264 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX, No. 1263 



C. F. Curtis Riley^ who has been special 

 lecturer in animal behavior in the department 

 of forest zoology, at the New York State Col- 

 lege of Forestry, at Syracuse University, for 

 the past year and a half, has been appointed 

 assistant professor of forest zoology, in the 

 same institution. 



De. Luther C. Peter has been elected pro- 

 fessor of ophthalmology in the graduate school 

 of the University of Pennsylvania. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



AN APPEAL FROM BELGIUM 



The following letter has been received from 

 the Curator of the Entomological Section of 

 the Eoyal Museum of Natural History of 

 Belgium : 



[translation] 



Brussels, 11-1-1919. 

 Dear Sir. 



It is absolutely necessary that you write soma 

 notices in. the American seientrfle journals in 

 order to save the Selys Catalogue. I have lost 

 twenty subscriptions in Europe and I must retrieve 

 them in the United States. Financial aid from the 

 deSelys family is impossible for a long time. 

 Each new subscription will bring a little capital 

 to the reconstitution of this work which can be 

 brought to a termination with a little energy and 

 with the aid of all. The great institutions, li- 

 braries, etc., ought to put some of their pennies 

 into subscriptions. 



Here we have suffered much froon the slow and 

 inexorable hunger, from the nervous depression of 

 pur abominable slavery that no one can describe. 

 Our museum and our collections are saved, but I 

 have lost one of my two sons who was at the front, 

 a fine boy of 24 years, a captain of engineers. I 

 have lost a part of my small fortune and my 

 health, but more I fear that the sufferings from 

 hunger have compromised the future of my younger 

 son and of my grandchildren. 



The balance sheet is sad and I have little courage 

 to take it up. I would not, however, see the Cata- 

 logue, to which I have devoted myself for years, 

 founder. This is why I call for your aid. Write 

 to your entomological friends and sustain me. 

 Yours sorrowfully, 



G. Seveein. 



The Baron Edmond de Selys Longchamps 

 (1813-1900) was known as the chief authority 



on the taxonomy and geographical distribu- 

 tion of the Odonata. He formed an extensive 

 collection of these insects and of other " neur- 

 opteroids" from all parts of the world, and of 

 the vertebrates and some other groups of Eu- 

 rope. These collections were presented after 

 his death to the Brussels Musemn by his two 

 sons. 



The publication of the " Catalogue Syste- 

 matique et Descriptif des Collections Zool- 

 ogiques du Baron Edm. de Selys Longchamps," 

 " designed to realize the supreme desire of 

 their late possessor and at the same time to 

 serve science," was begun in 1906 under the 

 care of the two sons, M. Severin and a number 

 of zoologists, who imdertook, as specialists, the 

 preparation of certain parts thereof. 



It was planned to appear in 32 fascicules of 

 a varying number of pages, of large quarto 

 size, illustrated by text figures and soma 

 plates. The subscription price for the com- 

 plete work was fixed at 25 centimes (20 

 centimes for the fascicules on Orthoptera, 

 Lepidoptera and Vertebrata) per page of text, 

 2.75 francs per colored plate and 2 francs per 

 black and white plate, with an increase of 

 25 per cent, for subscription to separate parts 

 only. 



At the beginning of the war 21 fascicules 

 had appeared, treating of the Orthoptera, 

 EmbiidsB, Perlodides, Megaloptera, Trichop- 

 tera, Ascalaphidse, Libellulinae, Cordulinse, 

 ^schninse. Birds, Mammals, Amphibia and 

 Fishes, at a total price of 703.50 francs. The 

 eight fascicules on the Libellulinaa by Dr. F. 

 Ris, of Rheinau, Switzerland, constitute the 

 most extensive monograph on that subfamily 

 ever produced, and several other groups have 

 been dealt within a similar fashion. Several 

 fascicules are in such an advanced state of 

 preparation or of printing that they can be 

 issued in a short time. 



There are many reasons — scientific, human- 

 itarian, international, appreciative of the na- 

 tion which has suffered so fearfully — ^why the 

 Selysian catalogue should be carried to com- 

 pletion and it is to be hoped that readers of 

 this appeal will personally do all in their 



