THE CONDOR up by the ichthyologists at Stanford. As far as we are able to learn, the ornithological re- sults of the expedition were relatively unim- portant. PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED The present reviewer cannot remember to have ever read a book more profitable, and at the same time entertaiuing, than BEEBE'S "THE BIRD". x The brief title at first glauce seems to lack sufficient definiteness as to the real nature of the subject-matter. The book has nothiug to do with systematic ornithology: species are mentioned merely incidentally; but a multitude of subjects related to evolution and adaptation are dealt with. After all, as we think it over, the book does treat of the bird, inclusively and broadly. Yet one must have read and studied the whole book to compre. bend its scope. Our first pleasure was in simply "looking at the pictures." Every one of the 37x illustra- tions are significant per se of some fact of bird structure or habit: One does not have to read the context to gain at least some suggestion of what the pictures are meant to show. There is every indication that Mr. Beebe has spent plenty of time in securing the most instructive photos for the bringing out of each desired point. And the text is as good as the pictures. The style is non-technical, but not too "popular" in most places. Here aud there, there is a shade too much of literary ornateness? which to our minds does not strictly harmonize with the scientific treatment of a subject. But this is so inconsequential a criticism, that we feel almost ashamed to have ventured it. The following are a few of the subjects dis- cussed: The ancestors of birds; growth and structure of feathers; framework of a bird; or- gans of nutrition (tongues, crops, gizzards); food and feeding-habits of various birds; breath of a bird; senses; wing-structure and flight; theories of coloration; the bird within the egg. Beehe's "The Bird" is an extraordinary book, and we advise our readers to get this one above any other work on birds of the same size.--J. G. "THE PROTECTION OF OUR NATIVE BIRDS" is the title of a pamphlet ? by Professor MONT- GOMERY of the University of Texas. In the publication and distributiou of such carefully I The Bird I Its Form and Function ] By ] C. William Beebe t Curator [etc., 4 lines] ] with over three hundred and seventy illustratiouslchiefly photographed from life [ by the author ? [vignette] I New York [ Henry Holt and Company ] ?9o6; pp. xii--496, i plate, 37I text figures. e The Protection of Our Native Birds I By i Thos. H. Montgomery, Jr. ] Professor of Zoology [Bulletiu of the University of Texas No. 79, Scientific Series No. 8; Oct. I. i906; pages 3o]. VOL. IX and convincingly drawn up papers as this, can the educational centers of each state do much to spread the cause of bird protection. As Pro- tessor Montgomery suggests, it is thru the schools that the knowledge of the value of birds can be emphasized at large. Nature courses in the lower grades are most productive of widespread good, it has seemed to us. The economic value of bird-life is what will appeal, by way of the school children, to the adults of the community. The present paper presents the subject strongly, and cannot fail to have its good effect. So good a service has thus been done by Pro- fessor Montgomery that we are quite ready to pardou his extreme attitude in respect to col- lectors. It is too bad, tho, that people have to go to extremes !--J. G. In a profound essay on "THE PROBLEM OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES," Professor C. O. WHITMAN briefly reviews 3 the progress of our knowledge of the methods of species-formation, and contributes to their further understanding. While agreeing that the majority of animals may be subject to ordinary or fluctuating vari- ation (that is, variation uniformly in all directions), and that evolution in such eases seems to be solely directed by natural selec- tion (or survival of the fittest), Professor Whit- man maintains that further, in some cases at least, there is ortho?enesis as a result of con- tinuous asymmetrical or "definite" variation. Orthogenesis, as the present reviewer under- stauds it, is the evolution of a linear series of descendants in a definite direction (as regards some one or more specific characters), irrespec- tive of the Darwinian essential of fituess or un- fitness and resulting persistence or elimination of individuals. This would conveniently ac- count for the very beginuings of certain struct- ures, now clearly adaptive, but of which we cannot imagine a series of useful rudimentary stages. Professor Whitman has been a strong advo- cate of experimental evolution and is himself at work along that liue. For the past ten years he has had under constant observation a suc- cession of generations of the common pigeon (Uolumba livia). Supplementing these, he makes use of specimens of all available wild species of pigeous and doves. He has selected, for reasons of convenience, as characters for observation, the color-patterns shown on the outer surface (coverts) of the wing. The en- deavor was to find a case where he could trace the history of oue particular specific character. An ideal case seemed to be provided by the ?The Problem of the Origin of Species I By Charles Otis Whitman [Reprinted from "Congress o? Arts and Sciences, Universal Exposition, St. Louis, ?9o4", Vol. V; pages I8 (repaged ?) ].
