1903 Correspondence 353 



science, which is as it should be. In addition to these, the number of 

 excursions was considerable. The total list of members now stands at 

 177. We are glad to see that the secretary is able to report a good 

 sale of the club's publications] they are of such high merit that there 

 OUghl to be a demand for them amongst the scientific public. 



Correspondence. 



Immunity. — "Your recent article upon 'Immunity,' with special refer- 

 ence to the mongoose, interested me much, because, though I had long 

 read about the matter, I confess the exact meaning of the term was by 

 no means clear in my mind. My object in writing now, however, is to ask 

 if you could not give more of your space to questions of this sort, which 

 have a wider significance than articles on special localities. I could 

 enumerate many such topics which I feel certain my fellow field 

 naturalists would be glad to see similarly dealt with, but it will be 

 sufficient if I state one or two. There is great need for articles on 

 similar lines dealing with Telegony, Maternal Impressions, Heredity, 

 the Transmission of Acquired Characters from Parents to Offspring, 

 and Variation in Animals. All these questions are much in the air, but 

 it is astonishing how difficult it is for a non-professional biologist to 

 obtain a clear understanding of the most recent work thereon, owing to 

 the very highly technical character of the original papers. I trust I may 

 be forgiven the suggestion." — " Interested Onlooker." 



[Our correspondent need not apologise. We are always glad to know 

 what our readers want, and if possible to supply it. We quite agree with 

 his suggestion, but would point out to him that Telegony was dealt with 

 in our first issue, and that we have already intimated that articles upon 

 Heredity, Acquired Characters, and Maternal Impressions are in course 

 of preparation. In the meantime, we would advise our correspondent to 

 obtain the numbers of The Lancet (August and September, etc.), in which 

 a keen correspondence on Acquired Characters has been raging, and he 

 might further read Dr. Archdall Reid's book on Alcoh olism: A Study 

 in Heredity, with much profit. He will have no difficulty in following 

 the reasoning in that work. — Ed. F. N. Q.~\ 



Natural Attitude of Puffins. — " On looking through some back 

 numbers of the Zoologist I came across some very interesting remarks 

 on this subject by Mr. O. V. Aplin in his article, 'Further Notes from 

 Lleyn' (vol. v. 1901, pp. 147, 148). He sums up his observations thus: 

 ' It is possible that if puffins are seen which seem to be for the moment 

 resting on the tarsus, they are birds which have paused in the act of 

 raising themselves from a recumbent position. . . . But the puffin 

 undoubtedly walks and stands on its feet alone, and not on its feet and 

 tarsi like a guillemot.' There is also this further interesting footnote 

 on p. 147 : 'Although photography has made known the real attitude 

 of the puffins on land, very little notice has been taken of the erroneous 



