September 15, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



387 



on the recommendations of the commission. 

 In fact, it is understood that it was Mr. Red- 

 field's desire that congress should not take any 

 action. He wholly ignored, and wished con- 

 gress to ignore, the recommendations of the 

 commission named by the National Academy 

 of Sciences, the secretary of the Smithsonian" 

 Institution and the secretary of agriculture. 

 It would be proper for the National Academy 

 of Sciences, the official adviser of the govern- 

 ment on scientific matters, to ask the president 

 what action, if any, has been taken on the 

 recommendations of the board which it as- 

 sisted in naming; and if called upon again for 

 expert advice, the academy would do well to 

 inquire whether any attention would be paid 

 to its advice when given. 



The statement in The Scientific Monthly 

 article that E. Lester Jones " has proved to be 

 an efficient executive " was probably made 

 without intimate knowledge of the facts. It 

 is well known in the bureau of fisheries that 

 just the reverse was true, as was clearly shown 

 by the very extravagant and unbusiness-like 

 administration of Alaska fishery matters of 

 which Mr. Jones took entire charge. Two or 

 three illustrations may be given. It is under- 

 stood that the sending of supplies to the seal 

 islands under Mr. Jones's management cost 

 the government several thousand dollars more 

 than it had cost before, and yet the natives 

 suffered severely for want of food. 



A certain important scientific investigation 

 of the Alaska salmon, begun in 1910 and which 

 required at least six years to reach conclusive 

 results, was stopped in 1914, thus breaking the 

 continuity of the investigation, with the result 

 that the whole thing must be done over again 

 if the results are to be of any value. 



If these illustrations of inefficiency are not 

 enough, inquiry might be made regarding the 

 boat Roosevelt purchased by Mr. Jones for the 

 Alaska service. 



But if the appointment of a politician to the 

 head of a scientific bureau is justified because 

 the appointee proves to be a good executive, 

 then President McKinley's appointment of 

 Mr. Bowers as Commissioner of Fisheries is 

 fully justified, as Mr. Bowers proved to be an 

 excellent executive, who gave the bureau of 



fisheries a thoroughly business-like adminis- 

 tration, during which more real productive 

 scientific work was done than ever before by 

 the bureau. 



Barton Warren Evermann 



fireflies flashing in unison 



In Science of February 4, 1916, page 169, I 

 recorded for the first time an observation made 

 fifty years ago of a large number of fireflies 

 flashing in perfect unison. I have been on the 

 lookout ever since that time for a confirma- 

 tion of my observations, consulting every 

 book on entomology and watching the fireflies 

 ever since for the recurrence of this phenom- 

 enon without success. In Nature for December 

 9, 1915, is recorded a paper by W. G. Blair, 

 Esq., entitled "Luminous Insects" in which 

 reference is made to the remarkable synchron- 

 ism of the flashes in certain species of Euro- 

 pean fireflies. A somewhat extended extract is 

 given from Mr. Blair's address. A copy of 

 this paper was sent to my friend Professor 

 E. B. Poulton, of Oxford, and in return he has 

 sent me a proof sheet from a book he is editing 

 entitled " A Naturalist in Borneo " by R. 

 Shelford, who died a few years ago, a former 

 assistant of Professor Poulton. I am taking 

 the liberty of presenting an extract from this 

 advanced page: 



On the opposite bank was a small tree growing 

 close to the water's edge, which was covered with 

 thousands of fire-flies, small beetles of the family 

 Lampyridse; and I observed that the light 

 emitted by these little creatures pulsated in a 

 regular synchronous rhythm, so that at one mo- 

 ment the tree would be one blaze of light, whilst 

 at another the light would be dim and uncertain. 

 This concerted action of thousands of insects is 

 very remarkable and not easy of explanation. 

 Another instance of it was mentioned by Cox; 

 certain ants that are found very frequently pro- 

 ceeding in columns along the floor of the jungle, 

 when alarmed, knock their heads against the 

 leaves or dead sticks which they happen to be 

 traversing; every member of a community makes 

 the necessary movement at the same time, and as 

 the movements are rapid a distinct loud rattling 

 sound is heard. In this ease the action is prob- 

 ably a danger-signal, and we can understand — ■ 

 theoretically at any rate — how it was brought 



