850 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 700 



subjects can not be summai'ily dismissed. 

 Many observations would certainly warrant 

 a negative answer to the last two questions, 

 while some would not. Not only do we 

 need more pertinent and reliable observa- 

 tions, but a more exact analysis, as well as 

 more certain criteria. 



A chipping sparrow will pluck a horse 

 hair from the mouth of a nestling, while 

 another bird like an oriole will stand by 

 and see its mate hung until dead without 

 attempting to release it. A robin will tug 

 at a string which has caught on a limb, but 

 is never seen to fully meet the situation by 

 releasing the string. It will make several 

 turns of a cord about a limb and leave the 

 other end to hang free without any relation 

 to the nest, so that its effort is useless. It 

 ties no knots. The gull, according to abun- 

 dant and competent testimony, will carry 

 shellfish to a considerable height, drop 

 them on the rocks or hard ground, and 

 repeat the experiment until it gets the soft 

 meat. This suggests adaptive intelligence 

 or even analogical reasoning, but probably 

 does not rise above the level of associative 

 memory. The habit is probably casually 

 formed, and is certainly rare. 



Francis H. Herrick 



Biological Laboratory, 

 Western Reserve Untveksitt 



SCIEUTIFIG BOOKS 



Early Devonic History of Northeastern North 

 America. Memoir 9, New York State Mu- 

 seum, New York State Education Depart- 

 ment, 366 pp., 48 plates, sections, diagrams, 

 maps, etc. Albany, 1908. By J. M. Clarke, 

 State Geologist, and Director of the New 

 York State Museum. 



In this magnificent memoir, with its 

 princely plates and exquisite illustrations, the 

 state of New York has once more shown the 

 world how far science and art had reached 

 towards a realization of satisfactory residts in 

 describing and illustrating the hard facts of 

 geology in an orderly and delightful manner. 

 To the student of paleontology and strati- 



graphical geology this handsome contribution 

 to the history of early Devonian times will be 

 most welcome. It fills a long-felt want, and 

 serves to tie together a number of faunas and 

 formations with others in the State of New 

 York as well as beyond. Science, and geology 

 especially, knows no political boundaries. As 

 Dr. Clarke very aptly puts it, " The New York 

 series of formations spreads away from its 

 typical region to all points of the compass, 

 and in all these directions, however far it 

 extends, light is to be sought for the explica- 

 tion of past geologic conditions in New York." 

 " The state, . . . does not and never can in 

 itself afEord the solution of its own problems." 

 Professor James Hall for the sixty-three years 

 that he was in office at Albany had shown 

 that the New York series extended beyond the 

 limits of New York State. The standards 

 laid down by the fathers of geology in north- 

 eastern America, like Hall, Logan, Dana, 

 Billings, Emmons and many others, were to 

 be kept high and to the fore. 



The subject-matter dealt with by the distin- 

 guished successor to James Hall in the 

 memoir before me was obtained by Dr. Clarke 

 in the Peninsula of Gaspe, in southeastern 

 Quebec. After describing the general distri- 

 bution of the " Early Devonic of New York " 

 and pointing out their extension north and 

 east, he then sets to the task of giving the 

 geology of the region covered by the memoir. 

 The geology of the Porillon, of Perce (a 

 brief sketch of which had appeared in 1903 

 in advance sheets from the report of the 

 paleontologist, 1904, and in Bulletin 107, 

 Geological Papers, Albany, 1907) the Gaspe 

 sandstones, etc., is followed by descriptions of 

 the various faunas. 



Three distinct faunas are noticed, and their 

 rich harvest of forms new to science, or 

 recorded afresh, constitute the bulk of the 

 material on which the memoir is based. They 

 are as follows : 



I. Fauna of the St. Alban beds. Forty- 

 eight species. 



II. Fauna of the Cape Bon Ami beds. Of 

 this fauna eleven species are recorded. 



III. Fauna of the Grande Greve limestones. 

 One hundred and sixty species. 



