March 30, 191 1] 



NATURE 



161 



cision. A great deal of work has been performed since 

 its initiation in 1905, despite the fact that the atmospheric 

 conditions in Canada were found to hamper the observa- 

 tions considerably. Very careful investigations of the 

 local, actual conditions have to precede the making of the 

 standard observations. Observmg towers — modifications 

 I that designed by Sergeant Beaton — have to be employed, 

 lud range in height from 47 to 102 feet; they consist of a 

 tripod upon which the theodolite is mounted, and a scaffold 

 insulating the observer's weight from the instrument. One 

 of these structures, 87 feet high, is illustrated on p. 160, 

 and Mr. Bigger reproduces several other photographs illus- 

 trating the method of its erection. The large amount of 

 ountry already surveyed, and under survey, is shown on 

 iie third large map accompanying the report. 



In conclusion, it may be stated that the report indicates 

 that astronomy and its allied sciences are being well looked 

 after in the Dominion with an organisation that many 

 workers in the British Isles might well envy, and that, 

 when completed, the Dominion Observatory will properly 

 take its place among the observatories of the world. 



W. E. ROLSTON. 



A CONSPECTUS OF SCIENCE. 

 T^HE annual report of the Board of Regents of the 

 -'■ Smithsonian Institution for the year ended June 30, 

 1909, has been received from Washington. The volume 

 contains the annual report of the secretary, giving an 

 account of the operations and condition of the institution 

 for the year ; a report of the executive committee exhibit- 

 ing the financial affairs of the institution ; the proceedings 

 (if the Board of Regents ; and a general appendix. As 

 in previous years, it is .the appendix which gives the 

 volume its unique value. It comprises a selection of 

 scientific and other memoirs of wide interest relating 

 chiefly to the year 1909. Many of these memoirs are 

 translated into English from the languages in which they 

 were written, and thus become much more widely avail- 

 able both in this country and America. 



We note among such contributions to the appendix Prof. 

 II. Poincar^'s address on the future of mathematics, 

 delivered at the International Congress of Mathematicians 

 in Rome in 1908; Commandant Paul Renard's contribution 

 (o the Revue des Deux Mondes for November i, 1909, on 

 what constitutes superiority in an airship ; M. L. Marchis' 

 article on the production of low temperatures and re- 

 frigeration, in the Revue gendrale des Sciences, March 15, 

 1909 ; M. A. de la Baume Pluvinel's paper on solar- 

 radiation researches by Jules C6sar Janssen, from the 

 Astrophysical Journal, September, 1908; Dr. Gaubert's 

 essay on the formation, growth, and habit of crystals, 

 which appeared in the Revue scientifique of January 15, 

 1909; M. Maurice Zimmermann's paper from the Annales 

 de Geographie, March 15, 1909, on the Antarctic land of 

 X'ictoria ; M. D. Damas' paper on the oceanography of 

 the sea of Greenland, from La Geographie, Paris, June 

 15, 1909 ; M. Romuald Minkiewicz's contribution to the 

 Revue gendrale des Sciences, February 15, 1909, on the 

 instinct of self-concealment and the choice of colours in 

 the Crustacea; and M. G. Marotel's paper on the relation 

 of mosquitoes, flics, ticks, fleas, and other arthropods to 

 pathology, from the Annales de la Socidtd d'Agriculture, 

 Sciences et Industrie de Lyon, 1906. 



The appendix also contains several important contribu- 

 tions from British men of science in the form of reprinted 

 addresses. The numerous plates contained in the volume 

 add greatly to its interest. 



INSECT AND FUNGOID PESTS. 

 TDROBuABLY the most important advances in agricultural 

 and horticultural practice in the present day are in 

 the direction of controlling insect and fungoid pests, 

 luonomic considerations generally compel the grower to 

 aim at large crops ; in consequence, losses caused by disease 

 may be very heavy. All the conditions of modern cultiva- 

 tion tend to favour the pests; the distribution of seeds 

 and of nursery stock from district to district facilitates 

 tile spread of spores and ova, whilst the dense pl.nitiiij^ 



NO. 2 161, VOL. 86] 



and the continuous cropping provide a succession 

 of host plants. Further, the high nitrogenous manuring 

 invariably practised as agriculture and horticulture be- 

 come more developed seems to increase the susceptibility 

 of the plant to attack. In all countries where agriculture 

 is progressing there is growing up an enormous literature 

 dealing with these pests. A few of the more recent publi- 

 cations only are referred to in this article, but the list does 

 not profess to be complete. Two general methods are in 

 use for combating the pests : natural enemies are 

 encouraged, and, if necessary, introduced into the country, 

 and poisons are applied sufficiently potent to kill the pest, 

 but not the infested plant. 



In output of literature the United States easily heads 

 the list. Under the direction of Dr. Howard, the Bureau 

 of Entomology of the Department of Agriculture has 

 accomplished an enormous amount of work of both scien- 

 tific and technical value. A recent bulletin by H. E. 

 4 Burke deals with the flat-headed borers (Agrilus), causing 

 damage to forest trees to the extent, it is estimated, of 

 100,000,000 dollars annually in the States alone. Methods 

 of treatment are now known, and much of the damage can 

 be prevented. The San Jos6 scale (Aspidiotus perniciosus) 

 is shown by A. L. Quaintance to yield to treatment with 

 petroleum or kerosene washes, or with lime and sulphur 

 washes. " Brown rot " (Sclerotinia fructigena) and the 

 plum curculio (Conotraclvelus nenuphar) are described by 

 W. M. Scott and A. L. Quaintance as causing great injury 

 to peaches and plums respectively, but they can be kept in 

 check by a lime-sulphur wash containing lead arsenate. 

 V. L. Wildermuth writes on the clover-root curculio 

 (Sitones hispidulus), which injures clover, although it is 

 probably not a common jjest. It is eaten by a number 

 of birds, and, in the larval stage, is attacked by a fungus. 

 W. M. Russell describes a cigar-case bearer {Coleophora 

 caryaefoliella) attacking pecari trees; it is not yet 

 abundant, and can probably be kept in check by lead 

 arsenate washes. H. O. Marsh deals with the common 

 Colorado ant {Formica cinereorufibarbis), which has fallen 

 under the ban because it protects the melon aphis. It is 

 said to be a common thing to see the ants busily engaged 

 in killing and carrying off the syrphid larvae which were 

 destroying the aphides. Adults of a lady-bird, Hippodamia 

 convergens, the nabid bug, Reduviolus ferus, and a species 

 of Chrysopa were also carried away by the ants. The 

 simplest method of extermination seemed to be watering 

 the nests with a weak solution of potassium cyanide. 



Not only at the Department of Agriculture, but also at 

 the colleges, are investigations undertaken, and a large 

 number of bulletins are issued. Many of these make no 

 claim to originality, and are mainly of interest to us as 

 showing how the American colleges try to educate the 

 farmers. These bulletins are always well illustrated, 

 pictures being given of typical infested plants and of the 

 pest in its various stages, so that recognition shall be easy. 

 Preventive and curative methods are described where 

 known, and farmers are told where they may apply for 

 further information. Admirable bulletins of this class are 

 sent out by the agricultural experiment stations of the 

 West Virginia University, the Purdue University, the 

 Colorado Agricultural College, and others. 



Turning to the British Dominions, good work is being 

 done in India, and is published in the Pusa Memoirs and 

 The Agricultural Journal of India. The Transvaal work 

 appears in The Transvaal Agricultural Journal. In a 

 recent issue of The Agricultural Journal of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, Messrs. Laws and Manning discuss the eradi- 

 cation of ticks on the veld. Of the three methods in 

 vogue, periodical dipping or spraying of the hosts, grass 

 burning, and the enclosing of definite areas for a sufficient 

 length of time to ensure all ticks dying off through the 

 absence of hosts, they consider the dipping or spraying the 

 best, but the other two are also effective. In another 

 article the ostrich wire-worm (Strongylus douglassii), a 

 worm found in the proventriculus of the ostrich, is 

 described ; the treatment commonly adopted is to give a 

 strong dose of carbolic acid, insufficient, of course, to kill 

 the bird. It is not considered, however, that this treat- 

 ment is satisfactory, and others are di-rnssid, liut nmv 

 can be dept-.ided upon as certain. 



The scir'iitific work of the cntoinoiogical staff of the 



