SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXI. No. 524 



It is probably because Professor Wright is so secure in his posi- 

 tion that he can afford to pass by in silence the statements that 

 any sane man can see are unwarranted, and the attention of the 

 world at large may have been directed to him by these very at- 

 tacks, as well as arranged on his side by their baselessness. The 

 writer does not wholly agree with the professor ; but he can thank 

 him for a good example of a disputant. The time has passed 

 when the progress of knowledge can be dammed by the straws of 

 a few determined opponents, and the examples of the primordial 

 and cretaceous controversies cannot be safely repeated. It has 

 been the shame of America that it has been so taken up in petty 

 flo-hts over side issues that it has left to others abroad the build- 

 ing of the science of geology. 



In the future the combatants in the arena had better take as 

 their type, the old-fasbioned town pump. It always works best 

 in the cold and deliberation of vvinter, and the quality of its 

 product is beyond question. When the heats of spring come it 

 begins to diminish its flow, and during the controversial dog-days 

 it dries up. Edward P. Williams, Jr. 



Bethlehem, Pa., Feb. 6 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



The Hemiptera Heteroptera of the British Islands. A descriptive 

 account of the families, genera, and species indigenous to 

 Great Britain and Ireland, with notes as to localities, habi- 

 tats, etc. By Edward Saunders, F.L.S. London, L. Reeve 

 & Co., 1893. With 33 plates. Price, £a, 8s. 

 The late well-known naturalist, the Rev. J. G. Wood, used to 

 deliver a popular and entertaining lecture on -'unappreciated in- 

 sects." Among these he included the -one which is familiarly 

 termed the black beetle. To this he endeavored to reconcile 

 feminine taste and intelligence by representing that its approach 

 infallibly scares from our chambers the more dreaded and more 

 vicious bed-bug. But this latter is itself one of the unappre- 

 ciated, for which even a very skilful advocate will not easily 



conciliate our esteem. The best perhaps that can be said for it 

 is that the barest suspicion of its presence is an incentive to 

 cleanliness. The modern feeling a')0ut this special nocturnal 

 terror ishappilv, however unintentinnally, expressed in that old 

 version of the Psalms, which brought home lo the reader a deep 

 sense of comfort and security by the wording, "so that thou 

 shalt not nede to be afrayd for any bugges by night." It is sin- 

 gular that collectors of insects should have adopted for them- 

 selves as a kind of pet name the title of bug-hunters. Perhaps 

 they have wished to wrest a weapon out of the hands of the 

 scornful, with the feeling that it is more agreeable to call one- 

 self names than to be called names b.y other people. 



The students of bugs in particular, as distinguished from those 

 who study insects in general, are comparatively few. It is 

 probable that, for the sins of a single and not very characteristic 

 species, a pre.iudice has been evoked in the public mind against 

 the whole order to which the objectionable species happens to 

 belong. There has been plenty of time for prejudice to gather 

 strength, since the genus Cimex is said to have made its first 

 ascertained appearance in the far-distant Liassic period. There 

 is something wonderfully romantic in the thought of this blood- 

 thirsty genus biding its time, waiting, craftily waiting through 

 so many ages till man should appear upon the mundane scene 

 with lodgings to let ! But as it must be confessed that its habits, 

 however venerable for their antiquity, have placed all its kindred 

 more or less under a cloud, there is the more reason to acknowl- 

 edge the spirited enterprise of Messrs. Reeve in publishing an ex- 

 pensive work on this rather neglected department of zoology. 

 There is. however, good reason to think that the volume, being 

 such as it is, will largely help to cure the neglect of the subject. 

 The beginner learns at the outset that most of the species are 

 vegetable- feeders, and that, from the few that are less temperate, 

 the collector runs practically little or no risk of harm. From 

 the beautifully colored plates it is obvious that many of the spe- 

 cies must be in nature highly attractive. The clear descriptions 

 of all the species at present known in Great Britain and Ireland 



CALENDAR OF SOCIETIES. 



Anthropological Society, Washington. 



Feb. 7. — O. T. Mason, Co-operation in 

 Anthropological Work; Clifford Howard, 

 The Philosophy of Sin ; W. H. Holmes, Early 

 Man on the Upper Mississippi. 



Biological Society, Washington. 

 Feb. 11.— M. B. Waite, The Destruction 

 of Lichens on Pear Trees; C. H. Townsend, 

 The Propagation of the Atlantic Coast 

 Oyster on the Pacific Coast; Charles Hal- 

 lock, The Geographical Distribution of the 

 Musk-Ox; C. Hart Merriam, The Four-Toed 

 Kangaroo Rats (with exhibition of speci- 

 mens); F. A Lucas, The Food of Humming- 

 Birds. 



Society of Natural History, Boston. 



Feb. 15. — Henry W. Haynes, More Evi- 

 dence of Cannibalism among the Indians of 

 Nevr England; R. T. Jackson, Notes on the 

 Development of Palms; S. J. Mixter, A 

 Massachusetts Beaver Dam. 



THE RADIOMETER. 



By DANIEL S. TROY. 



This contains a discussion of the reasons 

 for their action and of the phenomena pre- 

 sented in Crookes' tubes. 



Price, po§tpaid, 50 cents. 



N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, H. Y. 



INSECTS AND INSECTICIDES. 



A PRACTICAL MANUAL, 



Concerning Noxious Insects and the Methods 

 of Preventing their Injuries, 



By CLARENCE M. WEED, 



Professor of Entomology and Zoology, New 

 Hampshire State College. 



^VHAT IS SAI» ABOUT IT. 



*' I think that you have gotten together a very 

 useful and valuable little hook.''— Dr. C. V. Riley, 

 U. S. Entomologist, Washington, D. C. 



"Tt is excellent."— James Fletcher, Dominion En- 

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"I am well pleased with it."— Dr. F. M. Hesamer, 

 Editor American Agriculturist, New York. 



"It seems to me a good selection of the matter 

 which every farmer and fruit grower ought to have 

 at his Immediate command.''''— Prof. S. A. Forbes. 

 State Entomologist of Illinois, Champaign, 111. 



"A good book, and it is needed.''''— Prof. L. H. 

 Bailey. Cornell University. 



" it is one of the best books of the kind I have 

 .ever seen."— J. Freemont Hickman, Agriculturist, 

 Ohio Experiment Station, Columbus, Ohio. 



" I shall gladly recommend it.'"— Prof. A. J. Cook, 

 Michigan Agricultural College. 



I*riee, $1.25. 



Sent postpaid to any address on receipt of price. 



N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York. 



Reading Matter Notices, 



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