20| 



NATURE 



[June 27, 1907 



As the result of an extensive correspondence with 

 inlomologists of various countries of Europe and America, 

 il has been decided to issue, in the course of this summer, 

 invitations for an International Congress of Entomology, 

 to meet in 1908, probably at Brussels. 'I"he purpose of 

 the congress is the promo'tion of the interests of entom- 

 '►'"f!y. -ind therefore of biology in general, bv furthering 

 cordial cooperation between the entomologists of different 

 countries, and by stimulating research and directing it 

 into channels where it may be most fruitful or where 

 special research is most needed. Questions of applied 

 entomology will likewise be dealt with in lectures and 

 discussions, the large experience of devotees to pure 

 entomology being applicable, with profit, to economic and 

 hygienic entomology. Entomologists arc cordially invited 

 lo advise and assist in the organisation of the congress. 

 All communications, until further notice, should be 

 addressed to Dr. K. Jordan. Zoological Museum, Tring 

 (Hens). 



The fifth annual meeting of the South African Associ- 

 ation fur the Advancement of Science will be held in Natal 

 on July 10-17 """xt under the presidency of Dr. James 

 Hyslop, D.S.O. The first part of the meeting, from 

 July 10 to July 13, will be held at Pietermaritzburg, and 

 the second part at Durban. The council of the association 

 has revised the arrangement of the sections. Section A, 

 the president of which this year is Mr. E. Nevill, com- 

 prises mathematics, physics, astronomy, meteorology, 

 geodesy, and geography. Sections B and C, including 

 chemistry, metallurgy, mineralogy and geology, engineer- 

 ing, mining, and architecture, will be presided over by 

 Mr. Calhcart W. Methven. The president of Section D, 

 Mr. H. Watkins Pitchford, will take the chair at meet- 

 ings concerned with botany, zoology, agriculture and 

 forestry, bacti riology, physiology, and hygiene. Mr. R. D. 

 Clark is ihe president of Sections E and F, before which 

 p.-ipers will be read on education, philology, psychology, 

 history, arch;eology, economics and statistics, sociology, 

 anthropology and ethnology. It will be remembered that, 

 in connection with the .South African medal and fund, the 

 council of the British Association adopted a resolution 

 " that, in accordance with the wishes of the subscribers, 

 the South African Medal Kund be vested in the names of 

 the trustees appointed by the South African A.ssociation 

 for the Advancement of Science; and that the dies for the 

 medal be transferred to the association, to which in its 

 corporate capacity the administration of the fund and the 

 award of the medal shall be and is hereby entrusted under 

 the conditions specified in the reporl of the medal com- 

 mittee." The council of the .South African Association 

 accepted with high appreciation the olTer made by the 

 British Association, and undertook the award of the medal 

 and fund in accordance with the terms of the conveyance. 

 The fund, amounting to I37()^, has been invested, and 

 rules for the award of the medal and fund are being framed 

 and will be dealt with at the forthcoming meeting. It is in- 

 tended that the first award shall be made at the 1908 meet- 

 ing of Ihe association. The assistant general secretaries are 

 Mr. E. Hope Jones for Cape Colony and Rhodesia, and 

 Mr. Fred Rowland for the Transvaal, Orange River 

 Colony and Natal. They may be addressed at P.O. Box 

 •497, Cape Town. 



The first part of a new serial, Uecords of the Canter- 

 bury Museum (N.Z.), is devoted to a list of New Zealand 

 fishes, by Mr. E. R. Waite. based on the one in the late 

 Captain Button's " Index Fauna Nov:e Zealandi.-v,"" but 

 containing references to the original descriptions. 



NO. 1965, VOL. 76] 



.\RrRLES on the fresh-water bryozoans of the country 

 and the plankton of the coast — the former by Dr. A. Oka 

 and the latter by Mr. K. Okamura — are included in the 

 latest issue (vol. vi., part li.) of Annotatioiies Zoologicae 

 Japonenses, 



No. 10 of the Indian Forest Bulletin is devoted lo an 

 account, by Mr. E. P. .Stebbing, of the ravages inflicted 

 by a longicorn beetle (liulocera rubus) on fig-trees in 

 Baluchistan. The beetles made their appearance two 

 years ago in a garden in the Duki district noted for the 

 size of its fig-trees, on which they have inflicted very 

 serious injuries. It is hoped, however, that by the use of 

 suitable remedies the plague will shortly be stayed. 



According to the annual report for the year 1906, the 

 Zoological Society of Philadelphia is in a rather unsatis- 

 factory financial condition, owing to the increased cost of 

 almost everything connected with the upkeep of Ihe 

 menagerie. The result is an account overdrawn by nearly 

 3000 dollars. Neither have animals been acquired so 

 rapidly as usual, very few new to the collection having 

 been added during the year. 



Despite the plelhora of popular ornithological literature, 

 there seems certainly room for a journal devoted lo the 

 purpose of recording recent additions to our knowledge 

 of the birds on the British list. This gap is to be sup- 

 plied by British Birds; an Illustrated Magazine devoted 

 to the Birds on the British List, of which the first (June) 

 number is now before us. Edited by Mr. H. F. VVitherby. 

 with the assistance of Mr. \V. P. Pycraft, the magazine is 

 to be published monthly by Witherby and Co. at the price 

 of one shilling. The frontispiece to the first part is an 

 e.xquisite photograph of an osprey descending on its nest, 

 the most important article in this issue being one in which 

 Mr. Howard Saunders enumerates the species added to the 

 British list since 1899. 



In the May number of the Quarterly Journal of Micro- 

 scopical Science Miss Georgina Sweet, of Melbourne, con- 

 tinues • her elaborate account of the anatomy of the 

 marsupial mole (:Vo/oryc/cs typhlops), dealing in this 

 instance with the structure of the skin, hair, and re- 

 productive organs. In examining the structure of the skin 

 of the head, certain curious modified groups of cells with 

 a more or less definite arrangement were detected, and 

 similar cells were also found to exist in a modified patch 

 of skin on the rump as well as in the region of the pouch. 

 .\lthough direct proof of the existence of nervous func- 

 tion is lacking, it .seems probable that these modified 

 cells represent some form of tactile sense-organ, which 

 would obviously be of very considerable use to a blind 

 burrowing creature like Notoryctes. It is unfortunate that 

 at present nothing is known with regard to the embryology 

 and development of this remarkable animal. 



To the first part of vol. xvi. of Anales Mus. Nat. Buenos 

 Aires Dr. F. Ameghino contributes four interesting plates 

 in which skeletons of the extinct Hippidium and 

 Machserodus (Smilodon) of Argentina are respectively con- 

 trasted with those of the modern horse and tiger. In its 

 huge skull and short limbs the extinct horse presents a 

 remarkable contrast to its existing representative. It may 

 be added that, through the kind offices of Dr. Ameghino, 

 plaster reproductions of the skeletons of the two extinct 

 species are now exhibited in the British Museum (Natural 

 History). In a second paper in the same issue the? author 

 records the exisltnce of what he regards as rudimentary 

 horns in certain members of the toxodont group. In one 

 instance (Trigodon) the rudiment takes the form of a low 



I 



