January 12, 191 1] 



NATURE 



34 



J*fO 



We regret to see the announcement of the death, on 

 January lo, of Mr. J. W. Tutt, whose work in entomology 

 and other departments of natural history are known to 

 manv men of science. Mr. Tutt was trained as an 

 elementary-school teacher at St. Mark's College, Chelsea, 

 and was at the time of his death headmaster of the Port- 

 man Place Higher Grade School. He became a Fellow 

 of the Entomological Society of London in 1885, and was 

 a member of its council. He was also prominently 

 associated with other entomological and natural history 

 societies in the City and South London, and was honorary 

 member of La Soci^t^ Entomologique de Namur and La 

 Soci^t^ Entomologique de Geneve. He was editor of the 

 Entomologist's Record as well as of the South-Eastern 

 Saturalist, and the author of numerous papers and other 

 publications of substantial scientific value, including " A 

 Natural History of British Lepidoptera," " A Natural 

 History of British Butterflies," " A Natural Historj- of 

 British Alucitides," " Migration and Dispersion of 

 Insects," " Melanism and Melanochroism in British 

 Lepidoptera," " British Noctuae and their Varieties," 

 *' Monograph of the British Pterophorina. " Mr. Tutt 

 also wrote a number of works on the more popular aspects, 

 of natural history, and in many ways contributed to the 

 advancement and extension of scientific knowledge. 



We record with regret the death, on January 6, of Sir 

 John Aird, at the age of seventy-seven years. Sir John 

 Aird's name will be associated by most people with the 

 erection of the Assuan dam and the .Assiut barrage. With 

 his partners he was the builder of the Manchester Ship 

 Canal. He was also actively engaged in many other 

 great engineering undertakings, which include, among 

 others, waterworks at Amsterdam, Calcutta, Copenhagen, 

 London, and Birmingham ; the docks at Tilbury, South- 

 ampton, Avonmouth, and Singapore ; the West Highland 

 Railway and the Hull and Barnsley Railway ; and gas 

 plants on a large scale in many parts of the world. Sir 

 John Aird was elected an associate of the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers in 1859, and a member of the Iron and 

 Steel Institute in 1887. He was created a baronet in 

 190 1. 



The French Prehistoric Congress is to be held at Nimes 

 on August 13-20 of this year. 



The French Society of Therapeutics has awarded its 

 gold medal to M. Ch. Moureu, for his work on the rare 

 gases and the radio-activity of French mineral waters. 



Mr. F. M. Bailey, Colonial Botanist, Queensland, and 

 Mr. G. H. Knibbs, Commonwealth Statistician, Common- 

 wealth of Australia, were included among the new 

 C.M.G.'s in the list of New Year Honours. We regret 

 their names were omitted from our note last week. 



By the generosity of Dr. Charcot, the Pourquoi Pas? 

 has become the property of the French Department of 

 Public Instruction. The vessel is anchored off Rouen, and 

 is attached to the Paris National Museum of Natural 

 History. An annual grant of 10,000 francs, we learn from 

 the Revue scientifique, has been made towards the upkeep 

 of the ship, which will be utilised bj' the museum for 

 oceanographical cruises. 



The Christiania correspondent of the Morning Post 

 states that more than a hundred distinguished Norwegians, 

 including the Prime Minister, the Ministers for Foreign 

 Affairs, Public Works, and Commerce, and the Rector of 

 the University, gave a banquet on January 7 in honour 

 of Dr. S. Eyde, the well-known engineer, who has done 

 so much towards the development in Norway of the 

 industry based upon the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. 

 NO. 2150, VOL. 85] 



We learn from the Chemist and Druggist that the late 

 Dr. Ernest Durand, known as the donor to the Paris 

 Museum of Natural History of the herbarium originally 

 belonging to the botanist Cosson, has left the sum of 

 6000/. to be devoted to the classification and study of the 

 botanical collections in the museum. At the time these 

 collections were given to the authorities, in 1906, Dr. 

 Durand gave 2000Z. to defray the expense of classifi- 

 cation, &c. 



A meeting of the International .Association of Seismo- 

 logy will be held in Manchester under the presidency of 

 Prof. .Arthur Schuster, F.R.S., beginning on Tuesday, 

 July 18 next. The meeting will consist of delegates of 

 the twenty-three countries belonging to the association, 

 and other men of science who may be invited by the 

 president. The president asks us to state that he will be 

 glad to hear from anyone interested in the subject. 



At a meeting on January 4, the Devekjpment Com- 

 missioners considered their policy in connection with 

 agricultural instruction in England and Wales and in re- 

 gard to the financial needs of the Scottish agricultural 

 colleges, and decided upon the terms of a letter to the 

 Scottish authorities. The Commissioners also decided to 

 obtain, temporarily, scientific assistance for the investiga- 

 tion of the possibilities of the cultivation of tobacco and 

 flax. 



The arrival of several boxes of skins of mammals and 

 other animals from Sze-chuen at the natural history 

 branch of the British Museum affords the Times, in its 

 issue of January 3, an opportunity of referring to the 

 generosity of the Duke of Bedford in providing funds for 

 collecting expeditions in northern China and other districts 

 in the heart of .Asia, these museum expeditions having 

 been carried on for several years. Reference is also made 

 to similar work which has been carried on for some time 

 in .Africa at the expense of Mr. C. D. Rudd. The latest 

 of these exf>editions is now at work in British East .Africa. 



Ox Tuesday next, January 17, Prof. F. W. Mott, 

 F.R.S., will begin a course of six lectures at the Royal 

 Institution on " Heredity," and on Thursday, January 19, 

 the .Astronomer Royal, Mr. F. W. Dyson, F.R.S., will 

 deliver the first of three lectures on " Recent Progress in 

 •Astronomy." The Friday evening discourse on January 20 

 will be delivered by Sir James Dewar, F.R.S., on 

 " Chemical and Physical Change at Low Temperatures"; 

 On January 27 by Prof. W. H. Bragg, F.R.S., on 

 '■ Radio-activity as a Kinetic Theory of a Fourth State 

 of Matter " ; and on February 3 by Dr. A. E. Shipley, 

 F.R.S., on " Grouse Disease." 



The council of the Rhodesia Scientific Association 

 adopted the following resolution at a meeting held 

 recently : — " That a gold medal be offered for an original 

 paper advancing our knowledge of the transmission of any 

 insect- or arachnid-borne disease affecting Rhodesia, such 

 paper to be read at a meeting of the Rhodesia Scientific 

 .Association for publication in its Proceedings. The medal 

 will only be awarded for a paper which, in the opinion of 

 the council, is of sufficient scientific merit." Non-resi- 

 dents as well as residents in Rhodesia are invited to send 

 in papers not later than July 31 addressed to D. Niven, 

 Secretary Rhodesia Scientific .Association, P.O. Box 586, 

 Bulawayo. 



The council of the Institute of Metals reports that a 

 large increase has recently taken place in the membership 

 of the institute, which now reaches more than 550. .Addi- 



