134 



KNOWLEDGE. 



April, 1913. 



about seven or soon after, and it is certain that there 

 are no rabbits about then. But if you search care- 

 fully, you will find many tracks, freshly made; for 

 the rabbits have been out earlier than von. In the 



Figure 136. Glaux Lagoon. 



evenings, too, they only come out after dark, when 

 you have made yourself comfortable in your tent. 

 Their food remains much the same now as in the 

 summer. One interesting addition to the list must 

 be mentioned, however. In the Glaux lagoon (see 

 Figure 136), now filled with water, there are con- 

 siderable patches of sand dug up by rabbits. The}* 

 are plainly seen on this photograph, showing up 

 dark. It was some time before the cause of this 

 nightly exercise was found, but it eventually proved 

 to be that the rabbits dug up the ground to reach the 

 Glaux rhizomes for eating. 



Rats are, unfortunately, quite abundant on the 



Point. Since the stranding of a whale on the 

 beach, in the fall of 1910, they have been there. 

 In 1911, they were present in such numbers and 

 harrassed the terns so seriously, that these laid 

 an extraordinary number of mis-coloured and 

 mis-shapen eggs. Since then poison and traps 

 have been kept on the go incessantly, but still 

 they are there. This winter their tracks were 

 wonderfully abundant round the tents. They live 

 chiefly in the rabbit burrows. 



As harmful as the rats are the two small colonies 

 of stoats, which are now, however, almost at the 

 point of extinction. 



At least one kind of vole occurs, and as casual 



Figure 137. Rabbit runs in salt marsh. 



visitors seals must not be forgotten, for the} - often 

 turn up and spend a few days on the Point. As 

 many as seven have been seen at the same time. 



THE ROYAL INSTITUTION. 



A GENERAL MEETING of the Members of the Royal Institution 

 was held on the afternoon of March 3rd, Sir James ("richton- 

 Browne, Treasurer and Vice-President, in the chair. Mr. 

 T. W. E. Davenall, Mr. 1'. M. Deneke, Mr. H. Trevelyan 

 George, Mr. H. G. Gillespie, Mr. \V. V. Graham, Lady Heath, 

 The Hon. Marguerite de Fontaine Drever Joicey, Mr. J. A. 

 Law, Rev. J. Marchant, Dr. W. A. Milligan, Mr. D. W. 

 Moncur, The Hon. Mrs. R. Parker, Mrs. Carson Roberts, and 

 Miss Tatlock, were elected Members. The Honorary 

 Secretary announced the decease of The Right Hon. The Earl 

 of Crawford, Mr. George Matthey, and Sir William H. White, 

 Members of the Royal Institution, and Resolutions of con- 

 dolence with the relatives were passed. 



The following are the Lecture Arrangements at the Royal 

 Institution, after Easter: — Dr. A. S. Woodward, Two 

 Lectures on Recent Discoveries of Early Man. Professor VV. 

 Bateson, Fullerian Professor of Physiology, Two Lectures in 

 continuation of his before Easter course on The Heredity of 

 Sex and some Cognate Problems. Professor W. Stirling, 

 Three Lectures on Recent Physiological Inquiries: 1, Pro- 

 tective and other Reflex Acts ; 2, Equilibrium and the Sixth 

 Sense; 3, Ductless Glands and their Dominating Influence. 

 Professor T. B. Wood, Three Lectures on Recent Advances 

 in the Production and Utilization of Wheat in England. Dr. 



E. Frankland Armstrong, Two Lectures on l,The Bridge into 

 Life; 2, Colour in Flowers. Professor J. Garstang, Three 

 Lectures on The Progress of Hittite Studies: 1, Recent 

 Explorations ; 2, Religious Monuments of Asia Minor ; 3, Cults 

 of Northern Syria. Mr. Edward Armstrong, Two Lectures on 

 Florentine Tragedies : 1, The Exile of Dante; 2, The Burning 

 of Savonarola. Professor W. J. Pope, Three Lectures on 

 Recent Chemical Advances: 1, Molecular Architecture; 2, 

 Chemistry in Space ; 3, The Structure of Crystals. Mr. 

 A. M. Hind, two Lectures on 1, Van Dyck and the Great 

 Etchers and Engravers of Portrait ; 2, Rembrandt's Etchings. 

 Professor Sir Walter Raleigh, three lectures on 1, Boccaccio ; 

 2, Mediaeval French Novelists; 3, Chaucer. Mr. H. A. 

 Humphrey, two lectures on Humphrey Internal Combustion 

 Pumps. Professor E. Rutherford, three lectures on Radio- 

 activity : 1, The Alpha Rays and their connection with the 

 Transformations ; 2, The Origin of the Beta and Gamma 

 Rays and the connection between them ; 3, The Radio-Active 

 State of the Earth and Atmosphere. The Friday Evening 

 Meetings will be resumed on April 4, when Mr. James J. 

 Dobbie will deliver a Discourse on The Spectroscope in 

 Organic Chemistry. Succeeding Discourses will probably 

 be given by Mr. C. J. P. Cave, Dr. T. M. Lowry, Professor 

 J. Garstang, Mr. H. G. Plimmer, and other gentlemen. 



