822 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. i 



For the truth of history it should be stated 

 once for all that many investigations on this 

 subject had been under way for years before 

 Koch's announcement. At the laboratory of 

 the State Live Stock Sanitary Board of Penn- 

 sylvania studies had been going on for three 

 years previous to this, and at the Congress 

 where Koch made his announcement a paper 

 was read giving the results of these investiga- 

 tions, which to a large extent disproved the 

 assertions of Koch. In 1902 the work from 

 this same laboratory gave the final proof of 

 Koch's fallacies. It is curious that the author 

 of this book should have entirely omitted all 

 mention of this work which has been widely 

 published and certainly is easy of access. 



The list of references is made up almost en- 

 tirely of bulletins from State Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Stations and the Bureau of Animal 

 Industry, and no general list of useful papers 

 on this subject is given. Among the refer- 

 ences. Bulletin No. 75, Pennsylvania Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, 1901, is credited entirely 

 to Pearson. It was a conjoint publication by 

 Pearson and Eavenel. 



The book lacks sequence. For instance, 

 under " Method of Dissemination " in a sum- 

 mary by Peterson " on the finding of tubercle 

 bacteria in the milk and excreta," on page 34, 

 we find Abbott and Gildersleeve quoted on the 

 relation between tubercle bacilli and other 

 members of the acid-fast group. 



Althoug-h Bulletin No. 75; Pennsylvania De- 

 partment of Agriculture, is given as a refer- 

 ence, it is evident that the author gave as 

 little attention to the contents as he did to the 

 title. In the summary concerning the finding 

 of tubercle germs in milk, which he quotes, he 

 has entirely omitted the work given in that 

 bulletin. This was quite an extensive piece of 

 work, done with unusual care, and was among 

 the first Qarried out in the United States on 

 this point. 



In a subsection on " Channels of Infection " 

 we find the buying in of diseased cattle and 

 infection through creamery and cheese fac- 

 tory by-products given — certainly not chan- 

 nels of infection. 



The best chapter in the book, exclusive of 



the report of the International Commission 

 on Bovine Tuberculosis, is that on Tuberculin, 

 which occupies nine pages. 



These criticisms will show that the book is 

 not one that can be recommended, and it 

 should not be dignified with the title which it 

 carries. It might pass as an experiment sta- 

 tion bulletin, but nothing more. It is to be 

 regretted that the " cacoethes scribendi " will 

 run away with the judgment of good men, and 

 lead to the publishing of such a book as this. 

 Mazyck p. Ravenel 



University of Wisconsin 



Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Plialmnm in the 

 British Museum. Vol. XII. By Sir 

 George F. Hampson, Bart. London. 1913. 

 Pp. xiii + 626. 



This volume contains the continuation of 

 the family Noctuidae, already partly treated 

 in Volumes IV. to XL of these catalogues. 

 A part of the subfamily Catocalins is covered. 

 A key to the genera is given, which will be 

 reprinted in a more complete form in the next 

 volume. Sixty-three genera with 643 species 

 are fully described and a large proportion fig- 

 ured in colors in the accompanying book of 

 plates, numbered CXCIL to CCXXI. The 

 definition of the group, based on the presence 

 of spines on the mid-tibiffi is somewhat arti- 

 ficial, as the author admits, but will probably 

 not cause confusion in many cases. Otherwise 

 it would be necessary to include this group in 

 the already large subfamily Noctuinae. The 

 treatment is similar to that already familiar 

 to us in the preceding volumes and is a wel- 

 come addition to this indispensable work. 

 Harrison G. Dyae 



SPECIAL ABTICLES 



SOME EFFECTS OF THE DROUGHT UPON VEGETATION 



The summer of 1913 was exceedingly dry 

 and hot in many parts of the United States, 

 but the combination of climatic and edaphic 

 factors which produce that complex efl^ect in- 

 cluded under the term drought appeared to 

 center in southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kan- 

 sas, northwestern Missouri and southeastern. 

 Iowa. Lines of extremely xerophilous condi- 



