March 22, 1906] 



NA TURE 



491 



work is accomplished year by year as a result of the grants 

 made by the institution from the Hodgkins fund adminis- 

 tered by it. One such piece of research is that in connec- 

 tion with speech or phonetics, by Dr. E. W. Scripture, 

 who has secured individual gramophone voice records of 

 much historical interest. A voice record of the German 

 Emperor was transmitted by Dr. Scripture in January, 

 1905, for preservation in the United States National 

 Museum. This record gives, in about 200 words, the 

 Emperor's conception of the aims and beauty of true man- 

 hood and of man's duty to his fellow. It is stated that at 

 present only one other record of the Emperor's voice exists, 

 namely, one made at the same time for preservation in the 

 library of Harvard University. Among other important 

 researches aided by the Hodgkins fund may be mentioned 

 the investigations of the upper air currents by means of 

 kites by Dr. A. L. Rotch, of Blue Hill Meteorological 

 Observatory ; the experiments conducted by Mr. Alexander 

 Larsen, of Chicago, in connection with the photography of 

 lightning flashes and the fluorescence of minerals ; the 

 serial instantaneous photographic study of the flight organs 

 of animals, by Dr. von Lendenfeld ; and Prof. W. P. 

 Bradley's experimental investigation of the expansion of 

 air through a nozzle. 



The amphipod crustaceans of Catherine Bay, Murman 

 coast, form the subject of an illustrated paper by Mr. 

 E. van der Briiggen published in the last issue of Trudui 

 of the St. Petersburg Academy for 1905. 



A taper on Californian reptiles, by Dr. S. E. Meek, just 

 issued by the Field Columbian Museum, contains descrip- 

 tions, with figures, of two species of rattlesnake regarded 

 as new, as well as notes on a number of other snakes and 



lizards. 



We have received from the Field Columbian Museum 

 at Chicago a copy of a " Check-list of Mammals of the 

 North American Continent, the West Indies, and the 

 Neighbouring Seas," compiled by Dr. D. G. Elliot, and 

 issued by the museum. This bulky volume purports to 

 include the names of all species of mammals inhabiting 

 America as far south as Colombia that have been described 

 up to the date of publication. It is, in fact, supplementary 

 to the author's two previous synopses of American 

 mammals. 



" The Ideal Thoroughbred Stud " forms the subject of 

 No. 8 of Rural Studies Series, this being the title of a 

 lecture by the Rev. E. A. Woodruffe-Peacock, the well 

 known specialist on soils and grass-lands. With a full 

 knowledge of most large English stud-farms, the author 

 expresses his opinion that there is not one which has not 

 at least some deficiency ; and after pointing out the lines 

 on which an ideal stud should be formed, he observes that 

 " the birthplace of a long and steady series of race-winners 

 cannot be a matter of mere chance." 



The March number of the Naturalist contains an attrac- 

 tive coloured plate representing a pair of bearded tits in 

 their native marsh. The contents include Mr. G. W. 

 Lamplugh's presidential address to the Northern 

 Naturalists' Union at Bradford on January 27, having for 

 its subject the necessity for the amateur spirit in scientific 

 work. Attention is directed not only to the valuable work 

 accomplished by amateurs in the past, but also to the 

 many fields in which their assistance is of the utmost 

 importance at the present day. As an instance, the official 

 geologist cannot possibly devote long periods of time to 

 particular sections or pits, whereas an amateur living in the 



NO. 1899, VOL 73 j 



neighbourhood can easily do so, and thereby is not un- 

 frequently able to solve a problem which has been in- 

 explicable to his professional brother. 



The programme of the July conference of the Museums 

 Association at Bristol is outlined in the February issue of 

 the Museums Journal. Among the articles is one by Mr. 

 H. Bolton on the future of museums, being the report of 

 a paper read at last year's conference. The author urges 

 the advisability of a Government grant being paid annually 

 to provincial museums of first-class standing, in return for 

 which such institutions should be severally expected to 

 perform a certain amount of allotted work, and in all 

 instances to maintain a high standard of excellence. 

 Another address at the same meeting, by Mr. S. L. Mosley, 

 had for its subject museums and private collections, the 

 author pointing out how much good a private collector can 

 do by working for a museum, and how much harm when 

 seeking his own ends. 



In the opening article in the February number of the 

 American Naturalist Dr. H. Avers, taking for his text 

 " the unity of the gnathostome type,'' urges that there is 

 neither anatomical nor embryological ground for removing 

 amphioxus from the vertebrate class, and that we may 

 class this creature as the sole representative of the Acrania, 

 in contrast to the Craniata, which includes all the rest. 

 Not only so, but the discovery by the author of rudimentary 

 jaw-structures in the lampreys renders the division of the 

 Craniata into Cyclostomata and Gnathostomata no longer 

 tenable. The Gnathostomata must comprise, therefore, the 

 Marsipobranchi as well as all the forms previously in- 

 cluded, so that all Craniata are Gnathostomes. The origin 

 of the craniofacial apparatus is thus to be sought in the 

 missing links between amphioxus and the Craniata. Old 

 age in brachiopods, by Dr. H. W. Shymer, and the habits 

 of the American spotted salamander, Necturus maculosus, 

 by Prof. A. C. Eycleshymer, form the subjects of the other 

 two articles in the same issue. 



Science of February 16 contains a report of an address 

 delivered by Dr. C. H. Merriam, as vice-president and 

 chairman of the zoological section, at the New Orleans 

 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, on the question whether mutation is a factor 

 in the evolution of the higher vertebrates. As the result 

 of a long practical acquaintance with American mammals, 

 Dr. Merriam is of opinion that there is no evidence of 

 origin by mutation (sudden marked variation) in this class, 

 but that everything points to variation by insensible degrees. 

 Here the author takes occasion to mention that among 

 mammals there is abundant evidence of the gradation of 

 one species or race into another, so much so that specific 

 or racial separation of specimens is often difficult. While 

 admitting that in rare instances species of plants may 

 arise by the perpetuation of "sports," Dr. Merriam states 

 his contention to be that " the overwhelming majority of 

 plants, and so far as known, all animals, originate in the 

 generally recognised way, by the gradual development of 

 minute variations." 



It is encouraging to notice the growing appreciation on 

 the part of Government departments and colonial adminis- 

 trators of the benefits to be derived from the application 

 of scientific methods under expert guidance to pearl and 

 other fishery industries. In the proposal to lease the pearl 

 fisheries to a company for a period of twenty years recently 

 laid by the Governor of Ceylon, Sir Henry Blake, before 

 his Legislative Council, it was expressly stipulated " that 



