May 26, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



835 



denced by a paper on an injurious Indian 

 scale-insect by Mr. Stebbing.* The scale-in- 

 sect is a very large one (10-18 mm. long) that 

 occurs in great numbers on sal-trees in India. 

 The Vedalia, V. guerini, is very voracious and 

 feeds, both as larva and adult, on the scale. 

 The latter, however, is so large that a beetle 

 may suck its fill without killing the scale, 

 which may feed or walk about while the 

 Vedalia is sucking out its juices. 



A MOST welcome addition to the small 

 amount of good literature on the early stages 

 of our beetles is the recent article by Messrs. 

 G. Dimmock and F. Knab. f It contains a 

 summary of the present knowledge of the 

 larval structure in this family; directions for 

 the rearing of the larvae, notes on the habits 

 of many species, detailed accounts of the early 

 instars of four species, and a bibliography at 

 the end. The four plates illustrate the larvae 

 and details of external anatomy. 



Dr. K. W. Verhoeff has issued another one 

 of his studies on insect morphology. J; It is 

 on the Embidae, and deals especially with the 

 structure of the thorax in this family. He 

 finds further evidence in favor of the com- 

 pound nature of the segments, and gives a 

 table of the number of segments (33) which 

 he traces in primitive insects. Systematic- 

 ally he would place the Embiidae in the order 

 Isoptera, dividing that order into two sub- 

 orders, the Termitina and the Adenopoda, a 

 new suborder for the Embidae. 



In volume 12, no. 1, of the Novitates 

 Zoologicce Hon. N. C. Rothschild has given 

 descriptions of sixteen new fleas of the genus 

 Ceratophyllus from North America, mostly 

 from western Canada. With them are four 



t ' On the Life History of a new Monophlebus 

 from India, with a Note on that of a Vedalia Pre- 

 daceous upon it,' Journ. Linn. Soc. London, Zool., 

 XXIX., pp. 142-161, 3 pis. 



* ' Early Stages of CarabidsE,' Bull. no. 1, 

 Springfield [Mass.] Museum of Natural History, 

 Dec, 1904, pp. 55, 4 pis. 



* ' Zur vergleichenden Morphologie und Sys- 

 tematik der Embiiden,' K. Leop.-Carol. Deutschen 

 Akad. Naturf.j Nova Acta, LXXXII., pp. 145- 

 205, 4 pis. 



plates illustrative of the sexual characters of 

 the species. 



Mr. W. F. Kirby, of the British Museum, 

 has added another volume to his series of 

 world-catalogues of insects. This time it is 

 the Orthoptera.* This volume treats of the 

 Forficulidae, Hemimeridae, Blattidae, Mantidae 

 and Phasmidae. Each species is numbered, 

 and the distribution is given on the margin 

 of the page. Although the specialist will 

 undoubtedly find errors and omissions, such 

 catalogues are the most valuable additions 

 that can be made to entomological literature. 



l^ATHAN Banks. 



MEN OF AFFAIRS IN EDUCATION. 

 Mr. Frank A. Vanderlip, ex-assistant secre- 

 tary of the Treasury, and now vice-president 

 of the National City Bank, addressed the 

 students of Girard College on May 20, on the 

 general subject of educational benefactions. 

 He is reported to have said: 



The professional educator is quite as likely to be- 

 come narrow and provincial as is any other special- 

 ist. The president of one of our great eastern 

 universities told me a few days ago that he had 

 been making an exhaustive examination of the 

 history of his institution, and he had discovered 

 that the great progressive steps which the univer- 

 sity had taken in 150 years had been against the 

 protest and the opposition of the faculty. The 

 trustees from time to time brought forward new 

 plans of organization, and broader ideas regard- 

 ing the curriculum. The faculty had in every 

 case voted adversely, and when the changes were 

 made, they were made only by the trustees taking 

 the responsibility upon themselves. Alexander 

 Hamilton, with his consummate wisdom, once 

 worked out a plan of reorganization for the uni- 

 versity, only to have it meet with the usual vote 

 of emphatic protest from the faculty, but final 

 adoption by the trustees. Now, in the light of 

 years of experience, these changes have been seen 

 to be wise in the main. The unavailing protests 

 of the learned men who made up the institution's 

 faculty are discovered sometimes to have been 

 based on narrow grounds lacking the impersonal 

 view and judgment that should have been brought 

 to bear upon the questions. 



* ' A Synonymic Catalogue of Orthoptera,' Vol. 

 I., Brit. Mus., London, 1904, pp. 501. 



