NOTICES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
NOTICES. 
The Force of Advet'se Selection among Entrants at the Extremes of Life 
(ages 15 to 25 and 60 or over), by EuGENE L. FiSK, M.D. 
A paper read before the Life Insurance Medical Directors' Association of America in which 
Dr Fisk re-examines, with the help of additional information, some conclusions expressed by 
Mr T. B. Macaulay in 1893, and comes to the conclusion that there is little adverse selection 
under 25, but that the group over 60 is " hypersensitive." It seems to us that this last con- 
clusion is a natural consequence of an increasing value of the I'ate of mortality combined with 
paucity of data, and we also do not feel satisfied that Dr Fisk has done well in choosing the 0" 
(or with-profit policies) in preference to the 0"" (or without-profit policies) for his investigation 
as regards English experience. W. P. E. 
Principles of Breeding, by E. Davenport, M.Agr., LL.D. 
Boston, Ginn & Co. Pp. 727 + xiii. 
This book is intended for the student of agriculture, and the practical breeder. Part I. deals 
with Variation, and discusses Morphological, Substantive, Meristic and Functional Variation ; 
the treatment follows Bateson's " Materials," and many of Mr Davenport's illustrations are taken 
from that work. Part I. concludes with twenty pages on Mutation. Part II. deals with Causes 
of Variation, and interesting sections are devoted to Telegony, Genetic Selection, and the effect 
of light, food, &c., on living things. Part III. (Transmission) will probably be of most interest 
to readers of Biometrika, as it contains accounts of the methods employed in biometric research 
and Mendel's Law. Part IV. deals with Selection and practical problems in breeding. The 
book as a whole is written clearly and interestingly, and is well worth reading. W. P. E. 
Die Pendulations-theorie, by Dr Heinrich Simroth. Leipzig. Konrad 
Grethlein's Verlag, 1907. Pp. 564 + xii. Price M. 12. 
A book on the geographical distribution of living things : it is entirely devoted to Reibisch's 
theory on the subject, and is only indirectly of interest to biometricians. 
