May 1 6, 1907J 



NA rURE 



57 



July 21, 1903, considered Lord Rosebery's letter, to 

 which reference has already been made, and placed 

 on record its opinion that, when certain conditions had 

 been complied with, the Council would be well advised 

 to contribute out of the money annually placed at its 

 disposal under the Local Taxation (Customs and Ex- 

 cise) Act of i8:)o a sum not exceeding 2o,oool. per 

 annum towards such part of the work described in 

 Lord Rosebery's letter as fell within the statutory 

 definition of technical education. Although the condi- 

 tions are now entirely changed, there is no reason to 

 suppose that the annual contribution of the Council to 

 the college will be less than that suggested four vears 

 ago. The Board of Education will pay the fees for 

 its selected scholars, and the fees payable by other 

 students will amount to a considerable sum. It is e.\- 

 pected that the resources of the Central Technical 

 College will al-so be available. The total expenditure 

 on this college for buildings, fittings, &c., has ex- 

 ceeded 130,000/., and the current expenses of the col- 

 lege (about 15,000/. per annum) are met by the fees of 

 students and a subvention from the City and Guilds of 

 London Institute. The total value of the land, build- 

 ings, equipment, and capital available for the 

 Imperial College (including the Central Technical 

 College) will certainlv exceed one million pounds. 



The assets in the way of teaching staff and students 

 also deserve mention. The teaching staff of the col- 

 leges includes such well-known men of science as 

 Profs. Tilden, Callendar, Perry, \\'atts, Gowland, Cox, 

 Avrton, .\rnistrong, Dalby, and Henrici. At the 

 Roval College of Science and the Royal School of 

 Mines the total number of students is about 300; a 

 high standard for entry is not at present demanded, 

 and the proportion of students preparing for univer- 

 sity degrees is comparativelv small ; but a large num- 

 ber of able students are entered at the college under 

 the Board of Education system of national scholar- 

 ships for science students. At the Central Technical 

 College the number of regular students is about 375; 

 the test for admission is approximately equivalent to 

 London Matriculation, and a fairly large number of 

 students are reading for London degrees as internal 

 students of the LTniversity. 



THE BUTTERFLIES OF /.VD7.4.' 



THE second volume of Colonel Bingham's 

 important work on the butterflies of India in- 

 cludes the Papilionid£e and Pierida', and five out of 

 the seven subfamilies into which the author divides 

 the Lvcasnidee " provisionally ... on the structural 

 characters of the imag^o or perfect insect." These 

 subfamilies are Gcrydinae, Lyca?ninae, Curetinae, 

 Liphyrinae, Poritinse, Theiclinae, and Arhopalina;, of 

 which the last two stand over until the next volume. 

 The tables and descriptions are very carefully drawn 

 up, and the illustrations, both coloured and un- 

 coloured, the latter often representing venation, legs, 

 and other important structural characters, are worthy 

 of high praise. Some of the text-figures of large 

 species are reduced. The transformations, broods, 

 habits, flight, scent, stridulation, &c., of various 

 butterflies are also fully discussed, especially the 

 curious relationships between LycEenidae and their 

 larva? and ants and aphides. \Ve notice, however, 

 that references to the transformations of common 

 European species have generally been omitted ; we 

 ire not certain whether this is done to save space 



1 "The Faun.Tof Britisti India, including Ceylon and Burma.' Pub. 

 Ilshed under the Aulhoritv of the Secretary of S'ate for India in Council. 

 Edited bv Lieut. -Colonel C. T. Bingham, Butterfl es, vol. ii. By Lieut. - 

 Colonel 0. T. Binaham. Pp. viiH-430 ; plates xi-.vx. (London: Taylor 

 -and Francis, 1907.) 



1 



NO. 1959, VOL. 76] 



(for it might have been thought hardly necessary to 

 repeat information to be found in every European 

 book on butterflies) or because Indian records of the 

 transformations of these p.irticular species happen to 

 be w;inting. 



Notwithstanding the care with which the book is 

 written, we notice an occasional oversight ; for 

 instance, the range of the genus Colias is incom- 

 pletelv given, as it is found in Lapland, South .\frica, 

 and other localities which would seem to be excluded 

 by the wording of the paragraph. Perhaps the 

 newest and most interesting observation in the book 

 is that recorded by Colonel H. J. W. Barrow, 

 R..-\.M.C., who observed a LycEenide {AUoliniis 

 horsjieldi) " milking " an aphis in the same manner 

 as if the butterfly had been an ant (p. 287, Fig. 73). 

 The description of the tentacles of the larvae of 

 Curctis bulis (p. 445) is also quite original and 

 very curious, as is also the long account of the 

 carnivorous larva of the very anomalous l.iphyra 



hrassoUs (pp. 448-56), but the latter particulars have 

 mostiv been published before. 



It will be seen that there is much in Colonel 

 Bingham's volume which appeals to the general 

 naturalist, and not merely to the lepidopterist. 



W. F. K. 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY CONVERSAZIONE. 



THERE were numerous interesting exhibits at the 

 Roval Societv conversazione on May S. The 

 guests were received by the president. Lord Rayleigh, 

 and included representatives of many departments of 

 intellectual activity. 



During the evening, demonstrations were given in 

 the meetmg-room of the Societv bv Mr. Louis Brennan, 

 C.B., Dr. C. G. .Seligmann, ' and Dr. Hele Shaw, 

 F.R.S. Mr. Brennan explained the principle and 

 action of his mono-railway by means of a working 

 model. On his system each vehicle is provided with 

 automatic stability mechanism which endows it with 

 the power of maintaining its equilibrium upon a single 

 rail laid upon the ground, either while standing still 

 or travelling at any rate of speed, notwithstanding that 

 the centre of gravitv of the vehicle is above the rail, 

 and that wind pressure, centrifu.gal force, or the move- 

 ment of passengers or displacement of load may tend 

 to upset it. This mechanism consists of two gyro- 

 scopes, revolving in opposite directions, and their 

 precession, bv being accelerated, produces a restoring 

 couple at right angles to the rail. The same principle 



