January 6, 192 i] 



NATURE 



607 



being taken. Each class consists of six Commissioners 

 elected to serve nine years, and selected from the 

 zoological profession of the world at large. 



At the annual general meeting of the Faraday 

 Society held on December 13, the following officers 

 and council were elected to serve for the coming 

 year : — President : Prof. A. \V. Porter. Past-Presi- 

 dents : J. Swinburne, Sir Richard Glazebrook, and Sir 

 Robert Hadfield, Bart. Vice-Presidents: \V. R. 

 Cooper, Prof. C. H. Desch, Dr. J. A. Barker, Emil 

 Hatschek, Prof. T. M. Lowry, Dr. E. H. Rayner, 

 and Dr. G. Senter. Treasurer : Robert L. Mond. 

 Council: Dr. A. J. Allmand, Dr. H. Borns, Prof. 

 W. C. McC. Lewis, Harold Moore, Prof. J. R. 

 Partington, C. C. Paterson, Prof. A. O. Rankine, 

 Sir Robert Robertson, Sir T. Kirke Rose, and Dr. W. 

 Roscnhain. Prof. Porter, in proposing a vote of 

 thanks to the retiring president. Sir Robert Hadfield, 

 who had guided the society during the whole critical 

 period of the war. referred to the growth that had 

 taken place in thr society's work and in its prestige 

 during that period. He remarked that of the twenty- 

 six general discussions that had been organised by the 

 society, many of them in co-operation with other 

 societies the collaboration of which was greatly appre- 

 cited, as many as nineteen had been held during Sir 

 Robert Hadfield 's presidency. 



The Report of the Watchers' Committee of the Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds for the years 1919-20 

 is a record of excellent results obtained, but it also re- 

 veals how much remains to be accomplished, and could 

 be accomplished if the necessary funds for the purpose 

 were forthcoming. Those at its disposal are whollv 

 inadequate to meet even the expenses already 

 incurred. The society employs twenty-three watchers 

 who are located at seventeen breeding stations 

 annually resorted to by some of the rarer, and hence 

 much persecuted. British birds. Thanks to the loyaltv 

 and devotion of these excel lent men— they are ofiere<l 

 bribes and subjected to threats— it is gratifying to 

 learn that nests of the bittern. Kentish plover, red- 

 necked phalarope, chough, whimbrel, and many other 

 species, including in the south of England the raven 

 and the peregrine, were successfully protected. On 

 the other hand, owing to lack of funds to provide for 

 adequate watching, a lamentable state of affairs is 

 revealed. Thus roseate and Sandwich terns were 

 robbed of all their eggs, and divers, the numbers of 

 which arc annually growing fewer, were sadly raided, 

 so that in one case of thirteen nests only three 

 young birds were hatched, while in another out of 

 fifteen nests eight were destroyKl. The c raze for egg. 

 (ollecting at the present time is. unfortunately, at its 

 zenith, the excuse b<ing that the specimens arc taken 

 for scientific purposes. If scientific results may be 

 derived from the study of the eggs of British birds, 

 it may be safely averred that there is alreadv a 

 plethora of material available for the purpose. It is 

 greatly to be hoped that bird-lovers who are not sub- 

 scribcrs to the Watchers' Committee will respond to 

 the society's earnest appeal ami help to carry on this 

 highly desirable, patriotic work. Ihr society's address 

 "* ^,» Queen .Anne's Gale, S.W. 1. 

 NO. 2671, VOL. 106] 



In a study of variation in the mealworm, Tenebrio 

 tnolitor, Mr. S. A. Arendsen Hein finds two common 

 colour varieties of the larvae, chestnut-brown and 

 orange-red, and a rare melanic type with black 

 instead of reddish-brown abdomen, antennae, and legs. 

 Red and yellow eye-colours are inherited, and the 

 latter is sex-linked. Reduction in the number of 

 tarsal and antennal segments is also based on here- 

 ditary factors. The duration of the larval stage is 

 largely controlled by temperature. Females usually 

 produce no eggs without previous mating, and egg- 

 production normally continues for two months. 



Wk have received vol. vii.. part 4 (Series C. Zoology 

 and Botany), of the Scientific Reports of the -Aus- 

 tralasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-14. containing 

 the bacteriological and other researches dealing with 

 physiology, dietetics, psychology, etc., by Dr. A. L. 

 .McLean. Cultivations from the intestinal tract of 

 some of the mammals and birds (e.g. Ross seal and 

 penguins) contain no, or very few, bacteria. Similar 

 results have been obtained in the case of Arctic forms 

 by Levin and others. In other mammals and birds 

 (e.g. Weddell seal, sea-leopard, and skua gull) the 

 bacterial content of the intestine was high, containing 

 coliform organisms and sporing bacilli. Cultures of 

 bacteria were obtained from ice, snow, soils, and 

 marine mud. Suppuration was observed in the 

 wounds of Weddell seals, inflicted by the sea-leopard 

 and killer whales, with a bacterial flora of strepto- 

 cocci and staphylococci. Observations on the haemo- 

 globin values of the blood and on blood-pressure 

 showed little of interest. It was noticeable that the 

 hair of the head and the nails grew very slowly. 



Vol. xliii., article 6, of the Bulletin of the .Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History (issued on Decem- 

 ber 4) consists of an extensive paper on the 

 Lepidoptera of the Congo by Dr. W. J. Holland. It 

 takes the form of a systematic list of the species of 

 that order of insects collected during the expedition 

 sent out by the museum to the Congo region. 

 Although the collection is one of the largest made in 

 recent years in that part of the world, it is very 

 poor in moths, most attention being devoted to the 

 showier Nymphaline and other butterflies. As Dr. 

 Holland points out, the primary aim was to secure 

 vertebrates, and the making of insect collections was 

 a subsidiar\ object. From among about qooo speci- 

 mens there are more than 725 species and varieties. 

 It has only been found necessary to erect two new 

 genera, and the new species and varieties amount to 

 fewer than 8t). The largest number of specimens was 

 secured at Mcdje, near the Nepoko River, in the 

 heart of the forest, from April to .September. 1910, 

 and the collection as a whole exhibits a distinct 

 affinity with the West African fauna. The paper is 

 evidentiv an important contribution to our knowledge 

 of the distribution of Lepidoptera in .Africa, and is 

 illustrnied by nine throe-colour-process plates and a 

 similar number of text figures. 



.Among the creatures that live harmoniously with 

 termites in their nests is a Slaphylinid l>eetle, which, 

 like the familiar "devil's roach-horse," turns its 

 abdomen over its back, but in this rase ihe abdomen 



