February 24, 19 16] 



NATURE 



717 



LA CE- \ VING FLIES. 



""piIE latest number of the Arxivs de I'histittit dc 

 -^ Cicncies, published at Barcelona, contains an 

 excellent monograph of the Chrysopidai of Europe 

 from the pen of Father R. P. L. Navis, the well- 

 known authority on the order Neuroptera. The pre- 

 sent group, sometimes known as Hemerobiidae, and 

 in this country as "lace-wing flies," or "golden-^ 

 eyes," presents many features of interest. From the 

 |)oint of view of economic entomology its importance 

 rests on the fact that in the larval stage it is a great 

 destroyer of aphids. Unlike the almost stationary 

 larvae of the Syrphids, or hawkflies, which are also 

 of much value as devourers of plant-lice, the Chrysopid 

 larva is able to move actively about from place to 

 place in search of its prey. In this it resembles the 

 larva of the ladybird, another great ally of the agri- 

 culturist against the same enemy. 



The Chrysopid in its perfect state is a beautiful 

 object ; the fresh green colour of its body, which is 

 also prolonged into the delicate tracery of its wings, 

 and the large lateral compound eye-masses, which 

 shine during life like burnished gold, give it an attrac- 

 tive appearance. This, however, is scarcely borne out 

 by its behaviour, for it is capable when crushed or 

 otherwise injured of emitting a most disgusting odour. 

 The latter property may perhaps serve in some degree 

 as a protection to the insect, a suggestion that seems 

 to be favoured by its feeble and fluttering mode of 

 flight. The ova are curious structures, being fastened 

 in groups to the surface of a leaf by means of slender 

 footstalks, thus, as Fr. Navas points out, resembling a 

 growth of minute fungi. 



The present treatise, which is well illustrated, gives 

 a full description of all the European Chrysopids, with 

 a complete bibliography and a key for the diagnosis 

 of the various species. 



lege integr.'d parts of the Imperial College, said : — 

 ' Everybody . . . here is aware that at this present 

 moment there is hardly a branch of trade or of com- 

 merce which does not depend, more or less directly, 

 upon some department or other of physical science, 

 which does not involve, for its successful pursuit, 

 reasoning from scientific data.' This statement re- 

 mains as true now as when it was made. 



•' We do not wish to take up your time by asking 

 you to see us personally, but we consider Tt to be our 

 duty to let you know as our Chairman that we cor- 

 dially support the views of the signatories to the 

 -Memorandum, and sincerely hope that in a matter so 

 vital to the welfare of the counjtry remedial measures 

 may b<» adopted." 



The memorial is signed by the following professors, 

 chairs being given in brackets : — H. B. Baker (Chem- 

 istry) ; V. H. Blackman (Plant Physiology); W. A. 

 Bone (Chemical Technology — Fuel and Refractory 

 Materials); H. L. Callendar (Physics); H. C. H. 

 Carpenter (Metallurgy) ; C. Gilbert CuUis (Economic 

 Mineralogy); W. E. Dalby (Mechanical and Motive 

 Power Engineering) ; Stephen M. Dixon (Civil En- 

 gineering) ; J. Bretland Farmer (Botany); A. R. For- 

 syth (Mathematics); A. Fowler (Astrophysics); Wm, 

 Frecheville (Mining) j Percy Groom (Technology of 

 Woods and Fibres); E. W. MacBride (Zoology); T. 

 Mather (Electrical Engineering); J. C. Philip (Physical 



j Chemistry); H. G. Plimmer (Comparative Pathology); 



I R. J, Strutt (Physics) ;.Jocelyn Thorpe (Organic Chem- 



i istrv); A. N. Whitehead (Applied Mathematics); W. 



( Watson (Phvsics); and W. W. Watts (Geology). 



THE POSITION OF SCIENCE. 

 Memorial from the Imperial College. 

 'X'HE following memorial, presented by the Right 

 ■*• Hon. Arthur H. D. Acland, chairman of the 

 Executive Committee, and Sir Alfred Keogh, rector 

 (now acting as Director-General of the Army Medical 

 Service) of the Imperial College, and by Sir John 

 Wolfe-Barry, chairman of the delegacy of the City 

 and Guilds (Engineering) College, has been forwarded 

 to Ivord Crewe, chairman of the governors of the 

 college : — • 



"To the Marquess of Crewe, K.G., Lord President 

 of the Council, Chairman of the Governors of the 

 Imperial College. 



■'We, the undersigned, desire to support the Memo- 

 randum on the neglect of science in this country 

 which was signed by thirty-six eminent men of science 

 (including four former professors of this College), and 

 published on February 2 last ; and as the Imperial 

 College is directed by its charter to concentrate itself 

 on ' Science in its application to Industry and to give 

 the highest specialised instruction and provide the 

 fullest equipment for the most advanced training and 

 research ' in various branches of science, we think it 

 right to call your Lordship's attention to the extreme 

 importance of this question at the present crisis in 

 our national history. 



" In the Memorandum it is truly said that ' This 

 grave defect in our national organisation is no new 

 thing. . . . ' In the year 1887 Prof. Huxley, who 

 was for fifteen years Professor and Dean of the Royal 

 College of Science and Royal School of Mines, which 

 are now with the City and Guilds (Engineering) Col- 



NO. 2417, VOL. 96] 



SCIENCE AND GOVERNMENT. 

 pROF. E. B. POULTON, in delivering the 

 ^ third Galton lecture before the Eugenics 

 Education Society on February 16, said that 

 the justification of the society lies in the fact 

 that man, acting in a community, cannot 

 help letting loose the forces that " improve or 

 impair the racial qualities of future generations either 

 physically or mentally." When these forces are tre- 

 mendous, as in war, immense future effects must 

 follow. The victory of Germany would impose upon 

 mankind a new criterion, leading to the predominance 

 of a revolting type. But every law, custom, or tradi- 

 tion by which society helps or restrains any of its 

 individual members has some effect for the good or 

 for the evil of future generations. Society is influ- 

 enced by the tradition that marriage between first 

 cousins is injurious. In consequence of this tradition 

 such marriages are less frequent than they would 

 otherwise be. There is no evidence that the tradition 

 is well founded, and, in July, 1870, Charles Darwin 

 wrote to Sir John Lubbock, ixjinting out that it was 

 ■' manifestly desirable that the belief should cither be 

 proved false, or should be confirmed," and suggesting 

 that the proper queries should be inserted in the forth- 

 coming census. When the Bill was considered in 

 committee, Lubbock moved to insert the words, 

 "whether married to a first cousin," but the motion 

 was opposed for all sorts of frivolous reasons, and 

 finally rejected by 92 votes to 45. The neglect of 

 eugenics by the Government has been as conspicuous 

 as its neglect of other branches of science. The next 

 general election will reveal a revolution in the poli- 

 tical thought of the country, and the urgent necessity 

 for the society will be to fight alongside the other 

 sciences and the great business interests of the 

 countr\*, ensuring that scientific men and business men 

 shall have weight in our future form of Government. 

 When the war. came the late Prof. Meldola, with his 

 unrivalled knowledge of the relations between science 



