904 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 



esis of mimicry or the like. There are some 

 very quotable bits in the letters. In a letter 

 of April, 1868, Darwin writes: 



Many thanks for your Photograph, and I send 

 mine, but it is a hideous affair — merely a modi- 

 fied, hardly an improved, Gorilla. 



Mr. Trimen's first meeting, or rather first 

 seeing, of Darwin, as described by him in a 

 letter to Professor Poulton, is an interesting 

 reminder of the reality of the heresy of the 

 " Origin " in its first days. 



It was in the Insect Room of the Zoological 

 Department of the British Museum that I had 

 my first glimpse of the illustrious Darwin. 

 Towards the close of 1859, after my return from 

 the Cape, I spent much time in the Insect Room 

 identifying and comparing the insects collected 

 with those in the National Collection. One day 

 I was at work in the next compartment to that 

 in which Adam White sat, and heard some one 

 come in and a cheery, mellow voice say, " Good 

 morning, Mr. White; I'm afraid you won't speak 

 to me any more! " While I was conjecturing who 

 the visitor could be, I was electrified by hearing 

 White reply, in the most solemn and earnest way, 

 "Ah, Sir! if ye had only stopped with the 'Voyage 

 of the Beagle ' ! " There was a real lament in 

 his voice, pathetic to any one who knew how to 

 this kindly Scot, in his rigid orthodoxy and lim- 

 ited scientific view, the epoch-making " Origin," 

 then just published, was more than a stumbling 

 block — it was a grievous and painful lapse into 

 error of the most pernicious kind. Mr. Darwin 

 came almost directly into the compartment where 

 I was working, and White was most warmly 

 thanked by him for pointing out the insects he 

 wished to see. Though I was longing for White 

 to introduce me, I knew perfectly well that he 

 would not do so; and after Mr. Darwin's de- 

 parture White gave me many warnings against 

 being lured into acceptance of the dangerous doc- 

 trines so seductively set forth by this most emi- 

 nent but mistaken naturalist. 



A little while afterwards, on the same day, I 

 again saw Darwin in the Bird Galleries, where it 

 was, I think, G. R. Gray who was showing him 

 some mounted birds. A clerical friend with me, 

 also a naturalist, curiously enough echoed White's 

 warning by indicating Darwin as " the most dan- 

 gerous man in England." 



The most interesting of Professor Poulton's 

 personal contributions to his volume are two 



papers treating the special subject of his 

 studies, namely, the addresses on " The Value 

 of Color in the Struggle for Life " and 

 " Mimicry in the Butterflies of North Amer- 

 ica." One is a suggestive general treatment 

 of the use-of-color subject, the other a de- 

 tailed special consideration of a suggestive 

 set of illustrations of one phase of this sub- 

 ject. As an entomologist acquainted some- 

 what with the alleged mimicry case from the 

 Pacific Coast which to Professor Poulton 

 seems to be, if really proved, " one of the 

 most interesting and instructive examples of 

 mimicry in the world," viz., the resemblances 

 between Limenitis californica and L. lor- 

 quini, I can only say that much more evi- 

 dence than at present has been collated is 

 necessary before this case can receive general 

 acceptance. But this Professor Poulton 

 also recognizes fairly, so any present hesitancy 

 to see the pertinence of this example of mimi- 

 cry can not be misconstrued by its sponsor. 

 What is needed in this case is exactly stated 

 by Professor Poulton, viz., " extensive investi- 

 gations in America." 



V. L. K. 

 Stanford Univebsity, Cal. 



Illustrations of African Blood-Suching Flies 

 other than Mosquitoes and Tsetse Flies. 

 By Ernest Edward Austen, Assistant in 

 the Department of Zoology, British Museum 

 (Natural History), with colored figures by 

 Grace Edwards. London. 1909. Pp. 221, 

 13 colored plates. 



Repeated demonstration of the agency of 

 blood-sucking insects in the transmission o£ 

 certain diseases invests with the greatest 

 practical importance an accurate knowledge 

 of the genera and species of these forms. 

 Warfare against such diseases is now being 

 carried on with great vigor in Africa and the 

 volume under consideration has been prepared 

 with a view to aiding in this contest. 



In the preface the author mentions the plan 

 of a general monograph on the blood-sucking 

 insects which was originated by Sir E. Ray 

 Lankester, when director of the natural history 

 departments of the British Museum. Four 

 volumes on mosquitoes, by F. V. Theobald, 



