NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 77 
John Wolley, Charles St. John, W. Dunbar, and others. But to 
make attacks on the egg-collectors of the present day without 
evidence in support of the charge, when all thinking naturalists 
are aware that the disappearance of the Osprey in Scotland, like 
that of the Sea-Hagle and Golden Hagle in Ireland, is due to an 
entirely different class of men, is a proceeding which can do no good 
to the cause of bird protection. Moreover, as Mr. Warren’s asser- 
tions have proved to be erroneous, it is not possible to attach much 
value to the inferences he draws from them.—F. C. R. JourpDAIn 
(Clifton Vicarage, Ashburne, Derbyshire). 


NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 

Eugenio Rignano upon the Inheritance of Acquired Characters. 
Translated by Basin C. H. Harvey. Chicago: The Open 
Court Publishing Co. 
Tue author of this book has approached the subject in a very 
fair and candid manner. He has not only brought together the 
results of experiments made by many eminent investigators, but 
he has also considered with great equity the views and arguments 
of those who are opposed to his generalisations. Thus he 
writes :—‘‘ The great service of Weismann, which is not yet 
appreciated highly enough, is that he brought forward this 
matter of the inheritance of acquired characters, and questioned 
its existence, which previously had been not only tacitly ad- 
mitted by most biologists, but regarded as not needing proof. 
And we must recognize the fact that the great and justifiable 
desire to find for this inheritance some proof which should be 
irrefutable and not open to any objections has remained so far 
unfulfilled.” 
Signor Rignano lays great stress on the theory of functional 
adaptation. He asserts that ‘‘ the decisive experiment upon the 
inheritance of acquired characters must leave amputations and 
similar sudden variations out of consideration, since either their 
effect is to bring about the re-establishment of an exclusively 
local equilibrium or the repetition in the descendants of the 
phenomena by which the parent organism reacted is hindered. 
