April 20, 191 1] 



NATURE 



257 



instance with the family Lernaeopodidie. Special attention 

 has been directed to the development of certain members 

 of the family, the new facts being recorded in a summary 

 at the end of the paper, which is too long and too technical 

 for quotation in this place. 



In -No. 1785 of the serial just quoted, Mr. P. Bartsch 

 ■describes several new species of molluscs of the family 

 Vitrinellidze from the Pacific coast of North and Central 

 America, with illustrations of the shells. 



The cyclostomatous polyzoans of the same coast are 



-cussed by Miss A. Robertson in vol. vi., No. 12, of the 

 I niversity of California Zoological Publications, this com- 

 munication being the third of the series. In addition to 

 •T^ description of new species, the author directs special 



'.ntion to the ovicel, with particular reference to the 



vestigations of Dr. S. F. Harmer. 



A number of polyzoans ranging from the Ordovician to 

 the Cretaceous, and common to Europe and North 

 America, many of which have been included by previous 

 writers in Stomatopora, are referred by Mr. R. S. Bassler 

 in No. 1797 of the Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. to a new genus 

 under the name of Corynotrypha, for the distinctive 

 characters of which those interested in the subject must 

 consult the original paper. 



In the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 

 xxix. (B), No. 3, Mr. A. W. Stelfox gives an annotated 

 distributional list of the land and fresh-water molluscs 

 ' of Ireland. The author acknowledges his indebtedness to 

 Dr. Scharff in working out the fauna generally, and to 

 Mr. B. B. Woodward for the discrimination of the species 

 of Pisidium. Fourteen land and fifteen fresh-water species 

 inhabiting Great Britain have not yet been recorded from 

 Ireland, and since most of these belong to the central 

 European fauna, there is considerable probability that they 

 never reached the western island. On the other hand, a 

 Hygromia which apparently belongs to the Cornish out- 

 lier of the Lusitanian fauna may turn up on the east 



ast of Ireland, while search for Limax tenellus should 



made in the northern and north-western districts. 



The slugs of Natal form the subject of a paper, by Mr. 



\V. E. Collinge, published in the Annals of the Natal 



'luseum, vol. ii., part ii. These are referable to fifteen 



■ cies, arranged in six families, of which the Aperaida", 

 represented by the exclusively South African genus 



)'ra, is new. Of the five species of this remarkable 

 nus, which has hitherto been included in the Testa- 

 llidae, three are found in Natal. The genus is believed 

 the author to represent a very primitive type, such 

 resemblances as it shows to the Testacellidae being prob- 

 ably due to parallelism. It was originally described, in 

 1870, as Chlamydephorus, a name which clashes with the 

 mammalian Chlamydophorus. The author states that the 

 latter name was given by Agassiz in 1844, but it was 

 lily proposed in 1824 by Harlan, in the form of Chlamy- 

 orus, and this difference in the original may give rise 

 the question whether it really preoccupies Binney's 

 ilamydephorus. 



\'o. 5 of the fifth volume of The Philippine Journal of 



tence is devoted to a description, by Mr. L. E. Griffin, 



a new species of the protozoan genus Euplotes, for 



lich the name Eu. worcesteri is proposed. The type- 



cimen was found in 1909 in water brought to the 



lanila Laboratory from the neighbouring bay. The 



>rcies, of which exquisite illustrations are given in the 



ites accompanying the memoir, is very closely related 



■ En. vannus. 

 \ new generic type of crinoid, Thalassocrinus pontifer, 



from the Philippines is described by Mr. A. H. Clark in 

 No. 1793 of the Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. It is a stalked 



•: m referable to the family Hyocrinida?, with its nearest 



lationship, apparentlv, to Gephvrocrinus. 



R. L. 



A 



PAPERS ON SYSTEMATIC BOTANY, 

 \ iinportant feature in the revision prepared by Dr. 



C. R. Robinson of Philippine Urticacea?, is the dis- 

 ^sion of generic limits and relationships. A new genus, 

 latositematgides, is proposed for certain species previously 

 iirred to Elatostema or Pellionia, and another genus, 

 -trothalamus, allied to Maoutia. Under I.aporton. .-i 



genus of notoriety on account of its stinging hairs, it is 

 mentioned 'that the hairs are siliceous, and may contain 

 formic and acetic acids ; also that prompt relief is afforded 

 by ammonia or carbonate of soda. Many new species are 

 differentiated, notably nine for Laportea and twenty for 

 Elatostema. The first part only of the article appears in 

 the concluding number of the fifth botanical volume of The 

 Philippine Journal of Science. 



The second number of the current volume of The Kew 

 Bulletin contains the diagnoses of thirty new African 

 species, chiefly under the genera Protea, Sorocephalus, 

 Loranthus, and Erythrococca, a note by Mr. G. Massee on 

 a lilac disease, and an article on the beechwood industry 

 of the Chilterns by Mr. W. Dallimore. The lilac disease 

 caused by the hyphomycete, Helminthosporium syringae, 

 shows first as a brown stain on either side of the leaf ; 

 the stained area extends and darkens, and olive-brown 

 patches of fruit appear ; later on, spores are formed in great 

 abundance. Spraying with a solution of potassium sulphide 

 in an early stage serves to check the disease. Mr. Dalli- 

 more deals more particularly with the chair-making industry 

 centred in High Wycombe, and the brush-making industry 

 of Chesham. 



Recognising the difficulties of delineating the various 

 species of Castilla (Castilloa), Mr. H. F. Pittier designates 

 his careful and well-illustrated revision of the genus in the 

 Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 

 (vol. xiii., No. 7) a preliminary treatment, although his 

 conclusions are based largely upon experience in the field. 

 Ten species are distinguished, of which four from South 

 America are placed in a separate group, while the second 

 consists of Central American species, differing more or less 

 from Castilloa elastica. The practical object of the publica- 

 tion is to make known the diversity of species that may be 

 under cultivation as C. elastica. It is noted that C. 

 nicoyensis is a good latex producer, and that C. costaricana 

 is tapped by the native collectors. 



A catalogue of non-herbaceous phanerogams cultivated in 

 the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, published as vol. v.. 

 No. I, of the Records of the Botanical Survey of India, is 

 not a more list of species, but is designed to identify and 

 locate every tree or shrub growing there. For this 

 purpose the plan of the garden is divided into squares 

 distinguished by letters and figures, and in addition each 

 plant receives and is labelled with an individual number ; 

 thus one specimen of Schleichera trijuga is listed as O 10, 

 1641. At points corresponding to the intersection of lines 

 posts are inserted in the garden to locate the squares. 

 Further, a record of source and history is tabulated for 

 each individual plant to be registered in a filed system, and 

 special sheets have been designed for keeping note of seeds. 

 The present index part will be supplemented by a systematic 

 part furnishing the " stock account " of the garden. 



NO. 2164, VOL. 86] 



REPORTS ON GLACIOLOGY.^ 

 (i) CTU DENTS of glaciology owe a debt of gratitude to 

 •^ M. Rabot, because information on this subject is 

 scattered over a wide field and in unexpected places. To 

 collect that contained in the present number of the Revue 

 must have been a heavy task, and its value is increased 

 by a careful classification. The earlier sections deal with 

 matters such as precipitation, its form and relation to 

 altitude, the rate at which snow melts, avalanches and 

 their consequences, the formation of glaciers, their struc- 

 tures, their dates of movement, and their erosive effects, 

 in regard to which last diverse opinions are quoted. If 

 we can believe Prof. Hans Hess, a glacier deepens its bed 

 by I metre in from thirty to fifty years, or, in other words, 

 the erosive power of ice is at least ten times as great as 

 that of running water. Figures are cited to support this 

 conclusion, but a tolerable familiarity with glaciers and 

 their works, for at least that time, leads us to suspect 

 there is something wrong with the figures or the observa- 

 tions. 



1 (i) Revue de GUciologir. N.>. 3 (.ivril 190^^1'^' Janvier 1907). By 

 Charles Rabot (Mimoires de \\ Sociiti Fri^-ouriteoise des Sciences Natur- 

 files, vol. v., B.ind v.. Cdolonie rt Giog'-aphie). Pp. 3444-30 figures. 

 'Fribourij. .Suis'^e, iqcx).) Price 6 franc*. 



(2> Les Variations p^riodiqiies des Gl.-iciers. XV'"" Rapport, toog. R^digi 

 narPr. R. Hnlckncr et E. Muret. F.xtrait des Annales de Glaciologie, t. v. 

 Janvier igii. Pp. 177—202. (Berlin: Borntrager Friires, 1911.) 



