December 21, 1899] 



NA TURE 



177 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of ilATVRK. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. "[ 

 Stockholm International Conference on the Explora- 

 tion of the Sea. 

 Mr. Kyle's letter in the current number of Nature is 

 interesting as an expression of individual opinion as to the pro- 

 posals of the Stockholm Conference, but it may be doubted 

 whether he succeeds in his aim of conducing to "greater clear- 

 ness on the points at issue." 



I do not know to what extent Mr. Kyle is authorised to 

 represent the British delegates who attended the Conference. 

 They remain silent, while he replies— interpreting their report. 

 In one place he tells us that " this [hydrographical] work was 

 not intended to hinder the further prosecution of strictly bio- 

 logical research " — for which assurance I hope biologists will 

 be duly grateful — and further on he says that " the areas of 

 investigation will assuredly come under re-consideration." Will 

 the delegates endorse that ? Re-consideration of certain points 

 was exactly what I asked for (see Nature, p. 78). 



But whether authorised to speak for the delegates or not, Mr. 

 Kyle is certainly not entitled to say that I do not fully 

 appreciate, and have not fully weighed, the Stockholm report. 

 I have weighed it over and over again, and still adhere to my 

 statement that it does not contain a definite programme of 

 biological work. The sections Mr. Kyle quotes and refers me 

 to (I., II., Illa., III^., &c.) consist merely of statements of a 

 quite general nature as to what is " desirable " — admirable 

 sentiments which are neither new nor definite, but have been 

 before the public for some years, and are in the main agreed to 

 on all sides. We looked for something more from this Con- 

 ference under the heading "programme" than pious wishes of 

 the same unexceptionable nature as — that it is desirable to have 

 full information about everything. If Mr. Kyle is satisfied 

 with a "definite programme" of this nature, I am not; and, 

 moreover, I think we have reason to believe that the delegates 

 themselves ar not. What are we to understand from their 

 ominous silence ; and what is the meaning of the following 

 remarkable statement in the protocols of the Committee No. II. 

 (see Report, p. Iv.)? "It is thereupon expressly stated on 

 different sides that a more precise and detailed elaboration of 

 the biological programme is desired." And then further on : 

 " such a detailed elaboration of the programme is rejected. 

 This document is agreed to in the more general form in which 

 it has been proposed, in order that unanimous acceptance of it 

 may be arrived at." It is evident then that some of the dele- 

 gates felt the .same want of a more precise and detailed pro- 

 gramme that I do. It would be interesting to know if the 

 biological delegates played ' the part of the eleven obstinate 

 jurymen who had to be convinced in order to secure unanimity. 

 At any rate, this reference to the words of the report must 

 effectually dispose of Mr. Kyle's contention that the programme 

 is sufficient. It was evidently not sufficient in the eyes of some 

 of the delegates themselves. 



Finally, Mr. Kyle asks if I can show a more definite pro- 

 gramme. There can be no great difficulty in that, but I would 

 rather it came from those who were officially appointed to draw 

 it up ; and I hope that those delegates who evidently had some- 

 thing of the kind in their minds will publish it. It will be too 

 absurd if any idea of official reticence is allowed to deprive 

 independent biologists of such ideas and advice as the delegates 

 can furnish, whether unanimously or no. If, however, our official 

 representatives do not speak, I shall probably publish soon a de- 

 tailed programme I have had in my mind for some time in con- 

 nection with the work of the Lancashire Sea Fisheries Committee. 

 It is unnecessary for me to answer the latter part of Mr. 

 Kyle's letter, which deals with Mr. Allen's criticisms, and con- 

 tains a curious caricature of the work'of the Marine Biological 

 Association. But however much I may differ from the rest of 

 Mr. Kyle's remarks, it gives me pleasure to agree most cor- 

 dially with the sentiment expressed in his final paragraph. 

 Liverpool, December 16. W. A. Herdman. 



Meteorology at the Berlin Geographical Congress. 

 In the report of the Geographical Congress at Berlin 

 (Nature, vol. Ix. p. 633), it is said that the last meeting 



NO. 1573, VOL. 61] 



of the Congress was to hav« been addressed by Prof. Hergesell, 

 but as he had somewhat rashly made an ascent in a balloon the 

 previous day, the Congress had been formally closed before he 

 returned to Berlin. 



In justice to my colleague, the President of the International 

 Aeronautical Committee, and to maintain the customary accuracy 

 of Nature, I beg to correct this statement by saying that 

 although Prof. Hergesell, in my stead, did make a high balloon 

 ascension with Dr. Person, and so co-operated in the eighth 

 international ascent of balloons on the Continent, yet he also- 

 presented his paper to the Congress at the appointed time the 

 next day. 



It may be well to explain that with the idea of extending the 

 sphere of geography, it was arranged to have recent results of 

 the exploration of the atmosphere brought before the Congress 

 by members of the Aeronautical Committee. Accordingly, 

 Prof. Hergesell, of Strassburg, spoke of the instructional balloon 

 ascents in Europe, in which, unfortunately, England has not 

 participated ; Prof A.ssmann, of Berlin, described the scientific 

 balloon ascents executed by the German Aeronautical Society %. 

 M. Teisserenc de Bort, of Paris, explained the work that he 

 has been doing with ballons-sondes to get information about the 

 high atmosphere ; and I myself gave an account of the use of 

 kites in America to study the meteorological conditions of the 

 lower mile or two of air. A. Lawrence Rotch. 



Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, Mass., U.S.A. 

 December i. 



I AM happy to hear that Prof. Hergesell returned to Berlin 

 in time to read his paper. My mistake is due to hearing it 

 officially announced in the morning that it was feared he could 

 not return in time, and to the report in a Berlin newspaper that 

 he had not returned. It was of course impossible for me to 

 attend all the meetings, and in summarising so vast a programme 

 as that of the Seventh International Congress, some mistakes 

 are sure to be made. It is almost unneces.sary to add that no 

 aspersion on Prof Hergesell was intended, the completion of 

 an unexpectedly prolonged experiment is worth more to .science 

 than the reading of many papers. 



The Writer of the Report. 



Shadows of Insects. 



I have only just seen the letter of your correspondent (Capt. 

 D. Wilson-Barker) in your issue of the 7th inst. on the subject 

 of " Butterfly Shadows." 



The habit he observes in the butterfly of always adjusting its 

 position after alighting, I have also frequently remarked in the 

 ordinary garden fly and bluebottle. They are fond of con- 

 gregating on shrubs or ivy in bright sunlight, whence they 

 make short excursive flights in the air returning as nearly as 

 possible to the same place ; but no matter which way they are 

 turned when they alight, they immediately readjust their 

 position, and will always be found with their heads directed to 

 the same point of the compass. 



I have constantly observed this habit of theirs, but have 

 never seen it mentioned in any natural history. It seems hardly 

 likely that in the case of flies the practice can have anything to 

 do with shadows. Wm. Parkinson. 



Deerhurst, Coventry Park, Streatham, December 15. 



Mosquitoes and Malaria. 



It may be of interest to record the fact that though during 

 the months of June, July and August I collected and examined 

 about 300 mosquitoes in this town, I only came across one 

 specimen of the spotted-winged mosquito which is described as 

 the malaria-conveying species by Major Ross. The majority, 

 quite 75 per cent, of the specimens captured, were the harmless, 

 grey kind, the rest being chiefly the equally harmless tiger or 

 brindled species. The single spotted- winged specimen I found 

 in my house on a mosquito curtain. The rarity of its occurrence 

 will, according to Major Ross's theory, account for the com- 

 parative absence of malaria in Singapore. 



An account of this was given in the Straits Times of Sept. 4. 

 A selection of the three species caught in the town of Singapore, 

 together with about three other species from the neighbouring 

 jungle, were sent in August to the British Museum, where they 

 await further examination. R. Hanitsch. 



Raffles Museum, Singapore, November 24. 



