MARrii 8, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



2G3 



proppr training for this kind of work, though 

 the number is happily on the rapid increase. 

 The ■ liard parts ' of the lower animals, 

 sfcn-fish, nrchius, molluscs, Crustacea, in- 

 sects, etc., oft'er ample opportunity for ele- 

 mentary zoological work, but it seems to be 

 hardly advisable to largely recommend the 

 dissecting of mammals by the average class, 

 though I thmk the isolated parts, eye, 

 bones of the ear, the tongue, heart, brain, 

 etc., can be properly and very profitablj' 

 u.sed. Elaborate outfits of dissecting in- 

 struments are not here necessarj-, though 

 one or two microscopes are desirable. 

 In the secondary school there is a splendid 

 opportunity for the cultivation of the obser- 

 vational powers, by comparing the external 

 characters of animals ; by observing hab- 

 its ; how the bird breathes ; how it involun- 

 tarily grasps the branch ; the adaptation of 

 structure to use in the feet of waders, 

 scratchers and singing birds ; the structure 

 of the scale and feathers, and claws; the 

 pneumaticity of the bones ; the preening of 

 the feathers ; the dull coloring of the fe- 

 male ; the shapes and colors of eggs and any 

 peculiar nt'sting habits. It is all wrong for 

 a child to think that zoology can only be 

 learned over a dissecting dish. The funda- 

 mental principles of biology, the theory of 

 adaptation, protective coloring, protective 

 and aggressive mimicrj\ distribution, de- 

 generation, parasitism and development can 

 all be illustrated to and understood by the 

 school-cliild who has never held a scalpel. 



The school-room already has its plants ; it 

 should also liave its local collection. The 

 children make most enthusiastic and active 

 collectors. It is not necessary that the 

 teacher should be qualified to give off-hand 

 the sesquipedalian scientific name of each 

 and every insect that is brought to the 

 school. A far better goal is reached when 

 the student is taught to recognize homolo- 

 gies, to place grasshoppers, katydids and 

 crickets together, to have a separate apart- 



ment for butterflies and moths, and another 

 for beetles, etc. Perhaps certain students 

 may be interested in the moUuscan fauna 

 of the neighborhood and others may choose 

 to collect cocoons. (I recently read in one 

 of the ubiquitous anti-vivisection papers 

 that the lung of the pond-snail is provided 

 with most beautiful rows of minute horny 

 teeth. Early observations would not only 

 correct such aberrations, but would secure 

 a familiaritj' with natural phenomena which 

 would give that philosophical training that 

 is often so lamentably lacking in our edu- 

 cated classes.) The child is delighted with 

 the movements of aquatic animals. Aqua- 

 ria should be in every school. There are 

 hundreds of animals to be collected in any 

 pond or stream, and how easy is it to liere 

 find themes for written exercises and models 

 for drawing I 



The zoology of the secondary school should 

 not be merely an isolated subject of study. 

 It is not attractive to some, and knowledge 

 cannot be forced upon unwilling minds ; 

 but it can be unconsciously al)sorbed in so- 

 lution. Zoology tlien should enter into the 

 reading, the wTiting, the spelling, the arith- 

 metic ; geography is stupid without it, and 

 the history of human progress is but dis- 

 tribution with the consequent ' struggle for 

 existence ' and the ' survival of the fitti'st." 

 Hkrmon C. Bujii'us. 



Browx Uxiveesitv. 



XOTES ON THE BIOLOGY OF THE LOBSTER* 

 Eeprocltiction. — After hatching a brood in 

 May, the female usually molts and after- 

 wards extrudes a new batch of eggs. In 



•This paper was read before the Soelety of )[orpholoKist.s, 

 Baltimore, December 2Sth. 



The follow-in-; ol)Scrvations are from part of a pro- 

 longed investigation of the habits and devflopment 

 of the lobster, undertaken for the U. S. Fish Commis- 

 sion. Tlie detailed work, now ready to go to press, 

 will l)e publislied in the Fish Commis-sion's Bulletin. 

 It will contain a full presentation and discussion of 

 tlie habits and general life-history of the adult lol)- 



