December 19, 1912] 



NATURE 



451 



stress on the importance of the fauna of any country 

 being worked out in that country, and on the asso- 

 ciation of a study of the biology of a group with 

 taxonomic research on that group. The recent Hberal 

 poUcy of the trustees of the museum, and the 

 generosity of the Indian Government, had re- 

 sulted in the acquisition of first-class zoological 

 laboratories, and an excellent collection of zoological 

 literature. He directed attention to the considerable 

 number of zoologists now working in India, and to 

 the zealous cooperation of numerous correspondents 

 and collectors in different parts of the country. His 

 paper was illustrated by photographs of the Indian 

 Museum and its laboratories, and of species in the 

 fresh-water fauna of special interest from a biological 

 or taxonomic point of view, e.g. Trygoti fliiviatilis ; 

 Hislopia, Pectinatella burnianica, and other Polyzoa ; 

 fresh-water sponges and their gemmules ; and a new 

 Temnocephalid. 



Zoological Results of the Scottish National Antarctic 

 Expedition. 

 Dr. W. S. Bruce pointed out that the Scotia was 

 fitted out especially for deep-sea work in high southern 

 latitudes within the limits of pack ice. The result was 

 a large collection of animals in the region of the 

 Weddell Sea, from the surface down to a depth of 

 2000 fathoms. Altogether eighteen new genera and 

 263 new species have been found in the collections up 

 to the present, particularly striking being the large 

 percentage of new species from great depths, e.g. 

 of sixty species of Echinoderms forty-four are new. 

 The collections do not lend any support to the bi- 

 polarity theory. 



Plankton of Lough Neagli. 

 Dr. W. J. Dakin and Miss M. Latarche presented 

 a summary of their work on the plankton of Lough 

 Neagh. Both the phyto- and zoo-plankton are made 

 up of Arctic and central European species existing 

 side by side. The authors do not accept the Wesen- 

 berg Lund-Ostwald theory — that seasonal variations 

 in planktonic organisms are due wholly to changes 

 in the viscosity of the water ; such changes appear 

 to "be due chiefly to direct action of the temperature 

 and the food supply. Mysis relicta was found in great 

 abundance at the surface of the lough at midnight, 

 whereas in daylight it was absent or rare. 



Biological Science and the Pearling Industry. 

 Dr. H. Lyster Jameson reviewed the scientific work 

 which has been done up to the present with the view 

 of rendering the pearl and mother-of-pearl producing 

 industries tnore profilnble, and stated that, so far as 

 he knew, the Japanese "culture-pearl" enterprise was 

 the only instance of the application of biological know- 

 ledge to the improvement of this industrv which had 

 proved an unqualified business success. He suggested 

 that there should be some organising machinery which 

 would bring to bear on this and similar problems all 

 available specialist opinion. 



Prof. L. Rhumbler discussed the relation of the 

 mechanics of the cell to the mechanics of develop- 

 ment, and showed, by some examples, how the studv 

 of the dynamic properties of cells, already established 

 by the study of cell-mechanics, is able to elucidate 

 physically, in a simple manner, whole scries of 

 phenomena exhibited by the behaviour of embryonic 

 cell-complexes. Dr. C. J. Bond discussed the method 

 by which the individual organism becomes adapted 

 to new environmental stimuli by use-acquirement, and 

 the dependence of use-acquirements on variation and 

 selection of intracellular units. Dr. J. Wilson held 

 that the " presence-and-absence theory" of inherit- 



No. 2251, VOL. go] 



ance was unsound. Prof. R. J. Anderson gave a 

 paper on "speech" in animals, and notes on the 

 skull of a grampus. These last five papers do not 

 lend themselves to the purposes of a summary. 



In the laboratories adjacent to the meeting-room 

 there was an exhibition of interesting specimens : — 

 Antarctic fauna (Dr. W. S. Bruce); Leduc's osmotic 

 growths (Mr. Deane Butcher) ; molluscan histology 

 and development of cartilage in young plaice (Dr. 

 Dakin) ; sexual dimorphism in butterflies (Dr. F. A. 

 Dixey), Foraminifera (Messrs. Earland and Heron- 

 Allen) ; aerating and larva-liatcliing apparatus, and 

 records showing the use of Aristotle's lantern in the 

 locomotion of Echinus (Dr. Gemmill and Mr. Elm- 

 hirst); preserved specimens of Crustacea, &c., in which 

 the articulations were flexible (Dr. Loir) ; apparatus 

 for the "valuation" of the sea (Dr. C. G. J. Peter- 

 sen) ; invertebrates from the Pacific coast of North 

 America (Miss Pixell) ; Rotifera (Mr. C. F. Rousselet) ; 

 specimens and drawings illustrating the diversity of 

 size, form, and colour in Alcyonaria (Prof. J. A. 

 Thomson), and nesting-boxes (Mr. W. M. Webb). 



J. H. ASHWORTH. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — The vacancy in the Waynflete professor- 

 ship of chemistry has been filled by the appointment 

 of Dr. W. H. Perkin, F.R.S., professor of organic 

 chemistry in the University of Manchester. Dr. Perkin 

 has been admitted as a Fellow of Magdalen College. 



Sir William Schlich, F.R.S., has offered to make 

 over to the University a sum of 690L 18s. 8d. as a 

 contribution towards a fund for the permanent endow- 

 ment of the professorship of forestry. On December 

 14 the offer was gratefully accepted by Convocation. 

 Attention may be directed to the fact that the dele- 

 gates for forestry propose to appoint a research officer 

 to investigate diseases of trees, for a term of two 

 years, at a salary of 400/. a j'ear, besides travelling 

 expenses. The research officer will begin work on 

 Februar}' i, 1913, or as soon after that date as may 

 be possible. He will work in connection with the 

 Oxford School of Forestry. 



Dr. T. M.artin Lowry has been appointed lecturer 

 on chemistr}' at Guy's Hospital Medical School. 



By the will of Mr. R. J. Montgomery the sum of 

 5000Z. is left to the Board of Dublin L'niversity and 

 the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, for a " Mary 

 Louisa Montgomery Lectureship " in ophthalmology, 

 to be held alternately by the said boards for a period 

 of five years, the lectureship for the first five years 

 after his death being held by Dublin University. 



Mr. Edwin T.ate, J. P., has given to the Battersea 

 Polytechnic the sum of 70002., the interest upon 

 5000L of this sum to be utilised for scholarships, and 

 the interest upon the remaining 2000L to be devoted to 

 the purchase of books for the Tate Library, which 

 was also generously given by the same donor. The 



j gift is another instance of the interest which the Tate 



I family has always shown to the Battersea Polytechnic. 



The Royal Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition 



acting on the recommendation of the Council of the 



I Institution of Naval ."Vrchitects, have appointed Mr. 



I P. Y. Brimblecombe, late of Armstrong College, New- 

 castle-on-Tyne, to the post-graduate scholarship in 

 naval architecture, 1913 (of the value of 2oo7. per 

 annum, and tenable for two years), for the purpose 

 of carrying out a course of research work in naval 

 architecture at the Armstrong College. 



