2lS 



NA TURE 



[August i i, 1923 



digestibility, influence on vitamins and enzymes — 

 suggesting that it is inadvisable to employ heated, 

 such as pasteurised, cows' milk for infant feeding. 

 They seem to have overlooked the fact that cows' milk 

 is not the natural food for the human infant, and that 

 clinical evidence does not support the view that good 

 fresh heated cows' milk is less satisfactory for infant 

 feeding than the raw milk. 



Lancashire Sea-Fisheries. — In his introduction 

 to the report for 1922 on the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries 

 Laboratory, Prof. James Johnstone has given an 

 interesting summary, in non-technical language, of 

 the present state of knowledge concerning the prob- 

 lems under investigation, Mr. Daniel's third and 

 concluding paper on the seasonal changes in the 

 chemical composition of the mussel {Mytilus edulis) 

 deals with the distribution of fat and glycogen in the 

 tissues, and he shows that it is the rdle of the con- 

 nective tissue to store up these substances as reserve 

 food-materials, afterwards to be used up by the 

 rapidly growing sexual follicles during the time of 

 preparation for reproduction. The study of the Irish 

 Sea cod-fishery of 1921-23 by Messrs. Johnstone, 

 Smith, and Fleming has led to the conclusion that 

 there is no such definite seasonal variability in the 

 metabolism of Manx cod as one finds in the herrings 

 from the same district. Mr. Birtwistle and Miss Lewis 

 conclude their report on scale investigations of shoal- 

 ing herrings from the Irish Sea with a pertinent 

 question : — " How are we going to reconcile these 

 two positions, namely, that we can construct a curve 

 from a sample of herrings which suggests that varia- 

 tions in length and scale rings are due to chance and 

 do not indicate age, and at the same time we can 

 construct a similar type of curve from a sample of 

 plaice in which we do definitely know that the varia- 

 tions in length and otolith rings do indicate four 

 different age groups ? " 



Lace-wing Flies. — Memoir 58 of the Cornell 

 University Agricultural Experimental Station is 

 devoted to an account of the biology of the Chry- 

 sopidae written by Mr. Roger C. Smith. The insects 

 included in this family are of particular interest in 

 view of their predaceous habit of destroying various 

 soft-bodied insects, etc., particularly Hemiptera. 

 About sixty species of lace-wing flies are known in 

 the United States, and the life-histories of eleven are 

 described and illustrated with evident care. The 

 general discussion of the family, which runs to about 

 50 pages, is particularly interesting, and should be 

 read by all who study these insects. In discussing 

 the function of the long pedicel, upon which each 

 egg is laid, the author points out that it only affords 

 partial protection from enemies. Only certain species 

 of the larvae carry debris on their backs and have 

 specially modified setae for retaining the material in 

 position. The debris is used as a method of conceal- 

 ment, and consists of varied substances, including 

 particles of plant tissues, exuviae, and other insect 

 remains. This material is placed by the larva on 

 its back, but no silk is utilised in building it together. 

 The larval food consists chiefly of eggs and small 

 aphids and scale insects, but the larvae are sometimes 

 cannibalistic. It has also been observed that they 

 frequently derive sustenance from plant tissues. The 

 average number of aphids eaten by one of these 

 insects during its larval life is about 170. Certain 

 of the adult insects are also noted to devour aphids 

 very readily. Chrysopids are subject to various 

 insect enemies, and one of the most remarkable is a 

 small blood-sucking midge, which attaches itself to 

 the wings of the lace-wing and, burying its proboscis 

 in a vein, sucks up the blood of its host. 



NO. 2806, VOL. 112] 



Japanese Tertiary Fossii-s. — Prof. M. Yokoyama, 

 to whose valuable papers on the fossils of the Musa- 

 shino beds we liave previously directed attention 

 (Nature, August 26, 1920, p. 836, and November 11, 

 1922, p. 646), has now published a note " On some 

 fossil MoUusca from the Neogene of Izumo" {Japan. 

 Journ. Geol. and Geogr., vol. ii. No. i). The exact 

 horizon of the beds is uncertain ; they are older than 

 the Musashino formation, and if Pliocene should be 

 referred to the Lower and not to the Upper division. 

 Out of 19 species described, setting a.side three as 

 possibly obtained from beds not belonging quite to 

 the same formation, there are seven species referable 

 to existing forms and seven not known living which 

 are here described as new. The relative proportion 

 may, however, be modified on the acquisition of 

 additional specimens. 



The Gigantic Hornless Rhinoceros. — Prof. 

 H. F. Osbom has followed up his scientific de- 

 scription of the skull of Baluchitherium, to which 

 we referred recently (Nature, July 14, p. 67), 

 by a popular article on it and other rhinoceroses 

 living and extinct {Natural History, vol. xxiii.). Well 

 written and abundantly illustrated, this article is 

 worthy of attention by more advanced students than 

 those for whom it is obviously designed. So far as 

 we are concerned the most interesting feature is the 

 evolution of the idea as to Baluchitherium's size and 

 form as expressed in three successive restorations. 

 In the first it appears like an exaggerated rhinoceros 

 with a proportionately slightly longer neck, while the 

 last exhibits a slighter limbed, more upstanding animal, 

 with elongate, horse-like neck, its height at the shoulder 

 being increased in terms of a modem rhinoceros from 

 1-8 to 2-5. Its affinities to other rhinoceroses is yet in 

 doubt ; but for its powerful superior tusks it would 

 be considered as simply a giant Aceratherium. 



Oil-Shale from the Rocky Mountains. — Mr. 

 D. E. Winchester has recently contributed a useful 

 addition to the oil-shale literature of the United States 

 Geological Survey in Bulletin 729, wherein he de- 

 scribes the well-known occurrences of the Rocky 

 Mountain region. This volume is noteworthy because 

 the author discusses an aspect of the subject usually 

 slurred over by most writers, namely, the detailed 

 fauna and flora of certain stratigraphical horizons to 

 which the oil-shales are referable. The fauna in- 

 cludes a long list of insects (in the broad sense) and 

 other arthropods of the Green River Formation 

 (Eocene), while an abundant and varied flora has 

 been described by Mr. F. H. Knowlton, the late Dr. 

 C. A. Davis's contribution on the study of the micro- 

 organisms being also incorporated in the text. The 

 photomicrographs of thin sections of some of these 

 oil-shales show an abundance of fossil vegetable- 

 matter with which, presumably, the hydrocarbon 

 content of the shale is connected. Some interesting 

 data are recorded concerning methods of approximate 

 evaluation of oil-shale in the field, the methods includ- 

 ing simple retorting and test-tube experiments, the 

 latter being especially useful. After all, even if there 

 be millions of tons of shale-resources available for 

 mining, the material is of little use unless it will yield 

 oil in payable quantities. Hence field-tests, where 

 definite, may save a great deal of unnecessary- ex- 

 pense in initial development. This bulletin is pro- 

 fusely illustrated with photographs and maps, and a 

 very complete oil-shale bibliography is appended ; it 

 is, in fact, something more than a mere technical 

 report, being a trustworthy handbook to the whole 

 subject of oil-shale mining and exploitation. 



Weather in Egypt. — The meteorological report 

 for the year 191 8 has recently been issued by the 



