Evening star., 1935-05-07
STARS. MEN AND ATOMS
,book of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY

end of his tail. He never has been
near it since.
If the present efforts 10 produce
DR.. Dyer, no small part of the credit
must 60 to this rat. Only because Of
him has it been possible for them to
work with impunity.
The Walter Rathbone Bacon travel
ing fellowship Of the Smithsonian In
stitution has just been awarded to DR..
Richard E. Blackwelder. now engaged
in chronological work at the National
Museum, for an intensive study of the
staphylinid beetles of the West Indies
comprising one of the largest and
least known animal families on earth.
DR.. Blackwelder will make an inten-
sive search for specimens in West In
dian ant hills. Several species are
commensal with ants and, because of
this way of life, have developed Gu
rious forms. Some of them seem to be
kept by the ants as domestic animals"
They are housed, protected and fed by
their hosts because of the body secre-
ton. which is a favorite ant food.
Some, on the other hand, seem to live
with the ants entirely for the purpose
of feeding on them and on their
young. Even these are tolerated by
the hosts. who apparently have no
realization Of how they are being vic
timiZed.
Aside from their ant hill habitats.
these beetles are numerous in fungus
deposits and in decaying vegetable
matter. They remain hidden much
OF the time, so that very little in
formation is available on their habits
and life histories. They are found
over most of the world. Large COL
lections have been made in Europe
and the United States. The West
Indies constitute largely unexplored
territory, so far as these beetles are
concerned. and it is probable many
new species will be identified from DR..
Blackwelder's collections.
These creatures are distinguished
from other families Of beetles by their
short wing covers. One reason for
the neglect in the past has been that
they seldom come in contact or con-
flict with man. A few are classified
as pests and few as beneficial insects
but, by and large, they 60 their own
way.
There is an enormous increase in
the electrical conductivity of the air
four or five miles above the earth's
surface, It has been determined by
balloon tests of an apparatus invented
by o. H. Gish, assistant director of
the terrestrial magnetism laboratory
of the Carnegie Institution Of Wash
ington.
At $4,000 feet, it was found in
recent ascent from Scott Field, St.
Louis. the conductivity for positive
electricity was % times as great as
at the earth,s surface and for mega
tive electricity Is per cent greater
still. The electrical conductivity of
the air Is due to the presence OF
ions-molecules of atmosphere that
have become electrically charged. The
number increases with altitude, due
to the efforts of ultra violet rays from
the sun. The apparatus devised by
Mr.. Gish consists of a tube about
foot in diameter mounted in the
basket of the balloon. Air is forced
through this tube by an electric fan.
BY means of an ingenious device, an
automatic record of the number of
ions passing through the tube is OBJ
tanned upon roll of paper rotated
by clock work.
This new instrument will be one OF
those carried on the National Geo.
graphic Society stratosphere flight
this Summer, when 1t is hoped that
an altitude of approximately $4,000
feet will be reached. knowledge Of
the electrical transmission of the up
per atmosphere is Of importance in
radio broadcaSting.