 

 made to fill it out with unnecessary matter : 

 rarel}- are half a dozen pages given to any one 

 insect, and more than two hundred and liftjr 

 harmful insects are discussed. 



The insects are treated under the head of the 

 plants thej' affect and the parts of the plant 

 they attack, — an excellent method, first used 

 in this country by Fitch. Thej' are described 

 in brief, untechnical language, almost invaria- 

 bly figured, and often in several stages ; and 

 the account of their injuries is followed by a 

 short statement of the best remedies, with 

 illustrations of the parasites or other natural 

 foes which keep the insects more or less in 

 check. The plants which receive most atten- 

 tion are the apple (64 insects, 127 pages), the 

 grape (52 insects, 75 pages), and the orange 

 (26 insects, 45 pages). Next after these in 

 importance are the plum, pear, the various 

 currants, the raspberrj-, and the strawberry, 

 followed at a little distance bj- the peach ; a 

 few pages each suffice for the cherrj', quince, 

 gooseberiy, melon, cranberry, olive, and fig. 



The illustrations are familiar friends to ento- 

 mologists, almost all of them having already 

 done abundant service ; but they are none the 

 less valuable for the purpose of this work ; 

 and the paper on which thej- are now printed 

 permits to many of them a respectability 

 the}- must rejoice to attain after long famil- 

 iarity with the crude workmanship of the various 

 government presses under which thej- have 



been tortured. With a little more care in the 

 printing, they would have shown at their best. 

 The only serious omission in the book is 

 the absence of a sj'stematic summaiy, or index, 

 b}' which the insects of the same group attack- 

 ing different plants should be brought together. 

 This would the more readily serve to help the 

 fruit-grower distinguish allied forms, and learn 

 their different or similar habits. Such an 

 index could have been so easily constructed, 

 .and would have occupied so little siiace, that 

 its absence is the less excusable. 



BREMIKER'S LOGARITHMIC TABLES. 



Bremiker's Logarilhmisch-lriyonometrische ta/etn mit 

 seeks decimal-stellen. Neu bearbeitet von Dr. 

 Th. Albrecht, professor and chief of section 

 in the Royal Prussian geodetic institute. Tenth 

 stereotype edition. Berlin, R. Strieker, 1883. 

 18 + 598 p. 8°. 



Bremiker's six-figure logarithms were first 

 published in 1852 with a Latin text and title : 

 Nova tabula Beroliuensis, etc. In 1860 a 

 German edition was printed. Both these edi- 

 tions were printed from movable types. In 

 1869 a stereotyped edition was printed, with 

 some changes in the contents of the work. 

 The editions of 1852 and 1860 contained a 

 capital table of the sines and tangents of small 

 arcs, which was omitted in the stereotype edi- 

 tion ; and in this latter edition a table of 

 addition and subtraction logarithms was intro- 

 duced. The omission of the table of the func- 

 tions of small arcs was hardlj- an improvement ; 

 and, in fact, this omission caused the early 

 editions to command a higher price than the 

 later stereotyped one. 



The present edition by Dr. Albrecht com- 

 bines the excellences of both the preceding 

 editions. It contains the table of the loga- 

 rithmic sines and logarithmic tangents of arcs 

 up to 5° for each 1", and also includes the 

 addition and subtraction tables. 



The rest of the work is the same as the 

 stereotype edition of 1869, except that four 

 new pages of convenient constant logarithms 

 are inserted, and that certain tables relating 

 to units of weight and measure are omitted. 



This collection of tables is a very practical 

 and valuable addition to our present means of 

 computation, and it will be welcomed as such. 

 In the opinion of the writer, it is also the most 

 satisfactory single collection of tables for stu- 

 dents' use, although much can be said in favor 

 of the best of the five-place tables for this pur- 

 pose. Edwakd S. Holden. 



