Abstract
(1) PROF. J. G. NEEDHAM, of Cornell University, and his colleague, Mr. J. T. Lloyd, have prepared an introduction to the study of freshwater organisms—their adaptations, associations, and economic possibilities. The subject is an interesting one, the authors are enthusiasts and experts; the book should certainly give a stimulus to limnology. After dealing with the physical and chemical conditions of the freshwater environment, and its relation to the land-surface, the authors discuss the various types of lakes and ponds, of streams, of marshes, swamps, and bogs, and tne difference between high and low water in each case. Then comes a vivid, well-illustrated survey of the freshwater plants and animals. The subject of adaptations is also very successfully handled. Flotation is helped by the outgrowth of slender prolongations and by the production of oils, gases, and jelly. Movement is facilitated by the “stream-line form” familiar in fishes. Animals living near the shore have adaptations for avoiding silt, for burrowing, for making shelters, for withstanding the rush of water. Seasonal vicissitudes are circumvented by adaptations for lying low, such as statoblasts, ephippia, and hibernacula. The secondary adaptation of originally terrestrial types to aquatic life is also discussed. Inter-organismal adaptations find fine illustrations in the bladderwort and in the dependence of the larvae of freshwater mussels on fish hosts. This leads on to associations or societies, whether in the open-water (limnetic,) or by the shores (littoral), the latter being again divided into still-water (lenitic) and rapid-water (lotic) societies. The studies end up with a suggestive chapter on water-culture, which is not too dismally utilitarian. As an elementary introduction to a fascinating study the book is admirable —clear, interesting, educative, and of moderate size. It is abundantly illustrated, and many of the figures have had brains put into their construction.
(1) The Life of Inland Waters.
An elementary text-book of freshwater biology for American students. By Prof. James G. Needham and J. T. Lloyd. Pp. 438. (New York: The Comstock Publishing Co., 1916.) Price 3 dollars.
(2) Wild Flowers of the North American Mountains.
By Julia W. Henshaw. Pp. 383. (London and New York: McBride, Nast and Co., Ltd., 1916.) Price 10s. 6d. net.
(3) Hitting the Dark Trail, Starshine through Thirty Years of Night.
By Clarence Hawkes. Pp. 191. (London: George G. Harrap and Co., 1916.) Price 3s. 6d. net.
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(1) The Life of Inland Waters (2) Wild Flowers of the North American Mountains (3) Hitting the Dark Trail, Starshine through Thirty Years of Night. Nature 98, 2 (1916). https://doi.org/10.1038/098002a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/098002a0