NATURE 



[May i, 1913 



paar proper, but quite distinct from the appearance 

 of the sea bottom last March. 



The third "pearl-oyster" article, also by Dr. 

 Pearson, is a report on the remarkable " window- 

 pane oyster," Placuna placenta, in the great 

 inland sea at Tamblegam, near Trincomalee ; and 

 other papers, by various authors, on fresh-water 

 fishes, Oligochaetes, Termites, &c, all show that 

 the investigation of the natural history of Ceylon 

 is in capable hands, and bids fair soon to make 

 the fauna and flora of that charming island better 

 known than those of most other parts of the 

 eastern tropics. 



NOTES. 

 As we went to press last week a case was concluded 

 in the course of which the methods of anti-vivisection- 

 ists were again exposed. A Swedish lady, Miss Lind- 

 af-Hageby, brought an action against The Pall Mall 

 Gazette and Dr. Saleeby for alleged libel published 

 in The Pall Mall Gazette. The jury, after listening 

 to sixteen days of talking, gave their verdict for the 

 defendants, and the judge received their verdict with 

 most emphatic and outspoken approval. It has all 

 happened before. There comes an opportunity for 

 legal action : the statements of anti-vivisectionists are 

 brought to the test of evidence on oath ; the whole 

 thing is thrashed out in the Law Courts, and the 

 inevitable verdict is given. The Pall Mall Gazette 

 has done a great service to the nation by thus expos- 

 ing, once more, the uncharitableness — to say the least 

 — of anti-vivisectionists. The Research Defence 

 Society, likewise, deserves the thanks of lovers of 

 truth. We trust that the public will bear in mind 

 the lesson of this case, and will treat with contempt 

 the methods upon which the obscurantism or 

 anti-vivisection thrives. A campaign which appeals 

 to those who have been least fortunate in the matter 

 of education, inflames passion, stirs up hatred, and 

 delights in imputing evil to men who are devoting 

 their lives to the increase of knowledge of diseases 

 which afflict mankind, may not be stopped on its 

 downward course by the verdict given last week, but 

 the light which was thrown upon it in the course 

 of the evidence will perhaps do something to scatter 

 the thick darkness of prejudice which anti-vivisection 

 requires for its existence. 



The Bill to consolidate and amend the law relating 

 to ancient monuments was read a second time last 

 Thursday in the House of Lords. Such a measure 

 must necessarily be tentative, and Earl Beauchamp 

 admitted that it was not ideal. But he claimed justly 

 that it was a considerable step for the object in view, 

 while in no way penalising owners or interfering with 

 the rights of property. The same difficulties occur 

 as in other branches of the movement to make the 

 country a decentralised museum, both of antiquities 

 and of natural history and scenery. But there are 

 also special difficulties in the case of ancient monu- 

 ments. The Marquess of Salisbury pointed out that 

 consideration would have to be given to the resident 

 owner of a historic house. The question might arise 

 as to whether he could be precluded from throwing 

 NO. 2 2 70, VOL. 91] 



two bedrooms into one. The case of cathedrals is 

 peculiar, as Earl Curzon of Kedleston showed ; they 

 are not protected by a faculty, as churches are, but 

 are the absolute property for the time being of the 

 dean and chapter. Earl Beauchamp had not seen 

 his way to include ecclesiastical buildings, but it 

 appears that the bishops would not object to the in- 

 clusion of cathedrals. The power of purchase by the 

 State is eliminated from the Bill ; full powers for a 

 Preservation Order are considered to render this un- 

 necessary. The power of purchase is given to the 

 local authorities, chiefly in view of the smaller monu- 

 ments of local interest. Here comes in the difficulty 

 of funds ; even for small purchases there must be an 

 increase of the rates. Meanwhile the larger monu- 

 ments seem to be unprotected. There is no doubt 

 that ow-ners of great historic heirlooms do treat them 

 as in trust for the nation. But the modern tendency 

 is to bring this spirit into the machinery of organisa- 

 tion. The passing of such a Bill may be expected 

 to react favourably on the connected questions of 

 nature reserves and the endowment of science. 



The relation between insect-eating birds and the 

 abundance or otherwise of insects, ticks, and other 

 creatures which may act as hosts for organisms asso- 

 ciated with various diseases, is known to every bio- 

 logist. A correspondence between Sir Harry John- 

 ston and the chairman and secretary of the Plumage 

 Committee and Textile Trade Section of the London 

 Chamber of Commerce, published in The Times of 

 Tuesday, April 29, deals with some points of this 

 relationship, with particular reference to tsetse-flies, 

 mosquitoes, and other blood-sucking insects of Africa. 

 Sir Harry Johnston points out that tsetse-flies of the 

 genus Glossina are particularly abundant in all those 

 parts of West and Central Africa where the plumage 

 trade has done so much to lessen the numbers of the 

 insect-eating birds — more especially white herons 

 (egrets, large and small), ibises, rollers, bee-eaters, 

 glossy starlings, drongo and "cuckoo" shrikes, 

 bishopfinehes, and kingfishers. As remedial measures 

 to prevent the disturbance of the balance of nature 

 caused by the destruction of these birds, he suggests 

 "that the secretary to the British Museum (Natural 

 History) or the secretary to the Zoological Society, 

 or perhaps the two jointly, should be asked to compile 

 a list of species, genera, and perhaps families of birds 

 which should be placed on the prohibited list. That 

 is to say, that the skins or other trophies of such 

 birds should be forbidden as an article of import into 

 Great Britain and Ireland and into all parts of the 

 Empire of which the fiscal affairs are influenced by 

 the Foreign and Colonial Offices; and that we should 

 use our best endeavours with the Governments of 

 the self-governing portions of the British Empire to 

 secure a like prohibition in their own Customs regula- 

 tions." 



In a letter to the Lord Mayor, the Prime Minister 

 has announced the extent of the provision which the 

 Government proposes to make for the dependents of 

 Captain Scott and of those who so heroically lost 

 their lives with him in the Antarctic. The Govern- 

 ment intends to ask Parliament to sanction a Special 



