Per cent of total food values
obtained from grain products

Grains are almost the cheapest source of energy among the various foods and as the need for cheapening the diet increases, greater reliance must be placed upon them for supplying the foundation of our nourishment. As the chart shows, however, grain products are conspicuously lacking in calcium. They are also as a rule deficient in vitamines so that grain products should be used with foods high in calcium and vitamines such as milk and vegetables. These three, supplying in the largest quantities all the main elements of a complete diet, when taken together form an excellent foundation which can be supplemented by the other foods

moderate muscular work, a mother, a boy of twelve and one of six and a girl of ten. The diet covers the six requirements usually considered and therefore all the other essentials.

The values for vitamines could not be included because the quantitative aspects of this problem have not yet been fully worked out for man. The need for the water soluble vitamines will be covered by an adequate diet of this character and the need for the fatsoluble vitamines is safeguarded by the milk.

It is easy to pick out from this table the food groups which furnish each of the food needs for the least money. In the lists below the cheapest foods are at the top in each list, the next cheapest second, etc. Calories Protein Calcium

Phosphorus Iron

cheese vegetables grains grains cheese vegetables milk meat fruit

meats

In the accompanying charts compare the height of each of the columns that stand for food values with the height of the cost column. Then it will be plain whether or not those foods furnish that food value cheaply. For instance, look at the chart for grain products: a glance will show that in these foods we buy protein, calories, phosphorus and iron cheaply but that grains are expensive sources of calcium. Compare the chart for milk with this: the values are reversed, as milk is a very cheap food for calcium but rather expensive for calories and protein and too expensive to be considered as a source of iron. Now look at the chart for vegetables: vegetables more or less reënforce the food values of milk. Indeed, in the Orient they are used in place of milk, which is scarce. Milk, grains, and vegetables supplement each other and make a satisfactory foundation diet which can be filled out by other foods.

F

OR the most part, papers in the Bulletin and Memoirs of this Museum are technical in both language and subject matter. Like other papers of the same character they are stones which have been carved for the great Science building and some of them, when viewed separately, may be of no more interest to the unprofessional man than an isolated building stone would be to one who was not an architect. The following brief notes indicate the general seting of these technical publications and point out interesting features of individual papers.

Researches on Invertebrates

One of the Bulletin articles 1 describes the anatomy of a leech which lives on the skin of the under side of the flippers of the Floridian green turtle, Chelonia mydas. Eight of the Bulletin articles and one Memoir deal with insects, highly specialized—both in structure and habits-members of the same grand division of the animal kingdom, the Invertebrata, to which leeches belong.

Mr. Olsen 2 reported on the leaf-hoppers which had been obtained from time to time by various expeditions and preserved for study. There are so many thousands of species of insects that no one man can be an authority on all of them; and this Museum has definitely connected with its scientific staff specialists in only three orders. As a result, the material obtained by expeditions cannot be even largely worked up shortly after an expedition returns, but the groups not immediately provided for must await the

1 MacCallum, W. G., and MacCallum, G. A. 1918. On the Anatomy of Ozobranchus branchiatus (Menzies). Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXXVIII, Art. 12, pp. 395-408, Pls. XXXIII to XXXVIII.

2 Chris E. Olsen. 1918. North American Cicadellidæ in the Collection of the American Museum of Natural History. Subfamily Cicadellinæ. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXXVIII, Art. 1, pp. 1–6.

call of some one actively engaged with the species in question. This was what happened with the leaf-hoppers. Mr. Olsen is an amateur entomologist who is an authority on these creatures, restricting his studies almost entirely to this one family. This paper is, furthermore, an illustration of the mutually helpful coöperation which exists between the American Museum and students and scholars outside of its scientific staff; the Museum stores up more material than its staff is able to study, but this material is eventually used by outside scientists and returned to the Museum properly classified and duly reported upon. It is of interest to note that seven of the nine entomological publications during 1918 were the result of such coöperation.

The department of invertebrate zoology has for some time been planning its field work so as to get material for a study of geographic distribution, with special reference to the problems of isolation and of faunal movements between North and South America. As a part of this work the Floridian insects have been carefully studied. The fifth of a series of reports on this part of the work, is by Messrs. Leng and Mutchler on the water beetles of Florida. It lists all the known species and gives distributional and biological notes, together with keys for the identification of certain species.

Mr. Wm. Beutenmüller, when connected with the American Museum, did much work toward the preparation of a monograph on moths of the genus Catocala, the moths whose front (upper) wings are usually colored and marked like bark but whose hind wings, covered when at rest, are often banded

Leng, Chas. W., and Mutchler, Andrew J. 1918. Insects of Florida. V. The Water Beetles. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXXVIII, Art. 3, pp. 73-116.

with bright colors. After the severance of his connection here, the manuscript and drawings were sent for editing to Dr. Wm. Barnes, a physician who owns the largest private collection of moths and butterflies in America and who employs several assistants to work on it. A Bulletin article and a superbly illustrated Memoir 2 are the result of this coöperation. The Bulletin article contains notes on the life histories of twentyeight species, the outcome of extensive breeding experiments carried on by Dr. Barnes and his assistant, Dr. J. McDunnough, during several seasons. For the most part the experiments deal with species of which the early stages were either partly or totally unknown. The "text" of the Memoir consists essentially of the extensive captions of the twenty-two plates, giving notes on synonymy, distribution, etc. The plates are the work of Mrs. Wm. Beutenmüller, together with several by Mr. S. Fred Prince. Seventeen of the plates are in color, showing a large number of larvæ and the adults of most of the American species wonderfully reproduced by the Heliotype Company.

Dr. E. P. Felt, New York State Entomologist and an authority on the small midges, many of which cause galls on plants, examined and reported upon 3 the type material in the American Museum belonging to the family Itonidida (formerly known as Ceeidomyidae). When an author describes a species that he believes has not been described before, the material which he has before him at the time and from which he writes his description is known as "type" material, and the author usually designates (he always should do so) a single specimen as "the type." Subsequent students refer to these types when revising the classification of a group. In this way Dr. Felt made some important changes in the nomenclature of the gall midges and drew up more complete technical descriptions than did the original author. Unfortunately, many authors keep

1 Barnes, Wm., and Me Dunnough, J. 1918. Life Histories of North American Species of the Genus Catocala. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXXVIII, Art. 5, pp. 147–77.

2 Barnes, Wm., and McDunnough, J. 1918. Illustrations of the North American Species of the Genus Catocala by Wm. Beutenmüller, with Additional Plates and Text. Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., III, N. S., Part 1, pp. 3-47, Pls. I-XXII.

3 Felt, E. P. 1918. Notes and Descriptions of Itonididæ in the Collection of the American Museum of Natural History. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXXVIII, Art. 6, pp. 179-82.

their types in private collections which are difficult of access and subject to all the dangers of storage in a private house and of possible lack of care when the owner's interest lags or he dies. The American Museum offers exceptional advantages as a repository of type material, being in a city which is a center of travel, and having not only fireproof cases in a fireproof building but also a system for the special care of types as distinguished from ordinary speci

mens.

The red-eyed fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster, formerly known as D. ampelophila) has been much used for a study of the laws of inheritance. Dr. A. H. Sturtevant, who has been very active in such work, is also a good student of classification and has written a paper 4 which furnishes keys for the identification of the relatives of this interesting creature as well as notes on their biology and distribution.

White ants, which are really not ants but are more nearly related to dragon flies, have most interesting habits. The paper 5 by Mr. Nathan Banks does not deal with these habits but will help students of termite habits to identify the species with which they are working. Several new species from the American tropies are described. The same remarks apply to Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell's paper on some bees from British Guiana.

Dr. J. Bequaert has published a very full account of the Vespida (social wasps and their relatives) of the Belgian Congo. It is based on the collection brought back by Messrs. Lang and Chapin. Keys to and complete descriptions of the species are given, together with copious notes on habits, distribution, etc. The author says of Synagris: "No other genus of solitary wasps offers such an amount of interesting ethological problems. Some of the species are still true to the

* Sturtevant, A. H. 1918. A Synopsis of the Nearctic Species of the Genus Drosophila (sensu lato). Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXXVIII, Art. 14, pp. 441-46.

5 Banks, Nathan. 1918. The Termites of Panama and British Guiana. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXXVIII, Art. 17, pp. 659-67, Pl. LI.

Cockerell, T. D. A. 1918. Bees from British Guiana. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXXVIII, Art. 20, pp. 685-90.

Bequaert, J. 1918. A Revision of the Vespida of the Belgian Congo Based on the Collection of the American Museum Congo Expedition, with a List of Ethiopian Diplopterous Wasps. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXXIX, Art. 1, pp. 1-384, Pls. I-VI and 267 text figures.