12 |, THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
so deeply founded, that I -have always dreaded the curse, 
despite myself.”” In these days of bird-nesting boys, and 
indiscriminate shooting of our feathered friends in the-name 
of sport and commerce, the above is cheerful reading. Even 
some so-called naturalists are not blood-guiltless in this re- 
spect, for more than are absolutely necessary for science fall 
victims to the gun; and some even rob birds of more clutches, 
than is warranted or justifiable. The Wild Life Preservation 
. Society of New South Wales has seta established to correct 
this sort of thing. 
THE LATE Dr. W. BRODIEeBY the demise of Dr. Wm. 
Brodie, Canadian entomology has suffered a severe loss. 
The late doctor was a son of an old Canadi 
of those sturdy, hardworking, indefatigable men who have 
. done so much good work in the distant out-posts of our great 
Empire. Dr. Wm. Brodie went to Canada with his parents 
when quite a child. His father established himself as a 
farmer in the County of York, about 30 miles from Toronto, 
where he hewed out of the virgin forest a home for his family. 
From his earliest years Dr. Brodie exhibited an ardent love 
for Nature in all its aspects. His favourite study, however, 
_was entomology. Galls and their inmates had a special fas- 
._ cination for him, and he made large collections of these and 
many other forms of insect life. But, whilst he was a good» 
collector, he was also a good writer, and contributed exten- 
sively to the pages of The Canadian Entomologist, his 
papers on insect galls to that journal being of the highest 
scientific and economic importance. In 1903 he retired from 
the practice of dentistry, and took charge of the Biological 
Department of the Provincial Museum. He was 78 years 
of age at his death. 
_ Frms.—The best exterminating agent (says The 
Lancet) is a weak solution of formaldehyde in water, say 
two teaspoonfuls to the pint, and this experience has been 
confirmed by others. It would appear that flies are attracted 
by a weak solution of formaldehyde, which they drink. .Some 
die in the water, others get as far only as the immediate 
vicinity of the plate of water, but all ultimately succumb, 
and where they occur in large numbers hundreds may be 
swept from the floor. It is consoling. to.know. that by this 
method the flies-have died under a dose of a fluid which is 
fatal to disease organisms, a fluid also which is inoffensive 
and, for practical purposes, non-poisonous. The method at 
once provides a means of diminishing the scourge, and of 
securing to some extent, what is most desirable, the disin- 
fection of the slain. 
