NATURE 



[May 29, 1913 



of the utmost value. It is hoped that the railway 

 companies, at least in the metropolis, will take advan- 

 tage of this enterprise on the part of the Postmaster- 

 General. The borough councils have in the past not 

 been very sympathetic, but perhaps, now that the 

 matter will be arranged for them by the Post Office 

 at such a trifling cost, they will adopt a more pro- 

 gressive attitude. 



The explosives committee has considered the ques- 

 tion of the available sources of nitrates, and the pos- 

 sibility of obtaining them during war; also the 

 feasibility of manufacturing nitrates on a large com- 

 mercial scale in this country. The committee con- 

 siders that it is of the utmost importance that nitrates 

 should be manufactured in Great Britain, even if the 

 manufacture is not profitable; it is, however, of 

 opinion that a commercially successful scheme is 

 possible. 



In the report of the Canadian committee reference 

 is made to the conservation of natural resources of 

 Canada. A source of great loss to the country is 

 the prevalence of forest fires, and last year the 

 Government spent the sum of 312,500/. in protection 

 against this source of loss. The protection of native 

 birds is also referred to. Much useful work has 

 recently been done by the Canadian Waterways Com- 

 mission, and in connection with this Dr. H. T. 

 Barnes, the hon. secretary of the Canadian committee 

 of the guild, has continued his valuable researches on 

 ice formation in the St. Lawrence. Other subjects 

 dealt with are radium standards, university settle- 

 ment, prevention of tuberculosis, and free ice for the 

 poor. 



Appended to the report are the reports of com- 

 mittees dealing with the Milk and Dairies Bill, the 

 work of the Canadian branch, and on a national 

 system of education. Prof. R. A. Gregory contri- 

 butes an appendix in which benefactions exceeding 

 10,000!. for the purposes of science and higher educa- 

 tion are recorded, and a comparison is made be- 

 tween the incomes of universities and colleges in the 

 United States and that of State-aided universities in 

 Great Britain. From this article it appears that the 

 total receipts of universities in the United States in 

 the year 1910-11 amounted to nearly nineteen million 

 pounds, and the benefactions to four and a half 

 millions. In the same year, the total receipts of those 

 universities and university colleges in Great Britain 

 which participate in the Treasury grant were little 

 more than 6oo,oooZ. The receipts from fees in England 

 amounted to rather less than 32 per cent, of the total 

 income. The amount received from endowment was 

 about 15 per cent. ; the receipts from local authorities 

 156 per cent. The total receipts of all kinds from the 

 Exchequer amounted to 285 per cent, of the income. 



As regards numbers of students in universities and 

 technological institutions of university standard, com- 

 parison is made with Germany. There are twenty- 

 one universities in the German Empire and eleven 

 technical high schools or technical universities having 

 the power to grant degrees. Taking the universities 

 and technical high schools together, the statistics show- 

 that in the year 1910-11 they had about 71,000 matri- 

 culated students. The total number of full-time day 

 students in the universities and university colleges of 

 England and Wales (including those of Oxford and 

 Cambridge) in igio-n was about 17,000, and in Scot- 

 land about 7600, in comparison with 55,000 in German 

 universities. In the technical institutions of the 

 United Kingdom, the number of day students in 

 attendance was about 2000, in comparison with 

 16,000 in the technical hig^h schools of Germany. 

 From other tables sjiven in the article it appears 

 that more than 90 per cent, of the pupils in the 



NO. 2274, VOL. 91] 



State-aided secondary schools of England and Wales 

 are under sixteen years of age, and one-quarter of 

 the pupils ane under twelve years of age. More than 

 four-fifths of the pupils have not passed an examina- 

 tion of university matriculation standard when they 

 leave school. Two per cent, of the pupils proceed to 

 universities, and 7 per cent, to technical schools and 

 institutions, medical schools, training colleges for 

 secondary-school teachers, and like places providing 

 special training for professions, trades, or commercial 

 occupations. 



RECENT U'ORK IN ECONOMIC 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



A 7\LUABLE memoirs published by the Entomo- 



* logical Division of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture are constantly reaching us. Of these, 

 Bulletin no, on "The Spring Grain-Aphis, or Green- 

 bug," by F. M. Webster and W. J. Phillips, is of 

 more than passing interest. The species described — 

 Toxoptera graminum, Rondani — has been noticed as 

 seriously destructive to wheat and other cereals in 

 North America — especially in the Middle Western 

 States — during several seasons from 1890. In the 

 eastern hemisphere it has been recorded only from a 

 few localities — Italy, Hungary, Belgium, India, South 

 and East Africa. The bulletin, extended to 150 pages, 

 gives a full account of the insect, its embryology, post- 

 natal development, habits, and natural enemii -. An 

 interesting bionomical observation is that south of the 

 35th parallel the species reproduces itself only by 

 successive generations of virgin females, and even 

 further to the north the sexual generation may be 

 omitted from the life-cycle in mild winters. 



Another bulletin which contains welcome original 

 contributions to our knowledge of the life-history of 

 Hemiptera is No. 108, on " Leafhoppers affecting 

 Cereals, Grasses, and Forage Crops," by Prof. Herbert 

 Osborn. H. M. Russell's contribution (No. 118) on 

 the bean thrips (Heliothrips fasciatus) is also note- 

 worthy. It is needless to add that these bulletins ill 

 deal with practical means for the extermination or 

 control of the pests. 



As a contribution to animal parasitology, Bulletin 

 106, "The Life-history and Bionomics of some North 

 American Ticks," by W. A. Hooker, F. C. Bishopp, 

 and H. P. Wood, is worthy of mention. It forms an 

 excellent introduction to the ticks of pathological im- 

 portance, giving diagnostic characters of genera and 

 species, and furnishing in each case details of the 

 early stages in the life-history. 



From the Canadian Department of Agriculture we 

 have received Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt's Bulletin, No. 

 10, on the large larch sawfiy (Nematus ErichsonU). 

 This paper gives, in a handy form, particulars of the 

 prevalence of the insect as a larch-destroyer in Europe 

 and North America. British entomologists are 

 familiar with Dr. Hewitt's work in connection with 

 this insect in the Cumbrian lake district. He finds 

 it still more injurious across the Atlantic, where, he 

 believes, it must be regarded as an introduced species. 

 Naturally he is endeavouring to acclimatise in Canada 

 the ichneumon- fly (Mesoleius tenthredinis), which re- 

 duced so considerably the sawfly population on the 

 shores of Thirlmere. 



Dr. Hewitt has found time also to contribute to 

 Parasitology (vol. v., No. 3, 1912), a short account 

 of the larvae and bionomics of Fannia cani- 

 cularis and F. scalaris (better known to most 

 naturalists under the generic name of Homalomyia). 

 These curious spinose maggots have an unpleasant 

 interest as occasional inhabitants of the human in- 

 testinal and urinary tracts. 



