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THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, \\ 



THE HOPE DEPARTMENT A T OXFORD. 

 The Hope Reports. Vol. i., I-893-97. Edited by Edward 

 B. Poulton, M.A., F.R.S., Hope Professor of Zoology 

 in the University of Oxford. (Printed for private 

 circulation.) 



SINCE the death of Prof. Westwood and the appoint- 

 ment of his successor, the editor of the volume of 

 Reports under consideration, the Hope Museum has 

 gradually been undergoing expansion and regeneration. 

 The collections are being overhauled and reclassified ; 

 the types are being identified as far as possible and 

 carefully labelled, and the special British collections are 

 being rearranged so as to preserve their historical 

 interest. This development of the department under 

 the care of Prof Poulton has been noted with satisfaction 

 by those specialists who from time to time visit Oxford : 

 and although the endowment, both for curatorship and 

 equipment, is very limited, it must be conceded that the 

 present Professor is doing his best to carry out the ob- 

 jects for which a museum of this kind exists, viz. to 

 preserve specimens in such a way as to enable them to 

 be available for use by students with the confidence 

 which attaches to authentic records of date, locality and 

 captor. This, at least, is the ideal which the Professor 

 has set before himself, and it is only a matter of profound 

 regret that the advanced years and declining health of 

 the late distinguished occupant of the Rev. F W. Hope's 

 foundation should have thrown upon his successor such 

 an immense amount of purely mechanical labour. A 

 good, beginning has been made with the Lepidoptera 

 with the co-operation of Colonel Swinhoe, Dr. F. A. 

 Dixey, Prof Sidgwick, and others ; but many years must 

 elapse before the other and less favoured groups are 

 reduced to anything like the same degree of order. 



The conditions attaching to such an endowment as 

 that of Mr. and Mrs. Hope have with the advancement 

 of science and the increase in the number of private col- 

 lections undergone complete modification. Although as 

 a collection of insects of all orders the museum as it 

 exists is second only in rank to the National Collection, 

 the means provided are barely sufficient for its main- 

 tenance and leave very little for its increase. With such 

 competing forces as the British Museum, Mr. Walter 

 Rothschild's museum at Tring, and the wealth of many 

 other private collectors, it is hopeless to look for any 

 substantial additions to the Oxford collections excepting 

 through individual benefactors. It is very encouraging, 

 therefore, to find in the two official reports of the Pro- 

 fessor on the work of his department, that many valuable 

 contributions have been made by entomologists since he 

 came into office, and more particularly may be mentioned 

 the magnificent addition to the butterflies presented by 

 Messrs. Godman and Salvin, which is characterised as 

 " the largest accession to the department during recent 

 years," gnd which was formally accepted by a decree of 

 Convocation on May 11, 1897, when a further decree 

 conveying the thanks of the University to the donors 

 was also passed unanimously. 



NO. 1474. VOL. l']'\ 



The foregoing remarks relate to the work accomplished 

 in the development of the museum as a museum ; but 

 there is another side to fhe work of the Hope Depart- 

 ment which must not be lost sight of, and of this side we 

 are reminded by the volume of Reports. This volume is 

 most appropriately prefaced by the portraits of the 

 makers of the department, Mr. and Mrs. Hope and the 

 late Prof. Westwood. In his prefatory remarks the 

 editor says : — 



" In the present state of zoological science, it is im- 

 possible to make use of existing knowledge in the careful 

 study of a large amount of material without adding to 

 that knowledge. Research after the various kinds of 

 knowledge which have been prized by mankind during 

 successive ages was of old the prominent function of the 

 University ; and although obscured during the recent 

 generations by excessive devotion to the examination 

 system, may still be claimed as an academic duty and 

 high privilege second to no other in importance." 



With this statement every science worker in this 

 country will agree, and the signs of activity displayed 

 in this new departure on the part of the Hope Professor 

 will be cordially welcomed. The papers composing this 

 volume are sixteen in number, and are reprints of papers 

 which have already appeared in the publications of 

 various societies. For the most part these papers em- 

 body "researches " as distinguished from purely descrip- 

 tive systematic work, and that is why we consider the 

 issue of the volume to mark a new departure. The con- 

 tents of the various papers are already before the scien- 

 tific public, and need only be mentioned here. Prof. 

 Poulton's contributions consist of his address to the 

 Zoological Section of the British Association at Liver- 

 pool on the age of the earth, his address on " Theories 

 of Evolution " to the Boston Society of Natural History, 

 his paper on Dr. Prichard's anticipation of modern 

 views of evolution, from Science Progress^ papers on 

 the courtship of European Acridiidas, and on the sexes 

 of larvae emerging from successively laid eggs of 

 Smerinthus populi from the Transactions of the Ento- 

 mological Society of London, and a paper on the colours 

 of Lepidopterous larvae derived from plant pigments, 

 from the Proceedings of the Royal Society. Dr. F. A. 

 Dixey also presents us with most encouraging signs of 

 scientific activity from the department. Five papers re- 

 lating respectively to mimicry, to the phylogeny of the 

 Pierina;, and to the interpretation of Mr. Merrifield's ex- 

 periments on temperature variation in Lepidoptera are 

 contributed by him. Another set of contributions are 

 from the pen of Mr. Garstang, who writes on the habits 

 and respiratory mechanism of Corystes, on the function of 

 the antero-lateral denticulations of the carapace in sand- 

 burrowing crabs, and on the morphology of the Mollusca. 

 Mr. Garstang's papers on Crustacea should be read by 

 all who are interested in the question of the utility of 

 specific characters. The only paper approaching sys- 

 tematism is by Mr. Schaus, who gives a list of Mr. 

 Walker's American types of Lepidoptera in the museum, 

 and for this lepidopterists on both sides of the Atlantic 

 will be grateful. 



It will be gathered from this notice that the Hope 

 Professor has rendered a good account of his office 

 since his appointment. The plan of issuing such Reports, 



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