486 
the Bill in its original form may reach the statute- 
book: before the close of this session. 
In Man.. for June Prof. J. Macmillan Brown 
announces the discovery of a new form of Pacific 
Ocean script in the little island of Oleai or Uleiai, 
one of the most westerly of the Caroline group. The 
chief, Egilimar, furnished a list of fifty-one characters, 
each of which represents a syllable. 
nection with any other well-known alphabets, the only 
other script known in the groups or islands of the 
Pacific being that of the Easter. Island tablets, which 
are ideographic. The Oleai syllabic script is a stage 
further than these in the development of an alphabet. 
The script is at present known only to five men on the 
islet : but it is probably a relic of a wide usage in the 
archipelago. A similar commercial script is that used 
in the island of Yap. This Oleai script is manifestly 
the product of long ages for the use of a highly 
organised community; in other words, it must have 
belonged to the ruling class of an empire of some 
extent that needed constant record of the facts of 
intercourse and organisation. 
Tue Commonwealth of Australia, in connection with 
the approaching visit of the British Association, has 
issued a ‘‘ Federal Handbook,’’ describing the con- 
tinent in its scientific and historical aspects. This 
book contains in a compressed, but readable, form 
more information than is elsewhere accessible. Among 
the more important articles may be noted that on 
history by Prof. Ernest Scott, on physical and general 
geography by Mr. Griffith Taylor, and a very useful 
account of the culture and beliefs of the aborigines 
by Prof. Baldwin Spencer. The book is at present 
issued only in a limited edition, and it may be hoped 
that it will be re-issued to meet the wants of a wider 
public. The value of a new edition would be increased 
by a more adequate supply of maps, that of Aus- 
tralasia in particular being on such a small scale, 
with the names printed in such small type, as to be 
of little use for practical purposes. 
A COLLECTION of fishes from the Rupununi River, 
British Guiana, is catalogued by Mr. H. W. Fowler 
in the April issue of the Proceedings of the Phil- 
adelphia Academy. A number of species are described 
as new, a few of which are referred to new genera or 
subgenera. 
THE second part of the first volume of the new 
series of the Transactions of the Vale of Derwent 
Naturalists’ Field Club contains one article by the 
president, Mr. R. S. Bagnall, on the woodlice of 
Northumberland and Durham, and a second on the 
centipedes and other myriapods of the Derwent Valley. 
SPECIES-BUILDING by hybridisation and mutation is 
the title of an article contributed by Prof. J. H. 
Gerould to the June number of the American Natural- 
ist. No evidence, it is urged, that species breed 
absolutely true on a large scale is at present forth- 
coming, and the assertion that hybrids between well- 
defined species are invariably infertile inter se is far 
from representing the true facts of the case. 
NG, 12322; )'ViCl. oa 
It has no con- 
NATURE 
| 
[Jury 9, 1914 
Mimicry and protective resemblance was the subject 
chosen by Mr. Rothschild for his presidential 
address at. the anniversary meeting of the Hert- 
fordshire Natural History Society, held at Watford on 
February 26. As reported in vol, xv., part 3, of the 
society’s Transactions, the president considers natural 
selection to be the only adequate explanation of the 
phenomenon. ‘‘If a variable species happens to occur 
together with one or. more species which are protected 
in some way, those individuals of the variable species 
more or less resembling the protected species have a 
greater chance of surviving and propagating than the 
individuals which are not similar to some protected 
form of animal. The result will be that in the course 
of generations the offspring will become more and 
more similar -to the mbddels, and the dissimilar 
examples will gradually be weeded out.” 
STUDENTS of invertebrate histology will find much 
to interest them in Miss Sophie Krasinska’s memoir, 
‘“ Beitrage zur Histologie der Medusen,”’ in a recent 
number of the Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche 
Zoologie. (Bd. 109, Heft 2). Zoologists are accus- 
tomed to look upon the histological structure of the 
jelly-fish as of a very simple character, and, although 
the discovery is not a new one, it is surprising to find 
them provided with striated muscle fibres which seem 
to resemble so closely those of arthropods and verte- 
brates. The memoir is beautifully illustrated, and 
shows how much we may still hope to add to our 
knowledge of the microscopic structure of invertebrate 
animals by the application of modern methods of in- 
vestigation. 
A NEw series of blue books dealing with Fishery 
Investigations is now being issued by the Board of 
Agriculture and Fisheries. Series I. relates to salmon 
and freshwater fisheries, and vol. i. is now before us. 
It contains two reports by Dr. A. T. Masterman, of 
which the first is on investigations upon the salmon 
with special reference to age determination by the 
study of scales. The material examined consisted of 
records of salmon captured in the Wye in the nettings 
made by the Wye Fisheries Association, including 
special experimental nettings made during the close 
season. The most important data deal with the year 
I9gII, commencing in the month of April. The scales 
of a large number of fish were secured and were 
| specially studied from the point of view of age deter- 
mination. Dr. Masterman concludes that the majority 
of Wye smolts remain for two years in the river, but 
a small proportion remain three years. The scale 
may be used as a fairly accurate gauge of the age of 
individual fish up to and including the grilse stage, 
but is not available for estimation of the period of time 
spent in the river after the return of the fish. The 
author regards age estimates of spawned fish from the 
scales as being of very doubtful value. Dr. Master- 
man’s second report deals with observations on the 
smelt (Osmerus esperlanus). The scales of the smelt 
are specially suitable for age determination on account 
of the clear and definite arrangement of the ridges 
upon them, and the study of these scales is of con- 
siderable value in connection with the general question 
