XIV NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



(flies, mosquitoes, etc.), by Baron Ostensacken, of the Kussian legation 

 at Washington. Lcpidoptera (butterflies, moths, etc.), by Dr. J. G. 

 Moms, Baltimore, and by Dr. B. Clemens, Easton, Pa. Hemiptera 

 (chinches, roaches, etc.) , by P. R. Uhler, Baltimore. 



Catalogues of the Coleoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera have been 

 already published. 



In Europe, especially in France, the subject of the acclimatization 

 of new and the improving of old breeds of animals continues to 

 receive great attention. During the last few years there have been 

 introduced and acclimatized in France, mainly through the auspices 

 of the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, the following new, species : two 

 new and hardy varieties of the silk-worm ; ten species of ornamental 

 birds ; and five species of domestic mammalia, namely : the lama, 

 which already counts three generations at the Jardin des Plantes; 

 the yak, or Thibet ox, which in two generations has increased to sev- 

 enteen individuals, including the three original ones ; and the hemi- 

 one, the canna, and nilgau (varieties of deer or antelope from South 

 Africa). These three animals all furnish excellent meat ; that of the 

 nilgau has already been served up at several tables in Europe. 



The Belgian and Danish governments, during the past year, have 

 appointed commissioners to study the new methods of propagating 

 and rearing fish, and to introduce the same among the fishing popula- 

 tion of their respective shores. Legislative action has also been re- 

 cently taken by the French government (see Zoology, this volume) for 

 the protection of useful birds, with a view of checking the increase of 

 insects injurious to vegetation. M. St. Hilaire, the late eminent nat- 

 uralist, in presenting to the French Academy, during the past year, 

 the fourth edition of his work, Acclimatization and Domestication, re- 

 marked, that breeding alone, in most civilized countries, had become a 

 regular business with the agriculturist ; but in the way of preserving 

 the animals we have, whether wild or domestic, or turning them to the 

 best account, we at present display but little more wisdom than in the 

 Middle Ages; and sportsmen of every nation kill the most useful 

 birds, such as the swallow, for instance, for no purpose whatever 

 but the stupid pleasure of killing. Let a goat-sucker or owl be seen 

 by a farmer, he will hunt it down forthwith, and proudly nail its 

 carcass to his barn-door, quite unconscious of having shot one of his 

 best friends, whose only pursuit was that of destroying the vermin on 

 his ground. 



The Lowest Race of Men. At the last meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation (1861), Professor Owen stated that he regarded the natives 

 of the Andaman Islands, in the Indian Ocean, as probably the most 



