196 



NATURE 



[October 17, 1912 



strator to the Jacksonian professor of natural experi- 

 mental philosophy, and Muriel Gwendolen Jones, his 

 wife, who were killed in the Alps in August while on 

 honeymoon, was held at the University Church of St. 

 Mary the Great, Cambridge, on October 12. The 

 service was attended by a large congregation, which 

 included masters of several colleges. University pro- 

 fessors, and many other members of the University. 

 The Royal Society, the Alpine Club, and the Cam- 

 bridge Alpine Club were also represented. 



The council of the Institution of Civil Engineers 

 has made the following further awards for papers read 

 during the session 1911-12 : — A Watt gold medal to 

 Prof. W. H. Burr (New York), and the Crampton 

 prize to Prof. R. J. Durley (Montreal). The following 

 Telford premiums have also been awarded for papers 

 published in the Proceedings without discussion during 

 the same session :— To Messrs. Paul Seurot (New 

 York), David Anderson, and Harry Cunningham 

 (London), Dr. S. P. Smith (Birmingham), Mr. E. G. 

 Rivers (Richinond), Mr. E. H. Morris (Manches- 

 ter), and Prof. A. H. Gibson (Dundee). The Howard 

 quinquennial prize for 1912 has been awarded to Mr. 

 J. H. Darby (Sheffield), in recognition of improvements 

 introduced bv him in iron and steel production, and 

 the Indian premium for 1912 to Mr. H. H. G. Mitchell 

 (Madras). 



The nineteenth report of the Museum and Art 

 Gallery Committee to the Town Council of the 

 borough of Leicester deals with the period from April 

 I, 1910, to March 31, 1912, and provides an interesting 

 description of two years' excellent work and pro- 

 gress. In addition to the Saturday evening public 

 lectures, which have long been a successful part of 

 the committee's work, a commencement has been 

 made in the matter of lectures to teachers. The move- 

 ment among educational authorities in favour of a 

 more enlightened use of museums calls for a know- 

 ledge on the part of teachers of the contents of these 

 institutions. In Leicester the curator has arranged 

 a series of lectures to local teachers, intended to show- 

 how the contents of the museum may be used to 

 instruct and interest children in the subjects illustrated 

 by the exhibits. The report also points out that a 

 small vivarium has been commenced and has proved 

 a great attraction to visitors. Various living examples 

 of British reptiles, batrachians, and invertebrates are 

 on show, as well as two or three exotic forms. 



A RECENT number of The Journal of Tropical Medi- 

 cine and Hygiene (vol. xv., No. 17) contains an 

 account of the investigations on the etiology of 

 pellagra carried on by Drs. Sambon and Chalmers, 

 for which financial support was generously provided 

 by Mr. Henry S. Wellcome. There are two opposed 

 theories in the field with regard to the causation of 

 this disease; according to the prevailing view, that 

 of the "zeists," pellagra is the result of poisoning by 

 unsound maize ; Dr. Sambon, on the other hand, 

 believes the disease to be due to infection by a para- 

 sitic organism, propagated by the agency of Simu- 

 liidas, small biting flies which breed in running 

 streams. As the result of epidemiological investiga- 

 tions carried on in many countries, Drs. Sambon and 

 NO. 2242, VOL. 90] 



Chalmers have brought together a considerable body 

 of facts and observations which tend to disprove, on 

 one fiand, any connection between pellagra and a 

 maize diet, and to prove, on the other hand, that all 

 areas in which the disease is endemic are situated in 

 close proximity to streams in which Simuliidas breed. 

 It remains, however, for the parasitic theory of 

 pellagra to receive definite proof bv the discovery of 

 the parasite (provisionally assumed to be " protozoal " 

 in nature), and of its transmission and life-history. 



The Micseiims Journal for September contains a 

 notice, accompanied by a plan, of the proposed exten- 

 sions of the Natural History and the Science Museums, 

 based on "White Paper" Cd. 6221. It is pointed out 

 that the housing of the Geological Survey and its collec- 

 tions in an extension of the eastern end of the Natural 

 History Museum ought to prove advantageous on 

 account of leading to greater facilities of cooperation 

 between the palsontologists of the museum and the 

 officers of the survey. On the other hand, the trustees 

 of the British Mviseum are supported in their objection 

 to the proposed removal and rebuilding of the spirit 

 building at the Natural History Museum. 



Under the heading of "The Insect's Homer," Mr. 

 Maurice Maeterlinck directs attention in the Septem- 

 ber issue of The Fortnightly Review to a little-known 

 work bv J. H. Fabre, in ten volumes, entitled 

 "Souvenirs entomologiques." Fabre, it appears, was 

 a native of Provence, where his memory has recently 

 been honoured by a special celebration. According 

 to the author of the article, he was "one of the most 

 profound and inventive scholars, and also one of the 

 purest writers, and, I was going to add, one of the 

 finest poets of the century that is just past." In these 

 volumes, from which copious extracts are given, Fabre 

 recorded the results of fifty years of observation, study, 

 and experiment on a number of insects, including 

 wasps and wild bees, certain gnats, flies, beetles, and 

 caterpillars. 



In the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural 

 History (vol. xxxi., p. 313) Mr. Abbott H. Thayer 

 replies — and w-e venture to think very ably — to recent 

 criticisms of his views with regard to cryptic and 

 protective coloration in animals. After replying to 

 objections that have been made against the protective 

 nature of the "white-belly" type of coloration, the 

 author directs attention to the extreme importance of 

 the level from which the cryptically coloured animal 

 ii viewed. "An animal [such as a zebra] seen from 

 a level above his own, has the dark earth for a back- 

 ground, while, at the very same moment, seen from 

 two or three feet lower down [the lion's point of 

 view] he has the bright sky instead, or is, at least, 

 seen in the direction in which sky or glimpses of 

 sky are to be expected. The moment this is under- 

 stood, it becomes obvious that there is no such thing 

 a5 a crj'ptic coloration per se, and that any amount 

 of conspicuousness from all other view-points has 

 nothing whatever to do with the question." The 

 author illustrates this pictorially by means of a photo- 

 graph of a "dummy" zebra and ass placed among 

 thin scrub, and viewed from a lower level, w-hen the 

 former animal becomes practically invisible against the 



