September 17, 19 14] 



NATURE 



67 



We have been favoured with copies of three papers 

 contributed by Mr. E. W. Adair to the Bull. Soc. 

 Entom. d'Egypte for 1912 and 1913, published 1914. 

 In the hrst (1912) of two relating to the life-histories 

 of the insects of the family Mantidae it is pointed out 

 that the supposed additional metamorphic stage re- 

 corded by Pagenstecher in the case of Mantis re- 

 ligiosa was due to the newly emancipated imago 

 being enveloped in the amnion of the ovum. In the 

 third paper the author records "jumping seeds" of 

 Tamarix nilotica, the movements of which were pro- 

 duced by imprisoned larvae of a small weevil, Nano- 

 phyes mactilatus. Hitherto similar movements have 

 been known only in the case of the Mexican so-called 

 •jumping beans'," of which the moving power are the 

 larvse of certain tortricid moths, especially Carposapsa 

 saltitans. 



In an article contributed ^to vol. iv. (new series), 

 part i., of the Transactions of the Natural History 

 Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle- 

 upon-Tyne, Mr. R. S. Bagnall states that whereas 

 a few years ago only a single representative of the 

 centipedes of the group Symphyla was known from 

 the British Isles," he had been enabled to raise the 

 number to no fewer than twelve species and one sub- 

 species, five of the former, of which three are 

 described as new, belonging to the genus Scutigerella, 

 and the remaining seven, of which six are new, 

 together with the subspecies (also new) to Scolo- 

 pendra. In a supplemental article published near the 

 end of the same issue he describes a seventh new 

 species of Scolopendra, from Cheshire, and raises the 

 aforesaid subspecies to specific rank, thus recording a 

 total of fourteen British species, of which, however, 

 one Scutigerella has hitherto been detected only in hot- 

 houses. 



In No. I of vol. v. of the Entomological Series of 

 the Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture, Mr. 

 C. C. Ghosh continues his life-histories of Indian 

 insects, dealing in this instance with eleven species 

 of butterflies, inclusive of the common British 

 cabbage-white. The account of the rice-leaf cater- 

 pillar, and its butterfly, so injurious to rice-crops all 

 over the Old World and Australia, is from MS. left 

 by Mr. Maxwell-Lefroy, when Government ento- 

 rnologist. The nine coloured plates are admirably 

 executed. 



Fuller acquaintance with the insect-fauna of the 

 eastern and north-eastern districts of the Transvaal 

 and southern Rhodesia has enabled Dr. L. Peringuey 

 to add considerably to the list of South African repre- 

 sentatives of the hymenopterous family Mutillidae. 

 His first article on the subject was contributed to 

 vol. i. of the Annals of the S. African Museum (1898) : 

 his latest forms part 15 of vol. x. of the same serial 



(i9H)- 



Beetles of various families, inclusive of the Tene- 

 brionidae, Cetoniidae, and Buprestidae, collected 

 during the Duke of Mecklenburg's travels, form the 

 subject of articles by various specialists in Lief. 3 of 

 the first volume of the Zoological section of Ergehnisse 

 der Zweiten - Deutschen Zentral - Afrika - Expedition, 

 1910-1911. Many new species are named, and it may 

 be well to note that the name of the Ubangi Valley 

 has been adopted as a generic designation, " Ubangia." 



An extensive collection of brittle-stars, or ophiurids, 

 from the Caribbean Sea in the U.S. National Museum 

 has enabled Prof. Ren^ Koeler not only to describe 

 a number of new species, but, what is more im- 

 portant, to rectify the definition of previously known 

 species and groups. His monograph, illustrated by 

 eighteen beautifully executed plates in black and 

 white, forms Bulletin No. 84 (173 4to pp.) of the U.S. 

 National Museum. R. L. 



NO. 2342, VOL. 94] 



OFFICIAL FISHERY PUBLICATIONS.^ 



IN its annual report for the year 1912, the fisheries 

 branch of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries 

 made a marked change in the manner of leporting 

 the results of their administration, and we are glad 

 to note that this change is still more apparent in the 

 report for last year. For the first time we are now 

 presented with an account of the progress of the 

 English sea fisheries, which is characterised by close 

 insight into the conditions of the industry, and by a 

 very attentive study of those tendencies that are 

 making for the modification, in many ways, of the 

 fisheries of England and Wales. 



Part i. of the report is a document of great interest 

 even to the ordinary reader interested in public affairs. 

 It deals clearly and concisely with the industry in 

 general, emphasising various matters of special im- 

 portance arising during 1913. The remarkable 

 herring fishery of the last two years; the great 

 development, during this time, of the fishery for 

 herring by means of the trawl net ; the utilisation of 

 by-products ; the development of the internal com- 

 bustion engine as a means of propulsion of fishing 

 vessels ; the application of wireless telegraphy in the 

 deep-sea fisheries ; the economics of the French 

 sardine industry ; the rapid development of scientific 

 research by the Board : these and other matters, to- 

 gether with a good review of the year's fisheries and 

 the administrative work of the Board, make up this 

 interesting volume. Part ii. is a document for the 

 specialist. It consists of statistical tables and synoptic 

 charts, and those concerned with fisheries inquiries 

 will welcome the increasing amount of detail ex- 

 hibited in this representation of the year's fisheries. 

 Still greater detail in relation to the less important 

 fisheries is desirable, but it is apparent that, for this 

 purpose, a much greater development of local adminis- 

 tration by the Board may be necessary. 



These reports are a contribution, though in a greatly 

 modified and much more valuable form, of the former 

 fisheries reports of the department. The third paper 

 before us begins a new series of publications contain- 

 ing the results of scientific researches carried out by 

 the officers of the Board. It is a statistical account 

 of the English haddock fishery in the North Sea. The 

 species is one which is most abundant in the northern 

 parts of the North Sea, less abundant to the west of 

 Great Britain, and practically absent, or capricious in 

 its distribution and abundance, in the Irish Sea and 

 the English Channel. Commercial statistics are 

 utilised by Mr. Russell to give a picture of the dis- 

 tribution of the fish, and of its seasonal abundance, 

 and the variations of abundance from year to year. 

 These statistical summaries are most valuable; they 

 indicate irresistibly those periodic fluctuations which 

 are plainly to be correlated with periodic physical 

 changes in the sea, or even with periodic cosmic 

 changes. Measurements of length, of samples of fish 

 taken at the great ports, are also summarised by 

 Mr. Russell, and are so treated as to supplement the 

 commercial statistics. In this way more than two 

 and a half millions of fish have been dealt with. 

 Biological observations have also been made, but a 

 discussion of these is reser\'ed for a future report. 



Numerous determinations of average weight of the 

 fishes landed are also summarised, with the object of 

 throwing light on the variations in nutrition accord- 

 ing to age and season. The author shows that the 

 well-known length-weight formula now used in fishery 



' Boa'd of Agriculture and Fisheries. Annual Report on the Sea Fisheries 

 for the Year 191 3. Part i., Report ; Part ii., Tables and Charts. [Cd. 7448-9I 

 (1914.) 



Fishery Investigations. Series ii., voL i., part i., Report on Market 

 Mea.sureraents in Relation to the English Haddock Fishery during the 

 I Years 1909-11. By E. S. RusselL (1914 ) 



