684 



NA rURE 



[October 29, 190b 



In the discussion on this paper several delegates toolt 

 part. Mr. W. M. A\'ebb, of the Selborne Society, gave 

 some particulars about a sanctuary in which liis society 

 was inttrfstcd. He also agfreed that private collecting, if 

 done at ail, should be started with the idea of benefiting 

 the many instead of the few. Mr. William Gray, of the 

 Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, spoke as to the destruc- 

 tion by collectors of the eggs of rare birds, which would 

 breed if they were not disturbed, and how last season 

 the club, through providing a watcher, had been successful 

 in the case of a previously much harried species. Mr. 

 J. Hopkinson mentioned that public bodies sometimes were 

 gross offenders in their demands for large numbers of 

 some rare plant from a local habitat, while the Rev. 

 Ashington BuUen spoke as to the scarcity or extinction in 

 certain haunts of species that were formerly plentiful. 

 Mr. Harold Wager thought that the local societies could 

 do much by encouraging a more scientific attitude towards 

 collecting and by inducing a study of the habits and life- 

 histories of the living organism in the field. 



The second meeting of the conference of delegates was 

 held on September 8, and was presided over, in the 

 absence of Prof. Miers, by Prof. Grenville A. J. Cole, 

 vice-chairman. At this meeting Prof. G. H. Carpenter 

 introduced the subject of detailed natural-history survcvs 

 of restricted areas, an important work suitable for local 

 societies. In his remarks he described the researches 

 lately carried out into the natural history of the island 

 of Lambay, off the coast of co. Dublin, and what was 

 being done at the present time on the North Bull, a 

 grass-covered sandbank in Dublin Bay, known to be less 

 than a century old. Prof. Carpenter urged the importance 

 of the study of such restricted areas as likely to help in 

 the solution of many geographical problems. Several 

 delegates having spoken, Mr. Frederick Long, of the 

 Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, directed atten- 

 tion to the fact that a few years ago Mr. Robert Gurnev 

 established a small laboratory on Sutton Broad, in Norfolk, 

 for the use of anyone wishing to prosecute research work 

 in that area. 



Mr. Henry Davey then re.ad his paper on the advisa- 

 bility of re-stocking haunts whence fauna and flora have 

 disappeared. His main contention was that in the case 

 of many of the rarer Lepidoptera, with which alone he 

 was thoroughly .imiliar, their disappearance or extinction 

 was not so much due to man, but to natural causes, the 

 reason of which in most cases had not yet been discovered. 

 He instanced the case of the large copper, which dis- 

 appeared in one locality through man, but in the other 

 from no such cause, although he mentioned that a great 

 fen-fire had been blamed. As for the growing rarity of 

 many species, he thought that much" destruction 'was 

 caused by the ease with which the present-dav collector 

 was able to get about, but, speaking of the large blue — 

 Lycaena arion — which had been killed -ff in most of its 

 localities, he said that while collectors had caused its 

 (xtinction at P.-irnweH Wold, its favourite habitat, it had 

 ;dso d'CT^-^pni-pH f'-o-^n another resort in Northamptonshire 

 to which the public had no access. Of this insect also he 

 mentioned Mr. Frohawk's discoverv in 1903, at its breeding 

 ground in Cornwall, of the caterpillars "living on thyme 

 growing on or near ant hills, into which the full-grown 

 larvfe descended so that the ants might remove a secre- 

 tion which seemed deleterious to their health. As to re- 

 stocking, he considered that it was of little value in the 

 present state of our knowledge. The swallow-tailed butter- 

 flv. which in England is now restricted to a small area 

 in the fens, from his observation on the Continent seemed 

 to flourish among or near wooded hills, and never in 

 Ihe flats. However, no success resulted from the attempt 

 to establish it on a large scale in the Peak of Derbvshire 

 and in Devonshire. 



Again, an insect which mav be far from rare, in certain 

 SDOts favours such a small aren that it mav be measured 

 bv yards, notablv a locality in Sussex, where the marbled 

 white is extremely common in a tract about eightv yards 

 sauare. Again, in the case of the clouded yellows, in 

 some years the two soecies mav be exceedingly" abundant ; 

 m the intermediate time not a specimen is 'to be seen.' 

 In such a case re-stocking would be of no use, while the 

 disnppearance of the insects h.is not been caused bv man. 

 NO. 20,^5, VOL. 78] 



Finally, Mr. Davey considered that, on the whole, the 

 experiment of re-stocking former haunts was worth the 

 attempt, although fiom what he had mentioned success 

 was not assured. Such work ought to be undertaken, 

 however, in a scientific spirit, and exact records should 

 be liept. It was also highly desirable that the re-stocking 

 should be tried in two places at the same time a few miles 

 apart, and that individuals should be brought from different 

 localities to avoid, so far as possible, the danger of in- 

 breeding. 



Prof. Carpenter during the discussion directed attention 

 to the fact that the species that tended to become extinct 

 were those of connnercial value, while Prof. Cole thought 

 that stocking localities with species that had not previously 

 lived there would nullify much of the work on their natural 

 distribution. Under the head of the introduction of 

 insects to localities where they had become extinct or 

 were becoming scarce, Mr. W. P. Stebbing directed atten- 

 tion to what was being done by Mr. Henry Preston, of 

 Grantham. He had collected a large number of the cater-' 

 pillars of the Peacock butterfly from clumps of nettles, 

 which were always destroyed by the farmers before the 

 insects were full grown, had kept them until they turned 

 into chrysalises, and then on emerging as perfect insects 

 had turned them loose in seemingly suitable spots. 



.\rising out of the previous papers, the Rev. J. O. 

 Bcvan brought forward the following resolution : — " That 

 this Conference of Delegates of Corresponding Societies 

 affirms the desirability of bringing under the notice of 

 local societies the necessity for preserving the fauna and 

 flora of their respective districts as against wanton de- 

 struction or careless and needless collecting." This was 

 seconded by Mrs. Hobson, and carried unanimously. 



\t the close of the meeting Mr. F. A. Bellamy (Ash- 

 molean Natural History Society of Oxfordshire), who had 

 had his notes printed as a paper for distribution to the 

 meeting, exhibited his method for the permanent record- 

 ing of natural history or other observations by means of 

 the card-catalogue system. In explaining the value to 

 workers of such a catalogue, he said that care was needed 

 when outlining such a scheme so that it would retain its 

 usefulness whatever the size. He also gave an estimate 

 of the cost of one unit (trav, cards, and cover) of the 

 catalogue. 



UMVEHSnV AMI EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



C.uiBRiDGE. — At the annual general meeting of the 

 Philosophical Society, held on October 26, Prof. Sedgwick 

 was elected president of the society. 



It is proposed to confer the degree of Master of Arts, 

 honoris causa, upon Prof. W. J. Pope, F.R.S., professor 

 of chemistry, and upon Mr. K. J. J. Mackenzie, lecturer 

 in agriculture. 



Mr. R. C. Punnett has been appointed demonstrator of 

 animal morphology for the year ending Michaelmas, igog, 

 and Mr. F. H. Potts demonstrator of comparative 

 anatomy. 



London. — Prof. E. A. Minchin will represent the Uni- 

 versity at the Darwin centenary celebration at Cambridge 

 next June. 



At the meeting of the Senate on October 21 the degree 

 of D.Sc. was granted to David Forsyth, of Guy's Hospital, 

 as an internal student, for a thesis entitled '" The Para- 

 thyroid Glands"; to Samuel J. M. Auld, of East London 

 College, as an internal student, for a thesis entitled " The 

 Hydrolysis of Amygdalin by Emulsin " ; to Henry Bassett, 

 an external student, for a thesis entitled " Contributions to 

 the Study of the Calcium Phosphates"; and the degree 

 of B.Sc. by research to Joseph Yates, Municipal Technical 

 School, Blackburn, an external student, for research work 

 in organic chemistry. 



.\ university course of eight lectures on " Some Problems 

 of General Physiology, more Particularly those Associated 

 with Muscle," was commenced by Dr. F. S. Locke, in the 

 physiology laboratory of the University, on October 20. 

 -V university course of three lectures by' Mr. R. Lyddeker, 

 F.R.S., on " The Living and Extinct Faunas of .Africa 

 and South America." commenced on October 28 at 

 University College. A university course of eight lectures 



