Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 91 



Community. Pp. 430; by George W. Hunter and Walter G. 

 Whitman. New York, 1921 (Amer. Book Company). — These 

 books cannot be criticized for narrow specialism. They compass 

 the whole wide domain of General Science, and attempt to relate 

 this science to citizenship. The books are intended for public 

 elementary school use and their scope is defined by their authors 

 in the following statement: "In short, Civic Science plans to 

 lead the child in a manner which is both logical and psychologi- 

 cal from the simple factors which make up his environment as a 

 living thing to the complex combinations and interactions which 

 have arisen through what we call civilization." 



Consequently the chapters range from flies, foods, and pests to 

 street lighting, automobiles, plumbing, eugenics and euthenics. 

 The task of organizing such eclectic material into pedagogical 

 units is, of course, a difficult one. The authors have depended on 

 the problem setting or project method to accomplish such unifica- 

 tion. They have also made very free use of the blank score card 

 as a teaching device. Thus we have score cards for the "home," 

 "the natural resources of my environment," "water in my 

 home," "foods in my home," "removal of wastes from my 

 home," etc. 



The volumes are attractively printed, crowded with pictures 

 and diagrams and references and, therefore, constitute a useful 

 source book for the teacher. The proper teaching of elementary 

 school science unfortunately depends to a very slight degree upon 

 textbooks ; but, even without a good teacher, these books will 

 awaken a popular interest in science and an appreciation of its 

 everyday importance, thus anticipating in a way the "Science 

 Service" of the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science. Arnold gesell. 



5. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, vol. VII, parts II and 

 III ; edited by the Director, Heber A. Longman. — Part II (pp. 

 65-80, with 4 plates) contains an account by the Director of a new 

 genus of fossil marsupials, Eury zygoma. This was obtained 

 from the Post-Tertiary deposits in the Darling Downs. It is 

 described as a remarkably bizarre monster of the Nototherium 

 group {Eury zygoma dunense) with a skull, the width of which 

 exceeds the length by 46 mm. 



Part III (pp. 81-240, plates VIII to XII) contains an article 

 by T. D. A. Cockerell of Colorado on Australian bees, with a 

 catalogue by Henry Hacker ; also the second of the papers on 

 Queensland fishes by A. R. McCulloch ; a new Nyctimene by 

 H. A. Longman and on Coleoptera, mostly from Queensland, by 

 A. M. Lea. 



6. United States Life Tables, 1890, 1901, 1910 and 1901-1910 ; 

 prepared by James \V. Glover. Pp. 496, quarto. AVashington, 

 1921. (Bureau of the Census, Samuel L. Rogers, Director.) — 



