June 8, 1916] 



NATURE 



313 



in tree-trunks near Simla. Baini Prasiaad describes 

 the microscopical structure of the halteres in mos- 

 quitoes, and discusses their use, believing that the 

 equilibrating sense is the only function certainly attri- 

 butable to the organs, which appear to have no con- 

 nection with sound production or stridulation. The 

 same author gives an account of the internal inale 

 organs in several mosquito genera. A paper of very 

 considerable importance by P. R. Awati, entitled 

 ■'Studies in Flies, II.," contains descriptions of the 

 genital armature in several Muscid genera as com- 

 pared with those of other Diptera, illustrated by nine- 

 teen clearly drawn plates. The author points out that 

 ten segments may be represented in the abdomen of 

 the higher Diptera, confirming the view put forward 

 by G. H. Carpenter and T. R. Hewitt in their account 

 of the reproductive organs of warble-flies (Hypoderma) 

 published in 19 14 (Sci. Proc. R. Dublin Soc, vol. xiv., 

 No. 19). Mr. Awati attempts to co-ordinate the incon- 

 veniently divergent terminology which has grown up 

 in connection with the male armature of flies studied 

 by various writers. 



The important families of the Tabanidae and 

 Therevidae are dealt with in part ii. of A. White's 

 monograph of the Diptera-Brachycera of Tasmania 

 (Proc. R. Soc. Tasmania, 1915, pp. 1-59)- 



In the Journ. Agric. Research (vol. v., No. 12) 

 D. G. Tower writes on the " Biology of Apanteles 

 militarist' a parasite of the noctuid moth, Helio- 

 phila (or Leucania) unipuncta, the caterpillar of which 

 is notorious in North America under the name of 

 " army worm " ; he describes the outlines of the em- 

 bryonic development, the hatching of the larva, and 

 its various stages. The whole life-history occupies 

 about twenty-five days. Parthenogenesis may occur ; 

 all the offspring of virgin females appear to be males. 

 The author discusses the function of the curious em- 

 bryonic outgrowth of the hind-gut, known as the 

 " caudal vesicle," and agrees with the view of R. 

 Weissenberg {Sitzb. Gesellsch. nattirf. Freunde, Ber- 

 lin, 1901, i) that it is a temporary organ of excretion. 



Prof. Vernon L. Kellogg and Gordon F. Ferris pub- 

 lish, in the Stanford Universitv Series (California), 

 some valuable notes on the Anoplura and Mallophaga 

 of North .\merican mammals. They point out that 

 the systematic study of the Anoplura has been 

 markedly neglected, and furnish a diagnostic table of 

 families and genera which will prove useful to 

 students. The importance of these blood-sucking in- 

 sects as transmitters, and possibly as alternate hosts, 

 of Protozoa causing disease in mammals is naturally 

 emphasised. 



Students of economic entomology and of sacred his- 

 tory will alike be attracted by John D. Whiting's 

 article on a recent plague of locusts near Jerusalem 

 in the National Geographic Journal (Washington, vol. 

 xxviii.. No. 6). This article gives a vivid description 

 of the locust swarms and the damage done by them to 

 vegetation ; it is illustrated by a most remarkable 

 series of photographs. G. H. C. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford.— A party of sixteen professors fr*m various 

 universities in France has lately visited Oxford. They 

 received a cordial welcome, and were given ample 

 opportunities of observing the effect of the war up)on 

 the life of the University. 



Prof. A. Schuster has been appointed Halley lecturer 

 for 1917. 



Owing to circumstances connected with the war the 

 election of a reader in geography is postponed until 

 further notice. 



NO. 2432, VOL. 97] 



By the will of the late Miss C. E. Beckwith one- 

 half of the residue of her estate, which amounts ta 

 about 8000/., is bequeathed to the Victoria University 

 of Manchester in aid of the "John Henry Beckwitlv 

 Scholarship," founded by her mother. 



Science announces that by the will of the late Mr. 

 C. W. Harkness Yale University will receive ioo,oooZ. 

 and the Harkness Fund for scientific and educational 

 work 50,000/. It is also announced that a bequest 

 of 30,000/. has been made to the Johns Hopkins 

 University by Miss Jessie Gillender for the purpose 

 of instituting organised research into the problem of 

 epilepsy. 



So.\iE months ago the German authorities removed 

 to Germany as prisoners two professors of the Univer- 

 sity of Ghent, Messrs. Fredericq and Pirenne, against 

 whom no charge was made and no reason was given. 

 The Dutch Government afterwards approached the 

 German Government with the view of obtaining their 

 release ; and now a memorial has been sent with the 

 same object to the Berlin Academy of Sciences, to 

 other German academies and learned societies, to the 

 senates of the Grerman universities, and individually 

 to a large number of German professors. There are 

 nearly 200 signatories, all professors in Dutch univer- 

 sities or members of the Academy of Sciences of 

 Amsterdam, and the list includes many of the best- 

 known names of Dutch science. The memorialists 

 call upon their German colleagues to obtain from the 

 Government permission for Profs. Fr6d6ricq and 

 Pirenne to proceed to Holland, in order to- continue 

 their studies there. They are convinced that a refusal 

 would seriously disappoint a large part of the Dutch 

 nation. 



Under the title, " Om Bi'trns Idealer," Dr. A. Leh- 

 mann has published {Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes 

 Selskabs Forhandlingen, 19 16, No. 2, pp! 107) an illu- 

 minating analysis of the replies given by 4602 Danish 

 children to the question, "' What person would you 

 wish to be like, and why do you prefer the model you 

 have chosen ? " The subjects of the inquiry were 

 selected from five distinct types of schools, and in- 

 cluded boys and girls of all ages from eight to sixteen. 

 Many interesting points are brought out — for example, 

 that although parents and other personal acquaintances 

 fail badly to maintain their original position as the 

 heroes of childhood, they tend to be rehabilitated in 

 the esteem of the adolescent. Taking the results as a 

 whole, the curves showing the preferences of the two 

 sexes for persons, virtues and accomplishments fall 

 rather widely apart. In a final section of the pajjer 

 the author seeks to determine the influence of co- 

 education upon the course taken by these curves, and 

 shows that it represents something much more positive 

 than a mere tendency to bring the views of boys and 

 girls closer together. 



During the past year the sub-committee on research 

 funds of the Committee of One Hundred of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science 

 has tried to secure Information regarding research 

 funds in the United States, and particularly such as 

 are available without substantial limitations as to the 

 residence and so on of the person receiving the grant. 

 A list of the more important endowments to which no 

 restrictions are attached, with the exception of those 

 devoted to medical research, has been prepared, and Is 

 published in the issue of Science for May 12. The 

 total capital value of these endowments is 4,603,150/., 

 and those funds where the endowment reaches 5000/. 

 or more are as follows : — The Carnegie Institution, 

 4,400,000/. ; the Srrythsonian Institution, 50,000/. ; the 

 Engineering Foundation Board, New York City, 



