NOVEMBER 27, 1913] 
NATURE 
379 
geology, United States National Museum :—Dr. E. T. 
Wherry, late assistant professor of mineralogy at 
Lehigh University, has been appointed assistant 
curator of mineralogy and petrology in succession to 
Mr. Joseph E. Pogue, transferred to the United States 
Geological Survey; Dr. J. C. Martin has been ap- 
pointed assistant curator of physical and chemical 
geology in succession to Mr. C. G. Gilbert, appointed 
curator of mineral technology. 
A MEETING of the council of the Zoological Society 
of Scotland has just been held, at which a very satis- 
factory report was made on the working of the 
Zoological Park for the period during which it has 
been open. Since the end of July, when the park 
was opened to the public, 102,233 visitors have entered, 
while the receipts at the gate for the three and a half 
months have resulted in a surplus of about roool., 
after paying the expenses of upkeep for five months. 
The number of specimens received during the period 
was 420; the health of the stock is excellent, and the 
death-rate has been very light. Twenty new fellows 
were admitted, and the number of fellows on the roll 
now exceeds 2000. 
WE are glad to see that the scale of charges for the 
services of the official guide appointed a short time 
ago to conduct parties of visitors round the collections 
contained in the garden, plant-houses, and museums 
of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and to point 
out objects of particular botanical interest, has been 
greatly reduced. Hitherto the scale of charges has 
been 2s. 6d. for each person attending a morning 
tour, and 1s. for each person attending an afternoon 
tour, but in future these charges are to be 6d.°and 
3d. respectively. These charges are so low that no 
one need now be deterred from participating in the 
instructive tours around the gardens taken by the 
Suide daily. 
Dr. H. Bayon, research bacteriologist to the Union 
Government of South Africa, gave a lecture at the 
Royal Society of Medicine on November 20, on the 
leprosy problem in the British Empire. He pointed 
out that the latest returns showed that in India the 
leper population had increased from 100,000 to 110,000. 
Dealing first with treatment, Dr. Bayon stated that 
in selected cases a vaccine prepared with certain cul- 
tures had given promising results. He finally urged 
that it is the duty of every Government to prevent 
the further spread of leprosy by the use of all the 
means of preventive medicine, and, in particular, by 
the institution of a system of universal segregation of 
all lepers. 
IN connection with a suggested removal of the 
statue of Charles I. at Charing Cross, The Field of 
November 15 directs attention to the interest attaching 
to the ‘‘great horse’’ on which the King is mounted. 
These ‘‘ great horses,” one of which is represented in a 
picture by Vandyke in Buckingham Palace, executed 
from an animal in the Royal stables, “were the direct 
descendants of the Italian horses Altobello and 
Governatore . . . sent over to the stud at Hampton 
Court by the Marquis of Mantua as a present to King 
Henry VIII., and the breed was still further improved 
NO. 2300, VOL. 92] 
by the two splendid Spanish horses sent to King 
Edward VI. by Charles V. in 1552, which were of the 
type shown in the well-known sketches by Rubens.” 
Particutars of the Pierre J. and Edouard Van 
Beneden prize of 2800 francs are given in the Bulletin 
of the Royal Academy of Belgium (Classe des 
Sciences, 1913, No. 7). The prize is to be awarded 
every three years to the Belgian or foreign author 
or authors of the best original work of embryology 
or cytology written or published during the three 
years preceding the date on which competing theses 
must be received. For the first competition this date 
is December 31, 1915. The manuscript works may 
be signed or anonymous, and the French, German, 
or English language may be employed. Authors 
should send their contributions, duly stamped, to the 
permanent secretary of the Academy, Palais des 
Académies, Brussels, inscribed ‘‘Concours pour le 
Prix Pierre-J. et Edouard Van Beneden." 
Tuanks largely to the kindness of the Percy Sladen 
Trust, an expedition left Perth, West Australia, a 
few days ago, for the Abrolhos Islands. The group 
is situated about torty miles out in the Indian Ocean 
from the coast of Western Australia, and roughly 
300 miles north of Perth. The expedition has been 
organised by Prof. W. J. Dakin, of the new Univer- 
sity of Western Australia, and accompanying him is 
Mr. W. B. Alexander, of the Perth Museum. From 
many points of view this little group of islands is of 
great interest. The wreck of the Dutch East India 
Co.’s ship, The Batavia, under the command of Capt. 
Pelsart, in 1629, is said to have led to the first re- 
corded discovery of Australia. Whether true or no, 
the mutiny of part of the wrecked crew and the story 
of their final capture is worthy of any fiction. Plutonic 
rocks occur in one of the island groups, but the others 
are coral formations. It is said that not only does the 
terrestrial fauna bear interesting relations to the 
mainland, but that the intervening forty miles of sea 
separate two totally distinct marine faunas. Whilst 
the coastal fauna at this latitude is temperate, the 
island marine fauna is understood to be tropical. 
The members of the expedition intend making a close 
investigation of the fauna and flora of the islands and 
surrounding reefs. The material collected will be 
reported upon in the usual way by specialists. 
Dr. ANTON Fritscu, director of the natural history 
departments of the Royal Bohemian Museum, and for 
many years professor of zoology in the Royal Bohe- 
mian University, died after a brief illness at Prague 
on November 15, aged eighty-one. Dr. Fritsch’s first 
published work (1851) was a list of the Bohemian, 
German, and Latin names of the birds, found in 
Bohemia; and throughout his life he took the deepest 
interest in the local fauna, making many contributions 
to knowledge, especially of the birds and fishes. In 
1891 he founded a small station for the special study 
of the fresh-water fauna of the Bohemian lakes. Dr. 
Fritsch will be best remembered, however, by his 
numerous researches on the fossils of the Permian and 
Cretaceous formations of Bohemia, the results of 
which were published in several volumes. His 
“Fauna der Gaskohle " (1879-1901) will always remain 
