April 17, 19 13] 



NATURE 



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was supported by the delegates of twenty-four 

 Governments, the only Government not being 

 officially represented being the British Govern- 

 ment ; very appropriately, however, the Prince 

 recognised Lord Walsingham, one of the trustees 

 of the British Museum, as the official representa- 

 tive of Britain. 



In an eloquent address the Prince suggested 

 that by their meeting at Monaco, zoologists 

 marked the importance of the study of marine 

 animals, that they conceived that marine zoology 

 possessed the principal elements necessary to elu- 

 cidate the history of life and the origin and evolu- 

 tion of its different forms. They had considered 

 this temple of oceanography worthy of an 

 assembly which dealt with these subjects. These 

 congresses, he said, should be encouraged because 

 they brought about a rapprochement of men of all 

 shades of opinion from countries representing 

 occupations of intelligence. They measured the 

 force of production of different human communi- 

 ties, and gave young people an opportunity of 

 associating rapidly with the general progress of 

 ideas. The study of zoology was of the greatest 

 significance, because it dwelt upon the history of 

 life, effacing illusions of ignorance. Above all, 

 the study of marine zoology was precious in rela- 

 tion to the investigations of the origin of life. He 

 believed that the ocean was the origin of life, and 

 that there was ancestral colonisation from the 

 waters to the land. The Prince emphasised that, 

 in the study of oceanography, it was important to 

 investigate the regions that lay above the surface 

 of oceans ; hence his investigations of the higher 

 atmosphere. Finally, he asked the congression- 

 ists before leaving the old rock of Monaco, still 

 scarred by old buildings which marked the law 

 of force, to consider well the edifice constructed to 

 arbitrate in favour of science. Below was the 

 savage instinct which was now surmounted by 

 progress, time giving dominion to creative force 

 over the vain rivalries of man. He emphasised 

 how these developments had taken place in a 

 country long protected by peace. 



The Prince was followed by Dr. Perrier, 

 director of the Natural History Museum of Paris, 

 the eminent president of the permanent commis- 

 sion of the congress. Dr. Perrier dwelt on the 

 importance of oceanographical research to 

 zoology, paid well-merited eulogy to the Prince 

 for his great and lifelong services to oceano- 

 graphy and zoology, and also to the epoch- 

 making work of Guyon, Jeffreys, Wyville Thom- 

 son, and William Carpenter. In the evening there 

 was a reception given by the president in the 

 museum, which gave the first opportunitv of con- 

 gressionists meeting each other and discussing 

 various matters of common interest — a feature, 

 indeed, which is perhaps, after all, the great result 

 of all such meetings, for one hears of some fellow 

 man of science and one knows something of his 

 work, reading much perhaps that he has published 

 and probably having also corresponded with him, 

 but now for the first time one meets him face to 

 NO. 2268, VOL. 91] 



face, discusses knotty points to the immense ad- 

 vantage of each, often clearing away misunder- 

 standings and sealing a bond of friendship. This 

 was especially the case at Monaco regarding the 

 long discussion on nomenclature. 



More than 150 papers were given by different 

 authors, and most of these were given in abstract, 

 in many cases being illustrated by lantern or 

 kinematograph. Time, however, curtailed many 

 authors, and compelled others to have their con- 

 tributions held as read. British zoologists were 

 on this account deprived of hearing Prof. Ewart 

 give an account of the new zoological gardens to 

 be opened in July in Edinburgh by the Zoological 

 Society of Scotland, which promises to be one of 

 the finest, if not the finest, zoological garden in 

 Europe. 



Among British contributions was one by Prof. 

 Elliot Smith, of Manchester, who gave an 

 account of the homologies of the cerebral cortex 

 in vertebrates. Prof. J. Arthur Thomson, of Aber- 

 deen, gave an important communication on 

 Alcyonarians recently collected by H.S.H. 

 Prince Albert I. of Monaco, illustrating his 

 remarks by a series of finely executed paintings 

 which are to form the plates of his monograph. 

 Mr. G. P. Mudge, of the London Hospital Medical 

 College, gave an interesting communication on 

 some problems of hybridisation, whilst Dr. 

 Scharff, of Dublin, gave a paper on zoo- 

 geography, giving an account of his most recent 

 researches in a subject to which he has devoted so 

 much attention with such excellent results. Prof. 

 Hull, late director of the Geological Survey of 

 Ireland, discussed recent discoveries in the 

 physical features of the North Atlantic Ocean, as- 

 confirming the view of the distribution of Euro- 

 pean animals by land connection in Tertiary 

 times. 



Dr. W. S. Bruce, of Edinburgh, summarised 

 the zoological results of the Scotia. He pointed 

 out that the leading feature of the Scotia's work 

 was her investigations in great depths in high 

 southern latitudes by means of trawl and vertical 

 plankton net. The percentage of new species 

 taken in great depths down to 2645 fathoms was 

 very high. Out of about a thousand Scotia species 

 described more than 25 per cent, were new to 

 science. The zoological researches of the Scottish 

 naturalists disproved bipolarity, those species 

 which had a bipolar distribution having also uni- 

 versal distribution. They tended also to show that 

 antarctic fauna was not circumpolar, at least to 

 the extent that arctic fauna was, but that it was 

 subdivided into regions, which appeared to be 

 associated with the south polar " deeps " separated 

 by those " rises " which probably indicate former 

 connections of Antarctica with the more northern 

 continental land masses. 



The Indian Museum, Calcutta, accounted for a 

 goodly number of interesting communications. 

 Dr. Nelson Annandale gave an important paper 

 on the African element in the fresh-water fauna 

 of India. He showed there was a strong affinity, 



