EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 489 



until they had acquired their present completely arboreal kind of life, 

 and, since there is a considerable probability that both types of these 

 animals were independently derived from some of the smaller Ground- 

 Sloths, it follows that on two separate occasions an alga has in- 

 dependently taken advantage of this suitable vacant situation, and 

 adapted itself to its new surroundings. This difficulty, like the one 

 connected with Sloths, having flourished before they acquired a lichen- 

 growth, may appear of little importance to those who are convinced of 

 the all-sufficiency of natural selection, but to others it may (if well- 

 founded) seem more serious." 



In the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal {August, 1901), 

 Miss Nelly Evans has contributed " Some Observations on the Life- 

 History of Culex fatigans, the Common Grey Mosquito of Lower 

 Bengal." The paper gives detailed evidence with regard to the female 

 of this species of Mosquito — (1) that it may live, in its adult or imago 

 stage, for nearly five weeks ; (2) that during its adult life it may feed 

 as many as five times ; and (3) that it does not feed indiscriminately, 

 but has a preference for the blood of the House- Sparrow, refusing 

 that of Java-Sparrows, Larks, Rails, and White Rats. All these facts, 

 but the last one in particular, are considered to favour the possibility 

 of the insect being a carrier of a definite blood-infection, and to support 

 the conclusions of Ross based upon experiments with this species of 

 Mosquito. 



We learn from Melbourne that it has been decided to form an 

 "Australasian Ornithologists' Union." The objects of the Society 

 are the advancement and popularization of the science of ornithology, 

 the protection of useful and ornamental avifauna, and the editing and 

 publication of a magazine or periodical to be called The Emu, or such 

 magazine or periodical as the Society may from time to time determine 

 upon. The President-Elect is Col. W. V. Legge, R.A., F.Z.S., &c., 

 and the Hon. Secretary, D. le Souef, C.M.Z.S., M.B.O.U., &c. 



We have now received Part I. of The Emu, a publication which will 

 prove a very important factor in a knowledge of Australasian ornithology. 

 It is well illustrated, and among its contributors are many well-known 

 names. 



In Mr. John Morley's panegyric on Gladstone, at the recent un- 

 veiling of that deceased statesman's statue at Manchester, is an inter- 

 esting statement of the mental platforms of Gladstone and Darwin. 



