82 



NATURE 



[May 28 1908 



: It will be seen from this brief sketch that although 

 the difficult engineering problem of the distribution 

 of the pressure of the wind on large structures is not 

 solved, yet when the mvestigation on the lateral extent 

 of gusts which is now in progress is completed, the 

 only further information which the designer will need 

 is that of the maximum wind velocity which is likely 

 to obtain on the site of the proposed structure. 



T. E. Stanton. 



BRITISH MUSEUM GUIDE TO INSECTS.' 



THE publication of this work furnishes a delightful 

 companion to the charming and highly instruc- 

 tive series of insects exhibited in the gallery of the 

 Museum of Natural History. To the naturalist as 

 well as to the layman this exhibition of the bionomics 

 of the Insecta is a living expression of the incessant 



which 



terest from agricultural or horticultural points of view 

 have been chosen. 



The guide is embellished with a number of full-page 

 illustrations, in addition to the numerous figures in the 

 text. With one or two exceptions these have been 

 specially prepared from specimens in the museum, and 

 they help us to an understanding of the text which 

 renders them practically indispensable. In the classi- 

 fication of the Insecta, nine orders are represented in 

 the following sequence : — .Aptera, Orthoptera, Neu- 

 roptera. Trichoptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, 

 Diptera, Coleoptera, and Rhynchota. A diagram is 

 given showing the relationship which is believed to 

 exist between these groups, and representatives of a 

 great number of suborders and families are described. 

 Attention is directed to the fact that the guide refers 

 only to the small representative series of insects ex- 

 hibited in the public gallery; the main collection, 

 reserved for the purpose of study in the 

 basement of the institution, 

 contains 1,150,000 specimens, 

 and comprises about 155,000 

 named species, occupying 

 13,000 drawers and 602 store 

 boxes. This enormous col- 

 lection is always available for 

 study, and students at all 

 tiines receive every attention 

 and assistance at the hands 

 of those who are in charge 

 of the various departments. 



In revising this guide we 

 would suggest that reference 

 letters be given to Figs. 14 

 and TC) ; that the word tibia 

 be added to the diagram in 

 Fig. iS; and that the magni- 

 fication of Figs. 40, 57, 5S, 

 61, and 62 be indicated. 



Nests of species of Ischnogaster, nat. size. 



Photograptied from specimens in the Rrilish Mu.seuni (Natural 

 History). 



activity of those who are responsible for its display, 

 and although Mr. Charles O. Waterhouse informs us 

 that " considerable time must necessarily elapse before 

 the exhibited series of insects can be completed," and 

 that the guide must be looked upon as a provisional 

 one, yet in its present form it gives groups of properly 

 organised facts which cannot fail to instruct and 

 diffuse knowledge by making the study of these 

 animals clearly interesting and accessible to the 

 public. 



A legible plan of the gallery is given, and bold re- 

 ference numbers in the text will enable the visitor to 

 find with facility any group of insects in which he may 

 be specially interested. Where necessary models are 

 given to illustrate the metamorphoses of various in 

 sects, and where possible species likely to be of in- 



l "A Guide to the Kxhibited Series of Insects in the Zc^Iogical Dep.irt- 

 ment (Insect Section), British Museum (Natural History), London." Pp 59; 

 ..,:,i, <:. ;ii,., .„,:„.„ (Printed bv Order of the Trustees, igo8.) Price is. 



ath 62 illustrations. 

 NO. 201' 



VOL. 78] 



the Bay of Kiel " by 

 volumes of which form 



PROF. K. .4. MOBIUS. 

 pROF. KARL AUGUST 

 ^ MOBIUS, for many 

 vears director of the Zoo- 

 logical Museum in Berlin, 

 died on April 26 at the age 

 of eighty-three. He was a 

 notable naturalist, with a 

 broad and cheerful outlook, 

 greatly interested in the 

 habits of creatures, and en- 

 thusiastic over their beauty. 

 There are few zoologists who 

 do not know " The Fauna of 

 Mobius and Meyer, the two 

 a rich storehouse of observa- 

 tions on the bionomics of a shallow sea. Mobius was 

 probably the first to establish a salt-water aquarium 

 in Germany, and he helped to start the famous zoo- 

 logical garden at Hamburg. He had, indeed, a 

 strong practical sense, and made many useful sug- 

 gestions in connection with fisheries, oyster-culture, 

 and the harvest of the sea in general. 



Mobius was born in 1825 at Eilenburg, in the 

 Prussian province of Sa.xony ; he was trained as a 

 school teacher, but his enthusiasm and ambition were 

 roused by reading the works of Alexander von Hum- 

 boldt, and he went to Berlin, with a light purse, to 

 study natural history. By giving lessons to others 

 he was able to afford a university training, and he 

 sat at the feet of men like Ehrenberg and Johannes 

 Miiller. He became assistant to Lichtenstein, who 

 helped him in 1853 to a congenial teaching post in 



