SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



85 



strongly marked and wide, whilst two retained by 

 Mr. Welch had " a white fringe to the band " on 

 the lower side. These I have not seen. 



In two bands, the form 10300 is scarce ; I have 

 only found it previously on Sussex Downs, near 

 Brighton. 02300 is also scarce, and I have taken 

 it twice only in the same Sussex locality. 00305 

 is likewise scarce, though I have found it in 

 Sussex, North Kent and Lincolnshire. 



Of the three-banded forms, the one specimen of 

 12300 found in the present batch is the only one I 

 have seen, and is believed to be very rare. 10305 

 is uncommon, as are also 02305 and 02340; but 

 00345 is by no means so, as it occurs in most 

 localities. 



The three four-banded forms are of frequent 

 occurrence, and the five-banded constitutes nearly 

 a third of the whole number. All colours present 

 were about in proportion in the latter band form. 



Two bands in one = oo(34)o is rare; I have not 

 before met with it. This Co. Down example is 

 adult, and is distinctly marked. One of the two 

 bands is slightly longer than the other, and where 

 they overlap along the periphery, the colour is 

 darker. 



Of three bands in two, 1(23)00 and 0(23)40 are 

 very rare. I had not met with either previously. 

 Unfortunately they and the other variety (12300) 

 were only about two-thirds grown, but I am trying 

 to bring them to maturity in captivity ; though 

 from long confinement before they reached me, 

 they are far from vigorous. The other, 003(45) 

 is also new to my experience. I have not seen the 

 example, which is among those retained by Mr. 

 Welch. 



There was only one each, pink and yellow, of 

 the broad-banded five in one (12345), which were 

 rather dark specimens. 



As in the last Co. Down lot above referred to, 

 the form common in England (12)3(45) is remark- 

 able for its narrow escape of absence, there being 

 only two specimens in pink and one in yellow. 



The form (123)45 is evidently more frequent in 

 Ireland than in England. This I referred to in 

 the May notes as rare here ; I would modify that 

 word by saying "infrequent" in England, as I 

 have, since writing, carefully referred to all my 

 older notes. 



The two examples of five bands in four are often 

 found in many localities. 



I have to thank Mrs. Robert Russell, through 

 Mr. Welch, for kindly giving me the opportunity 

 of examining so large a number of representative 

 specimens. I needed only about a dozen from 

 them for my own collection ; so placed the remain- 

 ing living ones, over 700 in number, to form a 

 colony on the bank of a new road near Wembly 

 Park Station, in Middlesex, where the species did 

 not previously occur. 



NOTICES BY JOHN T. CARRINGTON. 



Note.—/;! consequence o) the great variety in sizes of books 

 now published, the old descriptions, founded on the folding 

 of the paper on which they are printed, will not in future 

 he followed in these pages. In its stead their size, including 

 binding, will be given in inches, the greater being the length 

 and the lesser the breadth, unless otherwise specified. — Ed. 

 Science-Gossip. 



Essays on Museums, and other Subjects connected 

 with Natural History. By Sir William Henry 

 Flower, K.C.B., D.C.L., D.Sc, LL.D., Ph.D., 

 F.R.S., F.R.C.S., P.Z.S., etc. pp. XV.-394, 

 9J in. x 6 in., with illustrations. (London and 

 New York : Macmillan and Co., 1898.) 12s. net. 



There is a peculiar interest in taking up this 

 book at the present moment, when its author has 

 voluntarily ceased his active association as its 

 director with the finest natural history museum 

 in the world. Though the fiend of imperfect 

 health has clutched him, it must be a satisfaction 

 to feel that it has fortunately left him time to put in 

 order the magnificent institution at Cromwell Road. 

 The portion of the book before us devoted to con- 

 sideration of natural history museums is contained 

 in seven contributions to the subject, founded 

 either on addresses or otherwise, which, like 

 the whole of the other chapters, have been 

 edited and collected together. Wherever we 

 dip into its pages we find the influence of its 

 author, ever courteous, kindly, and teeming with 

 information. Best of all, there runs through it a 

 valuable substratum of common-sense, and the 

 faculty of unobtrusively asserting its application. 

 This latter quality above all others has probably 

 accounted for Sir William's great success as an 

 administrator, often under difficult and delicate 

 conditions. The first essay is on Museum Organiz- 

 ation, and is founded on a presidential address to 

 the British Association at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 

 1889. The second is on Modern Museums, a like 

 address at London, in 1893, t0 'he Museums 

 Association. Then follow other essays on Local 

 Museums, School Museums, Boys' Museums, the 

 Booth Museum at Brighton, and on the" Museum 

 of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 

 some time under the author's direction. The rest 

 of the essays, in all two dozen in number, are 

 devoted to general biology, anthropology and 

 biographical sketches. This book is one which 

 should be in every borough library where the 

 Libraries and Museums Act is in force, and the first 

 readers should be the members of the museum 

 committees, the type of men referred to by Sir 

 William, who offer ^50 per annum for a curator 

 with scientific attainments. Then the death blow 

 to the old system of congregating anything that is 

 curious into a general chaos, will indeed be given ; 

 for the system still lingers in places where one 

 would little expect to find such "amuseums." 

 For the general reader most of the essays will be 

 a source of delight as well as instruction. No- 

 where do we find the cynic, though everywhere 

 the kindly Professor Flower of old, always ready 

 to assist the young or older naturalists. 



