390 



NATURE 



[May t8 



Socifty'.s Alu^kan Kxp«<litionK of ickh) and 1910 in the 

 Yakutal iiay, Prince VV'iilinm Sound, and low»*r Copper 

 Kivrr n-fjions. Th*» 191 1 <*xpedition will study briefly a 

 nuinlwr of regit>n» of glacirrs not prpviously invf-nti^ated 

 by the National (i<t>)<raphir Society, although partially 

 mapped by the Alaska Division of the L'.S, (jeoiogical 

 Survey, the Boundary Commissions, &c. Work will be 

 done on tht- present ice tongues and the results of glacia- 

 tion in the mountains and plateaus of parts of the interior 

 and some of the fiords of south-eastern Alaska, the former 

 having lighter niinfall and smaller ice tongues than the- 

 Yakutat Hny and Prince William Sound regions. 



To Naturwissenschaftliche Wochenschrifl of April 30 

 Prof. Branca communicates a popular notice of the dino- 

 saurian remains obtained from the Lower Cretaceous of 

 the Tendaguru .Mountains of German Kast Africa by the 

 recent expedition from Berlin. The most noteworthy 

 feature of these remains, so far as they have been 

 examined, appears to be their gigantic dimensions, which 

 largely exceed those of Diplodocus. The longest rib of 

 the latter measures, for instance, i-86 m., whereas some of 

 the African ribs are no fewer than 2-50 in. in length. 

 Again, the longest cervical vertebra of the former is 

 0-64 m., in contrast to which is one from Tendaguru— 

 possibly not thf biggest — measuring 2-10 m., while a 

 humerus of the African dinosaur is ai times as long as the 

 c-orresjKjnding bone of Diplodocus, measuring 2- 10 m. 

 (6 feet 10 inches) against 0-95 m. (3 feet i inch). It 

 should, however, be borne in mind, although this is not 

 mentioned by the author, that Diplodocus is not the 

 largest known reptile, its femur measuring 1-542 m., or 

 5 feet 1 3 inches, against 6 feet 2 inches in that of .\tlanto- 

 saurus. Still, as the femur is always a much longer bone 

 than the humerus, the advantage is largely on the side 

 of the African reptile. According to the author, the re- 

 mains previously obtained from East Africa by Dr. Fraas 

 were much larger than those of any other known dino- 

 saur, but these are completely eclipsed by the new speci- 

 mens. In addition to the dinosaurs, remains apparently 

 referable to pterodactyles have been obtained. Remains 

 have likewise been discovered in several other localities of 

 German East Africa. Prof. Branca adds some remarks in 

 regard to the pose and food of the sauropod dinosaurs, 

 observing that if these reptiles subsisted on a vegetable 

 diet, it is difficult to imagine how they obtained sufficient 

 nutriment. The same difficulty, it may be mentioned, has 

 occurred to another naturalist, Mr. J. Versluys, who has 

 suggested in the Zool. Jahrb., Abtheil. f. Sysiemdt., vol. 

 XX i\ iciio, that these reptiles fed on fishes. Prof. 



Biii >> exercised in his mind how the sauropods 



obtained .-iulVioient calcareous matter for their enormous 

 skeletons ; but it may be pointed out that the supply of 

 this substance would increase pari passu with the amount 

 of food consumed. In this connection, it may be noted 

 that The Scientific American of .April 8 contains an illus- 

 trated account of the life-sized restorations of dinosaurs 

 recently installed by Mr. Carl Hagenbeck in his Tiergarten 

 at Stpllingen, near Hamburg. 



Mk. L. I.. WoopRfFF has contributed to the Archiv fiir 

 Frotistenkundc (vol. xxi., 191 1) a remarkably interesting 

 account of the results which he has obtained in breeding 

 experiments with Paramcecium. Of late years there has 

 been a tendency amongst biologists to accept the view that 

 the multiplication of unicellular organisms by simple fission 

 cannot go on indefinitely, but loads ultimately to exhaustion 

 and even extinction of the family unless the failing vitality 

 be renewed by conjugation. According to Mr. Woodruff, 

 this only holds true when the orijniii-nis are exposed to a 



NO. 2168, VOL. 86] 



more or Im« ronatant environment. He finds ihm by 

 subjecting the Infuitoria to a »*aried environment (repre- 

 sented in this casie by the culture medium), they can be 

 made to keep on dividing indefmitcly in a perfectly normal 

 manner without conjugation or the use of artificial stimula- 

 tion. The culture on which this conclusion it based has 

 been kept under observation for nearly three and a half 

 years, during which time over two thousand L"-ni rations 

 of Paramoectum have been produced, giving a: 

 about one division every fifteen hours. 



In the March issue of The Sational Geographic Magatiw 

 Messrs. Collins and Doyle, of the U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture, describe a tour in southern Mexico under- 

 taken with the object of investigating the causes of t!i' 

 immunity of the crop in that region from the destructiv 

 cotton-boll weevil. The results are not quite conclusiv--. 

 but it appears that in some districts the practice of plant 

 ing the cotton crop only in alternate years is a successful 

 method of combating the weevil, and that in other plac s 

 the boll is found to be naturally protected against its 

 attacks by the abnormal growth of proliferating tissue, 01 

 in some cases that the aperture by which the weevil ent<r- 

 the boll was sealed up by the growth of the web of a 

 small jumping spider {Aysha minuta). 



An interesting article on the plant knowledge that pi— 

 vailed formerly among the Gosiute Indians is communi- 

 cated by Mr. R. V. Chamberlin in the Proceedings of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (February). 

 The tribe inhabited the desert region lying to the south- 

 west of the Great Salt Lake in the State of Utah, but 

 nevertheless made very extensive use of plant products for 

 food and medicine. Green vegetables were prepared from 

 the leaves of the composite Balsamorhiza sagHtata and 

 the umbellifer Cymopterus montanus. The tuberous roots 

 of Cartim Gairdneri were much esteemed, also the bulbs 

 of Calochortus Nuttalli. Seeds were gathered from Sali- 

 cornia herbacea, species of .^triplex and Chenopodium, 

 Sisymbrium canescens, various composites, Triglochin 

 maritimum and Typha latifolia ; while the " nuts " of 

 Pinus monophylla, formerly of necessitous importance, are 

 still collected in quantity. Pharmaceutical remedies were 

 prepared from the roots of Ferula multifida, Valcriaun 

 edulis and Spiraea caespitosa, and from tl: 

 Artemisia tridentata. 



The annual report for 19 10 issued by the dire 

 Rothamsted Experimental Station reflects to a gr» ;u 

 extent the unfavourable conditions that prevailed during 

 the summer. The yields of wheat, barley, and grass crops 

 were all low, but mangolds were good, and a second crop 

 of clover on one field was very large. A noticeable feature 

 on the barley plots was the value of phosphate manuring, 

 which becomes more marked in a wet and cold s-ason. 

 Striking evidence was obtained of the beneficial oiTi-cts 

 which result from preceding wheat with a leguminous 

 crop. A report by the director and Dr. E. J. Russell on 

 the soils in the south-east of England is being published 

 by the Board of .Agriculture, and a paper by Miss Brcnchley 

 dealing with the weeds prevalent in Rothamsted district is 

 announced. 



From the account of the gardens at Llanover, Mon- 

 mouthshire, contributed by Mr. G. Went to The Gardener's 

 Chronicle (May 6), it is evident that natural conditions and 

 careful management have combined to produce a magnifi- 

 cent collection of trees. Mention is made of some fine 

 specimens of Sequoia gigantea and a lofty tulip tree, all 

 exceeding a height of too feet, and of specimens of 

 .4/iarifhii; glandulosa, Abies Smithiana, and Pi' '^a 



