86 



NATURE 



[November i6, 191 i 



«ome years. Later in the address he referred to the com- 

 mittee appointed by the Board of Education to inquire into 

 the question of economy in building, and as to whether 

 buildings of a more temporary nature could not be brought 

 in(o use. Reinforced concrete came in for its share of the 

 discussion by the committee ; but the estimates of cost 

 varied largely, from 33 per c«»nt. less to 10 per cent, more 

 than for ordinary building. No difference of locality will 

 account for those variations. Witnesses having a more 

 intimato knowledge of the cost of such buildings might 

 have b^en called. It is little good encouraging specific 

 jiroposals for the use of novel materials while local by-laws 

 make no provision proper to the use of reinforced concrete. 

 In order, however, to remove this difficulty, it has been 

 suggested that legislation should be promoted to exempt 

 school buildings, the plans of which had been approved by 

 the Board of Education, from the operation of local build- 

 ing by-laws. 



A PAPER on a novel and important subject appears in 

 The Naturalist for November. The writer, the Rev. 

 mideric Friend, has brought together some interesting 

 fa( t^ relating to Octolasium gracile, Oerley, which is 

 usually found very sparsely, but at Sutton Broad is the 

 dominant Allolobophora ; and Aporrectodea similis, Friend, 

 a species which is at present known only from the Kew 

 '■ardens. An account of the species of Fridericia found at 

 the Eel Hut, where the River Ant enters the Barton Broad, 

 is also very suggestive. Out of twenty-four Euchytrzeids, 

 belonging to six different species, twenty-two were 

 Fridericias, belonging to five species, of which two have 

 not been observed hitherto in England. One question to 

 be solved is. Does each species do the same work as all the 

 rest, or does one prepare the way for the others? 



Mr. O. a. Rhousopoulos contributes to vol. ii., No. 5, 

 of The Museums Journal an important article on the 

 methods of cleaning and preserving antiquities. The most 

 frequently recurring objects which need preservation are 

 those of copper or copper alloys. For these various 

 inethods are considered : soaking in distilled water ; 

 saturation with paraffin ; reduction treatment by heating in 

 a current of hydrogen, by an electric current in a bath of 

 potassium cyanide or caustic soda. Some of the above 

 methods, which in their present perfection leave little to 

 be desired, may be applied to gold, silver, and their alloys ; 

 but the use of a solution of potassium cyanide yields better 

 and more rapid results. Wood and fibres are soaked with 

 antiseptic solutions, and finally receive a coating of cellu- 

 loid varnish. The article ends with many valuable sugges- 

 tions for the treatment of objects of iron, lecythi and other 

 coloured earthenware, marble, and porous limestone. The 

 instructions throughout are practical and detailed, and the 

 article may be commended to the attention of all curators 

 of museums. 



The Sutton Broad Biological Laboratory, started in 1902 

 by Sir Eustace Gurney, and, we believe, still the only 

 fresh-water biological laboratory in this country, has so 

 far well justified its existence. In the current number of 

 the Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' 

 Society are two papers, emanating from this laboratory, 

 which are of especial interest with reference to the much 

 debated question as to what constitutes " tide " on the 

 Norfolk Broads. For several years past observations, made 

 with a portable recording tide-gauge, have been kept at 

 the laboratory by Mr. Robert Gurney ; and in the publica- 

 tion referred to these have been incorporated into a paper, 

 well illustrated with charts. In the same journal Mr. 

 A. G. Innes contributes a paper on the distribution of salt 

 NO. 2194, VOL. 88] 



in the River Bure and its tributaries; and, taken togfi! < - 

 the.sc two pap«'rs are a valuable addition to our knowl.-!;;. 

 on the subject. 



Tub report of the Northumberland Sea Fisheries Com- 

 mittee on the scientific investigations conducted under its 

 auspices during the year 1910 and up to June 15, 191 1, has 

 now appeared under the editorship of Prof. Alexander 

 Meek, of the Armstrong College, NewcastIe-upon-Tynr>. 

 It includes some interesting observations on mesmeri i ., 

 lobsters and other crustaceans. It is known that a lot : 

 may be put into a comatose condition by rubbing it ;il ^ 

 the back of the carapace. The usual way is to hold th'- 

 lobster head down, with the claws arranged so as to form 

 a support with the rostrum, and to stroke it rapidly with 

 the tips of the fingers. In about a minute the lobster 

 succumbs, and remains without movement in this position 

 for a variable period. With a view to see whether the 

 reversed position, as determining the blood to the Iv ;i't, 

 was essential, a lobster was treated in the horizur.i.il 

 attitude, and so successfully that it remained without 

 movement for three hours. A Norway lobster subjected to 

 a similar treatment was quiescent for fifty-five minutes. A 

 lobster can be put to sleep on its back. The crab goes to 

 sleep usually in the tucked-up condition — and may be left 

 in the natural position or on its back. They all recover 

 when disturbed ; but the recovery of the lobster appears 

 to be quicker if the undersurface of the cephalo-thorax is 

 disturbed. Placed in sea water lobsters recover immedi- 

 ately, but in one such case a crab took ten minutes to 

 come round completely. During the sleep the scaphogna- 

 thitc is in action all the time. 



Mr. E. J. Sheppard contributes to the Journal of the 

 Royal Microscopical Society for October observations on 

 the reappearance of the nucleolus in mitosis. He finds 

 that, in the dividing cells of hyacinth and other plants, 

 there appear, at the close of the diaster stage, one or more 

 loops of chromatin in each future daughter nucleus. .At 

 a little later stage, when the division of the cell is well 

 marked, the nucleolus makes its appearance, apparently 

 by a streaming, into the area enclosed by the loop, of 

 material from the chromatin. Mr. Sheppard has not been 

 able to trace corresponding changes in the loop-areas of 

 animal cells. He regards the nucleolus as inciting .1 

 stimulating the process of mitosis. 



Dealing with the subject of a}pinc gardens in a lecture 

 published in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society 

 (vol. xxxvii., part i.), the Swiss botanist M. H. Correvon 

 states that the English climate suits alpine plants better 

 than the continental climate in Switzerland, e.xcept such 

 tufted dwarf plants as the species of Eritrichium and 

 .Androsace. This statement follows upon a description of 

 the chief features observed in the gardens at Friar Park, 

 Leonardslee, and other notable alpine gardens in Great 

 Britain. Reference is made to the interesting Swiss 

 garden of the Linnaea at Bourg-St. -Pierre in the Valais. 

 where the choicest developments are the masses of Papaver 

 alpinum, superb growths of Eryngium alpinum, Heuchera 

 sanguinea, and Epilobium latifolium and abundance of 

 edelweiss. M. Correvon claims for his countrymen the 

 superiority in plant culture on walls, where saxifrages, 

 androsaces, campanulas, and other suitable plants can be 

 induced to make a brilliant show ; he also mentions that 

 the walls bordering the mountain railways from Territet to 

 Glyon and V'evey to Pfelerin have been so planted. 



In The Agricultural Journal of India, part iii., Mr. 

 Keatinge continues his account of the rural economy of the 

 Bombay Deccan, dealing specially with the livestock. 



