May 25, 1911] 



NATURE 



431 



this country. From his address we gather that he would 

 dissociate entirely the training in entomology from the 

 general zoological training, doing it as a post-graduate 

 course. The trend of the course, he pointed out, must not 

 be that of the comparative anatomist, the evolutionist, the 

 systematist, or the histologist. The difficulty in making 

 economic zoologists in England, he thought, would be the 

 preponderance of the academic view and the total absence 

 of the economic view based on experience. English univer- 

 sities have a very long way to go before they can turn 

 out entomologists of the practical stamp that America 

 does. » 



Referring to the lack of knowledge of entomology of the 

 medical men who apply themselves to entomological 

 problems, he described it as very painful, but in England 

 there are so few places where medical men can obtain 

 their training, and even then it seems to lack much. The 

 kind of training in our universities is too academic for 

 men who are required to solve problems requiring practical 

 solutions. 



We are on the threshold of greater things, and whatever 

 problem comes one must put one's hand on. Only so is 

 tiie practical entomologist going to convince an unlearned 

 public and sceptical governments that there is anything at 

 all in it, and we are, in England certainly, beginners who 

 must look to the future. England should be the source at 

 least of the entomologists of her Empire, but she is not, 

 and unless radical changes take place in the atmosphere of 

 her teachers, she will not be. The training will have to 

 be that of practical field entomologists if the demand has 

 to be met from England, and the last thing it wants is the 

 academic zoological training of the average English 

 university. 



A perhaps more important subject to economic biologists 

 generally was Mr. H. Maxwell Lefroy's address on the 

 standardisation of economic nomenclature. The almost 

 hopr-loss muddle that at present reigns in the nomenclature 

 ill the literature bearing on economic biology is little short 

 of appalling. 



Mr. Lcfroy proposes to meet this difficulty by having a 

 standard catalogue of the important species with the name 

 most in use in biological literature definitely decided on, so 

 ihat the further changes in nomenclature need not affect 

 til'" eronomir biologist. Tlic ;,fuiding principles would be 

 that it should bo indcpciulriit or unaffected by the rules of 

 priority. It should be based on the name used in important 

 biological literature. Genera in which there is a close 

 unifnnnitv nf habit and life-history, or which form a 

 (li^iinrt cla-s of pest, shall, for this purpose, be retained 

 V-"IioIr and not subdivided, c.if. I^eranium, Dactylopius, 

 Aijroti-., ( irvllolalpa. 'Id m.ake cxi-tiiiif and future bio- 

 l<jgiral lil<>raturc ai(e^^ililc hy .adopting and making 

 permanent the name under which it was written, and not 

 to perpetuate inviolate the .author of a name or description 

 in th(^ systematic literature. Writing recently on this 

 subject, ^fr. r.efro\ -lahd, " In this matter, teachers and 

 ptactical eiitomoloL;i~-t ^ alone are ronrerned ; to the 

 systematic entomologist, the mazes of svnonyin .and priority 

 are (appaienll\ ) the hre.aih of life, and the pastime might 

 be ,1 quite hannl' >-, one : . . . but to practical men who 

 wish to (heck the ^11. win;;; spread of insects from country 

 to coinitry, w Iki wi^h to < oo[>orate to deal with big 

 problems, wlio '-ee in agi-icultural edu(,aii(in the chief 

 solution of these hi^; problems, the ciue^tion is one of \'ital 

 import.ine.'. r think all e( (inoii,ic eninini ili i^isfs will .aecro 

 that w>- .ar.- iininensi-l\- addiiiL; to the dil't'iru ll ie^ iif our 

 work, if it is to he an\lli;n- iiKne ih.iii p.ai'oehlal, either 

 by modif\'in<^ our imiie m Lnin ■ in .iri ni'danre with thi" 

 priority discoveries nl s\ siemai i^i^ ^^\■ h\- .arhili'.aiilv using 

 the nomenclature \<,-c think most suitable. Tt is impossible 

 for an isolated worker in ;i t.ir country to do more th.'ui 

 offer -ii--vsfi,,ii~ : I t'-el a-siir.d it will he for the pi-r- 

 maie'il! ulliinali' ^^ned (if iww scjiaiee if we e.an o\'ercome 

 this :_:i(iwini^- moiishi, and I think the Assoc iai iiMi of 

 Ecoiiiiinie I>ioIoL; isi-, miL;lii till\" talce up the snhjeel." 



As ih- oiil'dinc nt \Tr. f,' Irov's siit,;L;es| ion it was decided 

 to fi)i"m ;i eomnuilii' in 1 oiisidcr and report u[)on the 

 niiller. The cdninnl : - ■■ appointed wer<' Richard S. 

 Bagnall, Piaif. (.(..^ II, (ari.(ni.i, II. M.ixwll F.efrov, 

 Dr. R. Stewart ^ra(|)ou^all, Roheii \(\s si c.kI, and W.alter 

 F. Collinge (hon. sec). 



NO. 2169, VOL. 86"^ 



Such a scheme will greatly facilitate investigation and 

 the reference to work done, and this desire to place 

 matters upon a sound basis is perhaps one of the best 

 auguries for the future prosperity of the association. 



A further very interesting discussion was initiated by 

 Dr. J. H. Priestley on the systematic recording of diseases 

 of economic plants. The Biological Committee of the 

 Agricultural Education Association have for some time past 

 given consideration to the question of establishing at a 

 convenient centre a record, as complete as possible, of the 

 various fungus, insect, and other diseases of economic 

 importance, reported in the British Isles from time to time. 

 The main object of such a record would be to aid the 

 scientific investigator who wished to get into touch as 

 quickly as possible with the scattered literature and notes 

 dealing with the distribtition of, and other questions re- 

 lating to, some disease or pest of which he was making a 

 particular study. It had been decided to approach other 

 bodies likely to be interested with a view to cooperation, 

 it was decided to give the scheme approval and support. 



All these activities indicate the growing importance of 

 the subject, the possibilities of which we have yet but 

 dimly realised ; the multifarious lines of research are vast 

 and the field is an ever widening one, and the need for 

 work and workers pressing. That the workers of this 

 country will bear their share in elucidating some of the 

 hidden mysteries, and directing their application on the 

 problems of our everyday life, is greatly to be hoped. 



W. E. C. 



ECOLOGICAL STUDIES. 



A NOTE by Dr. C. C. Hosseus on the flora of Wang 

 ■^^ Djao, a station on the Meping River in middle Siam, 

 appears in Engler's Botanische Jahrbiicher (vol. xlv., 

 part iii.). Trees of Dipterocarpus laevis and other species 

 clothed with epiphytes, especially orchids, are prominent 

 along the river banks. On the savannah lands in the 

 vicinity Cassia siamea is the dominant tree, while Andro- 

 pogon brevifolius, species of Scitamineoe, and Hibiscus 

 Abelntoschus are conspicuous amongst the ground vegeta- 

 tion. 



In the Bulletin of the Illinois State Lalwratory of 

 Natural History (vol. ix., art. 3), Dr. H. A. Gleason 

 presents an instructive ecological study of the vegetation 

 of the inland sand deposits of Illinois. He distinguishes 

 prairie, blowout, swamp, and forest formations. The 

 prairie formation consists largely of bunch grass associa- 

 tions, in which Koeleria argentea, Leptoloma cognatum, 

 Panicum psciidopubescens, and Andropog(ui scoparius are 

 dominant species, either alone or in combination. On the 

 patches between the grass clumps there i^row various 

 perennials of the type of Aster linariiiKlnis, or Callirhoe 

 triangtdata, some annuals, and SelagiiulLi riipcstris, which 

 spreads in circular rings. The formation and different 

 aspects of the sand dune are described. The most efficient 

 dune-formers are Panicum virgatum, which i>osn ss. s |.>ii^ 

 tough roots and tufted stems densely covered with ]> 1 - 

 sistent leaves, and a IcKal variet\ of Rims , .nhuimsis, 

 which continually grows above the sand tli it • >;:- , i-, uound 

 its dense tangle of stems. 



.\ phytogeographical skdih of the .\ndes in the south- 

 east of liolivia, communi( aii'd by Mr. K. I'iebrig to 

 Engler's Botanische Jcilnlnulii-r (vol. xlv., p.ut i."), provides 

 a good biological account <>t the remarkable modilirations 

 develo[)eil on the w', '"'iih jilateanx, 'he Punas, 



at an ,-iI;iiwde <>f ij,. rushioii plants of .1 nmch 



branehi'd, . lo-.-l\ <(.iiiiii^ ■ 1 . h.iraeter aie d!spl.i\-cd hy 

 .■l::i'irll,i iihid < ■' p:>> t, ,1 ,ind ]'viU.>ph\lluvi I'll ^rihiinnti , while 

 .1 l.s^ .Air.-ne' :\'i ■ - 1 \.lop.d h\' minx >il ih" (\>in- 

 |)i>sii.c, an I{|)h. ■ lie elohular im 



loiiii-rooted plan' nplilied h\ sp, , 



a new spe( ■ ^.nn. and lhil,-,t , ,i.',',,n;.'/';, ^. The 



numerous <i I'n- inclnd.- mam spc j, s of foni- 



posit.T?, a F.miaiii iSoianaic.il, and the thoriix' rosaceous 

 plant, Ti'traglocliiii stri, Inni. S.v^ lal hullx^us pl.inf^^ occur, 

 notably nil .Mstnem-! ' 1 .cd .1 ■■•,,-!k-- S!s\-, ^nrtiinin. and 

 an (^yil i,'ras>, /•', ;> it. h<yi 



with pot( iipin.-l;,. ' ' ;:ii.'(i aril 



the Alpin.', th- \.i\l\:. .\:;A ;!,■ lowland iorcsts. 



