1 66 Notes and Comments. 



describes ' an absolutely effective system ' of dealing with the 

 matter, which may be interesting to our readers. Obtain a 

 quart of Toluol (CyHy) from the druggist, and pour a quantity 

 into each of three vessels, the size of which will depend upon 

 individual requirements. Put two or three specimens into 

 the first for twenty-four hours, then pass them on into the 

 second bath, and after a day there, pass them into the third. 

 ' Thus each has three full days of the cleaning process and 

 comes out of his bath spick and span and wonderfully re- 

 juvenated. No resetting is required as the bath does not in 

 the least relax the patient.' The vessels should be covered 

 with a piece of glass to prevent evaporation. 



THE PORTSMOUTH REPORT. 



For some years we have drawn attention to the delay in 

 the appearance of the reports of the meetings of the British 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, and we have 

 more than once suggested that it would be in the interests of 

 the advancement of science if the report of one meeting appeared 

 a little earlier than on the eve of the next. Seeing that the 

 addresses, reports of committees, abstracts of papers, the list 

 of members, and practically everything but the index is in 

 type at the time. of the meeting, nine or ten months for re- 

 paging, indexing, and binding, has seemed, to us, rather a long 

 while ; especially when it is borne in mind that the very value 

 of these reports on the state of science rests in their prompt 

 appearance. The matter has even been discussed at the 

 Association's meetings ; but we have generally been given to 

 understand that the earlier publication of the report would 

 interfere with the holidays of the staff. Anyway, holidays or 

 no holidays, we received the 191 1 Report on April 26th, 1912, 

 which is certainly a record in recent years, and we should like 

 to congratulate the new secretary, Mr. O. J. R. Howarth, on 

 the prompt appearance of this volume. We shall still hope 

 that it may be possible some day to receive the report in the 

 same year as that in which a meeting has been held. 



THE HORNSEA EXPERIMENT. 



It is with pecuhar pleasure that we print Mr. H. B. Booth's 

 account of the success of the Bearded Reedling experiment at 

 Hornsea. This beautiful bird, hitherto almost extinct in 

 Britain, cannot possibly have any ill effect upon the fauna 

 or flora of the district ; and the appearance of numbers of these 

 birds can only be an added charm to the mere, which is already 

 a veritable paradise to the naturalist. It may be satisfactory 

 to Yorkshire naturalists to know that the suggestion originated 

 at a meeting of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union at Hornsea 



Naturalist, 



