218 NATURAL SCIENCE [October 
to relieve us of all responsibility and to continue it as an indepen- 
dent journal. We had rather see it continue in other hands than 
drop out of existence altogether, and we believe that our opinion 
will be shared by most of our readers. Now is the time for expres- 
sions of admiration and sympathy to be translated into practical aid. 
THE BIOLOGICAL EXHIBITION AT BRISTOL 
AmoneG the features of the British Association meeting that held 
out promise of novelty and interest was the widely-advertised 
Biological Exhibition arranged at the Zoological Gardens, Clifton. 
At 3 P.M. on September 8th, the entrance to the grounds was 
crowded by those who came to hear and see Sir John Lubbock 
open the exhibition. These numbers can hardly have been 
expected by those responsible for the arrangements, and it 
resulted that Sir John was seen by few and heard by fewer. 
The exhibition itself was attractive in many ways, and, con- 
sidering the intense heat of these few days, remarkable as a 
tour de force; but to the biologist it was rather disappointing. 
The greater part of it was a flower-show, to which many lead- 
ing firms of florists contributed. In this section the exhibit of 
most scientific interest was that of Dr E. J. Lowe, who showed 
beautiful examples of rare ferns, with crossed varieties of double, 
triple, and quadruple parentage. The zoological section contained 
a somewhat miscellaneous lot of exhibits, and it was clear that the 
committee had been prevented by the usual considerations from 
exercising that stern selection which alone could have maintained 
the desired standard. We, who are not thus hampered, need only 
mention the following :—Dr J. A. Norton of Bristol showed clutches. 
containing cuckoos’ eggs, in illustration of the various foster-parents, 
also a series of robins’ nests with cuckoos’ eggs, intended to elucidate 
the problem whether there be any variation in the egg according to 
the nest in which it is laid; Mr C. K. Rudge of Clifton, various 
nests of British birds, with an analysis of the materials from which 
they were formed. Mr G. C. Griffiths of Clifton had an interesting 
little case containing hybrids of Lepidoptera, examples of mimicry 
of plants by Lepidoptera (eg. Kallina inachis, the Indian leaf- 
butterfly and its allies), and instances of protective and aggressive 
resemblances among Orthoptera. . Mr H. A. Francis of Clifton 
showed specimens of local wasps and wild bees, with examples: 
of protective mimicry of the same by other insects. Professor 
E. B. Poulton exhibited the proof quite recently obtained by Mr 
Guy A. K. Marshall, that Precis octavia-natalensis and P. sesamus: 
are but seasonal variations of the same species: the parent speci- 
men, here exhibited, of the form P. octavia-natalensis laid three eggs. 
on February 27, 1898; on April 15, one of these produced a P. 
