An Introduction to Biology

437 been rearranged in a more natural sequence without losing scientific value. New material has been added throughout. A new chapter on human background has been added. Endocrinal coordination, which has been previously discussed with nervous coordination, now is assigned a separate chapter. The chapters on plants have been greatly improved. I am sure that the students using this edition will have more respect for botany than did those who used the other texts. It is better botanical classification to consider the Pteridophyta and the Spermatophyta as separate phyla and not as subdivisions of the phylum Tracheophyta as used in this book. The chapters on the animal kingdom, nutrition, circulation, and other functions of the body are clear and comprehensive. What makes this book especially interesting to the general student and reader are the chapters on the origin and continuity of life, organic adaptation, origin of species, the human background, biology and human welfare, and the history of biology. The appendix includes a very workable bibliography of 15 pages. The usual Woodruff clear-cut and well-defined terms follow in a 25-page glossary. There are 469 excellent figures. I know of no better text for fundamentals, for a cultural education, or as a stimulus for more study in the biological sciences. w. R. HUNT.