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EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 



Prof. Theodore Gill has given us a real addition to the literature 

 of bionomical ichthyology in his memoir on " Parental Care among 

 Fresh- water Fishes " (from the Smithsonian Report for 1905). The 

 writer remarks that the species which manifest care for their young 

 are so numerous that in this publication he restricts himself to those 

 inhabiting fresh water. To the question — " How did the parental 

 instinct manifested originate ? " Professor Gill considers it must be 

 regarded as a development of an aptitude inherent in the fish itself; 

 and the attribute of parental care is regarded as an " outcome of 

 selfishness, or, if you will, self-love, a result of the sense of pro- 

 prietorship. The eggs are the fishes' own, and therefore they and the 

 resulting larvas are to be cared for as such." Much information is re- 

 produced from the publications of various societies, and from other 

 sources little consulted by other than specialists, and very many 

 illustrations are interspersed in the text. The memoir is well worthy 

 of separate binding, and thus securing a place for handy reference 

 among our other ichthyological volumes. 



We have received the first number of the ' Annals of Tropical 

 Medicine and Parasitology,' edited by Prof. Eonald Eoss, in collabora- 

 tion with other well-known authorities. This part is largely entomo- 

 logical in matter, for, as well known, a knowledge of insects is now a 

 most important factor in the study of many tropical diseases that 

 attack mankind. "Insects and other Arthropoda collected in the 

 Congo Free State" is the principal contribution, and is written by 

 Mr. Robert Newstead, the late J. Everett Dutton, and Mr. John L. 

 Todd. This paper must not only be consulted by the dipterous 

 specialist — for new species are described — but the notes and observa- 

 tions relating to very many other species possess an importance 

 far beyond what has hitherto been largely the entomological stand- 

 point. From the technical description and enumeration of species (to 

 which some of us must so largely devote our time), or the attractive 

 speculation as to the meaning of so much apparent insect simulation 

 (which claims the enthusiasm of other workers), it is a matter of the 



