672 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 70. 



who are fortunate enough to possess or to have 

 seen Dr. Scudder's great work : ' The butter- 

 flies of the eastern United States and Canada,' a 

 work so costly as to have but a limited circula- 

 tion, will recognize these chapters, which form 

 the delightful excursuses of the two volumes of 

 text. They are charmingly written, and are 

 mainly the result of the author's own observa- 

 tions, and in their present form deserve the 

 widest reading. It wou].d prove a beautiful 

 present for a boy or girl interested in insects, 

 and also afford pleasant summer reading for 

 older minds, since few technical terms are used. 

 There are a number of plates containing fig- 

 ures reproduced from the larger work. In the 

 matter of index, printing, paper and general 

 appearance we not only have no fault to find, 

 but everything to commend. A. S. P. 



Third Report of the Board of Managers of the New 

 York State Colonization Society, by O. F. CoOK, 

 Fulton Professor of Natural Sciences in 

 Liberia College. 1896. 8°, 100 pp. 

 This report is a plain recital of careful obser- 

 vation on plants, animals, and men in the Re- 

 public of Liberia ; the observations are recorded 

 in simple, straightforward fashion, and are of 

 considerable interest and value, albeit in an un- 

 expected medium. 



Over 30 pages are devoted to the flora and 

 fauna ; 30 or 40 plants are identified in an an- 

 notated list, and the notes touch on a variety of 

 characteristics and uses of the plants and their 

 products ; e. g., it is pointed out that the seeds 

 of the mangrove germinate on the trees, sending 

 out long sharp-pointed radicles, which hang 

 pendent vintil the weight breaks attachments, 

 when they drop into the mud and are thus 

 planted right side up and so firmly as to resist 

 tidal currents ; Urena lohata ' is protected by 

 ants for the sake of a secretion which is elabo- 

 rated and exuded by a small gland at the base 

 of the midvein ; ' the banana and bread fruit 

 flourish, yet their products cannot be made ex- 

 clusive articles of diet, as is commonly supposed, 

 etc. There is a surprising dearth of mosses and 

 parasitic fungi and lichens in Liberian forests, 

 and it is noted that ' in nearly all natural 

 groups the number of species is much larger 

 than in the same area in North America, even 



though the number of individuals may be less 

 for the group as a whole ' (page 5). There is a 

 comforting dearth, also, of snakes, mosquitoes, 

 flies and minor pestiferous insects, which seems 

 to be correlated with the wealth of ants, both in 

 species and individuals. The habits of the 

 ' driver ' ants, the natural scavengers of the dis- 

 trict, are described in detail, as are those of the 

 termites, which appear to cultivate a fungus to 

 supply food for the young and the queens. It 

 is noted that the chimpanzees (called by the 

 natives 'old-time people') dig land crabs out 

 of their burrows and crack them on stones,* 

 and are said also to crack nuts between stones, 

 'quite man fashion,' and to grasp the python 

 by the neck and bruise its head with a stone 

 (page 22). 



The social conditions of Liberia are described 

 in fair detail ; and it is shown that, while 

 slavery is prohibited by the Liberian constitu- 

 tion, there is a modified slavery of hireling ser- 

 vice which has degraded the servitors and still 

 more seriously enfeebled the served, who 

 ' rarely gain habits of industry or self-reliance, 

 and with no proper school advantages * * * 

 reach maturity too often as examples of physi- 

 cal and mental weakness ' (page 45). Even 

 more interesting is the naive description of the 

 ' missionary slave trade, ' from which it appears 

 that evangelization begins with actual purchase 

 of the youth whom it is desired to Christianize 

 and civilize ! "In the interior of Liberia 

 [slave] boys 12 and 14 years old were offered 

 me for goods of a cash value of about $3. Girls 

 come at about twice the price. * * * * 

 When it comes to buying free children of their 

 parents the price may exceed the figures men- 

 tioned ' ' (page 40). ' ' The only apparent reason 

 why this department of the slave trade has not 

 assumed proportions sufficient to attract gen- 

 eral attention, has been the lack of funds in the 

 hands of the would-be buyers " (page 38). In 



* Major Battersby, in describing the 'Pets and 

 Pests of the Barhadoes' ( Chmnhers Journal, March 14, 

 1896), mentions a Capuchin monkey which captures 

 crabs in related fashion : "His method * * * is to 

 knock it about with his paw by quick pats until it is 

 sufficiently dazed to give him a chance of smashing its 

 claw with a large stone " {Literary Digest, Vol. XII., 

 1896, p. 717). 



