.472 



NATURE 



[August 3, 19 16 



THE IPSWICH CONFERENCE OF THE 

 MUSEUMS ASSOCIATION. 

 'T'HE twenty-seventh annual conference of the 

 ■■■ Museums Association was held in Ipswich on 

 July 10-12, when the following institutions were re- 

 presented by delegates :— (i) Five national museums— 

 the British Museum, the British Museum (Natural 

 History), the Victoria and Albert Museum, the 

 National Museum of Waks, and the Museums of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew ; (2) two London 

 museums— the Horniman Museum and the Wellcome 

 Historical Medical Museum; (3) the following twenty- 

 five provincial museums and art galleries— Brighton, 

 Bristol, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Derby, Dundee, Exeter, 

 Halifax, Hastings, Hull, Ipswich, Leicester, Lincoln, 

 Liverpool, Merthyr Tydfil, Newbury, Norwich, Perth, 

 Peterborough, Plymouth, Reading; Salford, Warring"- 

 ton, Worcester, and Worthing; and (4) the Museum 

 of the University of Manchester. 



After a hearty welcome by the Mayor of Ipswich, 

 the president, M'r. E. Rimbault Dibdin, curator of the 

 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, addressed the dele- 

 gates, taking- as his subject the effect of the war upon 

 the art museums of the country. He had sent a series 

 of questions to eighty-two art museums in Great 

 Britain, and from their answers was able to give some 

 interesting details as to their experiences. Briefly 

 summarised, his remarks indicated that whereas 

 several London galleries have been closed by the 

 action of the Government, and one or two others 

 report a reduced attendance, the majority of the pro- 

 vincial institutions show an increased attendance, and 

 only one has been closed. It thus appears that the 

 protest lodged with the Prime Minister by the 

 Museums Association against the Government Re- 

 trenchment Committee's suggestion that provincial 

 museums and art galleries should be closed has been 

 thoroughly justified. 



Mr. F. Woolnough read a paper on "The Future 

 of Provincial Museums," in which he said the ques- 

 tion was chiefly one of finance, and pleaded for the 

 removal of the restrictions which either make 

 museums dependent upon a share of the library rate 

 •for their income or limit them to the Museums and 

 'Gymnasiums Act halfpenny. 



Some remarkable specimens were shown by Mr. 

 F. R. Rowley in illustration of his comments on 

 the use of arsenious jelly as a preservative. This 

 method was described by S. Delepine in the Museums 

 Journal for April, 1914, p. 322. Mr. Rowley has made 

 some slight modifications, which will form the subject 

 of a note in the journal. Among the specimens shown 

 were a viper, newts, Crustacea, and marine algee. The 

 latter were beautifully preserved, both as to colour and 

 form, and all had the advantage of being embedded 

 in a clear, solid mass, which could be laid flat. 



"The Educative Value in Public Museums of Intro- 

 'ductory Cases to Animal Groups" was introduced by 

 Dr. J. A. Clubb, who advocated the primary import- 

 ance _ of comparative morphology, as against mere 

 classification, for the inspiration and enlightenment 

 of the ordinary visitor. How to get hold of those 

 who come to the museum with no previous know- 

 ledge of, or particular interest in, its "subjects is an 

 urgent problem, to which Dr. Clubb and many other 

 thinking curators are addressing themselves. 



Mr. R. A. Smith, of the British Museum, announced 

 that certain duplicates of prehistoric implements were 

 available for distribution to provincial museums. 



The claims of the British Science Guild were 

 brought forward by Mr. E. E. Lowe, who spoke of 

 the Guild as an association with magnificent and com- 

 prehensive aims which should claim the allegiance of 

 NO. 2440, VOL. 97I 



every person interested in the national utilisation an<3 

 recognition of scientific work and workers. 



Many communities are now organising photographic 

 surveys of their own districts in order that accurate 

 historical and scientific records may be handed down 

 to posterity, and Dr. A. H. Millar's paper on the 

 "Photographic Survey of Dundee" was particularly 

 opportune. ^ 



Mr. F. Woolnough, the curator of the Ipswich 

 Museum, gave demonstrations (a) upon a case for ex- 

 hibiting postage stamps, and (b) upon the " Fother- 

 gill " and hot-sand methods of drying flowering plants 

 in their natural colours. Many of the plants dried by 

 the "Fothergill" process showed remarkably success- 

 ful results. A useful demonstration was given by 

 Mr. W. K. Spencer on the use of gelatine moulds for 

 plaster casts. He showed that where an object was 

 much "undercut" the flexibility of gelatine gave it 

 many advantages over plaster. 



/a7^ *^^ business meeting the hon, secretary 

 (Mr. E. E. Lowe) reported as to his efforts to get 

 rectangular glass exhibition jars made in England. 

 Many manufacturers had been interviewed, but none 

 were able to tackle the work in the midst of present 

 labour and other difficulties. There is little doubt, 

 however, that the manufacture will be embarked upon 

 within the next year or so, thus rendering museums, 

 hospitals, and medical schools independent of the 

 German supply. The secretary can offer an imme- 

 diate order for 250Z. worth to anyone who will under- 

 take to produce rectangular jars of a good quality at 

 a reasonable price, an4 he has evidence of a large 

 annual demand. 



IN 



RECENT ZOOLOGICAL RESEARCH 



SOUTH AFRICA.^ 

 'X'HE "Annals of the Natal Museum," although only 



-■- yet in its third volume of publication, has 

 justly earned repute for the quality of the researches 

 pubhshed therein. The journal is well printed and 

 admirably illustrated with lithographic and other 

 plates. In its current issue we have a bulky record 

 of original investigations covering a wide field in the 

 rich fauna of South Africa. Mr. Hugh Watson con- 

 tributes an important and very fully illustrated memoir 

 on the carnivorous slugs, with particular reference to 

 the genus Apera. This genus appears to be confined 

 to the maritime provinces of South Africa, one species 

 occurring on the slopes of Table Mountain, and the 

 remainder in Natal and the eastern part of the Cape 

 Provinces. In addition to a systematic revision of its 

 species, the author gives a valuable account of the 

 anatomy of the genus and a full discussion of its 

 phylogeny. He concludes that the species of Apera 

 have not been directly evolved from any herbivorous 

 form, and in their anatomy and geographical distribu- 

 tion are more closely related to the Rhvtidse than to 

 any other group. The only other carnivorous slug 

 found in South Africa is the English Testacella 

 tnaugei, F^r, which has a very wide distribution, and 

 has probably been introduced into South Africa 

 through the agency of man. 



Mr. Claude Fuller, of the Division of Entomology, 

 Pretoria, writes on South African Termites, and in a 

 paper of more than 170 pages records a good deal 

 that is new and interesting concerning the biology of 

 these insects. Termites appear to be irregularly dis- 

 tributed in the Union, being rare in the South^West 

 Cape, while in Natal and the Transvaal the soil is 

 riddled from end to end of the country with their 



,. \ " .^nna's of the Natal Museum." Edited by Dr. Ernest Warren, director. 

 Vol. ui., part u., October, 1915. Pp. 107-504 and plates vii-xxxv. Price 

 iSJ. net. 



