786 



NATURE 



[August 19, 1920 



is of the greatest use in preventing the onset of the 

 disease, and if not successful in this, in mitigating 

 the severity of the symptoms and lessening the death- 

 rate. Statistics of the incidence of tetanus among the 

 wounded sent home, about 1,242,000, are given; there 

 were among them 1458 cases of tetanus, a ratio of 

 about I per 1000. In September, 1914, 6000 wounded 

 men were landed in England, and 54 men wounded in 

 that month were attacked by tetanus, a ratio of 9 per 

 1000. In November, 1914, there was a sudden drop 

 to a ratio of 23 per 1000, and the ratio never after- 

 wards exceeded about 27, and was frequently less. 

 This sudden drop coincides with the systematic inocula- 

 tion of all the wounded with antitetanic serum. The 

 case-mortality per cent, of those who developed tetanus 

 was 53-5 among those unprotected with antitetanic 

 serum, and 230 among those who received a preven- 

 tive injection of the serum. The use of antitetanic 

 serum also markedly lengthened the incubation period 

 of the disease, and the longer the incubation period, 

 the milder does the disease tend to be. With a long 

 incubation period the disease frequently assumes a 

 localised form in the neighbourhood of the wound, 

 and while in 19 14 the percentage of cases of the acute 

 and generalised form was 98-9 and of the local form 

 i-i, in 1918 the respective figures were 83-5 and 165. 

 Sir David Bruce concludes, therefore, that by the 

 preventive use of antitetanic serum (i) the incidence 

 of the disease is lowered ten to twelve times ; (2) the 

 incubation period is lengthened four or five times ; 

 (3) the disease becomxes milder, many of the cases 

 showing only local manifestations; and (4) the death- 

 rate is lowered fourfold. 



Four specimens of Gephyrea were taken from the 

 stomachs of fish at two widely separated stations by 

 the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18. These are 

 referred by Mr. R. V. Chamberlin (Report of the 

 Expedition, vol. ix.. Part D, 1920) to the widespread 

 northern Priaptdus humanus. A short account is 

 given of other Canadian Gephyrea, which represent 

 six species — :the Priapulus already mentioned and five 

 Sipunculids, one of which is a new species of Phas- 

 colosoma. The author appends a useful, but not 

 quite complete, bibliography of the Gephyrea con- 

 taining the titles of about 430 works. 



The remarkable habits of the sage grouse form the 

 subject of a brief but valuable essay by Mr. Bruce 

 Horsfall in Zoologica (vol. ii.. No. 10), the organ of 

 the New York Zoological Society. One of the most 

 striking features of the displays described is the use of- 

 the wings in thrusting forward th^ inflated air-pouch, 

 which plays a prominent part in the performance. 

 The author contends that these displays are not 

 "courtship" antics, because no notice was taken of 

 one or two females which " meandered through the 

 throng " while the performance was in full swing. 

 But since the breeding seasort seems only just to have 

 begun, one feels inclined to doubt the validity of this 

 interpretation. A number of unusually good text- 

 figures and a coloured plate add greatly to the value 

 of this most welcome addition to our knowledge of 

 the ecology of the sage grouse. 

 NO. 2651, VOL. 105] 



The nesting of the bee^ater in Scotland is an '*' 



event in the annals of British ornithology which #i 



is indeed worthy of record, and we are greatly 5 



indebted to Mr. J. Kirke Nash for his carefully kept ^ 

 notes thereon which he publishes in British Birds for 

 August. A pair of these birds were first seen on 

 June 3 perched on a wire fence surmounting a sand- 

 bank of the River Esk, near Musselburgh. When 



discovered they were engaged in catching flies, after •- 



the fashion of the flycatcher. On June 7 they were , 



found entering and leaving a hole in the bank, and i 

 as the male was seen feeding his mate it was clear 



that they were nesting. On June 13, however, the '- 



female fell a victim to the stupidity of a gardener, ' 



who captured it, placed it in a greenhouse, and "fed '* 'i 



it on breadcrumbs. Needless to say, it died within j 



two days, after laying an egg. A few days later the j 



unfortunate survivor was caught and killed by a cat. : 



Dr. B. H. Ransom contributes to the Proceedings of - 



the United States National Museum (vol. Ivii., \ 



pp. 527-73, 33 figs., 1920) a synopsis of the Trema- j 



tode family Heterophyidae, with descriptions of a ■ 



nev^' genus and five new species. This family is com- ; 



posed of a number of genera of small Trematodes, 1 



usually not more than 2 mm. long, parasitic in the i 



intestine of mammals and birds, usually fish-eaters. , 



Two of these flukes, Heterophyes heterophyes and ^ 



Metagonimus Yokogawai, occur in the small intes- j 



tine of man — the former in Egypt, China, and Japan, ] 

 and the latter in Formosa, Japan, and Korea. These 



occur also in the dog and cat, and five other flukes , 



of this family have been recorded from these animals. ■ 



The author gives a key to the characters of the nine i 



genera which he recognises as valid, and also supplies ; 



the necessary keys to the species. ^ 



The first annual report of the Industrial Fatigue ,• 

 Research Board (H.M. Stationery Office) contains an ; 

 interesting record of work completed or in progress, j 

 Of the four reports already issued that of Dr. Vernon | 

 dealing with the influence of hours of w-ork and | 

 ventilation on output in the tinplate industry is the ? 

 most extensive, w^hile the report by Mr. Major Green- ^ 

 wood and Miss Hilda Woods upon the incidence of ■ 

 industrial accidents (the statistical theorv- of this ' 

 investigation has been further developed in a paper i 

 by Messrs. Greenwood and Yule published in the 

 March, 1920, issue of the Journal of the Royal Statis- 

 tical Society) suggested some important problems ! 

 which the Board proposes to study further. Mrs. 1 

 Osborne's paper on the output of female munition 1 

 workers and Dr. C. S. Myers's analysis of the results 

 obtained in a factory after the introduction of motion 

 study are also of interest. Amongst investigations 

 not yet completed, that on the relation between length 

 of shift and fatigue in the iron and steel industry, 

 entrusted to Dr. H. M. Vernon, is almost ready for pub- 

 lication, and progress has been made with inquiries 

 into special conditions affecting the cotton, boot and 

 shoe, and silk industries. The Board has a large 

 number of tasks in hand, and it is yet too early to 

 decide which are likely to be most remunerative. It 

 is, however, clear that careful thought has been 



