February 20, 19 13] 



NATURE 



685 



A' 



vided for fifty cadets, who, in addition to performing 

 the ordinary routine worli of the ship, will be in- 

 structed in the duties of the navigator and seaman 

 as required on board a first-class modern ship. Strict 

 discipline is to be maintained on board, and tlie cadets 

 will be at all times under the supervision and guid- 

 ance of tlie instructors. The addition of tlie Vivid 

 to the equipment of the school provides opportunities 

 for the practical testing of the theoretical work of the 

 lecture-room under actual seagoing conditions, and 

 the vessel, in fact, furnishes tlie laboratory which in 

 every other department of applied science lias long 

 been considered an essential adjunct to etificient in- 

 struction. 



In framing the scheme of instruction, the governors 

 of the college have kept in view the fact that owing 



BIOLOGICAL WORK IN INDIA. 

 LTHOUGH the mosquito-destroying capacity of 

 the small cyprinoid fishes known to the Spanish 

 inhabitants of Barbadoes as milliones appears to have 

 been considerably overestimated, naturalists in India 

 are convinced that many of the smaller fresh-water 

 fishes of that country play an important rdle in this 

 respect. Experiments have been carried on for the 

 last few years by officials of the Indian Museum with 

 the view of procuring exact details on the subject, 

 and the result is a report, published by order of the 

 Trustees, on " Indian Fish of Proved Utility as 

 Mosquito-destroyers," drawn up by Capt. R. B. S. 

 Sewell and Mr. B. L. Chandhuri, in which eleven 

 species are scheduled with such descriptions and 



to increased competition and the consequent necessity 

 of saving every mile of distance and minute of time, 

 the ingenuity of the shipbuilder, engineer, and man 

 of science has provided the modern navigator with 

 instruments of precision undreamt of in the earlier 

 days of steam navigation — instruments the proper 

 use of which demands a sound knowledge of the prin- 

 ciples underlying their construction and a careful 

 training in their manipulation. 



The course of training has the support of the leading 

 shipping firms, as it is recognised that the cadets 

 who have gone through the full course will be of 

 immediate value on board ship, instead of, as at pre- 

 sent, wasting at least the first year of their apprentice- 

 ship picking up the elements of their profession in a 

 haphazard fashion. 



illustrations as render their identification easy. 

 What, if any, practical results ensue from the investi- 

 gation remain to be seen. 



An issue of the Entomological Series of the 

 Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture (vol. ii.. 

 No. 9), forming the second part of life-histories of 

 Indian insects, records the results of investigations 

 carried on at Pusa on the early stages of two species 

 of Rhynchota and eight of Coleoptera. The memoir 

 is illustrated with coloured plates, and, as mentioned 

 in the preface, Mr. D. Nowrogee, to whom the in- 

 vestigation was entrusted, is to be congratulated on 

 the manner in which he has carried out a diflicult 

 task. 



Beautifully executed illustrations in colour arc like- 

 wise a feature of a second article on insecis 



NO. 2260, VOL. 90] 



