August 30, 1906] 



NATURE 



451 



of races, species, and genera, while the first stage of the 

 latter corresponds to De V'ries's and the second to Mendel's 

 mutation. The Rev. E. Wasmann, in the second article, 

 discusses the comparatively recent development of new 

 species of " commensural " beetles of the family Staphi- 

 linidiE in the nests of ants and termites. In the black and 

 red beetles of the genus Dinarda, for example, there are 

 races or species corresponding to the various races or 

 species of ant with which they are associated, and as the 

 tiifferentiation of the ants appears to be comparatively 

 recent, that of the beetles must, o fortiori, be still more 

 so. In the third article Maria Countess von Linden de- 

 scribes certain very remarkable variations in the shape and 

 colour of the wing-scales of the swallow-tail butterfly 

 Papilio podalirius during the pupa-stage as the effect of 

 external influences. It is noticeable that the scales on the 

 orange spot differ from those of the rest of the wing. 

 The basilar membrane in the ear of parrots, in connec- 

 tion with Helmholtz's resonance-theory, forms the subject 

 of the concluding article, by Mr. A. Denker. 



The contents of Nos. i and 2 of vol. xxviii. of Notes 

 from the Leyden Museum are largely devoted to the de- 

 scription of new genera and species, a number of these 

 being described by Mr. G. Ulmer in a paper on non- 

 European trichopterous insects. Of more general interest 

 is the description, by Dr. E. D. van Oort, of a new 

 t)ird-of-paradise (Neoparadisea riiysi) from New Guinea, 

 representing a generic type by itself, and also Dr. 

 Jenlink's separation of the large duiker antelope of 

 Rhodesia from the West African Cephalophtis sylvicultor, 

 under the name of C. coxi. 



The New Zealand fern-bird (Sphcnoeaciis piiticlatus) 

 forms the subject of the first article, by Mr. J. C. M'Lean, 

 in the July issue of the Emit, while in the second paper 

 Mr. H. S. Dove gives notes on a number of New Zealand 

 birds, inclusive of introduced species. In a later com- 

 munication Mr. E. Scott contributes some interesting in- 

 formation with regard to Dampier's observations on 

 Australian birds made during the voyage of 1689. Mystery 

 attaches to the meaning of the term " gladdens," which 

 the great navigator employed to designate certain birds 

 associated with oyster-catchers and cormorants. 



The whole of vol. xxvii. of Notes from the Leyden 

 Museum is occupied by Miss C. M. L. Popta's description 

 of the fishes collected during Prof. Nieuwenhuis's expedi- 

 tions to central Borneo in 1898 and 1900. The collection 

 contained a large number of new forms, which have, how- 

 ever, for the most part been named in previous communi- 

 cations. The more important species are illustrated by 

 photographs from original specimens. 



Se.\side natural history, illustrated with a number of 

 excellent photographic plates (in some cases reproduced 

 from Johnston) of zoophytes, &c., occupies a prominent 

 position in the July issue of the Museum Ga::eite. The 

 addition of a large education museum to the " garden 

 city " at Letchworth is strongly advocated. 



In its report for 1905, published in the .August issue of 

 Nature Notes, the Selborne Society takes occasion to refer 

 to the necessity for more active workers and larger funds 

 if its objects are to be fully and efliciently carried out. 

 The enclosure at Ealing for the protection of birds is re- 

 ported to have been a marked success during the nesting 

 season. 



A PAPER by Mr. David Heron " On the Relation of 

 Fertility in Man to Social Status, and on the Changes in 

 NO. 1922, VOL. 74I 



this Relation that have taken place during the last Fifty 

 \'ears " has been published in the series of Drapers' Com- 

 p.uiy Research Memoirs (Studies in National Detcrior- 

 .ition). Mr. Heron takes as his starting point the legiti- 

 mate birth-rate for the different districts in London for 

 the years 1851 and iqoi, and proceeds to calculate for each 

 year the correlation between this and various measures of 

 their social and economic conditions. By this method he 

 shows conclusively that in both these years a low birth- 

 rate is associated with satisfactory conditions and a high 

 one with poverty and improvidence, but that in igoi this 

 coincidence is far more strongly marked than in 185 1, and 

 that whereas in the middle of the last century it could 

 be more than accounted for by the fact that the wives of 

 the upper classes marry at a later age than those of the 

 lower, at the present time this factor is only responsible 

 for about half the difference. It is perhaps unfortunate 

 for Mr. Heron that his paper has appeared after two 

 others dealing with the same subject (Newsholme and 

 Stevenson, and G. U. Yule, Journal of the Royal Statis- 

 tical Society, vol. Ixix., part i.), as his methods are very 

 different from, and his conclusions quite independent of, 

 either of them. But owing to the striking way in which 

 these three important papers confirm and supplement one 

 another, it may be to the advantage of the public that they 

 should have appeared in the same year, for warnings of 

 this nature have more chance of obtaining a hearing when 

 they are given simultaneously from different quarters. 



In the Journal of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia 

 (vol. clxii., No. i) Mr. Clifford Richardson gives an ex- 

 haustive series of analyses of the petroleums of North 

 America, and compares the character of those of the older 



and newer fields. 



A VERY simple and convenient method for calibrating 

 thermometers for use in the determination of freezing points 

 of aqueous solutions is described by Messrs. Richards and 

 Jackson in the Zeitschrift ftir physikalische Chemie, 1906, 

 Ivi., 362. The thermometer to be tested is immersed in 

 a mixture of powdered ice and water contained in a Dewar 

 vessel, and hydrochloric acid is then added until the requi- 

 site temperature has been attained. The true temperature 

 is determined by the concentration of the acid solution in 

 equilibrium with the ice, and this can be ascertained from 

 ihe table given by the authors, in which acid concentrations 

 corresponding to temperatures between 0° C. and —5° C 

 are recorded. 



In a previous measurement of the relative proportion 

 of radium and uranium in radio-active minerals, a neutral 

 solution of radium bromide was employed as standard. It 

 has since been observed, however, that such neutral solu- 

 tions gradually deposit some of the active substance on 

 the walls of the containing vessel, and this has made a 

 new determination of the proportion of radium to uranium 

 necessary. The number now found by Rutherford and 

 Boltwood (American Journal of Science, iv., 22 [127], pp. 

 1-3) for the quantity of radium associated with i gram 

 of uranium is 3-8x10-' gram, which is about one-half that 

 obtained in the first experiments. 



In the Journal of Physical Chemistry, 1906, vol. x., 

 p. 445, Messrs. Carveth and Magnusson give an interesting 

 account of the evolution of the apparatus for the determin- 

 ation of the boiling points of solutions for the purpose of 

 molecular weight measurements. The advantages and dis- 

 advantages of the various types are discussed, and a new 

 form of apparatus is described, the distinctive features of 



