Marcil 14, 1907 | 
NATLORE 
467 
of the children should be periodically carried out; children 
should not be worried by over-inspection, and discretion 
should be exercised. As to the instruction of the children 
in the rules of health, care should be taken to use language 
which the child understands. Sir Lauder Brunton, in the 
course of an address, said that, in spite of all the charitable 
organisations and benevolent institutions in the country, 
infants are dying in millions, children are starved by 
thousands, they become weak, they are growing up burdens 
to themselves and useless to others, and, instead of being 
a strength to the country, they weaken it. The great 
weakness, misery, and crime in this country can only be 
attacked successfully by means of cooperation. The 
National League is endeavouring to effect the cooperation 
which is so much needed by bringing together all the 
individuals and corporations who are interested in the 
welfare of the coming generation. 
A pIscuSSION on the best types of cases (combining 
economy with suitability) for exhibition purposes occupies 
a large portion of the February number of the Museums 
Journal. An article, illustrated by an excellent photo- 
graph, is also devoted to the new wing recently added to 
the Liverpool Museum. 
Iv appears from a paper by Dr. D. Woolacott in vol. ii., 
part vi., of the Proceedings of the University of Durham 
Philosophical Society, that a raised beach in the Cleadon 
Hills has been unusually well exposed during the last 
two years. The beach is 100 feet sea-level, but 
caverns and a sea-cliff indicate that the most recent de- 
pression of the country was as much as 150 feet. 
above 
Tue combined January and February numbers of the 
Trish Naturalist are devoted to an account of the natural 
history and geology of Lambay Island, county Dublin, 
now in the occupation of the Hon. Cecil Baring, under 
whose auspices the investigation has been undertaken, and 
who has himself contributed notes on the seals and other 
mammals. A number of naturalists have contributed to 
the work, which has resulted in the discovery of five new 
species of invertebrates, and has likewise added several 
forms to the British fauna and a much larger number to 
the fauna of Ireland. 
We have been favoured with a copy cf a paper from 
the Jenaischen Zeitschrift (vol. xxxix.), by Prof. Hubrecht, 
on the origin of annelids and chordates, and the systematic 
position of the Ctenophora and Platyhelminthes. As the 
““ trophoceele ’’ and *‘‘ haemoccele ”” are discussed 
at length, especially from the point of view of Prof. 
Lang, it is scarcely necessary to mention that the paper 
is of an extremely abstruse nature. Much importance is 
atiached to the view that the Ctenophora are pelagic worms 
theories 
rather than ccelenterates, and that the Platyhelminthes 
are likewise an aberrant type. 
To the fourth part of vol. xxxvi. of Gegenbaur’s 
Morphologisches Jahrbuch, Augusta  Arnback-Christie- 
Linde contributes the first portion of a paper on the shrew- 
mice (Soricida) and their relationship to other mammals. 
This section of the paper is devoted to the anatomical 
part of the subject. It is mentioned that a lateral gland 
occurs in the males of the common shrew-mouse (Sorex) 
and water-shrew (Crossopus). Although the occurrence of 
such glands in the musk-shrews (Crocidura), generally in 
both sexes, is well known, no reference is made to their 
presence in the British species in such text-books as we 
have been able to consult. 
NO. 1950, VOL. 75] 
REFERENCE in these columns was recently made to 
Prof. Baldwin Spericer’s description of emeu-bones from 
King Island, Bass Strait. To the January issue of the 
Emu Colonel Legge contributes notes on the extinct 
emeus of both that island and Tasmania. The author 
recalls having seen a pair of Tasmanian emeus in his 
boyhood, and states that they were slightly smaller than 
the mainland species. As this bird also lays a larger egg, 
it is regarded as distinet, although it does not appear to 
have received a scientific name. Colonel Legge withdraws, 
in a postscript, a name he proposed in the text for the 
King Island bird, owing to it having been already 
christened by Prof. Spencer. 
‘© ParRENTAL Care among Fresh-water Fishes’’ is the 
title of a very interesting article, by Mr. Theodore Gill, 
published in the Smithsonian Report for 1905 (art. No. 
1688). Despite Aristotle’s account of the care displayed 
by the Macedonian glanis in the preparation of a breed- 
ing-site, it was long an axiom among naturalists that 
fishes displayed no parental care for their eggs and off- 
spring. How this idea is sufficiently 
exemplified by the present account, although it deals only 
with species inhabiting fresh waters. Representatives of a 
very large number of exhibit degree of 
parental care, although this may be limited to clearing a 
space to receive the spawn. The highest development in 
this respect occurs in the sticklebacks, in which the kidneys 
and their adjuncts are specially modified to yield a thread 
employed in the construction of the nest. 
In the shell-gallery of the Natural History Museum have 
been placed full-sized papier-maché models of two giant 
cephalopods, an Architeuthis and an Octopus or Polypus. 
Being suspended the roof, they show to great 
advantage, and convey a good idea of the huge size 
attained by certain members of the class, although much 
larger forms are known. The giant squid, or Architeuthis, 
measures 4o feet in total length, although go feet of this 
are accounted for by the pair of attenuated tentacular 
‘arms,’ the length of the body being only 1o feet. An 
additional interest attaches to this cephalopod on account 
of its constituting a large portion of the food of the 
cachalot. The models were obtained from Ward’s Natural 
Science Establishment, Rochester, | U.S.A. Another 
important addition to the collection is formed by two 
caribou, shot and presented by Mr. F. C. Selous, one re- 
presenting the Yukon and the other the Newfoundland 
race. The former antlers measuring just above 
58 inches along the curve. 
Tue report of the Botanical Club of Canada for 1905-6, 
prepared by the secretary, Dr. A. H. Mackay, has been 
received. It contains, as usual, a summary of the 
phenochrons or observations on the flowering of plants 
and other natural phenomena recorded from _ several 
hundred schools throughout Nova Scotia, and a table of 
general Canadian phenological observations. Dr. Mackay 
handy bibliography of Canadian 
erroneous was 
groups some 
from 
has 
has also published a 
botany for the year 1905. 
In the Lyttelton Times (December 19, 1906) Dr. L. 
Cockayne pays a tribute to the work of the late Mr. 
Robert Brown, of Christchurch, New Zealand. By pro- 
fession a shoemaker, he was at the same time an 
enthusiastic naturalist, keenly interested in the fauna and 
flora of the country. He devoted his energies primarily 
to the collection and identification of the New Zealand 
mosses, and contributed numerous papers during the last 
fourteen years that will be found in the Transactions of 
the New Zealand Institute. 
