Miscellaneous Intelligence. 199 



monds from Cape Colony amounted to upwards of 2,000,000 carats 

 for the year, valued at £5,400,000 sterling. The Transvaal and 

 the Orange Free State also yielded large quantities, and some 

 stones were obtained from the Belgian Congo. In this country, 

 it is w T orth noting that prospecting in Arkansas has shown the 

 existence of two diamond-bearing pipes, but lack of capital hin- 

 dered development in 1911. The largest diamond found in the 

 year was 8^ carats ; another weighed 3|f- carats. 



11. College Zoology ; by Robert W. Hegner. Pp. xxiv, 

 733, with 553 illustrations. New York, 1912 (The Macmillan 

 Company). — This book is designed especially for students in 

 American colleges who require a general survey of the whole 

 animal kingdom in a single course of study. The type system is 

 followed, by selecting in each group the representative which is 

 the most familiar or of the most economic importance. More 

 attention is devoted to the functions of the organ systems of the 

 various groups than to strictly anatomical details. An introduc- 

 tion of 25 pages is followed by 375 pages of descriptions of 

 invertebrate animals (of w T hich ten phyla are recognized) and 

 about 300 pages of vertebrates. This seems a reasonable distri- 

 bution of the available space, for each group is adequately 

 treated. The illustrations are chosen mainly from well-known 

 works, and are quite satisfactory. The book is remarkably free 

 from errors and unessential details, and is eminently suitable for 

 courses in general or economic zoology. w. r. c. 



12. House-flies, and how they Spread Disease / by C. G.Hew- 

 itt. Pp. xii, 122. Cambridge, 1912 (The University Press). 

 New York (G, P. Putnam's Sons). — This little volume of the 

 Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature contains an excep- 

 tionally interesting account of the structure, habits, life history, 

 and economic importance of this common household pest. Med- 

 ical men and others are now beginning to realize the responsibility 

 of this agent in the transmission of some of the most dreaded of 

 human diseases. The general knowledge of the simple facts so 

 clearly presented and a wide application of the common sense 

 remedies proposed would materially increase the health and hap- 

 piness of the human race. w. r. c. 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia. Second Series, Volume XV. Published in Commemo- 

 ration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Founding of 

 the Academy, March 21, 1912. Pp. cxlii, 614 ; with 49 plates. 

 Philadelphia, 1912 (published by the Academy). — An occasion 

 so rare and notable in the history of American science as the cen- 

 tenary of the founding of the Academy at Philadelphia well 

 deserves to be commemorated by the handsome and massive vol- 

 ume recently issued. The sessions of the Academy, extending 

 from March 19 to 21, 1912, were attended by a large body of 



