June 6, 1907] 



NA TURE 



139 



On Wednesday, May 29, under the presidency of the 

 N'ice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, two topics were 

 discussed ; first, the advisability of various educational 

 bodies recognising each other's certificates of admission 

 was generally agreed upon, and afterwards the question of 

 cooperation between the old boys' associations throughout 

 the Empire was discussed. Dr. Gow (Headmaster of West- 

 minster) spoke of the difficulties of organising permanent 

 associations of old boys of English public schools who go 

 to the colonies, while Mr. L. A. Adamson (Victoria 

 Secondary Schools' Association) made the following sug- 

 gestions : — (i) that it is desirable to form a unian of the 

 great boys' schools of the Empire; (2) that this will best 

 be done through their "old boys'" associations; (3) that 

 the League of the Empire be asked to act as the organising 

 centre. 



At the open meeting on May 27, Sir Philip Magnus 

 presided, and Sir Horace Plunkett gave an address on 

 agricultural education in which he traced the work that 

 had been going on in Ireland, and said that the problem 

 of rural life was to be solved mainly by education, general 

 and technical. During the discussion. Lord Monteagle 

 pointed out that the farmer should be taught to appreciate 

 technical instruction by practical demonstrations, and that 

 the interest of the children should be awakened by nature- 

 study. 



Lord Elgin took the chair at a similar meeting on 

 May 28, when the connection between elementary and 

 secondary schools was discussed. The chairman pointed 

 out that it was now the boast of Scotland that the path 

 was open from the parish school to the university, and 

 he thought that Scotland had done a great deal to bring 

 about what is required. Several representatives from the 

 colonies described in some detail the state of affairs in their 

 own countries. 



Meetings were arranged by the three standing sections 

 of the League and other sections which were constituted 

 for the occasion. The following is a list of sections with 

 their chairmen: — History, Prof. Bury; nature-study. Sir 

 John Cockburn, K.C.^LG. ; museums, Lieut. -Colonel 

 Plunkett ; universities. Sir .\rthur Rucker ; technical, Sir 

 Philip Magnus, M.P. : teaching of English, Prof. Saints- 

 bury ; training of teachers. Canon G. C. Bell. 



Such a large number of papers were read in the various 

 sections that it is impossible to summarise or even 

 enumerate them here. In the technical education section 

 many important aspects of the subject were dealt with in 

 a series of special papers, which included the questions of 

 training and research, both in this country and in the 

 colonies. 



The museums' section was chiefly occupied in passing 

 the following useful resolutions : — 



(i) " That the formation of school collections illustrative 

 of science or art is a valuable aid to education " (proposed 

 by Dr. R. F. Scharff). 



(2) " That when school collections are made to illustrate 

 natural history or other branches of knowledge, arrange- 

 ments for the exchange of such collections between various 

 parts of the Empire will assist the objects for which the 

 League is instituted " (proposed by Dr. Chalmers Mitchell). 



(3) " That teachers and others should discourage the 

 making of such coUeclicns as might tend to the extermin- 

 ation of rare plants or animals, and should assist in pre- 

 serving such objects by fostering a knowledge and love of 

 nature " (proposed by Sir Harry Johnston, G.C.M.G.). 



(4) " That this conference recognises the value of arrange- 

 ments for the circulation of museum objects, as organised 

 at ihe Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, 

 and at the Dublin Museum of Science and .'\rt, at Sheffield 

 Museum, and elsewhere, and warmly advocates an extension 

 and development of the system " (proposed by Prof. Kidd). 



(5) " That this conference recommends the organisation 

 of a permanent collection of objects specially interesting 

 and useful to those engaged in educational work, in con- 

 nection with one of the great museums in London. That 

 such a collection should include typical school museums 

 and the outlines of a local educational museum " (proposed 

 by Mr. John Maclaughlan). 



In the nature-study section the following resolutions were 

 carried . — 



(i) " As nature-study gives that wide knowledge of the 



NO. T962, VOL. 76] 



world and its products which is required throughout life, 

 it should be inculcated at all stages of sound general 

 education, and this section recommends its earnest 

 encouragement in the home, in the school, and in the out- 

 side world. Furthermore, this section trusts that the 

 education authorities of the Empire will endeavour to 

 extend and encourage knowledge self-gained from original 

 observations, as a vitalising factor in the progress to full 

 intellectual efficiency " (proposed by Mr. T. R. Ablett). 



(2) " That the supply of teachers acquainted with true 

 methods of nature-study being the greatest present require- 

 ment, special efforts be made to provide facilities for the 

 proper preparation for the work, of students and teachers 

 in training " (proposed by Miss Rees George). 



The museum section arranged exhibits consisting of a 

 large series of travelling cases from Dublin Museum, and 

 one of the cases illustrating the structure of birds now 

 being arranged in the Lawson Memorial Wing of Eton 

 College Museum. 



In connection with the nalure-study section were a 

 number of e.Khibits illustrating the main phases of nature- 

 study in this country, including the work of the Royal 

 Drawing Society. The hon. secretary of the section on 

 May 27 gave a lantern lecture entitled *' Illustrations of 

 Nature-study." 



A large series of photographs was sent by the Govern- 

 ment of New Zealand illustrating its educational work, 

 and a very large number of publishers and makers of 

 apparatus exhibited in the trade section. 



Air. S. H. Butcher, M.P., acted as chairman of ine 

 official conference, and Mrs. Ord Marshall as honorary 

 secretarv. 



THE BIOLOGY OF THE COLORADO 

 BEETLE AND ITS ALLIES.' 

 T~\K. TOWER, who is already well known as the author 

 "^ of a careful monograph on the development of colour 

 in insects, has set forth in this bulky volume the results 

 of his prolonged researches into the life-histories and 

 interrelations of a group of plant-feeding beetles, one 

 species of which is celebrated as a dreaded potato pest. 

 The work certainly bears ample witness to the patience 

 and ingenuity of this observer, who is one of that ever- 

 increasing school of zoologists holding the view that 

 further light can be thrown on the mysterious problem 

 of evolution mainly by observation of and experiments 

 on the living animal. 



The first chapter treats of the geographical distribution 

 of the genus Leptinotarsa ; southern Mexico is regarded 

 as the centre of origin of the group, whence it has spread 

 southwards to the Isthmus of Panama and northwards to 

 the United States. Much interesting information and 

 speculation on the dispersal of the Colorado beetle 

 L. dccemlineata is supplied. Spanish caravans and 

 wandering herds of bison are regarded as the agencies 

 whereby the hooked and spined seed-ppds of Solanum 

 rostratum, the characteristic food-plant of Leptinotarsa, 

 were transported from Mexico to Texas, Arizona, and the 

 eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains; the insects 

 followed in the track of their food-plant, and became 

 established in these areas. The westward advance of 

 civilisation in the middle of the nineteenth century brought 

 with it the cultivated potato, which proved a most accept- 

 able food to the beetles ; all obstacles to the eastward 

 extension of this destructive insect were now removed ; in 

 1S72 it had reached the Atlantic sea-board, and in less 

 than fifty vears it was generally distributed over the 

 United States and southern Canada. 



In chapter ii. the variation of colour patterns and struc- 

 tural characters is examined both qualitatively and quanti- 

 tativelv. The nature of the material not lending itself to 

 minutelv accurate measurements, the author has evolved 

 a highly complicated series of formulae which express 

 succinctly forms of coloration on different parts of the 

 body; these formulae are "seriated into classes," and the 

 percentage of individuals possessing given colour-formula? 



1 " An Investigation of EvfiUition in CHrysomelid Beetle* of the Genus 

 Leotinotarsa " By William Lawrence Tower. Pp. .\-(-3=o •• illustrated. 

 (Washington. DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1906.) 



