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NATURE 



[December 8, 1923 



Current Topics and Events. 



i >IK satisfaction that has been exprcHscd witii the 

 riHrommendation that the Imperial Institute should 

 l)c maintained at South Ken.Hington is accompanied 

 with a stili wider regret that the collections are to be 

 alH)ltshed to make room for the War Museum. The 

 Committee which has made these recommendations 

 appears to regard the collections as of use only as 

 trade sMunples and accepts the view that those at the 

 offices of the Australian agencies in the Strand are 

 more useful. The InijMjrial Institute collections, how- 

 ever, are much wider in their scope. The Imperial 

 ( . iitrrcnco urged the need of extende<l teaching of 

 Uic Keography of the Empire, and the Imperial 

 Institute collections are unique as an illustration of 

 the life, resources, and scenery of every country 

 within the Empire. It is the only collection in Great 

 Britain which can be compared with the geographical 

 museums of Germany. The Institute is naturally 

 of less value to the great Dominions, which can afford 

 well-equipped research departments and show rooms 

 in the centre of London, than it is to the smaller 

 colonies and dependencies. Hence Australia in 

 pre-War times contributed to the Institute only 

 500/. per annum against looo/. given by Ceylon. 

 The smaller dependencies, and especially those in the 

 tropics, are in increasing need of the help that may 

 be given by an Imperial co-operative organisation. 

 Emphatic testimony to the educational value of the 

 galleries is quoted in the minority report, in which 

 New Zealand offers an increased subsidy if they be 

 maintained. The collections are also condemned on 

 the ground that they are only of value to people in 

 London, a drawback shared by all national metro- 

 politan institutions. The leasing of the galleries is 

 recommended as a means of raising 8000/. per annum 

 for the general revenues of the Institute. For this 

 amount costly collections made and presented by 

 governments and individuals are to be scrapped, and 

 .1 liuilding largely raised by private subscriptions, and 

 \.\\v site given by the Commissioners of the 1851 

 Exhibition for an Imperial scientific institution, are 

 to be handed over to a War Museum. Mr. H. M. 

 Lidderdale, Secretary to the executive council, has 

 been appointed Acting Director pending the re- 

 organisation of the Institute. 



The Times in its issue for November 28 publishes 

 a very interesting photograph showing the eggs of a 

 deinosaur against their natural background ; in fact, 

 they can scarcely be said to have been removed from 

 the beds in which they were so happily preserved. 

 The discovery, made by Mr. Roy Chapman Andrews 

 when exploring a desert region in Mongolia for the 

 American Museum of Natural History, has excited 

 much interest among naturalists, and it is now 

 authoritatively announced that surplus specimens, 

 after complete examination and description, will be 

 disposed of for about 400/. apiece. This price cannot 

 be regarded as excessive, and the sum realised will 

 be used towards defra>'ing the expenses of the ex- 

 pedition. When placed on exhibition in a public 

 museum, the egg should certainly be accompanied by 

 a copy of the photograph utilised by the Times, 



NO. 2823, VOL. 112] 



showing its ( oinpanions practically in situ. By that 

 time, the m u-ntihc rejxjrt on the occurrence will be 

 available, and will no doubt contain all neoeaaary 

 illustrative material. The relationship of the deino- 

 sauria to the crocodiles and to the birds nuikes the 

 discovery of their eggs not in itself surprising ; but 

 the fact that one egg at least contains an embryo 

 furnishes hope for the revelation of new links in the 

 chain of reptilian descent. Public interest should 

 now be still further attracted to the fine collection of 

 deinosaurian remains in the Natural History galleries 

 of the British Museum at South Kensington, and to 

 the admirable guide recently issued in connexion with 

 them (see Nature, April 29, 1922, p. 561). We can 

 already conceive a wall-painting in the American 

 Museum of Natural Histor>', depicting the Gobi 

 .' region in Mesozoic times, with a maternal deinosaur 

 affectionately bringing up its young. 



Among the scientific bequests of the late Hon. 

 N. C. Rothschild, whose death was referred to in 

 Nature of November 10, p. 697, those relating to the 

 distinguished naturalist's great collection of Siphon- 

 aptera, or fleas, are of special interest not only to 

 entomologists, but also to students of insect-bome 

 disease. Including as it does some 40,000 specimens 

 of fleas in alcohol, and 3550 microscope sUdes, 

 representing in all about 600 species, the collection 

 must prove of priceless value to all who in future 

 years desire to investigate questions connected with 

 the epidemiology of bubonic plague, and its trans- 

 mission by various species of fleas. Although actually 

 presented to the Trustees of the British Museum in 

 191 3, the collection was, by arrangement, allowed to 

 remain temporarily in the p>ossession of its founder ; 

 and even now a further period will elapse before the 

 specimens, which occupy eight large cabinets, are 

 finally installed at South Kensington. During the 

 interval, the catalogue of the collection, which will 

 include an illustrated description of ever\' species 

 represented in it, will be completed by Dr. K. Jordan, 

 the value of whose work on Siphonaptera, as collabor- 

 ator with the late Mr. Rothschild, has obtained 

 world-wide recognition. To provide for the i>ermanent 

 maintenance of the collection, Mr. Rothschild has left 

 to the Trustees of the British Museum 10,000/. upon 

 trust, in order that the income thereof may be 

 utilised to pay the salary of a qualified custodian. In 

 the testator's will, the request is made that Mr. 

 F. J. Cox, his assistant, should be employed in the 

 latter capacity. Mr. Cox is known to possess a wide 

 knowledge of Siphonaptera, and it was by him that, 

 at the instance and expense of Mr. Rothschild, the 

 small collection of fleas already belonging to the 

 Museum was catalogued and arranged some years 

 ago. 



It is rumoured, but we hope without foundation, 

 that a suggestion has been made to the Albanian 

 Government that exclusive rights of excavating in 

 Albania should be assigned to French archaeologists, 

 with possession of a considerable prop>ortion of the 

 finds. Although no one would wish to question the 



