407 
NEWS FROM THE MAGAZINES. 
Mr. H. J. Turner writes on ‘ Butterflies Drinking,’ in The Entomolo- 
gist’s Record for September. 
The Ivish Naturalist for October is almost entirely occupied by an 
account of the Flora of the Saltees, a group of islands off the south coast of 
county Wexford. 
In The Zoologist for September, Mr. J. C. Moulton writes on ‘ The 
first reliable account of the Orang-utan,’ and Mr. G. Bolam records Grey 
Lag Geese in Cumberland. 
In the Church Times for 19th September the Rev. J. C. V. Durell 
describes a night visit to Spurn. The journey was possible by the aid 
of the full moon. He says, ‘this was not by accident, but by careful 
arrangement’ ! 
In the Journal of Conchology for October, Mr. J. R. B. Masefield 
describes a scalariforme variety of Helix aspeyvsa in which the whorls were 
absolutely separated in the form of an elongated cornucopia. In conse- 
quence of the retractor muscles being atrophied or undeveloped, the animal 
was able to entirely leave the shell without apparent discomfort. 
After criticising ‘the Wesleyans’ for not ‘making themselves ac- 
quainted with well-known facts before they write,’ in the natural history 
section of their magazines, The New Nature Study for August states ‘ the 
upper chalk contains irregular hard, blackish or whitish nodules composed 
mainly of silica: this is flint.’ The chief characteristic of the upper chalk, 
in the North of England at any rate, is that it is flintless. 
The Museums Journal for August is principally occupied by a report 
of the Hull Conference of the Museums Association, and the President’s 
address. There is also a group of the members, taken on the Burton 
Constable excursion, and a life-iike portrait of the retiring president. 
The September number is largely occupied by a paper entitled ‘‘ The 
Showing of Museums and Art Galleries to the Blind,’ by Mr. J. A. C. 
Deas, of Sunderland. 
We know of the toad that hatches his wife’s eggs on his back, but now 
Professor Arthur Thomson tells us in Knowledge of a fish, discovered in a 
New Guinea river by the explorer Lorentz, which is a rival as regards its 
parental care. On the head of the male there grows a kind of bony loop, 
and to this in some way or other, though it is not known how, a wreath of 
eggs is attached. Each egg has a quantity of filaments, over a hundred 
in number, which unite into strings and form a cylindrical band. 
In The Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine for October, Mr. J. Edwards 
describes Bythinus puncticollis Denny = validus Aubé, and B. distinctus 
Chaudoir = securigey Denny nec Reich. He also points out that a By- 
thinus described and figured by Denny as Arcopagus glabricollis is appar- 
ently B. clavicornis. In the same journal Mr. K. G. Blair writes on 
Tribolium castaneum Herbst. = ferrugineum Auct. (nec. Fab.). and Mr. 
N.H. Joy points out that ‘ It is quite evident that under the name Xantho- 
linus ochvaceus Gyll., we have confounded two very distinct species.’ 
Part 6 of Volume 3 of ‘ Old Love Miscellany of Orkney, Shetland, 
Caithness and Sutherland’; issued by the Viking Society, contains many 
interesting notes of general interest, as well as a paper on ‘ Some Lost and 
Vanishing Birds of Fair Isle,’ by Mr. G. W. Stout. Another note records 
that the Sea Eagle has not nested in the Orkneys for many years, and as 
regards Shetland, no young have been reared for a long time, ‘and it is 
very doubtful if at the present moment there is a pair of Sea Eagles in 
Shetland.’ Naturalists may also find interest in endeavouring to identify 
some of the representations of animals on the ‘ Early Christian Monuments 
of Caithness,’ which are illustrated. 
1913 Nov. tr. 
