124 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
future it was necessary to train and employ the scientific 
worker. There were signs both here and ‘elsewhere that 
responsible ministers were recognising that skilled knowledge 
must play a larger part in the administration of public affairs.” 
Native Fauna.—This was another point touched upon, by 
Mr, Lucas in his address to the Linnwan Society. He said :— 
“ An acquaintance with the nature and habits of Australian 
mammals and birds might lead to a cessation of the. wanton 
distruction of many which were either commercially valuable 
or useful as destroyers of pests to the farmers and fruit- 
growers. In connection with all such matters science was the 
natural ally of the Government, and withoutit there could ‘ only 
be a blind groping in the regions of undefined possibilities.’ ” 
Cunicipm or tHE Wornp.—Mr. F. V. Theobald, M.A., has 
just issued, through the Trustees of the British Museum, 
another volume (vol. iv.) of his masterly work, ‘A Mono- 
graph of the Culicide of the World.” The new book consists 
of xix.-639 pages, and is illustrated by sixteen plates and’ 
297 figures in the text. All species that have been described 
since 1903 are included, together with others which are now 
made known to science for the first time. The author states in 
his preface that ‘‘ The number of specimens received since the 
appearance of the last volume has been about twelve thousand, 
and nearly half of these have not yet been examined. Al- 
though a large number are well-known species, there are 
apparently many new to science amongst them.” From this 
we may assume that a further large volume will hereafter be 
added to the four now constituting the work. Mr. Theobald 
draws attention to the questionable practice of Messrs. Dyar 
and Knab, two American naturalists, in making species out of 
larvee of which the adults are not known. Sooner or later the 
adults may be described, or the named. larvee may be fixed to 
the already described adults, and then we shall have the 
Culicide in the unsatisfactory position of having dual names. 
Surely the synonomy is bad enough already without this. 
Bapytonran Inscriptions.—The series of Babylonian inscrip- 
tions in the British Museum has been enriched by a number of 
tablets of unusual interest. One of the most notable additions 
to the collection is a large inscribed baked clay cone of about 
B.C. 2145, on which is an inscription in seven columns, com- 
memorating the rebuilding of the great wall which surrounded 
the city of Sippar, in Babylonia. There is also a long list of 
titles of the King of Babylon of that period, and his achieve- 
ments are described at length. This cone is said to be the 
largest example of the class now known. 
2-4.08 
