January i8, 191 2] 



NATURE 



395 



in which much damage had been, or was likely to be, 

 caused to national monuments by reckless interference. 

 To meet this evil, he suggested the establi^hment of an 

 advisory committee, composed of men eminent in archaeo- 

 logy and public life, with representatives of the leading 

 archaeological societies, the British Museum, nominees of 

 the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and of the 

 Ecclesiastical Commissioners. 



It should be the duty of the committee, when satisfied 

 that any monument of national importance was in danger, 

 to recommend to the First Commissioner of Works that 

 the custody of it should be assumed by the nation. On 

 receipt of this report, the First Commissioner, if he 

 thought fit, should move his Majesty to declare by an 

 Order of Council that the monument was one of national 

 importance, and was accordingly transferred to the custody 

 of the First Commissioner. The scheme should not, he 

 suggested, .'ip]')I\- lo dwelling houses in actual occupation, 

 but in thi' lasi- of important ecclesiastical buildings now in 

 use he projiosed that no scheme of restoration should be 

 carried out until the plans had been passed by the advisory 

 committee. Intil the question has been more fully dis- 

 cussed, it would be premature to pass an opinion upon it. 

 But, on the whole, it seems to offer a suitable remedy for 

 a very important and growing evil. 



XOTES ON MUSFAJMS AND MENAGERIES. 



TN The Field of December q, 191 1, there is an illustrated 

 account of the new buildings recently added by the 

 Hon. Walter Rothschild to his zoological museum at Tring, 

 these additions considerably more than doubling the size 

 of the original structure. As extended, the building forms 

 three sides of a square, of which, when viewed from the 

 front, the central transverse portion and the right wing are 

 new. The exhibition galleries are throughout lighted by 

 windows placed high up in the walls, so that comparatively 

 little direct sunlight falls on the cases, this being screened, 

 when necessary, by scarlet blinds, which are claimed by 

 the owner to prevent all the ill-effects of actinism. The 

 new exhibition galleries are fitted along each outer wall 

 with a continuous series of glass and steel cases, 10 feet in 

 height, and constructed on a modification of the principle 

 adopted in the zoological museum at Dresden, these being 

 striled to 111' absolutely dust-proof. .A similar but wider 

 s' lies of ( .IMS, divided by a longitudinal partition of wood, 

 occupies the middle line of each of the new galleries. Tlie 

 IX \\ buildings include also a library, containing 30,000 

 volumes, forming about 6000 separate works, workrooms, 

 studies, &c. 



With characteristic promptitude and energy, Mr. 

 Rothschild has already arranged his specimens (which were 

 ])reviously ( rowdfd together) in the new cases, so that 

 naturalists and I he general public are able to appreciate 

 \hf vast I Ml lit and excellent mounting of this really 

 niai'vell()u> I nil. 1 lion. The mounting of the larger 

 mammals, a-^ \\i 11 as of many of the birds, has been in 

 recent year-, mainly executed by Rowland Ward, Ltd. 

 For a notice cf some of the specimens in the exhibition 

 galleries our readers may be referred to the article already 

 cited. 



I 111' t,a Plata Museum forms the subject of an article 



l)r 



]■:. 11 I). 



,lr ,lr 



thi 



Snuth Al 



M 



K'' 



wl 



kind ii 



Dr. 11, 



is pra(lir;ill 



latdr, who 



lish.'d l.v ll 



of an aiilhi 



in 1S7;. I, 



uphill tight 



in high quarlii-^ ; Imt hi 



ilii' present palatial huild 



'hi' wonderful coll. '(lion 



till' sani" a 

 - the lirst di 

 I'rosinci.al ( 

 ilogical and 

 s foundalioi 

 ;aiii^( indilTi 



the vice-director, in the Revue 

 \dveiiil)f'i- 15. That institution, 

 s fo he the most Important of its 

 111.' woi'k of .a single individual, 

 o waile till' his(oi-\' of the former 

 I- lo wril.' a i)iogf.a|)h\- of Ih.' 

 inrtor. Till' musi'um wa-- 'si.d)- 



ivi'rniiii'nt in iSRo 

 ai"(h;i'olngii al nui^ 

 Dr. Mo'nno had I 



ini.l Ml 



lb ,1 



1. ll, 



imi founded 



1.4. ■ an 



i-tili(\-. 



:" Ming 



. ih.'r 



)f .\i 



ilin 



•\tin 



■hr.it.'s whi(h has ri'n<li'it . 

 lis throughout the scientif 



niintion of its founder Iha 



should ineludi" not 

 It art ; and, as at ;., 



lid. 



Inn 



illslilui' ll, 



organisation embraces geographv, geologv, mineralogv 

 palaeontology, botany, zoology and anatomv, anthropolo-*v 

 (including ethnography and linguistics), anci chemistrv anil 

 pharipacy, while a special annexe is devoted to a school 

 of design. 



The statute of September 25, 1905, which organised the 

 National University of La Plata— of which, according to 

 the author, the already existing municipal scientific institu- 

 tions ought to form the foundation— will, it is hoped, open 

 to the museum a wider horizon, and remove it from the 

 verge of penury which, under anv other direction, would 

 eventually bring about its ruin. The article contains 

 several illustrations, one of which shows part of the 

 wonderful series of the giant armadillos, or glvptodonts, 

 of the Pampean epoch. 



In the November number of The Zoologist Captain 

 Stanley Flower concludes his notes on zoological institu- 

 tions in various parts of Europe recentlv visited bv him- 

 self. Dealing in this contribution with Suiugait and 

 Vienna, he remarks that, among the forty-eight institu- 

 tions inspected, " the Tiergarten at Doggenburg, near 

 Stuttgart, would be the most profitable to visit. The site 

 is small, the collection is small, and the animals are of 

 no great value, but the arrangement is such that evervthing 

 is exhibited to its best advantage. Th.. Iu\',.r of .u'linial- 

 who visits Doggenburg will larrv a\\a\ with hnu ili.' 

 impression that he has seen but ' f.-w xp,.,i.--, im; ili.-,,. 

 all carefully provided for and happv ; ilu' M-hoohhild will 

 have seen the principal types of the v.rlelirate fauna of 

 Europe, and enough exotic ones to 1 xrite his further 

 interest ; the casual visitor will not know exactly what 

 he has or has not seen, but will feel satisfied that' he ha- 

 had ■ his money's worth.' " 



CARBOIIYDRATE FORMATION T\ PI.WT 

 FOLIAGE. 



A \'.\Lr.\Hl.l'; and inieiTsiing coniiiliution 10 the siud\ 

 of the formation of iarlH)liydrati's in the foliagi.' Ii-.if 

 is contained in .-i papir, by Mr. John Parkin, publislied in 

 Tlic Bioclieuui til Journal (vol. vi., part i.). In order i 

 simplify the case as much as possible and to reduc' tlw 

 conflicting factors to a minimum, ilir siu,wili-o|) i(!,iLi)ill:u> 

 nivalis, 1,.) w;is chosen as the plant to \>r iii\ . sii|_;,ii. .1, .i- 

 in a previous research the .author li.id vliowii (hat in no 

 case is starch or inulin to hi drt. 1 t. d in llv' nirsopln 11 ol 

 the leaf, it was therefore probable that ni.dtosr would hi- 

 absent in the leaf also, and the research would he iluis 

 narrowed down to studying the relationship hi'iw..ii i an. 

 sugar, dextrose, and laevulose under differ, nt condiiioiis. 

 The object aimed at in the beginning was to i. si Pi own .and 

 Morris's \ iew, enunciated in 1893, that c.me sugar i- tlv 

 first produi t of carbon-assimilation in jjlanis. 



It was found, actually, that m.iltose is alwa\s ah-, ni 

 from the snowdroj) leaf, so thai it appears prohahlc th.ii 

 maltose, when ])resi'nt in foliai^c 1. ;ives, is a hydrolvsjs 

 product of starch. The t]uanlit\ of tot.il sug.ars in ih 

 snowdrop leaf is considii .ihlr, h.ing from ?o-io p.: .'!>; 

 of the dry weight in lia\.'s acli\.I\ .issiniila! 

 amount of sug.u- incr.as, -, tiom ,il)o\.- down.', 

 single leaf, and, al th.- sanic lini.', ill.- v.r.' 

 sugar lo til.' h.\os,.^ (d.Mnisr ■nid la\'ul 

 Thi- propmlii'il of i.iii. siu^a. i" 'l'.- i-'Xi> , .. 



III.- siasoii aih.inc.s, tli.il ' i'. pari ol 



th.' s,:i^( in t hi re is inor.' • port ion lo 



reducing sii^;.ir than latci. lii. loi, icl; mad.' 



between l.a\i's -aliii'i.d .ihoul llic s.i; | th, i|.i\. 



Dllrin^; .an\ sin^l,. il;i\- tie p,) , r)it,n;r .'i ii^Xi^s,. sUL;afs jn 

 th.' l.af ii'inaiiis t.iiih' ionsi,ini. iin in.itlir at wli.it hour 



(Ull ol till' IW.'llU four ill" li,t\is :.i ,v !- .x.ilili.,,1 Mill 



of the (an.' sui.,u . howcv. r', flu. 



during tl 

 l.'.av.'s .! 

 su-.ar I' 

 r.-ina Mi - 



nil p.ii,. 



In dis, 

 \i.'\i.- till 

 Morris, i 



d d' . r. 



I., Ill ll. . 111. dl-, 

 i|ii.inlil\ of h 



111 s| sui,.ii loi nil d in ihi li .d. 



not I'liiii. Iv incompalihli- with the id.-.i lli.al d.-\i: 



NO. 



!() 



,•)' 



VOL 



88] 



