348 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 792 



which like the present is intended to give a 

 ■general view of the subject, these details 

 should be emphasized. Upon the whole the 

 arrangement of faunal regions accords well 

 with what has been ascertained by the latest 

 investigations. 



The third portion of the book gives an ac- 

 count of the geographical distribution of the 

 various families and genera of the lepidoptera 

 in different parts of the world. Forty-sis 

 pages are devoted to this section. This part 

 of the work is in the main satisfactory and as 

 complete as could be expected within the lim- 

 its of space assigned to the subject by the 

 •author. 



It is of course impossible to expect that in a 

 "work of this magnitude errors should not creep 

 in. Some of those which exist are, however, 

 ■scarcely pardonable. On p. 4 we are informed 

 that " In ISTorth America the entire center of 

 the land between the Eocky Mountains and the 

 Allegheny ranges is occupied by a desert ex- 

 tending southward over a large part of New 

 Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico." It is 

 rather amazing at this late date to find the 

 mythical " Great American Desert," which oc- 

 cupied a space upon the maps published at the 

 beginning of the last century revived, and to 

 have it even extended eastward as far as the 

 Allegheny ranges through a now populous ter- 

 ritory filled with large towns and cities, and 

 abounding in agricultural resources. On page 

 6 the genus Teracolus is stated to occur in 

 North America, as well as in the arid coast 

 regions of northwestern and eastern Africa. 

 This is a singular error. The genus is strictly 

 confined to the old world, and not a single 

 species occurs in the western hemisphere. In 

 many places the work gives evidence of care- 

 less proof-reading, as on page 67, where " Ir- 

 land" is substituted for "Island," thereby 

 confusing the meaning; on page 315, where 

 the word " Totenmeeres " is substituted for 

 " Eotenmeeres," the Dead Sea being substi- 

 tuted for the Red Sea. Generic and specific 

 names in a multitude of cases are misspelled. 

 On page 317, near the foot of the page, where 

 reference is made to a paper by the present 

 reviewer upon the Hesperiidce of Africa, eight 

 generic names are cited, of which five are mis- 



spelled. Minor defects of this sort, while not 

 detracting from the general value of the work, 

 ought in a future edition to be rigidly ex- 

 cluded. 



Upon the whole it may be said that this is 

 the most comprehensive and satisfactory work 

 upon the geographical distribution of the lepi- 

 doptera of the world which has up to the pres- 

 ent time been written. While not free from 

 defects, as has been suggested, it is a work 

 which must prove itself of great value to all 

 students of the lepidoptera, and it reflects 

 great credit upon the learning and industry 

 of its distinguished author. 



W. J. Holland 



QUOTATIONS 



THE LENGTH OF SERVICE PENSIONS OF THE 

 CARNEGIE FOUNDATION 



The ethical question involved in the change, 

 however, stands on quite a different basis. 

 We do not find that anything in the report 

 breaks the force of the criticisms made in the 

 letters that have appeared in the Evening 

 Post, one from Professor Lovejoy, of the Uni- 

 versity of Missouri, the other from Professor 

 Weeks, of Columbia University. Nothing 

 could be clearer or more unqualified than the 

 statement in the original rule that professors 

 of twenty-five years' service were " entitled " 

 to the pensions. There is no telling in what 

 degree the plans of professors and of colleges, 

 for the past four years, have been based on the 

 well-grounded expectation that this promise 

 would be carried out. It is true that the foun- 

 dation gave notice that its rules might be 

 modified " in such manner as experience may 

 indicate as desirable " ; nobody can charge it 

 with breach of contract. But to abolish com- 

 pletely, at a stroke, without notice, one of the 

 cardinal features of the system is not the sort 

 of thing that anybody had the slightest reason 

 to anticipate. 



Dr. Pritchett says that " the expectation 

 that this rule would be taken advantage of 

 almost wholly on the ground of disabilities has 

 proved to be ill-founded " ; but if this is meant 

 as a defense against the charge of want of 

 good faith, it betrays a misty notion of the 

 nature of moral obligations. If disability was 



