244 NATURE STUDY REVIEW [7 :8— < Nov., 1911 



cian, who is an enthusiastic nature student and an authority on 

 the Locusts. The press work on the book is all that could be 

 desired and many beautiful illustrations, not a few in color, 

 add to the attractiveness of the volume. Without being un- 

 necessarily technical, the author has given a very clear state- 

 ment of evolution by natural selection, illustrating the matter 

 with reference to animals and plants that are usually familiar 

 to the reader. There then follows successive portions of the 

 book devoted to Adaptations in Animals and Plants, Protec- 

 tive Resemblances, Mimicry, Warning Colors — all treated 

 from the strictly Darwinian point of view. This part of the 

 book is admirably done, and even if one can not agree with the 

 author in all of his interpretations, you must admit the ac- 

 curacy of his observation and the charm of his narrative. The 

 latter half of the book approaches nature from somewhat more 

 recent view points. The sections on animal behavior and par- 

 ticularly that upon ecology are the ones to which zoologists 

 will turn with most interest. Nor will he be disappointed 

 particularly in the section on ecology. Here the author is 

 dealing with the group of insects with which he is particularly 

 familiar — the orthoptera — and he makes a decidedly valuable 

 contribution from the scientific point of view as well as a 

 chapter of much interest to the uninitiated layman. Withal-, it 

 is a very excellent book to add to one's shelf of nature books 

 and one that will be a stimulating companion for summer 

 rambles. 



Physicians seem quite prone to take to the woods and 

 fields for their recreation. A second book by a physician is 

 that by George T. Stevens, an Illustrated Guide to the Flower- 

 ing Plants of the Middle Atlantic States and Nezv England, 

 published by Dodd Mead & Company. The purpose of the 

 book is expressed in its preface, namely, "To furnish a hand 

 book to the very large and ever growing class of educated peo- 

 ple who are interested in the study of this most attractive 

 branch of natural history, but who, by reason of unfamiliarity 

 with the technical terms, have absolutely no adequate aid in 

 the prosecution of an agreeable and refining pursuit." And 

 in this task the author has usually succeeded very well. It is 

 evidently difficult, however, for a man 'who is himself very 

 familiar with the scientific terminology to refrain from its use 

 and almost any page of the book will give examples of rather 

 technical phraseology. Still the book is in relatively un- 



