890 SCIENCE. 
‘XXII.—List of Crustacea known to occur 
on and near the Pribilof Islands’ (pp. 555- 
557), by Mary J. Rathbun. 
‘XXIII.—A List of the Plants of Pribilof 
Islands, Bering Sea, with Notes on their Dis- 
tribution’ (pp. 559-587, pll. Ixxxvii.—xciv.), by 
James M. Macoun. 
‘XXIV.—Alege of the Pribilof Islands’ (pp. 
589-596, pl. xev.), by William A. Setchell, 
Ph.D. An index of 32 pages concludes the 
volume. 
Part 4, relating to (A), ‘The Asiatic Fur Seal 
Islands and Fur Seal Industry,’ and (B) ‘The 
Kuril Fur Seal Islands and the Fur Seal In- 
dustry of Japan,’ is by Dr. Stejneger. .The 
first, he tells us, is based on ‘‘ observations 
gathered during four different visits to the Com- 
mander Islands, off the coast of Kamchatka, the 
first undertaken in 1882-88, in the palmiest days 
of the fur seal industry; the second during 
1895, as a special attaché of the United States 
Fish Commission, to study the recent decline 
and to compare the conditions as I knew them 
thirteen years ago, with those of the present 
day. My third trip took place in 1896, by 
direction of the President, pursuant to the joint 
resolution of Congress approved June 18, 1896, 
and the fourth one in 1897, under the same 
auspices.’’ It is thus obvious that the investi- 
gation of the Russian Fur Seal Islands was 
placed in exceptionally competent hands, and 
the results of Dr. Stejneger’s investigations of 
fur seal life in Russian waters has not only a 
most important bearing on the general subject 
of the fur seal industry in northern waters, but 
also upon that of the Pribilof Islands. The 
decline in the fur seal herds at the Commander 
and Robben Islands has been as marked in re- 
cent years as has that of the Pribilof herd, due, 
beyond question, to the same cause—pelagic 
sealing. Dr. Stejneger gives first an account 
of the topography and climate of the Com- 
mander Islands, with a sketch of its fauna 
and flora, and the native inhabitants, and an 
account of the number, location and extent 
of the seal rookeries on both the Commander 
and the Robben Islands. Then follows ‘Seal 
Life on Commander Islands’ (pp. 82-118); 
‘The Russian Sealing Industry ’ (pp. 114-216) ; 
“A Comparative Study of the Conditions of the 
[N.S. Vou. X. No. 259. 
Sealing Industry on the Pribilof and Com- 
mander Islands’ (pp. 217-228), with ‘Con- 
clusions ’ and ‘ Bibliography’ (pp. 229-236). As 
Dr. Stejneger was also familiar with the fur 
seal life of the Pribilof group, he was especially 
fitted for the comparative study of the condi- 
tions found in the Russian waters. : 
The Kuril Islands are treated upon the same 
general plan as the Commander Islands; and 
although the Doctor’s stay was here compara- 
tively brief, it was practically a virgin field for 
such an investigation, his report giving us 
almost the first available information concern- 
ing not only the seal life but the general nat- 
ural history of this group of barren, little known 
islands. 
These four volumes of the ‘ Report of Fur Seal 
Investigations’ are thus by no means confined to 
the fur seals themselves, or to questions in dis- 
pute as to the cause and extent of the decline of 
the herds and their proper future management, 
but is broadened to include the history and nat- 
ural history of the Pribilof and other islands in- 
volved in the inquiry, as incidental and pertinent 
to the general subject. There hence results as 
the work of the Commission, first, a most 
thorough and judicial report on the ‘ fur seal 
question,’ in its broadest sense, and secondly 
and incidentally, a most welcome contribution 
to the zoology and botany of the islands in 
Bering Sea and adjacent waters, all highly 
creditable to the Commission and its co- 
workers. 
J. A. ALLEN. 
A Theory of Reality. By GrorGE T. LADD. 
An Essay in Metaphysical System upon the 
Basis of Human Cognitive Experience. New 
York, Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1899. 8vo. 
556 pages. 
The present volume is the culmination of the 
author’s studies and discussions of certain 
problems, already defined and treated from 
other points of view in his Elements of Physi- 
ological Psychology, published in 1887, Psy- 
chology, Descriptive and Explanatory, of 1894; 
Philosophy of Mind, 1895; and Philosophy of 
Knowledge, 1897. Thecentral thought in this 
whole philosophy appears to be the adoption of 
Self as the model and measure of reality. This 
gh 
