A History of Entomologyby E. O. Essig

A History of Entomology by E. O. EssigReview by: Charles A. KofoidIsis, Vol. 17, No. 2 (1932), pp. 447-450Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/224558 .

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REVIEWS 447

ploration and knowledge of the finer structures in plant and animal cells. In the medical section Dr. PINEY reviews (without bibliography) the

subject of keratinization ; the relations of mitochondria and GOLGI bodies in zymogen- and mucin-secreting cells of the stomach; the argentaffin cells of the intestine which have been held to have an endocrine function; the cellular elements of the blood; and the endocrine glands. Professor E. W. MAcBRIDE and Mr. H. R. HEWER write a very full survey of the trends in cytology in recent years, including the vacuome theory; the- GOLGI apparatus in animal and plant cells, its varying structure, and its relation to the secretory function; and the morphology and function of the mitochondria in Protozoa and is germ cells. The cytology of the nucleus and nucleolus, translocation induced by X-rays, deletion, and fragmentation of chromosomes, nucleolar extrusions in relation to yolk formation and to the GOLGI bodies are reviewed. A very valuable section is a review of the entire cytology of both nucleus and cytoplasm during spermatogenesis, oogenesis, and yolk formation. There is also a review of the evidence for the neuromotor system of the Protozoa. A selected bibliography of the subject is included.

Mr. BARTON-WRIGHT summarizes the advances in botanical cytology, including the GOLGI apparatus, mitochondria, and the vacuome. He also treats chromosome structure and surveys the recently developed evidence that the nucleolus contributes to the chromatin of the developing nuclear figure. Protomitosis is outlined in the Plasmodiophorales, in the Cyanophyceae, and in the Bacteria. The first-named group is in reality quite out of place in this association. They are animals rather than plants and are, as their nuclear figures quite clearly indicate, not unlike those of many Sarcodina. The kinetics of cell-division and the meiotic process, especially in hybrid Oenothera, are reviewed. Sex chromosomes, polyploidy, and sterility are discussed, and a brief account is given of CHAMBERS' results in microdissection, of the structure and composition of the cell wall, and of lignified tissues. The discoveries of the last quarter of a century reviewed in this book constitute the foundations of our critical knowledge of cell structures and functions which underlie modern physiology and genetics. The book, therefore, has permanent historical value as a critical synthesis of results in a basic field of biology in what may ultimately prove to have been one of the most brilliant periods of biological discovery.

CHARLES A. KOFOID.

E. 0. Essig. -A History of Entomology. X+ 1029 p., 263 figs. in text. The MACMILLAN Company, New York. 1931. $ 10.00.

The economic note prevails throughout this history of entomology



448 ISIS, XVII (2)

from the preface to the index. In fact the chief object of the volume is frankly stated to be to trace the progress of economic entomology in meeting the needs of agriculture and horticulture. These forms of human culture had a phenomenal growth, both in extent and rapidity of development, in the Central and Western United States in the last century due to the growth of new agencies of transportation, the expansion of irrigation, the introduction of new plants from many different countries, and with them their old insect enemies and their exposure to new ones. These gigantic biological experiments attained vast proportions in the grazing, cereal, vegetable, and fruit growing divisions of agriculture in the fertile valleys and foothills of California. This book portrays man's battle with his insect enemies on the Western front over a period of nearly a century. The contest reached its height in this region and the strategy developed here, notably in spraying, fumigation, the introduction of foreign parasites and insect enemies of insect pests, has been widely followed throughout the world.

The book is none the less valuable and all the more interesting because its actors and stage are largely local, i.e., Californian. The author dips first into the tar pits at Rancho La Brea for the prehistoric insects of the Pleistocene and then turns to the food habits of native Indians in California. They were a degenerate folk with no agriculture and little skill in hunting, and hence depended on the natural products of plain and forest. Insects entered largely into their diet, grasshoppers, larvae of borers, puparia of Ephydra, a fly whose larva feeds in the saline lakes, especially in Mono Lake, where at certain seasons of the year their puparia are washed up in windrows, gathered, dried, and stored as food by the Indians. The full grown caterpillars of Coloradia pandora, a pine moth, are smoked out of the foliage of the pine trees, cooked and dried.

The fourth chapter deals with the history of the organization of entomological research and instruction in the California Academy of Sciences, the University of California, and in other educational centers in the state. There are also histories of local and Pacific Coast natural history and entomological societies and clubs.

The fifth chapter is concerned with the more important mites and insects affecting orchards and vineyards in California, and other insects of economic significance. The history is related of the various efforts to establish the silkworm industry, thus far baffled by disease, foreign competition, and economic conditions. Far more successful has been the expansion of bee farming introduced from New York in i853 and not by the Russian colony at Fort Ross in I8I3 from Kazan as sometimes erroneously maintained.



REVIEWS 449

The chapter on the biological control of insect pests relates the history of the growth of the practice of using predacious and parasitic insects to destroy the insect enemies of crops and fruits. There was much discussion of such procedures in California from i872 on, but the first actual importation of parasites of the cottony cushion scale insect was made in I888. In the same year Mr. ALBERT KOEBELE sailed for Australia in search of such parasites and predators and thus initiated the practice so widely developed by himself and others in later years. The first shipment of the predatory Vedalia beetles was received from Australia in i888. In I889 the warning of the danger of importing destructive parasites of the beneficial introduced insects was first given by W. D. COQUILLET. The success of KOEBELE'S importations, especially of the Mealy Bug Destroyer, Cryptolaemus, in the biological control of insect pests was epochal in the history of applied entomology and easily ranks among the outstanding accomplishments in that field in the last century. This chapter is a valuable account of the many species of parasitic and predatory insects introduced into California for economic reasons with the record of their successes and failures. The work of KOEBELE, COMPERE, VIERECK, VOSLER, CLAUSEN, and HENDERSON as foreign collectors is reviewed and the increase of State Insectaries for the culture and local dissemination of beneficial insects is well illustrated.

The historical account of the scientific elaboration and commercial development of insecticides is followed by a chapter on entomological legislation on matters of inspection, quarantine, insecticides, mosquito abatement, and other sanitary matters.

The chapter of greatest historical content is that dealing with the biographies of I 14 entomologists. This list includes the fathers of entomology in the United States, the pioneer collectors, teachers, and investigators of the West, and a few of the founders of entomology of international fame, such as LINNAEUS, DE GEER, BURMEISTER, and others. Each biography includes a summary of the life of the scientist concerned, a statement of his important studies and discoveries, a list of the insects named by him and after him, and a list of his important works. A full hundred portraits adorn these pages. A chronological table of 142 pages giving the dates of the births and deaths of many entomologists and also of other noted persons, is supplemented by a column of important events in the history of science, dates of important books, and of scientific discoveries.

This history of entomology, though local in its sources, and mainly concerned with the economic aspects of the science as related to agriculture, is nevertheless a mine of scientific entomological information, assembled with great industry and meticulous care. Many an elusive



450 ISIS, XVII (2)

fact has been ferreted out, or error run to earth, in the preparation of its pages. It will always remain a source book of economic entomology covering the period of its origin and successful elaboration. The author writes from the background of intimate personal knowledge of most of the men concerned in its development and of active contact with its processes, its problems, its failures, and its successes. For these reasons the book is a vital one with lasting values.

CHARLES A. KOFOID.

Lucien Levy-Bruhl. - Le surnaturel et la nature dans la mentalite primitive. Bibliotheque de philosophie contemporaine. XL+ 526 p. Paris. FELIX ALCAN. 1931 (60 Frs.) La mentalite' primitive. Une Herbert Spencer lecture. Brochure 27 p. Oxford, at the Clarendon Press.

Dans de nombreux ouvrages que nous avons analyses ici meme (i),

Mr. LEIVY-BRUHL s'est applique 'a determiner quels sont les caracteres distinctifs de la mentalite des populations appelees habituellement sauvages ou primitives; l'on sait que cette mentalite qui avait semble parfois incomprehensible, inouie aux premiers observateurs, lui a paru s'illuminer et devenir presque transparente quand il a renonce 'a la penetrer a l'aide des schemas que les psychologues ont traces pour rendre compte de notre caractere et de notre pensee; l'on se souvient encore que dans ses premiers livres, Mr. LE1VY-BRUHL a tente de preciser theoriquement l'orientation spontanee de cette intelligence chargee d'emotivite mystique, denuee de sens critique, indiff6rente bien souvent 'a la criante contra- diction, et constamment dans l'inquietude. On se rappelle enfin que la pensee primitive qui n'est encore que (( prelogique )) est regie par la loi de participation, tres difficile 'a enoncer abstraitement et qui nous semble fort etrange; car elle permet d'affirmer l'identite simultanement partielle et complete entre evenements et choses apparement fort diff6- rents qui seraient cependant les memes.

L'ouvrage que Mr. LEvY-BRUHL vient de publier est destine' a mettre le lecteur directement en contact avec les reactions psychiques des sauvages et cela sans aucun intermediaire dialectique ou theorique; evitant tout appareil scientifique apparent, mais en utilisant constamment les resultats de6ja acquis, l'auteur penetre la mentalite primitive (( en acte )); il la voit dans les differentes circonstances de la vie individuelle et sociale, reagir du mieux qu'elle peut pour se mettre 'a l'abri des terreurs paniques, des perils constamment mena9ants, en meme temps qu'elle fait effort pour capter d'une maniere ou d'une autre les innombrables puissances

(I) Isis, 5, 467; 9, 482; 12, 345-47.



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A History of Entomologyby E. O. Essig