840 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1093 



Williston on the Permian reptiles of America 

 should have been entirely ignored. Some of 

 the many, and much worn, illustrations of the 

 Dinosauria might easily have been replaced by 

 excellent illustrations from one or the other of 

 these writers. 



The paleontology of fishes is very fully cov- 

 ered by Pompeckj, illustrations and discus- 

 sions of typical forms of the various groups 

 being chosen. The reconstruction of the De- 

 vonian Paleospondylus by Sollas, based on 

 serial sections, is given. The restorations and 

 drawings by Patten and Traquair of the early 

 Devonian Placodermi are well shown in many 

 illustrations, as well as such recent figures as 

 Hay's Edestus crenulatus, which is one of sev- 

 eral early elasmobranchs figured. Many well- 

 known restorations and figures of fish anat- 

 omy from the writings of Dean, Dollo and 

 Woodward complete the work. 



The general discussion of the recent mam- 

 mals by W. Kukenthal is followed by a sixty- 

 four page article by O. Abel on the paleontol- 

 ogy of the mammals. This latter section is 

 illustrated by 122 figures, which are well 

 chosen, as we would expect from such an emi- 

 nent student as Abel. 



The article on " Zelle und Zellteilung " cov- 

 ering one himdred and seventy pages, richly 

 illustrated with 225 figures, is one of the more 

 extensive biological articles. It is divided into 

 three sections: (1) Zelle und Zellteilung, 

 Botanisch; (2) Zoologisch; and (3) Zellphysi- 

 ologie. The botanical section is written by E. 

 Kuster, the zoological section by L. Bruel and 

 the physiology by M. Verworn, each section 

 being followed by numerous references to the 

 important literature. 



The anatomy and physiology of the sensory 

 organs, covering sixty-five pages, with eighty- 

 one figures and many bibliographic references, 

 deals with special sense organs throughout the 

 whole range of animal life. The discussion 

 and illustration of this immense subject is 

 necessarily brief and specialists will be dis- 

 appointed to see their favorite subjects but 

 slightly touched or neglected; however, for a 

 work of this character the article will prove 

 helpful. 



The work, taken as a whole, contains many 

 interesting contributions to paleontology and 

 zoology. The articles discussed above may be 

 taken as typical of the other articles in the 

 work. A general index of three hundred and 

 sixty pages closes the work. The individual 

 articles show that a high ideal was adopted, 

 which has been well sustained throughout. 

 The volumes are well printed, the illustrations 

 are clear, and in every way the work lives up to 

 the good reputation so long enjoyed by the 

 press of Gustav Fischer. 



EoY L. MOODIE 



Department of Anatomy, 

 University op Illinois, Chicago, 

 October 30, 1915 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACAD- 

 EMY OF SCIENCES 

 The eleventh number of volume 1 of the 

 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci- 

 ences contains the following articles: 



1. Experiments on the Development of the 

 Limhs in Amphibia: Ross G. Harrison, Os- 

 born Zoological Laboratory, Tale Univer- 

 sity. 



At the time of appearance of the tail bud 

 the anterior limb of Amhlystoma is already 

 determined in the mesoderm cells of that re- 

 gion of the body wall which lies close to the 

 pronephros and ventral to the third, fourth 

 and fifth myotomes. The prospective signifi- 

 cance of this group of cells, as a whole, thus is 

 defined some time before differentiation be- 

 comes visible. 



2. A Mechanism of Protection against Bacte- 

 rial Infection: Carroll G. Bull, Eockefeller 

 Institute for Medical Research, !N"ew York. 

 Bacteria circulating in the blood are quickly 



removed when they are agglutinated or 

 clumped, and the clumps deposited within the 

 organs are taken up by phagocytes and di- 

 gested. They appear not to be destroyed by 

 solution or lysis through the operation of 

 serum constituents of the blood. 



3. On the Life-History of Oiardia: Charles 

 Atwood Kofoid and Elizabeth B. Chris- 

 tiansen, Zoological Laboratory, University 

 of California. 



