October 15, 1908] 



NA TURE 



607 



\'ice-Chancellor's address, which faithfully reflected the 

 (ipiiiion of the great majority of resident graduates of 

 the L'niversity, was one of the most satisfactory fea- 

 tures of the day's proceedings. Nor was evidence 

 lacking that where high ideals and earnest effort are 

 present material assistance is soon forthcoming. The 

 pathological department was largely built and 

 equipped by private generosity, and the Drapers' 

 Company, to whom the University is already indebted 

 for a beautiful and commodious building for housing 

 the Radcliffe library of scientific works, has under- 

 taken to defray the expense of a new electrical labora- 

 tory for the use of the U'ykeham professor of physics. 

 .All well-wishers of Oxford may join in congratu- 

 lating her on what she has already achieved, and not 

 less on the abundant promise of future achievement. 



MEASUREMENTS OF THE CHINESE. 



■\ 1 7 E have received from Mr. A. H. Crook, Queen's 

 • College, Hong Kong, average measurements 

 of various dimensions of Chinese boys and youths 

 between the ages of ten and twenty-four years, the 

 most important of which we give below. The British 

 -Association averages for English boys of the same 

 age, so far as they are available, are printed beneath 

 the corresponding Chinese measurements. Mr. 

 Crook points out an interesting difference in the 

 growth curves of weight and height of the two races. 



MOSQUITOES AND PEAT. 



npHE likes and dislikes of mosquitoes are so multi- 

 •*• farious that one may never be surprised at any- 

 thing in their bionomics. Some prefer to live in their 

 larval stages at the edge of weedy pools and rivers, 

 some in clear pools, others in such artificial collec- 

 tions of water as are to be found in old s.irdine tins, 

 calabashes, cisterns, rain-water barrels, and tanks on 

 board steamers, even the liquid in the pitcher plants 

 forms a breeding ground, and yet others occur in the 

 water held up in cut and insect-damaged bamboos. 

 Each species seems to have its own particular place 

 to live. 



A recent letter in the Times refers to the absence of 

 mosquitoes in swamps and marshes with peat. The 

 writer, " Many Lands," says : — " Given marshy lands 

 and no peat mosquitoes abound, given marshy land 

 and peat there are none." This may be true where 

 the writer has been, and in many other places, but it 

 is not a universal rule. It must certainlv depend on 

 what species the mosquitoes are, for we have found 

 such as Anopheles nigripes, Staeg., and Anopheles 

 hifurcntiis, L,inn., breeding in the water of peat 

 cuttings in Wales and Somerset, and on the 

 far-famed Wicken Fen numbers of Ciilex cantans, 

 Meigen, in the waters there. Mosquitoes are 

 often very abundant in the fens, even where 

 the peat is dug. Besides these, we have found 

 Anoplicles inacnlipcnnis, Meig., and Theohaldia annii- 



Ages 

 No. 



Chinese 

 EnMish 



Chinese 

 English 



Chinese 

 English 



Chinese 

 Chinese 

 Chinese 

 Chinese 



Measurements of Chinese Bovs. 



10 I II I 12 I 13 I 14 I 15 I 16 I 17 I iS 1 ig I 20 

 3 I 6 I 15 I 27 I 55 I 95 I 133 I 112 I 98 1 6^ 1 34 



Weisht. 



22 23 



3 I 3 



... I 64 '2 I 66 '2 I 73-6 I 7S7 I 9o'9 I 97-6 I ior6 I io6 | 108-9 I 114-4 I 113-4 I 115-3 I 116-7 1 ioot 

 ... I 67-5 I 72-6 I 76-7 I 82-6 I 92 I 102-7 1 I "9 I ijO'g I I37'4 I I39'6 I i43'3 I I45'2 I 146-9 I I47'S 



Height. 

 ... I 54-1 I 54 I 56 I 59-6 I 62-2 I 62-9 I 63-5 I 64-2 I 64 I 65-7 ] 65-6 I 65 I 64-6 I 62-4, 

 ■•• I 51'** I 53'S I 55 I 56-9 I 59-3 ! 622 I 64-3 I 66-2 I 67 | 67-31 67-5 | 67-6 I 67-7 | 67-5. 



Cliest (Normal). 

 ... I 24-8 i 24-6 I 25-6 I 26 127-51 28-71 29 I 29-31 .30'i I 30-3 I 30'S I 3°'5 I 3i"3| 29-7 

 ... I 26-1 I 26-5 I 27-2 I 28 I 28-5 I 29-7 I 31-5 I 33-6 I 34-19 I 34'5 I 35 I 35'2 I 35 3 I 35'6 



Clicst (Expanded). 

 .. I 26 8 I 263 I 27 I 27-8 I 29-3 I 30-3 I 30-8 I 31-4 I 31-8 I 32-1 I 32-2 I 31-6 1 33-2 I 31-4 



Neck (Circumference). 

 ... I 10-3 I 10-4 I II |ii-2|ii-8| 12-2 I 12-5 1 >27 I 13 I 13'2 I i3'i I 13 I ■3'3 1 '2-9 



Wrist (Circumference). 

 -I 4-8 I 4-6 1 5 15 I 5-3 I 54 : 5^6 I 57 I 56 | 57 I 57 I 57 I 5-8 I 57 



Hips (Circunifcrence). 

 ... I 27-1 I 26 I 27 I 27-3 I 29-3 I 30-2 I 30-7 I 31-1 I 31-7 I 32 I 32 I 31-6 I 32-2 I 31-2 



From the figures it will be seen that Chinese boys, 

 though lighter in weight, are taller than English 

 boys up to the age of si.xteen. After that the stature 

 of the English boy increases much more rapidly than 

 that of the Chinese boy. Mr. Crook thinks that this 

 important difference is due to the fact that the Chinese 

 boy takes much less exercise than the English boy 

 after the critical age. It may be partly due to that, 

 but it is highly probable that the greater part of the 

 difference is racial. Mr. Crook remarks on the small 

 amount of chest expansion of the Chinese, but the 

 2 inches which he usually obtains is little, if anv, short 

 of English and French normals. Mr. Crook's measure- 

 ments are of considerable value, and it is much to be 

 desired that Englishmen residing among little-known 

 races should imitate his example. 



NO. 2033, VOL. 78] 



lata, Meig., in peaty water and near peat piles in 

 North Wales. In America Smith records that the 

 mosquito larvae are few where sphagnum swamps, 

 abound, and we may find that peat areas are similarly 

 not favourable to certain mosquitoes. Nothing definite 

 is know-n of this subject. It would not be waste of 

 time to try if a few blocks of peat thrown into a pool 

 or artificial collection of water would destroy the 

 larvs, but from what we have seen of at least five 

 of our twenty-two British Culicidce it seems doubtful 

 if it would do so. 



Towards the end of the letter in the Times the 

 writer says, " for of course mosquitoes cannot breed 

 in salt water." 



This statement is guile incorrect, for many do 

 so. Take Australia alone, and we find three species 



