October 12, 1905J 



NA TURE 



At the meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers on 

 Tuesday, November 7, an inaugural address will be 

 delivered by the president, Sir Alexander R. Binnie, and 

 the council's awards will be presented. In addition to the 

 medals and prizes given for communications discussed at 

 the meetings of the institution in the last session, the 

 council of the institution has made the following awards 

 in respect of other papers dealt with in 1904-5 ; — a George 

 Stephenson medal to Captain H. R. Sankey, R.E., a Watt 

 medal to Dr. C. Chree, F.R.S. ; Telford premiums to 

 Messrs. W. E. VV. Millington, C. E. Stromeyer, C. W. 

 Hill, F. C. Lea, W. B. Cole, W. C. Popplewell, E. H. 

 Rigby, and W. O. Leitch, jun. For students' papers the 

 awards are : — Miller prizes to Messrs. A. B. Potts, W. M. 

 Hayman. R. E. Bury, T. Lees, jun., T. L. Matthews, 

 P. J. Risdon, and F. E. Tudor. 



The organisation and methods of the Japanese Naval 

 Medical Service recently formed the subject of a communi- 

 cation by Surgeon-General Suzuki to the Association of 

 Military Surgeons at Detroit. Much of the success 

 achieved in the treatment of wounds was ascribed to a 

 regulation requiring every member of the crew of a war- 

 ship before battle to bathe and dress in perfectly clean 

 underclothing. During engagements a i per cent, solution 

 of boric acid was provided to wash the eyes free from 

 powder, smoke, and dust, and cotton-wool plugs for the 

 ears were issued to every man. It was impracticable 

 during action to attempt anything but the most necessary 

 first dressing of wounds, and after action, wherever 

 possible, the wounded were hurried to the base hospital, 

 and only the absolutely essential operations performed on 

 the spot. 



Recent issues of the Frocecdings of the Philadelphia 

 Academy include two papers on polychjetous annelids from 

 the North Pacific by Mr. J. P. Moore, and notes on 

 Hawaiian land shells of the families Achatinellida; and 

 Endodontidffi by Messrs. Pilsbry and Vanatta. 



-An addition to the useful little guides to the contents 

 of the Horniman Museum at Forest Hill has been issued 

 by the London County Council in the form of " Hand- 

 book to the Marine Aquaria," and offered for sale, like all 

 its fellows, for one penny. The handbook commences with 

 an account of the manner in which such receptacles may 

 be made and stocked, followed by notes on some of the 

 common animals which may be kept therein. 



We have received part 11. of the ninth volume of the 

 Transactions of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical 

 Society, containing the report of the council for the past 

 year. Several lectures, of some of which brief abstracts 

 are published, were delivered during the period under 

 review, and the council reports not only an increased 

 attendance at these lectures on the part of the public, but 

 likewise a successful session as a whole. 



A SMALL case has been placed on one of the walls in 

 the central hall of the Natural History Museum for the 

 purpose of showing that the habit of depositing its eggs 

 in the nests of other birds is not confined to the common 

 cuclcoo, and that some kinds of cuckoos hatch their own 

 eggs, .'\mong the series is an egg of a cow-bird among 

 a clutch of eggs of a tyrant-bird. In this case the dls- 

 simlliarlty between the eggs of the two species is very 

 marked, but in a clutch of magpies' eggs among which 

 Is an egg of the great south European cuckoo the re- 

 semblance is marvellously close. 



To the October issue of Bird Notes and News Dr. E. .A. 

 Wilson, late naturalist on the Discovery, contributes an 

 interesting note on penguins, especially with regard to the 

 wholesale destruction of these birds in certain districts for 

 the sake of their oil. As regards the Antarctic species, 

 which are at present unmolested, the author Is of opinion 

 that the emperor penguin is secure from attack during 

 the breeding-season, although at other times of the year 

 its destruction could be encompassed, as could that of the 

 .Ad^Ile penguin at all seasons. .Articles on the protected 

 breeding resorts of gulls and terns in Lancashire and 

 Lincolnshire are included In this number. 



The early history of that exterminated race the 

 Morloris of the Chatham Islands forms the subject of two 

 papers in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 

 for 1904. The author of one of these is of opinion that 

 there was an immigration of Polynesians into New Zealand 

 antecedent to the arrival of the Maories, and it is suggested 

 that the Morloris came among these earlier voyagers. 

 Among a number of zoological papers In the same volume 

 reference may be made to three by Prof. BenhaiTi on the 

 earthworms of New Zealand and the Kermadecs, in the 

 course of one of which the author requests that observers 

 will forward specimens from all parts of that area. Atten- 

 tion is directed by Archdeacon Walsh to the alleged exist- 

 ence In New Zealand of an undescribed lizard or 

 salamander. To the geological section Captain Hutton 

 communicates three papers, one on the formation of the 

 Canterbury plains, a second on certain new Tertiary shells, 

 and a third on the Tertiary brachiopods. 



" The Cumbrian Faun.\ of China " forms the title of a 

 paper by Mr. C. D. Walcott constituting No. 1415 of the 

 Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum (vol. xxix., 

 pp. I— 106). The existence of Cambrian fossils in China 

 was announced in 1883 by Baron von Richthofen, while 

 other specimens were described in 1899. Two years ago 

 the Carnegie Institution of Washington dispatched an 

 expedition for the purpose of obtaining a representative 

 collection of these fossils, and the paper before us is a 

 preliminary account of the collection then made. The 

 fossils of this epoch in China have proved to be extra- 

 ordinarily abundant, as is indicated by the circumstance 

 that imperfect specimens are scarcely taken into account 

 in this preliminary notice. Brachiopods and trilobites 

 appear to be the dominant forms, and it is confidently 

 expected by the author thjit important results will follow 

 thorough and systematic exploration and collecting. 



Two out of the three articles in the .September Issue of 

 the .American Naturalist are of a somewhat technical 

 nature, and Interesting to the specialist rather than the 

 general naturalist. In the first Mr. H. Crawley discusses 

 the complex question of the interrelations of the parasitic 

 protozoans of the group Sporozoa, as typified by the 

 gregarlnes ; while In the second Mr. F. C. Baker describes 

 the reproductive organs of the pond-snails of the genus 

 Limnasa. In the third and more popular article Miss 

 Worthington supplies a large amount of Information with 

 regard to the life-history of hag-fishes, or myxinoids. 

 These fishes abound in Monterey Bay, where they are 

 taken on the rock-cod beds at a depth of about 300 feet. 

 They live curled around and between the rocks, and when 

 in health always assume a coiled position. Although they 

 will stand much rough treatment, a decided rise of 

 temperature proves fatal. They do much damage by 

 stripping the flesh off fish hooked on the lines. In feed- 

 ing, the tooth-plate Is thrust out of the mouth, with its 



NO. 1876, VOL. 72] 



