March 29, 1883 | 
NATORE 
509 
the Lepidoptyra may have been tentative, and well within the 
competence of ordinary variabilily. 
The above sufficiently trite train of thought has been suggested 
to me by the consideratio uf analogous facts known to every 
angler. Many fishes greedily snap at anything that glistens or 
is highly coloured, especially if it be rapidly drawn through the 
water, and the slight additional disguise imparted to artificial 
bait of this description by a spinning motion renders it very 
attractive. The highly specialised salmon is easily deceived, 
and the most killing artificial flies for this fish make no pretence 
to resemble anythinz in niture, ana ave attractive in proportion 
to their gaudiness. The same is true of his congener the trout, 
althouzh this fish appears to be somewhat more zsthetic in his 
tastes; and the mo-t useful artificial flies employed to entice 
him are mere generalised imitations of his natural food. Indeed, 
on these grounds no less than on those of anatomy, it cannot be 
doubted that the 7¢/eostei—albeit highly specialised of their kind 
—have failed to develop that acuteness of vision which their 
rapid movements would seem to render de-irable, and are yet in 
the stage in which a very imperfect mimicry misleads them ; and 
it is not an unreasonable presumption that birds were once in a 
very similar condition, from which they have emerged in conse- 
quence of the nece:sity for frequent and abundan: supplies of 
food entailed upon them by their active mode of life. Under 
these circumstances it must have gone hard with the helpless 
caterpillar, so toothsome and nutritious, seeing that he could 
not, like the mature Pivyganide and Ephemeride, keep out of 
hharm’s way by shunning the element inhabited by his natural 
foe ; and hence arose the necessity for his protective modifica- 
tion. How urgent was the need for this is amply shown by the 
fact that several distinct medes of protection have been enlisted 
in his defence, viz. cuticular hypertrophy resulting in hairiness, 
mimicry of the veget ition on which he feeds and lives, and un- 
palatable flavour ; to which has been superadded mimicry of the 
unpalatable forms by those of good flavour. But even with all 
this adventitious aid the struggle would probably have proved 
exterminating to him by reason of the voracity of birds, had not 
the teeming imago participated in the protective modifications, 
and thereby been enabled to maintain the balance of supply and 
demand necessary for the survival of the order. 
Wycombe Court, Bucks PAUL HENRY STOKOE 
Threatened Extinction of the Elephant 
THE threatened extinction of any existing species of plant or 
animal cannot fail to be matter of real concern to all students of 
science, who ought to neglect no feasible means for preventing 
so deplorable an occurrence. 
Of the few gigantic mammals still living on the surface of our 
planet, none possesses more interest and none are more worthy 
preservation than the elephant. Yet it is an accepted conclu- 
sion that the elephant is doomed to extinction, and that within 
a measurable period of time this majestic quadruped will have 
suffered the fate of the Dodo. Cannot such a calamity be 
prevented? Surely the destruction of elephants might be 
legally controlled (in India, at any rate), and their capture 
(for domestication) might be limited, as it is well known 
they never breed in confinement. The continuous rise in 
the market-price of ivory, and its recent unprecedented 
scarcity as an article of commerce, are ominous signs, 
and renders it incumbent on the votaries of science to consider 
what may be done inthe matter. It is no question of mere 
sentiment—it is of vital importance; and if ‘‘ ancient monu- 
ment:, ruins, &c,,” are worth protecting, it cannot be denied 
that s> remarkable and interesting a creature as our colossal 
Pachyderm merits some effort in his behalf. 
EDWARD E. PRINCE 
United College, University of St. Andrews, March 15 
A Curious Case of Ignition 
ONE fine morning recently, as two ladies were standing to- 
gether in the drawing-room of a house in this neighbourhood, 
smoke was observed to rise from the dress of one of them. This 
was found to be due to ignition by the solar rays focused on her 
dress by the lens of a graphoscone which stood on the table. 
Similar cases of accidental concentration of the sun’s rays have, 
I am aware, been recorded. It would be interesting to know 
whether any serious fires have thus originated. One can easily 
imagine circumstances which would favour such results from a 
simple cause. 
Finchley, March 26 
| W. H. Stone, M.D.F.R.C.P 
SINGING, SPEAKING, AND STAMMERING’* 
I.--SINGING 
“ee voice, essentially a musical instru nent, has only 
of late been scientifically considered. Even now 
singing is too much dealt with as an art, and its acquire- 
ment as an accomplishment. The professional mystery 
with which it is surrounded serves no good purpose, and 
favours empiricism. At ladies’ schools the old fiction of 
what are quaintly termed “finishing lessons” still sur- 
vives ; they often succeed in finishing any prospect; the 
pupil may have had of becoming a singer. Most of the 
current primers and tutors are luticrously vague and 
feeble, many methods are absolutely injurious to the voice; 
for the improvement of which one ingenious inventor has 
suggested the use of a false palate, and another the fitting 
of singers’ mouths with a sort of bell-shaped snout or 
proboscis to act as a resonator. A chorus of such pro- 
boscidians on the Handel orchestra would be an appalling 
sight. The real foundation of our knowledge rests on the: 
researches of Helmholtz on the physical, and of Garcia 
on the physiological, side. The classical discoveries of 
the former as to the production of vowel-sounds by the 
superaddition of a varying harmonic in the mouth-cavity, 
and of the latter by the examination of the larynx in 
action by means of a mirror, brought before the Royal 
Society in May, 1855, have formed the substratum of 
much which has now become the common property of 
scientific men. Dr. Bristowe, in his Lumleian lectures of 
1879, has added some pathological data of considerable 
value, and Dr. Walshe, in his ‘“‘Dramatic Singing, 
Physiologically Estimated,’ has touched on points con- 
nected with the sympathetic and emotional power which 
this most perfect of instruments can be made to exercise. 
It owes this in a great measure to the fact that it can 
combine musical sounds with significant words, and thus 
interest at once the ear and the intelligence. Afver a de- 
monstration of the action of the larynx and fauces in 
phonation, illustrated by some excellent photographs 
taken from his own larynx by Mr. Emil Behnke, and 
thrown on the screen, vowel-sounds were shown to be 
thirteen in number in the English language, with 
six more in French and German, fifteen of these being 
oral in origin, and four, all French sounds, nasal. Con- 
sonants were about sixteen in number, and had been 
called ‘‘noises” by Max Miiller, owing to their compara- 
tively unmusical character. They are chiefly caused by 
some check or obstruction to the laryngeal note. A dia- 
gram of Madame Seiler’s was, however, shown which 
indicates that there is an oral resonance-note even for 
consonants, though it is much more obscure and uncertain 
than that of the vowels. Melville Bell's division of vocal 
sounds into vowels, consonants, and glides or semivowels 
was adverted to, and his ingenious device of visible 
speech briefly explained, but left for fuller consideration 
in the second lecture. The contrast was then pointed 
out between singing, in which the musical notes predo- 
minate and are separate or discrete ; intoning, which is 
speech intentionally rendered monotonous for better 
transmission in large spaces like cathedrals ; recitative, 
which is the converse of the former, being singing 
partially loosened from the trammels of time, rhythm, 
and melody, so as to approximate to speaking ; speech 
itself, which uses continuous inflection; declaiming, 
which is speech with the addition of a histrionic and 
emotional element; reading, which is a faint and as it 
were distant reproduction of speaking in a lower key, 
quieter and less marked in accent than in speaking viva 
voce; and whispering, which is purely oral, without a 
laryngeal ground note, and which may be termed voice- 
less speech. 
The different qualities, compass, and register of voices 
t Abstract by the Author of three Lectures at the Royal Institution, by 
