EDITORIAL 245 



" British Cockroaches," in which we find a capital summary 

 of the distinguishing characters, habits and distribution of 

 the native species, and such as have repeatedly occurred as 

 introductions in Britain, together with an enumeration of such 

 as have only been found casually. To simplify the identifica- 

 tion of the former, eight in number, an artificial key is 

 given ; while of the latter some fourteen are mentioned. 

 This paper cannot fail to be of much service to students of 

 our Orthoptera, while the same remark applies to the later 

 article (pp. 50-54) on "British Crickets" by the same author. 

 This is treated in precisely the same style, four species being 

 noted as truly British and ^ix as purely casuals. 



The microscope is ever throwing more and more light 

 upon those tiny organisms which lie at the bottom of the 

 scale of creation, and recent investigations tend to show how 

 dependent we are for our livelihood upon a proper control of 

 creatures of whose very existence man has been for long ages 

 totally ignorant. The lowest class of animals, the protozoa, 

 are a vast assemblage of creatures almost unlimited in variety 

 of form, and armed with a subtle potentiality of disease and 

 destruction terrible to contemplate. One of the latest results 

 of research among these tiny atoms, with their gigantic 

 possibilities, has been to prove that there are certain forms 

 present in our soils which are inimical to the welfare of those 

 bacteria whose activity enables a normal soil to attain its 

 full fertility. In this connection, Dr T. Goodey's recently 

 published " Observations on the Cytology of Flagellates and 

 Amoebae obtained from old Stored Soil " ^ is of considerable 

 interest and importance. Five different species were 

 investigated, three Flagellates and two Rhizopods, both the 

 latter and one of the former group being described as new. 

 A full account of the structure, methods of reproduction and 

 systematic position of each of these minute organisms is given, 

 while the beautifully executed plates convey a very clear 

 impression of their appearance in different stages when 

 stained and viewed under a high magnification. One of the 

 most interesting features of the investigation lies in the fact 

 that the soil in which these protozoa were found had been 

 ' Proc. Zool. Soc, 1 9 16, pp. 309-332, plates i-iv. 



