146 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 395. 



The Canadian Government should absolutely 

 prohibit all shooting on the Bird Rocks and 

 all taking of eggs after the first of June. In 

 pleasing contrast to this Mr. Job tells of the 

 increase of gulls and terns at some localities 

 on the New England coast, where they have 

 been protected. He shows us these gulls and 

 their nests, not only on the ground, but 

 perched in spruce trees, where most of us 

 would hardly thinlv of looking for such birds. 

 The largest colony of gulls described was in 

 Dakota, where Mr. Job found thousands of 

 Franklin's rosy gull breeding in and about a 

 shallow lake, the nests being so numerous as 

 to be often within a few feet of one another. 

 Some of the best views in the book are from 

 this colony, but perhaps the most striking 

 are some of gulls in full flight, taken by Mr. 

 von Bargen in San Prancisco Bay. 



Not quite all of Mr. Job's hunting was done 

 with a camera, for he gives some very vivid 

 glimpses of sea duck shooting off the Massa- 

 chusetts coast, although, truth to tell, these 

 are the exceptions. 



The ornithologist and the casual reader 

 will find this book most enjoyable, full of 

 pleasantlj' given information, accompanied by 

 illustrations that illustrate. Some of these 

 are not quite up to the modern standard, but 

 when we read how many of them were obtained 

 we cease to wonder at this, and can only ad- 

 mire the pluck and perseverance that obtained 

 them. F. A. L. 



Bie Bahterien. By Johs Schmidt and Fr. 



Weis. Jena, Gustav Fischer. Pp. 406. 



The extraordinary development of the 

 science of bacteriology has resulted in the 

 production in the last fifteen years of a large 

 number of manuals and text-books devoted to 

 various phases of this general subject. Books 

 upon general bacteriology have appeared in 

 many languages and it would hardly seem that 

 there could be found room for another work 

 upon the same general subject. The authors 

 of the book before us have, however, found a 

 niche which has been hitherto unoccupied and 

 which they have siacceeded in satisfactorily 

 filling. Bacteriology is preeminently a prac- 

 tical study. At first it created an immense 



amount of interest because of its apislicatiou 

 to the fascinating subject of disease, and 

 more recently because of its intensely practi- 

 cal value to the agriculturist. Most works on 

 bacteria have, therefore, devoted at least a 

 large part of their attention to the practical 

 applications of bacteriology in one direction 

 or another. The works upon bacteriology 

 which may be now found in our libraries are 

 devoted in part to the study of bacteria as 

 scientific objects, and in part to their rela- 

 tions to disease or to natural phenomena with 

 which they have been found to be so intimate- 

 ly associated. The work of Schmidt and Weis 

 leaves out of consideration all practical con- 

 siderations and all practical applications of 

 bacteriology and is devoted wholly to the 

 study of bacteria from a standpoint of pure 

 science. 



The authors divide the subject into three 

 sections. In the first they study the mor- 

 phology and the systematic relations of bac- 

 teria ; in the second their physiological rela- 

 tion ; and in the third the systematic relations 

 of the most important of the species of bacte- 

 ria which have been described in literature. 

 The work has the further advantage that of 

 the two authors, one has been able to devote 

 himself to the morphology and systematic 

 study, and the other to the physiological study 

 of bacteria. The result of this is that both 

 sides of the study of bacteriology are more 

 satisfactorily and authoritatively treated than 

 when a single author attempts to deal with 

 both aspects of this somewhat complicated 

 subject. The work becomes, therefore, one of 

 special value; its treatment of the problems 

 considered is clear, concise and avithoritative. 

 It shows the greatest familiarity with the 

 most recent advances and discoveries in con- 

 nection with bacteriology, and presents all of 

 the subject considered in a clear and some- 

 times in a fresh light, which is very suggest- 

 ive. The language which is used is simple, 

 straightforward and extremely clear, and on 

 the whole there is probably no work yet pub- 

 lished which contains such a clear, concise 

 and authoritative account of the morphology 

 and physiology of these immensely important 

 microorganisms. 



