July 26. 1900] 



NATURE 



303 



Hall during October and November next, and we have no 

 d.oubt they will be as "instructive and entertaining" as the 

 programme promises, for the lecturers are all experienced ex- 

 ponents of science. The quotation " Pupils trained on books, 

 and books alone, are mere passive recipients of other people's 

 ideas," which we notice on the programme, is not a very 

 happy one ; for popular audiences are, after all, only "passive 

 recipients" of the ideas of the lecturer. Popular lectures upon 

 scientific subjects direct attention to natural phenomena, and 

 occasionally induce people to devote serious attention to some 

 branch of science. On this account they are valuable, but 

 there is of course a great difference between listening to an 

 eloquent lecturer, or witnessing striking demonstrations, and 

 s actually carrying out the most elementary experiments. 



^^^^■Writing to Sir Henry Burdett with reference to Mr. Craggs's 

 ^^^Hkdowment of a travelling scholarship in connection with the 

 ^^^^Pbndon School of Tropical Medicine, Mr. Chamberlain recently 

 ^^^^Knarked : — " My experience at the Colonial Office daily im- 

 ^^^Hksscs upon me the extreme importance of doing something to 

 I^^^Bske life in our tropical colonies more healthy for those who 

 ^^aife engaged there in the work of civilisation, whether as ad- 

 ministrators, missionaries or traders. Science has already given 

 us promise of good results in the near future, and nothing, I 

 believe, can conduce more powerfully to a speedy and satisfac- 

 tory result than such researches as those which Mr. Craggs has 

 in contemplation. I hope that his munificent action may be 

 followed by other benefactors, so that the work may be simul- 

 taneously pursued in different countries." The scholarship is 

 one of 300/. per annum, tenable for three years, and is for 

 research in tropical disease.' The first scholar is now attached 

 to an expedition which is engaged in attempting to give practical 

 application to the theory of the inoculation of the human being 

 with the malaria parasite through the medium of the mosquito. 

 The expedition has been equipped by the Colonial Office and is 

 now stationed in one of the most malarious districts of the 

 Roman Campagna. When this experiment is completed, at 

 the expiration of six months, the scholar will proceed to the 

 West Indies, thence to the West Coast and probably to the 

 interior of Africa. 



The fourteenth volume (for the year 1898) of the Analele of 

 the Meteorological Institute of Roumania has just been pub- 

 lished Besides the usual tables, it contains several important 

 memoirs. M. St. Murat compares the magnetic instruments of 

 the Institute with those of the Observatory of Pare St. Maur, 

 and describes the observations made during 1898. The 

 director, Dr. Hepites, studies the climatology of Braila and of 

 the Roumanian littoral of the Black Sea, the distribution of 

 rainfall in Roumania during 1898 (this paper being illustrated by 

 a series of monthly inaps), and the earthquakes during' the same 

 year. Brief accounts are given of eleven shocks, all of them 

 of very slight intensity. 



It appears from Part ii. of the Eighteenth Annual Report of 

 the Fishery Board for Scotland that the sabnon fishery for 

 1899 turned out considerably below the average of recent 

 years. It is true that the weight of salmon forwarded by rail 

 and steamship during the year was slightly in excess of that 

 carried in 1898, but it was still 638 tons below the average; 

 and such slight improvement as took place is attributed to the 

 large run of grilse which occurred during the summer. Adult 

 fish seem to have been comparatively scarce. As the inspector 

 remarks, it is absolutely essential to the continuance of the 

 Scottish salmon fisheries that a stock of breeding fish sufficient 

 to counterbalance the loss caused by fishing, by the salmon's 

 natural enemies and by disease, must be maintained by some 

 means or other. It is satisfactory to learn that some proprietors 

 NO . T604, VOL. 62] 



have established hatching-stations in order to artificially increase 

 this supply. The inspector is, however, of opinion "that if 

 the present catching power continues to be developed, a very 

 great increase in the number and in the capacity of hatcheries 

 will be necessary to produce noticeable results." In artificially 

 augmenting the stock of salmon we must Necessarily be prepared 

 to compete with a vast mortality. 



Among several papers interesting to entomologists in the June 

 number of the AgricuUtiral Gazette of New South Wales, 

 reference may be made to one by Mr. W. W. Froggatt, the 

 Government entomologist, on insects living in figs. The interiors 

 of young wild figs in all countries swarm with minute plant- 

 feeding Hymenoptera of the family CfiilcidLe. The males and 

 females of these minute insects differ from one another in colour, 

 size and shape; but the peculiar feature of the group is that, 

 instead of the females being degraded into a wingless condition, 

 it is the males that are devoid of wings, while they are also 

 frequently blind, with abnormally short legs and aborted antennoe, 

 A new Australian species is described and figured. 



In the Victorian Naturalist for June, Mr. Robert Hall gives 

 an interesting account of the nesting habits of one of the ' 

 Australian diamond-birds [Pardalotus assimilis). In common 

 with some of their kindred, these birds make their nests at the 

 end of a tunnel drilled by themselves in a bank. " The nest is 

 made to fit in a cavity with a domed ceiling, excavated in the 

 hard subsoil at the end of the tunnel. This tunnel is ten inches 

 long, and is drilled with a slight upward tendency, as is usual in 

 most ground-boring birds. The nest entrance is two feet below 

 the surface of the ground, and in a creek-bank some nine 

 feet above a stream." Both sexes take part in the drilling 

 operations, one excavating while the other removes the rubbish, 

 but it seems that the task of incubation falls to the share of the 

 male. 



In the June issue of the/oMs Hopkins University Circulars 

 will be found an important communication by Mr. L. E. Griffin 

 oa the arterial circulation in the nautilus. 



We learn from the Bulletin of the New York Botanic 

 Garden that the herbarium has acquired during the year 

 specimens to the number of 70,000, and that over 4000 species 

 and varieties of plants, belonging to 172 families and 1057 

 genera, are under cultivation in the Garden. 



We have received Supplement ix. to the Journal of Reading 

 College, consisting of the sixth annual report on field experi- 

 ments (for 1899), viz. :— field experiments in Dorset, Berkshire, 

 Oxfordshire and Hampshire ; spraying experiments on charlock ; 

 trials with sugar-beet ; the manuring of crops ; and notes on 

 manures. 



Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard 

 University, New Series No. 19, consists of a synopsis of the 

 Mexican and Central American species of Salvia ; a revision of 

 the Mexican and Central American Solanums of the sub-section 

 Torvaria ; and some undescribed Mexican plants (chiefly 

 Labiatse and Solanaceoe), all by Mr. M. L. Fernald. 



Herr Paul Sintenis announces that he is undertaking a 

 botanical exploration of the mountain region on the confines of 

 Turkestan and Persia, of the flora of which district very little is 

 at present known. The expedition will probably extend 

 through the present year. Application for sets of the plants 

 collected should be made to Herr Baurath J. Freyn, Smichow- 

 Prague. 



Thk Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, judging 

 from the annual "Catalogue" for the session 1899-1900, is a 

 well-appointed and flourishing institution. Full information as 



