40 



NATURE 



[September ii, 1919 



its own aspect the warning colours, or "aposemes," of 

 two distinct models. Various objections to the theories 

 of Bates and Miiller were noticed, and it was con- 

 tended that the facts at present known are more 

 favourable to an explanation based on the principle of 

 natural selection than to an> other as yet offered. It 

 was admitted that this involves the recognition of 

 adaptation as influencing the development of the 

 colour patterns in question, and it was allowed that 

 the pursuit of the "new teleology " may, like other 

 biological speculations, have been here and there car- 

 ried too far. 



The address ended by emphasising the value of 

 scientifically managed collections of insects in their 

 bearing ujxin biological problems. 



NOTES. 



We are informed that the office of Scientific Attach^ 

 at the American Embassy is being closed ; the question 

 of the closing being permanent or not is, however, 

 under discussion, and it is possible that the office may 

 re-open in the course of a few months. The Scientific 

 Attach^ in London has been the representative of the 

 Research Information Service of the U.S. National 

 Research Council, and the Service will in future be 

 glad to receive communications addressed c/o the 

 National Research Council, 1023 Sixteenth Street, 

 Washington, D.C., U.S.A. 



We learn from Science that an .American Meteoro- 

 logical Society is in course of formation, and that it 

 will be definitely organised at the meeting of the 

 American Association at St. Louis in December next. 

 The purpose of the society ^s to fill the need for an 

 «asy interchange of ideas among those interested in 

 atmospheric phenomena and their effects on man, and 

 thereby to promote instruction and research in these 

 subjects. It is pointed out that these objects may be 

 brought about by general meetings with the -American 

 Association and local meetings at other times ; by the 

 use of the Monthly Weather Review as a medium for 

 the publication of meteorological and climatological 

 articles ; and by the issue of a monthly leaflet con- 

 taining news, announcements, notes, and queries. 



No one is better qualified than Lord Walsingham to 

 express the high estimation in which the late Frede- 

 rick Du Cane Godman was held by all who knew him, 

 whether in his scientific or in his private capacity. The 

 appreciation of his lamented friend, which has been 

 reprinted by Lord Walsingham from the Proceedings 

 of the Entomological Society of London, speaks in fit- 

 ting terms of the immense service rendered to the 

 systematic studj of natural history by the zeal and 

 generosity of Godman. The sixty-three volumes of the 

 " Biologia Centrali-.Americana," the whole expense of 

 which was borne by him, is a splendid monument to 

 the labours of this great naturalist and of his friend 

 and associate, Osbert Salvin. AW those who were ever 

 in his company will agree with Lord Walsingham that 

 " there was a peculiar charm of personality which per- 

 vaded his whole nature; a generous sympathy with all 

 those whose tastes, pursuits, or studies were kindred 

 to his own ; a genuine desire to help, encourage, and 

 enlighten their efforts, and to contribute to the objects 

 for which they were striving." It is intended to 

 establish a memorial to Godman in connection with 

 the British Museum, of which he was an active and 

 efficient trustee. 



Prior to the war the Wireless Society of London 

 appointed an advisory committee to assist the officials 

 of the Post Office in sifting their numerous applica- 



NO. 2602, VOL. 104] 



tions for licences and recommending those which 

 should be accepted. We now learn from the hon. 

 secretary of the society that the offer of the services 

 of the committee has again been accepted in the same 

 capacity. Several questions in connection with the 

 proposed new licences have still to be decided, par- 

 ticularly with respect to transmitting, but we gather 

 that the genuine experimenter and the amateur who 

 is prepared to conform to reasonable regulations may 

 depend upon the society doing all that can be done 

 at the moment to further their interests. 



In the Queensland Geographical Journal, issued in 

 a .~,.i.^ie iiumlx'r for the years 1916-18, Mr. K. H. 

 Mathews describes the ceremonj of initiation, known 

 as JJyer-va-val, amongst the birdnawal Tribe, whose 

 hunting grounds were situated in the north-east corner 

 of the State of Victoria. There are interesting points 

 of resemblance to the similar rite practised by the 

 aborigines of some northern rivers of New South Wales. 

 During the long course of instruction, which began 

 ivhen the novices were separated from their mothers 

 until they were finally recognised as men, they were 

 taught which foods were lawful and which were taboo. 

 On certain occasions they were taken to the place where 

 the women were assembled, when their mothers and 

 other female relatives gave them vegetable food, and 

 authorised tncm to eat a particular vegetable from that 

 time onward. On another day, the boys were brought 

 up, and the women gave them water in a native vessel, 

 after which they could drink from any stream in the 

 tribal territory. 



The United States National Museum possesses a con- 

 siderable collection of examples of ecclesiastical art, a 

 catalogue of which has been prepared by the assistant 

 curator, Mr. 1. M. Casanowicz, and issued as No. 2287 

 in vol. Iv., Proceedings of the Museum. The pamphlet is 

 something more than a catalogue, as the .compiler has 

 collected a considerable amount of information on the 

 subject. He divides the catalogue into : (i) Ecclesiasti- 

 cal An of the Roman Catholic Church ; (2) of the 

 Eastern Church; (3) of the Armenian Church. With 

 this is given a collection of illustrations of the more 

 important exhibits. Much further material, we are 

 told, remains in storage owing to lack of space. il 



An exceptionally interesting bionomic study of a 

 group of insects is found in Mr. John J. Davis's "Con- 

 tributions to a Knowledge of the Natural Enemies ot 

 Phyllophaga " (Bull. Illinois Nat. Hist. Survey, vol. 

 xiii, art. 5). This is a genus of chafers which in 

 North America have much the same economic import- 

 ance as the cockchafers and their allies have in Europe, i. 

 the adult beetles eating leaves and the larvae devouring |l 

 roots. Black digger-wasps (Tiphia) " are without '■ 

 doubt the most efticient and abundant of the many 

 parasites known to attack Phyllophaga," but the 

 Tiphia; are themselves parasitised by larvae of bomby- 

 lid flies. In his elucidation of such life-relations the 

 author gives much information on the structure and 

 habits of parasitic and predaccous insects of various 

 orders. The importance of birds and mammals (in- 

 cluding the domestic pig and the notorious skunk) as 

 devourers of the "white grubs " is also illustrated. 



Those fascinating tunicates, the Salpidae, form the 

 subject of an important recent memoir by Maynard M. 

 Metcalf (Bull. 100, U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. ii, part 2), 

 who gives anatomical details of the nervous sjstem 

 and musculature in many species, a " taxonomic 

 study "' of the whole family, and an interesting dis- 

 cussion on their distribution. He believes that "while 

 the comparative anatoriiy of the adult tunicata tells us 



