356 



NATURE 



[January ii, 191 2 



l-ROM the report of the Department of Agriculture for the 

 Nyasaland Protectorate, It appear* that the export of 

 cotton, which in 1003 was valued at only 3I.. rose in 

 iqo(^-io to a6.joo'., nnd durinfj the pa»t season to 58,687!. 

 The area under crop during the present season is 33.314 

 acres. This excellent result reflects great credit alike on 

 the planters and on the Agricultural Department ; but it is 

 considered not to exhaust the possibilities, but only as an 

 indication of what Nyasaland can do. Selection experi- 

 ments with Nyasaland upland cotton have been carried out 

 with good results, and some crossing has been done, 

 although this method is now given up. The exp<jrt of. 

 rubber also doubled and is likely to increase considerably 

 in the near future, as the estate rubber is now approaching 

 the age for tapping. Tobacco is proving a useful crop, 

 while maize, coffee, and tea are grown to advantage. 

 The velvet bean {hlecuna I.yonii) has been introfJur'-H hv '»"• 

 department for green manuring purposes. 



\i.Tiioucil the botany of the Sikkim Himalayas is geiier- 

 ;ill\ well known, since many botanists have added to the 

 historic explorations of Sir Joseph Hooker, the remote 

 Zemu and Llonakh valleys, in the north-west, are very 

 inaccessible except by an expedition specially arranged at 

 a favourable season, as described by Messrs. \V. W. Smith 

 and (1. H. Cave, two officials of the Calcutta Botanic 

 Gardens. Their account, published in the Records of the 

 Botanical Survey of India (vol. iv., No. 5), furnishes some 

 indication of the difficulties encountered, including the 

 penetration of the Rhododendron jungle, composed of R. 

 Whitii, R. campanulatum, and R. Hodgsoni, at an eleva- 

 tion of 10,000 feet. The Zemu valley presents a transition 

 from the moist, prolific area in the south to the dry area 

 of Tibetan Sikkim. It resembles the drier aspect of the 

 Llonakh valley, which shows affinities in vegetation with 

 Tibet, in the lack of epiphytic ferns and cryptogams. .\ 

 survey of the alpine region points to the dominance of the 

 genera Arenaria, Potentilla, Saxifraga, Saussurea, Rhodo- 

 dendron, Primula, and Pedicularis. Under Snxifraga 

 thirty-four species are recognised, including ,i n. w i rust- 

 acious form resemb'ing a Sedum. 



A RKCENT number of the Bollettino of the Italian Seismo- 

 logical Society contains an account of an interesting meet- 

 ing of the society held at Rocca di Papa on .August 30, 

 1910, to honour the memory of the late Prof. M. S. 

 de Rossi, the pioneer of seismological studies in Italy. 

 The memorial consists of a stone placed in the front of 

 the Observatory of Rocca di Papa stating that in this his 

 house Michele Stefano de Rossi first in Italy made 

 systematic observations on terrestrial dynamism and pub- 

 lished very valuable statistical data. The observations were 

 carried on from 1874 until de Rossi's death in 1898, and 

 are recorded in his well-known works the " Meteorologia 

 Endogena " and the seventeen volumes of the Bollettino 

 drl Vulcanismo Itaiiano. 



I'liE history of the numerous attempts that have been 

 made to predict the occurrence of earthquakes is sum- 

 marised in an interesting paper by Mr. G. Martinelli 

 {Boll. Sismol. Soc. Ital., vol. xv., 191 1, pp. 154-90). An 

 account is given of many phenomena which were generally 

 supposed to precede earthquakes, such as various states of 

 the weather, the physiological condition of observers, the 

 position of the greater planets, and the occurrence of 

 microseismic storms. Although we are still very far from 

 the solution of the problem, Mr. Martinelli indicates two 

 lines of research which may ultimately lead us in the right 

 direction — the study of electromagnetic phenomena and of 

 the gradual deformation of the earth's crust. Of the two 



NO. 2202, VOL. 88] 



inethudit, he cuni>iderH, and no doubt rightly, that the latter 

 is the more promising, for it is connected with the move- 

 ments which are now known to be the chief cause of 

 carthquakef. 



We have received copi'-s of the tide tables for the eastern 

 coasts and for the i^acific Coast of Canada for the yr.-ir 

 1912, which are published by the Tidal and Current Sur\ey 

 of the Dominion of Canada. lx)nger series of observation* 

 are available for the eastern coast, but it is estimated that 

 for at least three ports on the Pacific Coast — Sand Heads, 

 N'ancouver, and Port .Simpson — the tables are now superiot 

 to those for any other port on the Pacific coasts. 



.■\ SCIENTIFIC expedition left Trieste at the end of 

 October, 191 1, under Dr. L. Briihl, of the Institut fur 

 Meereskunde of Berlin, for the Dead Sea and the Jord.in 

 Valley, in order to study the chemical, physical, and bio- 

 logical problems which this region presents, so as to extend 

 and complete the earlier work in these directions which 

 was done by the expeditions of Lynch in 1848 and of th" 

 Due de Luynes in 1864. According to Petcrmann's Mitteil- 

 utigen, the expedition will probably return about the end 

 of January. 



In the October (1911) number of La Geographie Dr. 11. 

 Hubert discusses the thunderstorms which occur so fre- 

 quently in the southern portions of the western Sudan, and 

 furnish the larger part of its annual rainfall. He 

 recognises two principal directions of air currents : one 

 from the north-east, which blows persistently during the 

 dry season, and even during the summer rainy season still 

 prevails at an altitude of about 2000 metres ; and another, 

 the south-westerly monsoon current, which blows as a 

 light, moist surface wind, ranging up to about 1000 metres 

 in the summer months. A few observations are quoted 

 to indicate the directions of the upper and lower air 

 currents during the passage of a thunderstorm, and the 

 general direction of their movement is given as being from 

 east-south-«.'ast to west-north-west, with a velocity of trans- 

 lation of about 60 kilometres per hour. Rain due to such 

 thunderstorms will be recorded by travellers as coming 

 from the east, though the ordinary rains of the wet season 

 accompany the southerly and south-westerly current of the 

 monsoon. 



We have recently received from the Australian Central 

 Weather Bureau a report by Mr. F. A. Hunt of his visit 

 to Europe, Asia, and North America, undertaken by direc- 

 tion of the Commonwealth Government for the purpose of 

 " discussing with other meteorologists the most modern 

 methods of organisation and equipment." Mr. Hunt left 

 Australia in July, 1908, and returned in March, 1909; and 

 although three years have elapsed since some of the places 

 were visited, and changes (especially in this country) have 

 taken place, the reports of the various services contain 

 much useful information and are convenient for reference. 

 Those relating to Canada and India are very full. We are 

 glad to see that the various proposals made by Mr. Hunt 

 and by the Melbourne conference (held in May, 1907) have 

 been generally approved by the Commonwealth Department 

 for Home Affairs. 



The meteorological charts issued for the various oceans 

 by the W'eather Services of the United States, Germany, 

 and this country for December, 191 1, include interesting 

 and useful data. The U.S. Bureau has issued separately a 

 useful " Marine Calendar " summarising the monthly 

 weather conditions in the North and South .Atlantic 

 Oceans. The interesting synoptic charts showing the 

 weather in the North .Atlantic for December 7-13, 191 1, 



d 



