January i, 1920] 



NATURE 



457 



gascar became isolated tjefore these fishes could reach 

 them. The severance of Africa from South America 

 and from southern Asia probably left Characiformes 

 and Pimelodidae in South America, Characiformes and 

 Bagridas in Africa, and Cypriniformes and Bagridae in 

 southern Asia. At the end of the Cretaceous new- 

 land connections may have enabled the ancestors of 

 the Catostomidae and .\miuridse to reach North 

 -America through eastern .\sia. Isolation of the con- 

 tinents during the Eocene helped the development of 

 endemic types, and the union that followed in the 

 Oligocene or Miocene probably gave Cyprinidae to 

 North America and a few Nearctic fishes to eastern 

 Asia. 



Prof. MacBride and Mr. Goodrich expressed som<' 

 doubts as to the value of the evidence, on the zoo- 

 logical side, for the existence of Gondwana Land, but 

 Dr. D. H. Scott regarded the evidence afforded bv 

 the Glossopteris flora as stronglv in favour of the 

 former existence of such a land area. Mr. D. M. .S. 

 ^^'atson considered that the evidence from fossil plants, 

 Pelecypoda, and vertebrates indicated a connection 

 between .Africa and .America in Permian times, but 

 whether this continued to the Cretaceous was doubtful. 



Dr. J. W. Evans did not agree with those who 

 dwelt on the incompleteness of the evidence for the 

 existence of Gondwana Eand. He was inclined to 

 look with favour on the view that the land-masses 

 had not always held their present relative positions, 

 e.fl. .\frica and South .America may have been 

 nearer together. Th'' Falkland Islands show closer 

 geological relationship to .Africa than to Amf-'ca. 



Mr. Tate Regan, in rephing, reaffirmed hi-; belief 

 in the former existence of Gondwana Land. 



Before the same joint meeting Mr. D. M. S. W-'t'on 

 fave a paper on " Palaeontnlogv and the Evolution 

 Theory," an account of which will be given in the 

 article uDon the oroceedings of th" Geological Section. 



Dr. Marie Lebour summarised the results of her 

 investigations, extending over three seasons at Plv- 

 p-'outh. on the food of larval and post-larval fishes. 

 Most of the fish examined were from o-.; mm. to 

 i:; mm. in length. The greater portion of their food 

 consists of Entomostraca ; diatoms seem to be little 

 e.-iten by voung fish except at a very earlv stage. 

 Other unicellular organisms are rarelv found in 

 vounp fish, but the flounder uo to about lo mm. in 

 length was found to be feedinj? exclusivelv on the 

 flagellate Phaeocvsfis. Ijut at about ii mm. it changes 

 to a diet of copeLpod<i. Larval molluscs, though often 

 abundant in the plankton, are much more seldom 

 found than Crustacea in voung fishes. The voung 

 fishes thus select their food to a great extent, but that 

 which is selected is generallv common, and there is no 

 indication of anv special migration on the nart of the 

 pelagic voung in search of food. 



Mr. L. P. W. Renouf £?ave an account of the 

 develonment of the Bute Liboratorv and Museum. 



I. H. .AsmvoTiTii. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The helpful paper, " On Lecturing with the Lan- 

 tern," by Prof. G. A. J. Cole, which appeared in the 

 Journal of the Department of Agriculture and 

 Technical Instruction for Ireland (vol. xix., No. i), 

 has been reprinted with the permission of the Depart- 

 ment, and is now published as a pamphlet bv Mr. 

 T. H. Mason, Dame Street, Dublin. 



Appi.icatio.vs for the Tvndall Mining Research Fund 

 studentship are invited by the Roval Society. The 

 studentship is for study and research on subjects 

 relating to mining and ' the safety of miners, is of 



NO. 2618, VOL. 104] 



about 35/. in value, and open to any British subject. 

 Applications must reach the Assistant Secretary of 

 the Royal Society not later than January 15, give 

 particulars of the kind of research it is proposed 

 to carry out, and where, and be accompanied by not 

 more than two testimonials or references. 



A'.M.E University is offering two Theresa Seessel 

 research fellowships for the promotion of original re- 

 search in biological studies. Each fellowship will be 

 of the value of 200/., and preference will be given to 

 candidates who have obtained their doctorate and 

 demonstrated their fitness to carry out successfully 

 original research work of a high order. Applications, 

 accompanied by reprints of scientific publications, 

 letters of recommendation, and particulars of the 

 problem proposed by the candidate for investigation, 

 must be made before Mav i next to the Dean of the 

 Graduate School, New Haven, Conn., Li.S.-A. 



The Association of Science Teachers has issued a 

 list of science books which are suitable for use in 

 schools. That a compilation of this sort is a matter 

 of some ditTicultv is doubtless the reason for its being 

 so rarelv attempted. The association has done well 

 to risk imperfection so as to supply an obvious need. 

 The list, which contains the names both of text-books 

 for the use of pupils and of books of reference for the 

 library shelf, is attractivelv printed and reasonably 

 classified. It is to be regretted that biology (as dis- 

 tinct from botany) and astronomy find no |)lace in the 

 main divisions, despite the fact that Dr. Sophie 

 Bryant, in her excellent foreword, directs attention to 

 the desirability of the.se subjects in the early stages of 

 a child's training. The "Book List (191C))," which we 

 hope will become a periodical publication, may be 

 obtained for 1.5. id. from Miss F. Storr, hon. secretary 

 of the association, 12 .\ngell Park Gardens, S.W.g. 



We are used to large private benefactions for educa- 

 tion and science in the United States, but the an- 

 nouncement made in the Times of December 27 of 

 a gift of 25,000,000?. for these purposes from Mr. 

 John D. Rockefeller is really marvellous to those of 

 us who know how little private generosity can be 

 depended uoon for like needs in our own country. 

 The gift is divided into two equal parts of 12,500,000!. 

 each to the General Education Board and to the 

 Rockefeller Foundation. It is the largest sum of 

 monev ever given at one time to philanthropy, and 

 it brings the total amount of Mr. Rockefeller's dona- 

 tions to 100,000,000!. The donation now announced 

 is to be devoted to two purposes : — (i) To some plan 

 of increasing the salaries of the teaching staffs of the 

 colleges and universities of the I'nited .States; and 

 (2) to the promotion of the obiects of the Rockefeller 

 Foundation, which are defined as the well-being of 

 mankind throutjhout the world. The General Educa- 

 tion Board was founded by Mr. Rockefeller in iqos, 

 .-md the general ournose of the cornoration is "the 

 promotion of education within the United States of 

 America, without distinction of race, sex. or creed." 

 The principal funds of the board have been .about 

 0,000,000!., and grants amounting to about 400,000!. 

 have been made annually to various institutions. It 

 was only a couole of months ago that Mr. Rocke- 

 feller .added 2,500,000!. to his previous endowment of 

 the Rockefeller Institute for Aledical Research. This 

 gift was to meet raoidlv growinf needs in the insti- 

 tute's many lines of research and also to make new 

 knowledge available in the orotection of the public 

 he;dth and in the improved treatment of disea-e and 

 injury. 



One of the notable features of the great struggle, 

 in which the n.ition has been engaged, and for which 

 recruits w-ere drawn from all classes of the I'nited 



