320 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
to be seared away. They were feasting riotously on the caddis. The 
pond was left dry for a week, and the larvee of the caddis-fly has dis- 
appeared like magic. Sparrows deserve the greatest share of credit for 
clearing this pest away; their success in opening the hard case which 
encloses the larva was amazing. Picking it up in their bills they 
struck the case time after time on the slate-lined sides of the pond 
until it was broken and they could swallow the grub. As this is the 
first year the larvee of the caddis-fly have been so abundant in the 
pond as to injure the water-plants, are we to attribute the cause to 
the absence of the Trout, which were formerly in the pond ?”— 
“LL. H.S.,” in Scotsman. 


OBITUARY. 
Proressor ALFRED GIARD. 
‘THE death is announced of one of the most eminent of French 
zoologists, M. Alfred Giard, professor at the Sorbonne, and member 
of the Académie des Sciences. He was born on August 8th, 1846, 
and died on the anniversary of his birth. He was educated at the 
Ecole Normale Supérieure, and was Professor of Natural History at 
the Institut Industriel of Northern France, 1873, and of Zoology at 
Lille, 1880; and Maitre de Conférences at the Ecole Normale, 1887; 
whilst the Chair of ‘Evolution des Etres organisés’ was created for 
him by the City of Paris. In 1896 he was elected President of the 
Entomological Society of France, and in 1900 was elected to the 
Académie des Sciences. He published several learned works, and 
contributed many papers to the ‘Bulletin Scientifique du Nord,’ of 
which he was the editor.” 
(We have taken this concise and accurate notice from the pages of 
the ‘Athenzeum,’ August 15th, 1908.) 
