24 
NATORE 
coxa marked 3*—on the sereen is large, and the two 
coxz are fused into a single piece which is firmly fixed 
into the body. In Hydrocharis the coxa is long and 
narrow; the two coxz are separate, and each is 
hinged on to the body. The firm fixing in Dytiscus 
gives it a much more powerful leg-drive than the 
hinging gives to Hydrocharis, and hence Dytiscus is 
a more efficient swimmer. 
These differences between the two types are there- 
fore connected with differences in function. The 
antennz of Dytiscus are feelers, while those of Hydro- 
charis are connected with breathing, and the disposi- 
tion of the legs and their methods of attachment to 
the body are connected with differences in mode of 
progression, Dytiscus being a ‘“‘swimmer,”’ and Hydro- 
charis chiefly a ‘“‘creeper’’ on the submerged vegeta- 
tion. 
In these two groups of water-beetles, the Hydra- 
dephaga represented by Dytiscus and the Palpicornia 
represented by Hydrocharis, we have two types of 
adaptation to an aquatic existence. Each type has 
originated independently of the other—that is, they are 
not descended from a common aquatic ancestor, Each 
represents a part of a large terrestrial family, and 
each has probably developed an aquatic habit as a 
result of competition, stronger land forms having 
driven the weaker off the land and into the water. 
Just as each group has originated under the 
stimulus of competition, so, within each group, com- 
petition has moulded the different forms, and the 
peculiar details in the life-history of any one form 
are just those which enable it to retain its place in 
the community to which it belongs, and to hold its 
own in the great struggle for existence. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
THE announcement is made of the resignation of 
Dr. A. L. Bowley of the professorship of mathematics 
and economics at University College, Reading. 
Pror. J. S. Kinastey, of Tufts College, has been 
appointed professor of zoology, in charge of verte- 
brates, in the University of [linois. 
Dr. K. F. Meyer, director of the laboratories of the 
Pennsylvania State Livestock Sanitary Board, has 
vacated that position to fill the chair of bacteriology 
at the University of California. Dr. J. B. Harden- 
bergh has been appointed to succeed Dr. Meyer in the 
first-named post. 
Pror. Hersert V. Neat, who has held the chair of 
biology at Knox College, Illinois, since 1897, has 
accepted an appointment to a similar post at Tufts 
College, Massachusetts. He has already had some 
acquaintance with the work of that college, having 
been for the last five years an associate director of 
the Tufts biological laboratory at S. Harpswell, Maine. 
Ir is announced in The Indian Medical Gazette 
that the scheme for the establishment of a School of 
Tropical Medicine in Calcutta is now so far advanced 
towards fulfilment that there is everv reason to hope 
that it will be opened in the autumn of next year. 
Already valuable work on cholera, epidemic dropsy, 
dysentery, and other diseases has been done by a few 
workers in Calcutta. What is now wanted is money. 
Our Indian contemporary asks for substantial endow- 
ments of three or four lakhs for several additional 
research chairs, or annual subscriptions of 20,000 
rupees for each. 
An effort is about to be made to raise a fund of 
20,0001. for the foundation of a chair of engineering 
chemistry at Princeton University. This campaign will 
be undertaken mainly by members of the federation of 
Pinceton clubs of New Jersey, with the object of the 
NO. 2288, VOL. 92] 
[SEPTEMBER 4, 1913 
advancement of chemical industries in that State. The 
course of instruction to be given by the occupant of 
the proposed chair will supply engineering students 
with a knowledge of the commonest construction 
materials of the chemical industries, and of various 
materials that now take the place of the direct products 
of the soil. 
A course of lectures on tuberculosis, for general 
practitioners and especially for candidates as tuber- 
culosis officers, has been arranged by the Royal Inst:- 
tute of Public Health. The introductory lecture will 
be delivered by Prof. G. Sims Woodhead on October 10. 
Subsequent discourses will be given by Dr. C. Porter 
(* The problem of Tuberculosis in relation to Insurance 
and Public Health’), by Prof. Woodhead (‘* The Spread 
of Tuberculosis"), by Dr. J. E. Squire (* Diagnosis ”’), 
by Dr. T. N. Kelynack (‘* Tuberculosis in Childhood ”), 
by Dr. C. Wall (** General Treatment”), by Dr. C, 
Riviere (*‘S»ecific Treatment,” &c.), by Dr. T. D- 
Lister (** Sanatorium Treatment”), by Dr. A. Green- 
wood (‘The Prevention of Tuberculosis’), and Dr. 
H. O. West will outline a co-ordinated scheme for 
dealing with the malady. 
Tue medical schools of London and the provinces 
are beginning to announce the opening functions of 
their winter session. Prof. Sir William Osler, Bart., 
F.R.S., is to distribute the prizes and deliver an 
address at, St. George’s Hospital on October 1; at 
St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, the prizes will be 
presented and an address given by Sir John Prescott 
Hewett, K.C.S.I., on the same date; Mr. W. Samp- 
son Handley will deliver an address and Sir Squire 
Bancroft distribute the prizes at the Middlesex Hos- 
pital on October 1, on which date also Sir Charles 
Pardey Lukis, K.C.S.I., will give an address at the 
London School of Medicine for Women. On October 7 
a lecture will be delivered at the University of Birming- 
ham by Prof. Arthur Keith, F.R.S., on “The Present 
Problems relating to the Antiquity of Man’ 
Mvcu interesting information as to the progress of 
secondary education in England is contained in the 
recently published Blue-book (Cd. 6934), “ Statistics of 
Public Education in England and Wales, Part ip 
Educational Statistics, 1911-12."’ During the school 
year dealt with, there were in England 885 efficient 
secondary schools receiving grants from the Board of 
Education; of these 358 were for boys, 311 for girls, 
and 216 admitted both boys and girls. The teaching 
in these schools was in the hands of 9126 full-time 
teachers, of whom 4584 were men and 4542 women; 
and they were assisted by 3082 part-time instructors. 
The schools were attended by 150,605 pupils—81,383 
boys and 69,222 girls. Of the total number of pupils 
39,427 were under twelve years of age, 98,623 were 
between twelve and sixteen years of age, 11,559 
between sixteen and eighteen years of age, and a°6 
more than eighteen years of age. As regards the 
management of the schools, it may be pointed out 
that 325 were prov ided by local education authorities, 
427 were foundation and other schools, 48 were Roman 
Catholic schools, and 28 Girls’ Public Day School 
Trust schools. 
THE prospectus for the session 1913-14 of the Day 
and Evening College for Men and Women at the 
South-Western Polytechnic Institute, Chelsea, has 
been received. The day college is intended for 
students above the age of sixteen, and the courses of 
study are suited for ‘technological and university pur- 
poses. The prospectus, we observe, points out that 
those who enter for technical instruction should have 
received previously a sound English education and 
should have acouired an elementary knowledge of 
mathematics and, if possible, of physics and chem- 
istry. The courses are arranged to occupy three years. 
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