NA TURE 



[February i, 1906 



defrauding of the revenue; and (2) a prize of 50,000 francs 

 for a system which shall permit of the use of alcohol for 

 illuminating purposes under the same conditions as those 

 for the use of petroleum. Further details and particulars 

 may be obtained from the commission (though not before 

 April 1, which body will itself decide to whom the awards 

 shall be in.nl.>. 



The programme of the sixth International Congress for 

 Applied Chemistry has recently been issued. The congress 

 will be held in Rome from April 26 to May 3. On April 25 

 there will be a social gathering of those taking part in the 

 congress, preparatory to the official opening on the follow- 

 ing daj : <ni the afternoon of the same there will be the 

 first full committee meeting for the election of next year's 

 officers. On April 27 the sittings of the various sections 

 will begin, and will be continued on April 28 and 30, and 

 «.ii May 1 and 2. For Sunday, April 2Q, an excursion 

 into the outskirts of Rome has been arranged. On May 3, 

 after the final committee meeting, there will he two 

 excursions, the one to the Island of Elba, and the other 

 to Sicily. During the first, visits will he paid to the iron 

 mines and works of Elba, whilst lor the second arrange- 

 ments have been made for visits to the saltworks id 

 Erapani, the wine factories of Marsala, and the sulphur 

 mines of Messina ; but since the two excursions are taking 

 place simultaneously, members of the congress may only 

 participate in one of the two. All members will be entitled 

 to reductions of from 40 per cent, to 60 per cent, on tickets 

 issued by the State railways, according to the distances 

 travelled. 



Tin-: Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, Christchurch, 

 N.Z., has opened a fund with the object of establishing a 

 memorial to the late Captain F. YV. Ilutton, F.R.S., 

 president of the New Zealand Institute. It is proposed to 

 devote the fund to the encouragement of original research 

 in natural science in Xew Zealand by making grants from 

 lime to time to persons engaged in original research, and 

 by the award of a bronze medal, to be called the " Ilutton 

 medal," for original contributions of special value. In 

 the appeal for support, the memorial committee remarks :- 

 " The influence and importance of research are becoming 

 more and more fully recognised in all parts of the world, 

 but New Zealand has as yet taken no steps for its 

 encouragement, and no financial assistance has so far been 

 given to private workers in any department of science, 

 ft is hoped, therefore, that advantage will be widely taken 

 of the present opportunity of contributing to a fund which 

 will encourage research, and will at the same time per- 

 pcfuate the memory of Captain Hutton, who so unselfishly 

 devoted himself throughout his lifetime to the advancement 

 of natural science in New Zealand." Though the Philo- 

 sophical Society has taken the matter in hand in order 

 to save time, and has subscribed yi/., the board of 

 governors of the New Zealand Institute will probably be 

 asked to take over the work of collecting the funds re- 

 quired. Meanwhile, subscriptions may be sent to Dr. 

 Chilton, Canterbury College, Christchurch, X.Z., who is 

 ailing as hon. treasurer of the fund. 



From the British Journal of Photography (January 26) 

 we read thai an international exhibition of photography is 

 10 be held this summer at Paris at the Petit Palais, in the 

 Champs Elys^es, and will be open from July 16 to 

 in. Judging even by the brief statement given, 

 the exhibition will be on a very large scale, there being 

 thirteen groups of exhibits, comprising altogether sixty- 

 three classes. A list of the groups is as follows : — History 

 "I photograph) ; applications of photography to science; 

 NO. 1892, VOL. 73] 



educational ; amateur and pictorial photography ; photo- 

 graphic periodicals ; professional photography ; photographic, 

 publications ; photographic materials ; apparatus and acces- 

 sories ; photo-mechanical processes; industries related to 

 photography; leather dressing; photographic illustrations, 

 and the photographic trade. Such a comprehensive pro- 

 gramme will, we hope, bring together workers in all 

 sections, and include a strong British exhibit. In the 

 second group the exhibition i< assured the support of a 

 large number of scientific institutions in France and other 

 countries, including the College tie France, the Museum of 

 Natural History (Paris), the Paris National Observatory, 

 the physiological station at the Pare du Princes, the Mare) 

 Institute, the Institute Pasteur, the Faculte de Medecine, 

 the Sorbonne, the School ol Pharmacy, the School of Mines, 

 the Smithsonian Institution (Washington), the meteor- 

 ological observatories of France, and many others. It is 

 slated that the last day for receiving applications lor space 

 is fixed for February 25 next, and that an English ( PBritish) 

 committee is in formation. It may finally be stated that 

 no charge is made for exhibits coming under the head of 

 the first three groups. 



Among the contents or Nos. 24-27 of the Sitzungsberichte 

 of the Royal Academy of Vienna for last year is a notice 

 of Hymenoptera obtained during an expedition to south 

 Arabia, and a summary of the zoological results of another 

 expedition to the Sudan and Gondokoro. In a third paper 

 Mr. A. Handlirsih discusses the phylogenv of the 

 Ai'thiopoda. 



Is the course i,f a paper on the natural history of the 

 Warburlon district, published in the December (1905) 

 number of the Victorian Naturalist, the author mentions 

 dial frigate-birds are used in the South Sea Islands as 

 letter-carriers. If captured young, they will return, like 

 homing pigeons, to the island of their birth, and, taking 

 advantage ol this trait, lie- missionaries forward such birds 

 in islands with which they desire to hold communication. 

 When released from their new domicile they fly straight 

 to their old home, wdiere they alight on the identical 

 perches on which they were accustomed to be fed. Later 

 on it i- mentioned that diamond-tailed geckos {Phyllurus 

 platitrus) are always found head-downwards on the rocks 

 they frequent. They assume this position, according to 

 the author, in order to make hawks believe that their 

 lieads are their tails; consequently, when seized by one "I 

 these birds, which invariably pounce upon what ihe\ regard 

 as the head, the brittle tail snaps off, and the gecko 

 wriggles away little or none the worse for the encounter. 



We are glad to welcome the volume of the Zoological 



Record for 1904, which fr its bulk bears testimony to 



the energy with which natural history studies are being 

 carried on both in this country and abroad. A few changes 

 have In en made in the staff, but in the main the old con- 

 tributors have remained at their posts. Errors, as usual, 

 appear to lie comparatively few, and in main cases 

 are excusable. We notice, however, that the genus 

 Lohmannella (spelt with a single 11) appears among the 

 mites, as well as (in its proper place) among the Vermes. 

 In the myriopod section, which is written by a foreigner, 

 the editor might well have amended the style of such 

 names as Kaukasus, VVladiwostok, and Eastromelia, while 

 in the Bryozoa he might have noticed that Miss Embleton 

 give, " Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India " as the 

 title of a paper. Again, in the bird section (p. 30) we 

 find the same paper quoted twice over, on account of the 

 fact that it appeared in two different journals. In con- 

 gratulating the editor and his staff on their successful 



