330 



NATURE 



[December 27, 1917 



The Smithsonian Institution has issued an elaborate 

 monograph on "The Comparative Histology of the 

 Femur," by Dr. J. S. Foote, professor of patho- 

 logy in Creighton Medical College, Omaha, Nebraska 

 (Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. xxxv., 

 No. 3, 1916). Prof. Foote's investigations commenced 

 in 1909, when he casually observed, in a section of a 

 turkey's femur, "a type of bone structure quite unlike 

 that usually described." He therefore began a sys- 

 tematic investigation of bone structure as revealed by 

 sections across the femoral shaft. In his mono- 

 graph he gives descriptions of the sectional ap- 

 pearance of 440 femora — amphibian, reptilian, avian, 

 and mammalian. Prof. Foote is of opinion that we 

 must recognise not one, but three types of architec- 

 ture in the minute structure of bone. In the type 

 with which most students are familiar the bone is 

 arranged in concentric systems — Haversian systems — 

 in the centre of each of which there is a vascular 

 channel. The Haversian is the commonest system in 

 higher mammals. The more usual system in birds 

 is quite different. In them the bone is arranged in 

 laminae, with vascular channels between the laminae. 

 A more primitive system than either the Haversian 

 or "laminar" is what Prof. Foote describes as the 

 "lamellar" — best seen in the femora of amphibians. 

 In this type the bone is arranged in a series of 

 lamellae surrounding the medullary cavity, but there 

 are no vascular channels either within or between the 

 lamellae, as in the two more highly evolved types of 

 bone. 



A LIST of the Hemiptera-Heteroptera of New Eng- 

 land has been published by Mr. H. M. Parshley as an 

 "Occasional Paper" (No. 7) of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History. The list is prefaced by some 

 suggestive distributional notes, in which the author 

 points out that most of the species common to Europe 

 and North America appear to be "massed" on or near 

 the eastern seaboard of the latter continent. 



While studying the collection of fishes of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Mr. 

 H. W. Fowler discovered many interesting specimens 

 from New England waters. These he describes in the 

 Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 

 (vol. XXXV., No. 4). Three of these species are new 

 to science, and one of them represents a family and 

 genus hitherto unknown in New England waters. 

 Some excellent text-figures add much to the value of 

 this contribution. 



An interesting paper on recognition among insects is 

 published by Dr. N. E. Mclndoo (Smithsonian Mis- 

 cell. Coll., vol. Ixviii., No. 2), in which he summarises 

 our knowledge of scent-producing organs among in- 

 sects of different orders, and the responses made by 

 various creatures to such chemical stimuli. A con- 

 siderable section of the paper is occupied by an account 

 of Dr. Mclndoo 's own experiments on the character- 

 istic odours emitted by different hive bees — queen, 

 drones, and workers of various occupations. The 

 economic importance of the study of the reactions of 

 insects is pointed out with many apt illustrations in 

 Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt's recent address on insect be- 

 haviour as a factor in applied entomology {Journ. 

 Econ. Entom., vol. x., 1917, No. i). Messrs. E. A. 

 McGregor and F. L. McDonough, in Bulletin 416 of 

 the U.S. Department of Agriculture, on the red 

 "spider" of cotton {Tetranychus bimaculatus) , give 

 much attention to the mite's means of dispersal and 

 its responses to .seasonal and environmental change. 



In part 4 of vol. vii. and part i of vol. viii. of the 

 Bulletin of Entomological Research, Prof. R. New- 



NO. 2513, VOL. 100] 



stead continues his " Observations on Scale-insects," 

 describing several new species, and giving welcome 

 figures of the little-known male of the common Leca- 

 niutn hesperidum. In the latter number the Rev. J. 

 Waterston has a noteworthy paper on a new species 

 of Paraphelinus, a genus of small Hymenoptera, the 

 larvae of which feed in the eggs of grasshoppers. Drs. 

 A. Ingram and G. W. Scott Macfie give structural 

 details of the pupae of West African mosquitoes. Mr. 

 Rupert W. Jack, of Southern Rhodesia, brings forward 

 evidence which has convinced him of the occasional 

 transmission of trypanosomiasis by blood-sucking flies 

 other than the tsetses (Glossina), such as tabanids and 

 Stomoxys. There appear, however, to be limits to 

 the spread of disease by such means, as they "have 

 not resulted in establishing trypanosomiasis in any 

 area away from the fly-belts." The Review of Applied 

 Entomology , with its invaluable summaries, is now in 

 its seventh volume, and a highly useful subject-index 

 of the agricultural entries in the first three volumes, 

 compiled by Mr. S. A. Neave, has just been published 

 by the Imperial Bureau of Entomology. 



A PAPER of special interest, literally "breaking 

 ground" in a direction hitherto little worked in these 

 countries, is Dr. A. E. Cameron's "Insect Association 

 of a Local Environmental Complex in the District of 

 Holmes Chapel, Cheshire" (Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., 

 vol. Hi., part i. No. 2). Several American naturalists 

 have lately given attention to the intensive faunistic 

 and associational study of small areas, and Dr. 

 Cameron has done the same kind of work for this 

 small corner of north-western England with great care 

 and thoroughness. The relations between the insects 

 found and the ecological types of vegetation in the 

 two meadows specially examined are pointed out. 

 A feature of agricultural interest was noted in 

 the dominance of crane-fly larvag as root-feeders in one 

 meadow and of " wire-worms " in the other. The 

 paper represents a vast amount of systematic and 

 statistical work, and it is to be hoped that, as Dr. 

 Cameron has now transferred his activities to Canada, 

 other of our entomologists may be incited to try 

 similar lines of inquiry. 



Several improvements in maps designed to show 

 economic distributions are suggested in a paper by Mr. 

 George Philip in the Geographical Journal for Decem- 

 ber (vol. 1., No. 6). Mr. Philip has attempted, with 

 a considerable measure of success, to give effect to the 

 recommendations of the British Association com- 

 mittee's report on maps for school use. He has 

 avoided peppering the map with symbols or names for 

 the distribution of natural products, commercial com- 

 modities, or industries, and has restricted their use 

 to coalfields and a few important natural products. 

 Names are further reduced by giving only the initials 

 of ports. The groundwork colouring is a combination 

 of density of population and the type of vegetation. 

 In the most densely populated regions distinction is 

 made, by two tints of red, between highly developed 

 manufacturing enterprise and horticultural or planta- 

 tion industries. The other productive regions are 

 shown in shades of green, and undeveloped regions in 

 brown. The map thus indicates the present state of 

 economic development. Only the most important trade 

 routes are shown by land and sea ; on the sea by bands 

 the width of which varies with the volume of trade. 

 Mr. Philip proposes a school atlas on these lines, with 

 the continents on a scale of one to forty millions, 

 except Europe, which would have a scale of one to ten 

 millions. A specimen map of Eurasia accompanies the 

 paper. Finer colour printing would improve this 

 striking map. 



