Article beginning on page 87.
Psyche 14:87-88, 1907.

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FOUR USEFUL BOOKS.
THE increasing and welcome differentiation between manuals for the identifi- cation of insects onthe one hand, and text-books for the study of entomology on the other, has already led many an amateur entomologist to seek a better acquaintance with biological literature in general; and gaining it, to find new significance in the common phenomena of insect life which he has been studying. Entomologists are more and more coming to be biologists.
Dr. Folsom's "Ent~rnology,"~ published more than a year ago, is an admirable treatise on insect life in its biological aspects. To students remote from the larger libraries it brings a masterly summary of a widely scattered literature. Its chapter on Anatomy and Physiology is full of valuable ideas for teachers, to whom the quality of the illustrations must particularly commend the book. Its very fair-minded pres- entation of the vexed subject of Adaptive Coloration will abate the prejudices and perhaps improve the judgment of those who adventure upon this tempting ground. The treatment of the inter-relations of insects and plants is so good that one wishes it were much more extensive. The fifty-eight pages of bibliography at the end of the volume would alone entitle it to a place in every entomologist's library. The book contains few errors.
A very obvious one is in the statement of the approximate number of species of Coleoptera, on page 18. Professor Metcalf's "Organic E~olution,"~ now in its second edition, is a very useful synopsis of current evolutionary theory. It is interesting to note how largely entomology has contributed to the evidence here brought together, though we may perhaps demur a little at the space given to those time-honored but dubious examples of "terrifying attitudes" furnished by the Lepidoptera. The author's own faith in them is not declared, but the pictures give them undue prominence. On the whole, however, the book is well-balanced, and should save its readers from some of those hasty interpretations of observed phenomena to which beginners are so prone. The experimental work of Fischer, Standfuss, Pictet, Cuenot, Grafin von Lin- den, Poulton, Crampton and many other investigators is concisely summarized, with admirable illustrations, in Professor Morgan's "Experimental Z~ology."~ The 1 Entomology, with special reference to its biological and economic aspects. By Justus Watson Fol-
som, Sc. D., Instructor in Entomology in the University of Illinois. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Go. 2 An Outline of the Theory of Organic Evolution, with a description of some of the phenomena which it explains. By Maynard M. Metcalf, Ph. D., Professor of Biology in the Woman's College of Baltimore. Second edition, revised. New York: The Macmillan Co. 3 Experimental Zoology.
By Thomas Hunt Morgan, Professor of Experimental Zoology in Columbia University. New York: The Macmillan Go.
Psii-he 14337-88 (1937). hup Yfcsychc enlclub org/14/14-087.html



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necessarily brief chapters are supplemented by excellent bibliographies. Every
beginner in entomology who embarks upon experiments to ascertain the effects of heat, light, and changes of food upon insects, or attempts the breeding of hybrids, will find this book indispensable. Not only will it tell him what others have done in the same line; it will also give him a broad idea of modern experimental research and its attained results, and awaken in him a new zeal for the investigation of nature. For very practical service in enabling a novice to identify his captures or ascertain food-plants, Mr. Forbes's "Field Tables of Lepidoptera'jl will be found of value. As now published in neat pamphlet form, the'se tables are an amplification of those given in Dr. Hodge's "Nature Study and Life." Though marred by serious typo- graphical errors, and in places (as in the Glossary) by incompleteness of statement, the work exhibits many helpful features and much ingenuity of arrangement. W. L. W. F.
Wield Tables of Lepidoptera.
By William T. M. Forbes. Worcester, Mass.: For Sale by Davis & Ban- nister.




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