160 
NATURE 
[JuNE 12, 1902 
WE have received a copy of the second edition of the excellent 
little manual of the fauna and flora of Haileybury, issued by 
the Haileybury Natural Science Society under the supervision 
of Mr, F. W. Headley. The compilation and publication of 
similar local lists may be recommended to all school societies 
of a like nature, 
In the Verhandlungen of the Natural History Society of 
Prussian Rheinland, &c., for 1901, Dr. O. Follmann describes 
and figures an interesting new type of crinoid from the 
“*Coblenzschichten” under the name of Hystricrinus schwerdii. 
To the same journal Herr Leverkus-Leverkusen, of Bonn, con- 
tributes an account of the present and past distribution of 
the elk. 
The Country for June contains several interesting and well- 
illustrated articles on subjects connected with natural history 
and domesticated animals. Mr. W. F. Kirby, for instance, 
writes on common garden insects, while Mr. Harrison Weir 
discourses on the old English game-fowl, and Mr. Edwin 
Brough, of Scarborough, the well-known breeder of blood- 
hounds, describes some of the characteristic traits of his 
favourites. 
AN important account of the ascidians of the Bermudas, by 
Dr. W. G. van Name, appears in the January and February 
issues of the 7vansactions of the Connecticut Academy (vol. xi.). 
The seas around these islands are remarkably rich in ascidians, 
and since but little has previously been done in the way of 
collecting, the writer has been able to describe quite a number 
of new types, both generic and specific. The memoir is 
illustrated by several plates. 
ACCORDING to Wature Notes for June, the Society for the 
Protection of Birds has just issued the regulations and conditions 
for the first annual competitions open to elementary schools in 
the East Riding of Yorkshire and in Berkshire for challenge- 
shields and prizes in connection with ‘bird and tree day.” 
The day is to be in November—probably the 8th—and essays are 
to be sent in during September. Any bird killed, or any eggs 
or nests taken for the purposes of the competition, will disqualify 
not only the actual offender, but all his fellow-scholars. 
AT an egg-sale recently held at Mr. Stevens’s auction rooms, 
Covent Garden, a moa’s egg from New Zealand, reputed to be 
the finest in existence, was offered. Since, however, it did not 
reach the reserve price of 200/. it was withdrawn. Another 
example was sold some years ago for 250/7. Thirty-eight guineas 
was the sum realised by the largest known egg of the extinct 
““roc’’ (dipyornts maximus) of Madagascar ; while two eggs 
of the pectoral sandpiper—the first of their kind ever offered in 
England—fetched 87. 18s. 6d. 
THE insect-enemies of the pine in the Black Hills Forest 
Reserve form the subject of Bzd/etin No. 12 (second series) of 
the Entomological Division of the U.S. Department of Agri- 
culture. According to the author, Dr. A, D, Hopkins, the 
forests of rock-pine in the district in question have suffered very 
severely of late years from insect-ravages, the dying or dead 
trees covering large areas. The primary cause of the mischief 
is a small bark-burrowing beetle of a species hitherto un- 
described, for which the name Dendroctonus ponderosa is 
suggested, After the first attack by this species, several other 
insects aid in the work of destruction. Various remedies are 
suggested by the author. 
THE Eastern Morning News of June 3 contains an account 
of the reopening, by the Mayor, of the museum at Hull, which 
was some time ago taken over by the Corporation from the 
Literary and Philosophical Society. Since the transference, the 
contents of the museum have been thoroughly overhauled and 
NO. 1702, VOL. 66] 
rearranged by the curator, Mr. T. Sheppard, who has introduced 
order and system where chaos formerly held sway. The value 
of the exhibits is estimated at considerably more than 5000/. ; 
many specimens of interest cannot, however, be shown for lack of 
proper cases. At the opening ceremony it was announced that 
the fine collection of British birds’ eggs formed by the late Mr. 
J. Swailes had been presented to the museum by his brother, 
Mr. G. Swailes. In the rearrangement of the collections the 
educational value of the museum has been specially borne in 
mind, 
A LECTURE on the natural history of the Chatham Islands, 
delivered by Dr. A. Dendy on March 4, is reported at length 
in No. 12 of vol. xlvi. of the Manchester Memoirs. Chatham 
Island and the adjacent Pitt Island appear to have once formed 
a portion of New Zealand, and are of especial interest as being 
the home of the Moriori, a race nearly exterminated by their 
cousins the Maori between 1835 and 1840. After giving a 
brief sketch of the flora of the islands, the author turns to the 
fauna, which, as might be expected, is nearly akin to that af 
New Zealand. Especially noticeable is the number of flightless 
birds, most of which are in danger of extermination owing to 
the introduction of predatory mammals, 
TOTEMISM is a blessed word, and there is a real danger at the 
present time that any animal cult may be relegated in an off-hand 
manner to totemism. The very careful study of the relations 
between men and animals in Sarawak by Drs. Charles Hose and 
McDougall in vol. xxxi. of the Joz7a/ of the Anthropological In- 
stitute (p. 173) is, therefore, especially welcome, as it is the result of 
many years of observation on the part of one of the authors among 
most of the important peoples of Sarawak. 
No less than 150 periodicals and publications of scientific 
and technical societies are now regularly abstracted in Sczence 
Abstracts, so that the magazine takes a comprehensive view of 
progress in physical sciences and their applications. Among 
recent additions to publications abstracted are several Russian, 
Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish journals which are 
only accessible to a limited circle of readers, though many im- 
portant papers are published in them. The abstracts will 
enable workers in physics and physical chemistry to keep in 
touch with practically every advance in their subjects. 
SCIENCE is represented in the Fortnightly Review for June by 
two popular articles—one by Mr. Marconi, on ‘‘The Practic- 
ability of Wireless Telegraphy,”” and the other by Mr. Carl 
Snyder, on ‘‘ Dr. Loeb’s Researches and Discoveries.’’ Begin- 
ning with the message sent in June, 1898, by Lord Kelvin 
“commercially paid at Alum Bay for transmission through 
ether” to Sir George Stokes at Cambridge, an account is given 
by Mr. Marconi of the messages since sent, without wires, from 
the Royal yacht, in connection with the international yacht race, 
and the United States Navy trials. Mr. Synder describes and 
interprets the work accomplished by Dr. Loeb at Chicago 
University in the domain of chemical physiology, and that on 
which Dr. Matthews is engaged in the same institution in con- 
nection with nerve functions. 
VoL. xl. of the Zettschrift fiir phystkalische Chemie contains 
a publication, by C. Benedicks, on the electrical conductivity of 
steel and pure iron, the investigation of which has given some 
very interesting results. It is shown that equivalent quantities 
of different elements, when dissolved in iron, increase the elec- 
trical resistance by the same amount. This is proved experi- 
mentally in the case of carbon, silicon, manganese and phos- 
phorus, the increase of the resistance for one dissolved atom per 
one hundred atoms of the solution being 5°9 micro-ohms per cubic 
centimetre. The presence of carbide in the iron has, on the 
other hand, very little influence on the resistance. From the 
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