458 



NATURE 



[June i, 191 i 



horizon than the typical Siwalik fauna. A number of new 

 types have recently been described by Mr. Guy Pilgrim. 



Frou a report contributed by Dr. F. A. Jentink to 

 No« a and 3 of vol. xxxiii. of Notes from the Leyden 

 Museum, it appears that the recent Dutch expedition to 

 tlie Snow Mountains of New Guinea did not obtain any- 

 thing very striking in the way of mammals. In fact, the 

 only novelties are three species of pouched mice of the 

 genus Phasgologale, one of which is the largest, and a 

 second the smallest, of the Papuan representatives of the 

 group. A lower jaw of a poculiar rat, Anisomys indicator, 

 hitherto known only by a couple of specimens and charac- 

 terised by the extreme narrowness of the lower incisors, 

 was, however, obtained from the natives. 



Wb have been favoured with a copy of a pamphlet, by 

 Prof. Berthold Hatschek, of Vienna (published by W. 

 Engelmann, of Uipzig), entitled " Das Neue Zoologische 

 System." In this scheme, which is the last of several 

 already prepared by the same author, the animal kingdom 

 is divided into the two sections Protozoa and Mctazoa, and 

 the latter again subdivided into three main groups, 

 namely, Coelenterata (including sponges), Ecterocoelia, and 

 Enteroccelia, the last comprising Chsetognatha, Echino- 

 dermata, Brachiopoda, Enteropneusta, Tunicata, and 

 Vertebrata, while the second group embraces all other 

 metazoan invertebrates except coelenterates. The Coelen- 

 terata are regarded as the direct descendants of the 

 Protozoa ; but the chief novelty claimed for the scheme 

 is the independent derivation of the two main groups of 

 Coelosomata, that is to say, the Ecterocoelia and Entero- 

 ccelia, from distinct groups of Coelenterata. 



The May number of The Zoologist contains an account 

 of a new earthworm or treeworm recently discovered by 

 the Rev. Hilderic Friend. It is named Dendrobaena 

 merctensis, Friend, because it was found near the old 

 capital of Mercia. At first sight it resembles D. beddardi 

 and Bimastus eiseni, but it differs from these in the fact 

 that the girdle extends from the twenty-second to the 

 thirty-first segment. It is destitute of tubercula pubertatis. 

 In the same journal we have a continuation of the same 

 author's studies in the distribution of British annelids, in 

 which the county records are set forth alphabetically. 

 There are no records known to the author for Bedford, 

 Berkshire, or Cheshire, but we find Bucks credited with 

 eleven species of earthworm, Cambridge sixteen, the 

 Channel Islands and Cornwall twelve, Cumberland seven- 

 teen, and Derbyshire sixteen. The total number of known 

 British species has now been raised by Mr. Friend to 

 forty. 



In Heft 4 of the Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fUr Erdkunde 

 Dr. A. Grund describes the hydrographical results of the 

 first cruise of the steamship Najade, which has been 

 detailed by the Austrian Government for the oceanographic 

 investigation of the Adriatic by Austrian and Italian 

 specialists. Four sections were sounded from east to 

 west, while others were at the same time being executed 

 by the Italian surveying ship Ciclope. Temperature, 

 density, and salinity of the water were also studied, though 

 the " Bora" blowing down the gulf hindered the work at 

 times. 



In Erganzungsheft No. 4 of the Mitteihmgen aus den 

 Deutschen Schutzgebieten Dr. F. Jaeger gives the result 

 of a very thorough exploration carried out in 1906 and 

 1907 in the southern portion of the Eastern Rift Valley, to 

 the south-west of Kilimanjaro, and to the south-east of 

 Lake Victoria. As careful a survey was made of the 



NO. 2170, VOL. 86] 



region as time would atk>w, and accurate triangulation 

 was utilised to control the topographical work. A largo 

 collection of geological specimens was made, and these ar»' 

 described in the present memoir, but no general account) 

 of the structure of the district is given. The form of th« 

 ground traversed is indicated by form-lines on two map* 

 of large scale (i : 150,000), but is not described in the text. 

 A vast crater basin with many minor vents occupies the 

 northern portion near Lake Njarasa (Eyassi), and many 

 points rise to more than 3000 metres. The whole ar 

 is immature in its topography, the drainage lines being 

 short and steep, leading to the floors of the fault valley* 

 in which the lakes are situated. The southern portioo 

 shows more clearly a series of parallel fault-blocks strikii^ 

 N.E., with lakes or marshes occupying the low-lying f 

 ground between. The meteorological observations have 

 not been printed, but have been autographed and deposited >' 

 at various institutions in Germany. .'\s a study of earth 

 forms, the maps are highly instructive. 



The report of the Botanical Club of Canada for 1909, 

 issued by the secretary, Dr. A. H. Mackay, contains the 

 announcement that the club has been dissolved, and that 

 the work of collecting and tabulating phenological observa- 

 tions in the Dominion, formerly undertaken by the club, 

 has been transferred to the officials of the Meteorological 

 Service. 



A SHORT paper contributed by Dr. Wm. Trelease to the 

 Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis 

 (vol. xviii., No. 3) deals with the species of Agave culti- 

 vated during recent years in Mexico under the name of 

 " zapupe." Of the various forms for which numerous 

 local popular names exist, five different species, all new 

 to science, are delimited according to spine characters, and 

 these fall into three groups. They may be distinguished 

 as " azul," " Tepezintla," " ixtle," "cimarr6n," and 

 green zapupe, and are probably all referable to the section 

 Euagave ; as cultivated plants they rarely set capsules, and 

 appear to be freely bulbiferous after flowering. 



In the absence of definite criteria, the phylc^eny of the 

 algae provides scope for varying opinions and hypotheses. 

 Thus in the Biologisches Centralblatt (April 15) Mr. J. 

 Brunnthaler elaborates the view that the red algae are the 

 most primitive. A primary reason is supplied by the argu- 

 ment that in early times the earth was surrounded by a 

 dense vapour through which the sun penetrated with 

 difficulty, and therefore the conditions of diffused light 

 which prevailed were similar to those under which most 

 red algae now live. The origin of the group is referred to 

 primitive ancestors of the Flagellatae. Next in sequence 

 are placed the brown algae, derived partly from red forms 

 and partly from the Flagellatae, while the youngest line of 

 development is assigned to the green algae. 



The cold days of May were rather late in their occur- 

 rence this year, but were experienced towards the close of 

 the period shown by the average results for a series of 

 years. This year, May 19, 20, and 21 were the only really 

 cold days, the maximum temperature for the period at 

 Greenwich being 565°, and on May 20 the highest tempera- 

 ture was 52-3°. Last year the cold days in May fell fully 

 ten days earlier, and in 1909 a week earlier. A brisk 

 northerly wind was blowing this year, and an anticyclone 

 was situated in the Atlantic in close proximity to our 

 coasts. A change to warmer weather set in on May 2a» 

 when at Greenwich the shade temperature ranged from 

 35° in the early morning to 70° at midday. The summary 

 of the weather for the week ending May 20, issued by the 

 Meteorol<^ical Office, shows that the mean temperature 



