November 24, 1923] 



NA TURE 



76; 



Natural History in Kinematography. 



THE value of the kinematograph as a means 

 of obtaining permanent graphic records of 

 phases of animal movement, and of the various stages 

 of growth and change of form that go to make up the 

 >iorv of the life-historv of insects and other inverte- 



Fui. I. — Imago of mayfly just emerged from sub-imago sta^e, showing . 

 cast skill, which is waterproof to enable it to escape from water. 



brates, is, at long last, becoming more generally appre- 

 ciated ; while to find a British firm devoting its 

 energies entirely to the production of such films is an 

 encouraging sign of the growth of public interest in the 

 pictured story of animal life. The British Instruc- 

 tional Films Ltd., the firm in question, has 

 started the issue of a series of remarkably 

 interesting natural-history films under the 

 general title of " Secrets of Nature," which 

 we are glad to hear will be shown as part 

 of the regular programme at kinemato- 

 graph theatres in London and the provinces. 

 This is a step in the right direction, and 

 should help further to demonstrate the 

 importance of the kinematograph as a means 

 of popular instruction. 



The subjects included in the series cover 

 a fairly wide range, and should appeal not 

 only to all who are interested in bird and 

 insect life, but also to the lover of the open 

 countryside and the wild life of field and 

 hedgerow, to the antiquary, and to the 

 angler. There is a wonderfully complete 

 film of the life-history of the Mayfly that 

 must have cost an infinite amount of 

 patience and care to obtain ; a reproduc- 

 tion of one of the pictures is given in 1 1. 

 Fig. I. This is appropriately followed by 

 a still more striking record of spring salmon-fishing 

 in Scotland amidst the most picturesque surroundings 

 (Fig. 2). In the latter film, use was made of the 

 ultra-rapid kinematograph camera to obtain for the 

 first time a complete record of fresh - run salmon 

 ascending the waterfalls and rapids in their journey 

 up stream to their spawning grounds. Hy means 

 ot the ultra-rapid camera it is possible to take 



NO. 2821, VOL. I 12] 



records at as much as eight to ten times the normal 

 speed, so that, given sufficient light for the extremely 

 short exposures entailed, a film may be obtained of 

 every phase of the swift rush and leap of the fish ; 

 movements too rapid for the eye to follow or 

 appreciate. These ultra-rapid records are projected 

 on to the screen at the normal rate at which kine- 

 matograph films are shown, namely, at sixteen pictures 

 a second, which enables the observer to follow clearly 

 every detail of movement ; and the lightning-like dart 

 and leap of the fish passes across the screen as a slow 

 and amazingly graceful series of movements. 



Watching these perfect pictures, one cannot help 

 thinking of those early pioneers of chronological photo- 

 graphy, Marey and Muybridge, and of how much they 

 would have given to have had at their disposal such 

 apparatus for taking their records of trotting horses 

 and running men. There can be no doubt that this 

 latest development of the kinematograph will prove of 

 invaluable service in the critical analysis of movement. 

 During the past summer there have been taken in the 

 Zoological Society's Gardens at Regent's Park several 

 extremely interesting records with this apparatus, 

 including the movement of the long tongue of the 

 chamaeleon, the forked tongue of a python, and the 

 Barbary sheep descending the almost vertical sides of 

 the high rocks in their enclosure in the Mappin Terraces. 



Another subject included in the series will un- 

 doubtedly arouse considerable interest, for it has an 

 historical as well as a biological aspect : that is the film 

 record of the story of Westminster Hall and its wonder- 

 ful roof. This film was taken under the direction of 



Sir Frank Baincs, and shows not only the work of 

 restoration in progress, but also the actual cause of the 

 threatened danger to the venerable roof, the larvae of 

 the deathwatch beetle at work excavating its galleries 

 in the heart of the old oak beams (Fig. 3). The film 

 of the gallant little three-spincd stickleback engrossed 

 in the domestic duties of nest-building (P'ig. 4), entic- 

 ing the female to deposit her eggs therein, and then 



