ii8 



NATURE 



[November 23, 



I ' I ! ! 



which lives as a parasite in the body of the animal which 

 is suffering from cancer. He apparently does not suggest 

 that it is a parasite derived from without, but that the 

 host by some inscrutable means has fashioned it out of its 

 own tissues. 



Tub death is announced, in The Times, of Dr. W. W. 

 Wobb, at Exeter, in his fifty-fourth year. Dr. Webb 

 resided for some years at Netley, and was appointed curator 

 of the Natural History Museum at the Royal Victoria 

 Hospital, being awarded the Martin memorial gold medal 

 and the Sir Joseph Fayrer's prize for pathology at Netley 

 in 1883. He was the author of a guide for intending 

 candidates for commissions and for junior officers of the 

 Indian Medical Service, a manual of vaccination, and a 

 work on the currencies of the Hindu States of Rajputana. 



Mr. Joseph Collinson, writing from the Animal Friend 

 Society, asks for protection for the badger, as this sadly 

 persecuted animal has dwindled down almost to extinc- 

 tion. Many well-known landowners have made praise- 

 worthy efforts to protect the badger, and warmly advocate 

 his preservation. " The protection of the badger," re- 

 marks Sir Harry Johnston, " ought to be made universal 

 in the law of the land, quite as much as in the case of 

 interesting wild birds," a sentiment which will receive the 

 approbation of all who are interested in preserving the 

 wild fauna of their native country. No other animal has 

 made such a wonderful struggle for existence ; and it is 

 hoped by Mr. Collinson that protests may be made in time 

 to prevent his total extermination. 



The second International Congress of Entomology will 

 be held at Oxford on August 5-10, 1912, under the 

 presidency of Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S. Further par- 

 ticulars will be announced shortly. The executive com- 

 mittee proposes to find for members of the congress lodgings 

 in the town, or rooms in one or more of the colleges at a 

 moderate charge ; rooms in college will be available only 

 for men. The executive committee invites an early pro- 

 visional notice of intention to join the congress, in order to 

 be able to make the arrangements for the necessary accom- 

 modation. The proceedings of the first congress are in the 

 press and will be published shortly. All communications 

 and inquiries should be addressed to the General Secretary 

 of the Executive Committee, Dr. Malcolm Burr, c/o the 

 Entomological Society of London, 11 Chandos Street, 

 Cavendish Square, London, W. 



It was suggested at a meeting of the Anglo-German 

 Friendship Society, held at the Mansion House on 

 November 2, under the presidency of the late Lord Mayor, 

 that an Anglo-German Exhibition should be held in London 

 in 1913. We learn from The Times that the idea has been 

 favourably received, and an influential committee has been 

 formed to forward it, under the presidency of the present 

 Lord Mayor, consisting of the Lord Chancellor, the Duke 

 of Argyll, Lord Brassey, Lord Avebury, Lord Weardale, 

 Lord Courtney of Pen with, Lord Shuttleworth, Sir Frank 

 Lascelles, Sir West Ridgeway, Sir Vezey Strong, Sir 

 William Mather, Sir Ernest Tritton, Mr. Harry Lawson, 

 M.P., and Mr. Alfred de Rothschild, with Mr. Cyril 

 Rhodes, the honorary secretary of the Anglo-German 

 Friendship Society, as honorary secretary. 



The London meeting of the Institute of Metals will be 

 opened at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on 

 Tuesday, January 16, when the president-designate. Prof. 

 W. Gowland, F.R.S., will deliver his inaugural address on 

 the subject of "Copper and its Alloys in Early Times." 

 The whole of Wednesday, January 17, will, if necessary, be 



xo. 2195, VOL. 88] 



devoted to the reading and discussion of a number of papery 

 amongst which may be mentioned the following : — Pre 

 ties of certain copper alloys at high temperatures, G. Dl 

 Bengough ; further experiments on the inversion at 470° C^ 

 in copper-zinc alloys, Prof. H. C. H. Carpenter; tl 

 influence of oxygen on copper containing arsenic or ant 

 mony, R. H. Greaves ; the nomenclature of alloys, Dr. W^ 

 Koscnhain ; poisoned brass, and its behaviour when heate 

 in vacuo, Prof. T. Turner ; and a paper by Dr. Car 

 Benedicks, of the University of Stockholm, dealing witl 

 some novel experiments on a zinc-antimony alloy. 



We regret ,to record the death of Mr. Eugene Willis 

 Oates, at Edgbaston, on November 16, at sixty-eix yc 

 of age. Like many other Indian officials, Mr. Oates, wh 

 served (chiefly, we believe, in Burma) for thirty-two ye 

 in the Public Works Department of India, devoted 

 leisure time to the study of the ornithology of the count 

 in which he was long resident. His earliest ornithologic 

 work appears to be a " List of the Birds of Pegu," pu 

 lished in Calcutta in 1881, and a couple of years lat 

 appeared his " Handbook to the Birds of British Burmi 

 &c.," published in London, in two volumes. This 

 followed, in 1898-9, by a " Manual of the Game Birds 

 India," which likewise formed two volumes, and wa 

 published at Bombay. Somewhere about this time 

 appears to have retired from the service of the Indil 

 Government, for in 1889-90 his name appears as edit 

 of the second edition of Mr. A. O. Hume's " Nests 

 Eggs of Indian Birds," published, in three volumes, 

 London. His knowledge of Indian ornithology led 

 Blanford to select Mr. Oates to write the first two voli 

 on birds in the " Fauna of British India," which apf 

 respectively in 1889 and 1890 ; and later he was enga 

 by the trustees to compile the " Catalogue of Birds' 

 in the British Museum," the first volume of which 

 issued in 1888 under his own name, while in the ot 

 three this appears in conjunction with that of Capt 

 Savile Reid. Mr. Oates's knowledge of Indo-Burr 

 ornithology was very extensive, and his work careful 

 elaborate. 



The committee of the British Antarctic Expedition 

 made an earnest public appeal for further contribute 

 towards the support of Captain Scott's expedition 

 Antarctica. Through ill-fortune, unforeseen expenses 

 been incurred. On her voyage south after leaving 

 Zealand on November 29, 1910, the Terra Nova experieB 

 terrible weather, and the damage done to the ship 

 entailed a heavy bill for repairs ; and the cost of new st 

 to replace those lost on this voyage has to be met. 

 defraying these unexpected disbursements the money 

 will be hardly enough to enable the committee to pay 

 the end of March, 1912, the allowances of the wives 

 relatives of the officers and men of Captain Scott's pa 

 On these accounts alone the committee must someh'"' 

 raise more money. In addition, however, it is imperaii 

 that there should be no delay in securing further funds if 

 the honour of first reaching the South Pole is to be 

 secured for Captain Scott. The Terra Nova on her 

 journeys unexpectedly came across the Norwegian expedi- 

 tion under Captain Amundsen, who also is trying to reach 

 the Pole. The committee asks for 15,000/. by December 1, 

 so that a telegram may be sent before the Terra Nova 

 sails south to reassure Captain Scott that the necessary 

 funds will be forthcoming. We agree with the committee 

 that it would be pitiful if Captain Scott and his party 

 were allowed to fail for want of financial support. We are 

 confident that the appeal to the patriotism of our men of 



