348 



NA TURE 



[January 21, 1909 



of the Institute of Metals, was read by Sir Gerard Muntz, 

 Bart. In this paper attention was directed to the fact 

 that among members of the institute are to be found 

 manufacturers, men of science, and engineers. In some 

 cases the three grades are enrolled in one individual, but 

 generally it will be from the harmonious correlation of 

 the three grades that the benefits of the institute will 

 accrue. After summarising the demands made upon the 

 rime and ability of the manufacturer, and pointing out 

 that often cause and effect are noticed and taken advantage 

 of in practice, but the reason why never discovered, and 

 so it happens that the road thus shown is not explored. 

 Sir Gerard Muntz dealt with the work of the man of 

 science. Given, he said, results, cause and effect the 

 man of science, if he persistently devotes himself to the 

 task which is offered him, will probably eventually arrive 

 at the why and wherefore of the matter. The man of 

 science, he continued, has the necessary time ; his vocation, 

 as a rule, is embowered " in that cloistered seclusion which 

 allows of consecutive thought and reasoning out of obscure 

 and difficult subjects." No doubt a worthy tribute to the 

 man of science on Sir Gerard Muntz 's part, but it would 

 have been more convincing had he made it clearer how 

 the man of science he had in mind gains his livelihood. 

 Referring to laboratory work. Sir Gerard Muntz said that 

 without it nothing can be done ; but, he went on, it is 

 not sufficient for the man of science to demonstrate in 

 the laboratory. Science must be reduced to practical form 

 for everyday use before it can be made serviceable in 

 manufacture. The practical worker has to depend on the 

 man of science, and needs guidance in not too elaborate 

 a form. 



SvsTEM.\Tic ornithologists will welcome a list of new 

 generic names proposed for birds during the years igoi to 

 i<105 inclusive, together with records of a number of older 

 names not to be found in the " Index Generum Avium." 

 The list has been compiled by Mr. C. W. Richmond, of 

 the U.S. National Museum, and is published as No. 1656 

 of the Proceedings of that institution. The additions to 

 the " Index Generum " are about 350 in number, but a 

 certain proportion of these rank as nomina niida. 



A PAPER by Dr. E. D. Van Oort on the birds of the 

 Netherlands, published in vol. xxx., Nos. 2 and 3, of 

 Notes from the Leyden Museum, is illustrated by an exqui- 

 site photographic plate of two male barn-owls killed in 

 Holland remarkable for their pure white breasts, totally 

 devoid of black spots. In one the feathers of the disk are 

 likewise nearly pure white, while in the other those on 

 the lower border of the same are tipped with orange-buff 

 and blackish-brown. 



The Journal of the Royal Society of Arts for December 

 25, 1908, contains the report of a lecture on the birds of 

 India, delivered before the Indian section of the society 

 bv Mr. Douglas Dewar. After referring to the fact that 

 India does possess song-birds, and mentioning the fearless- 

 ness and numerical abundance of Indian birds and the 

 charm of birds in general, the lecturer proceeded to discuss 

 the scientific study of birds, more especially in connection 

 with natural selection. 



In the twenty-second annual report of the Liverpool 

 Marine Biology Committee, Prof. Herdman laments the 

 decease of two original members of the committee (Messrs. 

 R. D. Darbishire and A. Leicester), as well as of other 

 supporters of the Marine Biological Station at Port Erin. 

 He further deplores the lack of earnest and well-to-do 

 amateur naturalists, who formed the main support of that 



NO. 2047, VOL. 7q] 



institution twenty years ago, and pleads the urgency of 

 additional financial assistance if the work and publications 

 (which yearly become more expensive) are to be carried on 

 as heretofore. In response to a desire expressed by certain 

 foreign visitors, Prof. Herdman has included in the report 

 a detailed description, with plans, of the hatchery and 

 hatching-boxes. The work of the institution has been 

 carried on successfully during the year, although the 

 problem of hatching and rearing lobsters has not been 

 solved. 



No. 2 of the fourth volume of the Journal of the South 

 African Ornithologists' Union contains the report of the 

 committee for bird-migration for the years igo6 and iqoy. 

 .Although a very large number of post-cards was circu- 

 lated, the replies received were disappointingly small, 

 not one out of 100 schoolmasters to whom cards were sent 

 answering the appeal. Six species were entered in the 

 schedule, namely, the swallow, bee-eater, lesser kestrel, 

 greenshank, stork, and white-winged pratincole, and re- 

 ports on the arrival and departure of these and other 

 species were received from fifteen stations, ranging from 

 Cape Colony to the Orange River Colony and Transvaal. 

 The dates of the arrival of the swallow range from 

 August 28 (.Amersfoort, Rolfontein, igo6) to December 6 

 (Bethulie, 1907) ; the stork first appeared during 1907 on 

 September 20, but the bulk of these birds seem to have 

 come between November 9 and 24, while greenshanks were 

 seen at three stations in the first half of October. The 

 committee has sent out another series of circulars and 

 cards, to which it niav be hoped a larger proportion of 

 replies will be received. 



Another issue (No. 1652) of the Proceedings of the U.S. 

 National Museum is devoted to copepod crustaceans para- 

 sitic on fishes from the Pacific coast of North .America, 

 with descriptions of several new genera and many new 

 species. The author, Mr. C. B. Wilson, had the oppor- 

 tunity of working at a very extensive collection, which 

 yielded very interesting results. Although the number of 

 new species may appear relatively large, it is stated that 

 a great difference between the Atlantic and Pacific re- 

 presentatives of these parasites is only what was to be ex- 

 pected, and but little was previously known of the latter. 

 " The novelty of the characters of these new forms is of 

 much less importance than the close relationship which 

 they show between species inhabiting widely remote locali- 

 ties. . . . There are close correspondences between the 

 Atlantic and Pacific copepods similar to those found in 

 other groups of animals, particularly, perhaps, in the 

 fishes which serve as hosts for these parasites." 



The first part of vol. iv. (zoology) of the report on the 

 scientific results of the voyage of the Scotia during the 

 years 1902-4, under the leadership of Dr. W. S. Bruce, 

 has been received from the Scottish Oceanographical 

 Laboratory, Edinburgh. From the start of the Scottish 

 National Antarctic Expedition to its finish a daily record 

 was kept of the observations of the naturalists both on 

 board the ship and at the summer station. A field note- 

 book, or naturalists' diary, of the expedition was thus 

 secured, and this record is reproduced with no material 

 alterations in the work just published. The interest and 

 value of this zoological log is increased by many very 

 striking pictures of oceanic and Antarctic life and scenes, 

 the thirty-three plates including no fewer than a hundred 

 illustrations from photographs. We propose to defer 

 further notice of the work until other parts of the fourth 

 volume of the report of the expedition have reached us. 



