Mat 25, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



503 



As a result of this, there are several miles of 

 these huge decaying masses around the vari- 

 ous stations. 



Until about thirty years ago, there were no 

 rats on the islands. At that time a sealing 

 vessel allowed a few rats to go ashore, and the 

 result to-day is appalling in its enormity. 



The conditions have been ideal for these 

 rats — with their nests in the tangled bunches 

 of tussock and peat, and with a constant 

 supply of meat in all stages of decomposition 

 and cold storage close at hand! 



There are literally millions of these rodents 

 working away at the carcasses and swarming 

 along the well-traveled trail which they have 

 made on the mountain slopes. Even when the 

 winter snows cover the place, operations in 

 this rat haven are not stopped. 



It was stated at one of the whaling stations 

 that the rats have devastated the few small 

 animals living on the island, and, indeed, are 

 a menace to the health and safety of the place. 



It would be interesting to know what char- 

 acteristics the rat would develop after a few 

 years of such a specialized habitat. 



I. A. Luke 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Les Sciences Biologiqv.es Appliquees a V Agri- 

 culture et la Lutte Oontre les Ennemis des 

 Plant es aux Etats-Unis. By Dr. Paul 

 Maechal. Extrait des Annales des Epi- 

 phyties Tome Troisieme. Paris, Librairie 

 Lhomme. 1916. Pp. 30-390. 

 It does not seem like four years since Dr. 

 Marchal visited this country and traveled 

 from east to west and north to south, visiting 

 the field laboratories of the Bureau of Ento- 

 mology and educational institutions, yet actu- 

 ally that trip was taken in the summer of 

 1913. His book, under the title (translated) 

 " Biological Sciences Applied to Agriculture 

 and the Struggle against the Enemies of 

 Plants in the United States," was received in 

 this country in November last, its publication 

 having been delayed by the war, and it is even 

 now printed only in a very small edition. It 

 is a large royal octavo volume covering nearly 

 four hundred pages, abundantly illustrated. 



Marchal has a remarkable mind. It is little 

 less than marvelous that in two months and a 

 half he should have grasped the whole field 

 in so perfect a way as to be able to write a 

 book which is especially illuminating to us 

 who are in the middle of things and who can 

 not get the perspective which he reached after 

 he returned to France and collected and classi- 

 fied his notes and impressions. The larger 

 part of the book is devoted to the Bureau of 

 Entomology, pages 52 to 198 being given to 

 this service. The rest of the Department of 

 Agriculture is considered in the following 30 

 pages, and 20 more are given to the experi- 

 ment stations, the state entomologists, the 

 Horticultural Commission of California, and 

 the forestry services of the different states. 

 Then follow 40 pages on universities and agri- 

 cultural colleges, especial space being given 

 to Cornell University and the universities of 

 Illinois, California, Stanford and Harvard. 

 He is enthusiastic over the Association of 

 Economic Entomologists. The remaining lOO 

 pages of the book are devoted to chapters on 

 insect carriers of disease, the methods em- 

 ployed in the struggle against the enemies of 

 crops (this chapter being divided into cul- 

 tural methods, biological methods and tech- 

 nical methods), the laws concerning the pro- 

 tection of plants, including the insecticide 

 law, and a conclusion. In this conclusion, 

 after praising in an unstinted way the estab- 

 lishments of this country and the work which 

 has been done, he especially points out that, 

 far from narrowing itself in applications of 

 science, the United States holds a place of the 

 first rank in creative science. He thinks that 

 France has much to learn from America, al- 

 though it would be a mistake in his country 

 to create an organization imitating in all re- 

 spects the Department of Agriculture at 

 Washington. He shows that the economic and 

 cultural conditions are quite different on the 

 two continents and that certain questions 

 which have prime importance here have only 

 a secondary interest in France. He is inclined 

 to think that the United States Department 

 of Agriculture is rather over organized, and 

 thinks that the future will bring about a 



