210 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1102 



because for many years past there has occurred 

 a serious loss among the brook trout (and I 

 think also the rainbow trout) of Pine Creek, at 

 Long Pine, N"ebraska. They have floated down 

 stream dead, in large numbers, and stuffed 

 with live rose chafers. The theory to account 

 for this has been the same as stated by the 

 above writer, namely, mechanical, though no 

 real mechanical damage has been observed. I 

 have no doubt of the poisonous character of 

 the beetle, and add this note to extend the 

 knowledge of its effects on a very different 

 order of life. The chafers, it should be said, 

 feed on the willows, chiefly Salix fluviatilis, 

 that overhang the stream, sometimes stripping 

 them bare. J. M. Bates 



Bed Cloud, Nebraska, 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



British Antarctic {Terra Nova) Expedition, 

 1910. Zoology, Vol. I., No. 2, Natural His- 

 tory of the Adelie Penguin, by G. Murray 

 Levick, M:.D., E.]Sr. ; ISTo. 3, Cetacea, by D. G. 

 LiLLiE, M.A.; Vol. II., ISTo. 2, Oligochceta, by 

 H. A. Baylis, B.A. ; 'So. 3, Parasitic Worms, 

 by E. T. Leiper, D.Sc. and E. L. Atkinson, 

 M.D., E.N".; Ko. 4, Mollusca, Pt. 1, by 

 Edgar A. Smith, I.S.O.; ISTo. 5, Nemertinea, 

 by H. A. Baylis, B.A. ; British Museum Nat. 

 History, 1915, 4° with many plates and 

 text-figures. 



Notwithstanding financial stringency caused 

 by the war, and the absence of many of the 

 younger men of science in the hospital or the 

 trenches, British scientific institutions have 

 been able, as a rule, to continue publication 

 though in restricted measure. The various 

 papers based on material collected by the Terra 

 Nova expedition have been coming out sepa- 

 rately at intervals during 1915, without refer- 

 ence to the order in which they are intended 

 finally to be bound up. 



Dr. Levick's account of the habits of the 

 Adelie penguin, illustrated by twenty plates, 

 is most interesting and some of their proceed- 

 ings, especially their habit of unanimous 

 " drilling " in large masses like a regiment of 

 well-trained soldiers, are inexplicable on any 

 hypothesis. 



Lillie's account of the whales relates chiefly 

 to subantaretic species mostly observed at 

 whaling stations in New Zealand. He is dis- 

 posed to regard several of the species, espe- 

 cially the humpback (Megaptera nodosa Bon- 

 naterre), as identical with boreal species. 

 However the coloration and proportions as 

 figured differ markedly from the north Pacific 

 species (M. versahilis Cope) and the species of 

 Cyamus infesting them are distinct. He in- 

 dulges in some speculations in regard to what 

 the whalers call the " high-finned killer," indi- 

 viduals with a higher dorsal fin than the others 

 of the same school, but in the north Pacific 

 there is always at least one of these with every 

 school of killer whales and there is little doubt 

 that these individuals are the old parents of 

 the family group which forms the " school." 



Baylis describes a new species of Oligocheia 

 found in the gill-chamber of a land crab 

 (Geocarcinus lagostoma M. Edw.) collected at 

 S. Trinidad Island in the South Atlantic. 

 This is the second species known to inhabit 

 such a situs, and does not appear to have been 

 materially modified by its parasitic habit. 

 Two new Nemerteans are described from the 

 Antarctic Sea, a Baseodiscus and a Lineus, 

 and two known species of Amphiporus were 

 also obtained, while three other species were 

 obtained in New Zealand waters. 



The parasitic worms described by Leiper 

 were chiefly obtained from seals and fishes, the 

 birds proving almost free from parasites. A 

 free living Nematode was dredged in McMurdo 

 Sound in 250 fathoms. The species are well 

 illustrated and the paper concludes with a 

 summary of the species collected by previous 

 Antarctic expeditions. 



The Prosobranch, Scaphopod and Pelecypod 

 mollusca are described with his usual care by 

 Edgar A. Smith and illustrated by two excel- 

 lent plates. Fifty-eight species are enu- 

 merated from the Antarctic region of which 

 twelve are new. 



The expeditions of the Discovery and South- 

 ern Cross had previously obtained a large 

 proportion of the fauna of the region visited 

 by the Terra Nova. Nothing very striking ap- 

 pears among the novelties except one or two 



