1898] NOTES AND COMMENTS 155 



which, of course, are the ones more readily seen. Isolation also he 

 regards as an important factor in intensifying the effects of com- 

 petition ; " the absence of direct communication with the mainland, 

 and the consequent impossibility of frequent immigrations of dusky 

 specimens from the houses on the adjoining shore, have allowed 

 Natural Selection to carry on its weeding-out of unfavourable 

 variations without disturbances of any kind." 



There can be very little doubt that we have here a distinct race 

 that has been evolved during the present century. Mr Jameson 

 gives it no name, not even a sub-specific name, although it is at 

 least as distinct from the species-norm as many named sub-species 

 of Mas wAJLSGulus. "We think he is wise, for if the fashion of giving 

 a name to every local race, confined perhaps to a few square miles 

 as here, is to spread, we do not see where bounds are to be set. It 

 is no absurd supposition that there may be many hundred such local 

 races now in existence, each of absolutely independent origin, and 

 yet not to be separated upon internal evidence. The fact is one to 

 emphasise and to remember, but the multiplication of names is no 

 great help. 



With regard to the plate we would suggest that an actual 

 rendering of the various colour-tints in separate squares would have 

 been more to the point than this attempt at realism, with its dirty 

 sand and impossible grass. 



The Royal Bohemian Museum, Prague 



"We have frequently referred to the remarkable progress of the 

 Natural History Collections in Prague since they were removed to 

 the new Royal Bohemian Museum. We have now before us the 

 official Bericht of the Museum for the year 1897. Notwithstanding 

 limited means and many discouragements, the enthusiasm of the 

 director and his staff continues to overcome all difficulties ; and 

 those who know the collection will agree with us when we say that 

 for convenience of arrangement and excellence of labelling it is now 

 one of the foremost in Europe. The cases and fittings naturally 

 lack the elegance and ornamental character of those in the larger 

 and more richly-endowed institutions elsewhere ; but so far as the 

 original investigator is concerned, they are all admirably arranged for 

 ready reference, while to the general scientific public they cannot 

 fail to impart such elementary instruction as they desire. When 

 funds fail for the purposes of this arrangement, Dr Anton Fritsch, 

 the distinguished director, himself provides the means, and during 

 the past year he has made a donation of 1000 florins towards the 

 installation of the palaeontological collection. That the Bohemian 

 public appreciate his efforts may be inferred from the circumstance 

 that no less than 78,149 persons visited the museum during 1897 ; 



