August i8, 1923] 



NA TURE 



241 



In 191 8 pupae of Selenia bilunaria Esp. were obtained 

 from Kent, and broods resulting from these reared 

 at Birtley on hawthorn from the roadside. In the 

 following year the spring brood, the second lot fed 

 at Birtley, gave a batch of moths containing a large 

 number of typical insects, several melanochroic forms 

 together with two insects uniformly leaden black. A 

 black female was paired with an unrelated typical 

 male, and Fi and Fg generations secured ; the results 

 suggested that the melanism was recessive, as in the 

 allied moth Ennomos quercinaria Hufn. Another batch 

 of ova was obtained from a typical wild Abbot's Wood 

 (Sussex) female in July 192 1, and after two generations 

 had been reared at Birtley, eggs were sent to Hexham. 

 Some of the larvae were fed on prepared hawthorn, 

 the salts used being lead nitrate and manganese 

 sulphate. The moths emerging in the spring of 1923 

 showed no particular variation, but were paired, and 

 the treatment continued. The summer brood proved 

 extremely interesting. The controls began to show 

 the effects of inbreeding, only 12 moths resulting 

 from 60 eggs, and 3 of these were dwarfs ; but 

 there was no melanism. From one batch of larvae 

 fed on hawthorn containing lead nitrate 12 males and 

 15 females were bred ; all were of normal size, but 

 I male was practically black. Another such batch 

 gave 20 males and 11 females, i male again being 

 melanic. A fourth section, reared on hawthorn 

 charged with a manganese salt, yielded ii males 

 and 9 females ; these displayed both melanism and 

 melanochroism, 6 males and 2 females being of the 

 black type, whilst insects absolutely typical were 

 practically absent. All of these melanic forms are 

 fairly uniform in colour, showing no markings except 

 an almost white line such as is so common a feature 

 of melanic lepidoptera. 



In partnership with Mrs. Garrett, one of us recently 

 directed attention in these columns to the effect of 

 lead on Smerinthus ocellatus, and the same workers 

 have now tried it with Amorpha populi, the eggs 

 originating with a wild Hexham female. The larvae 

 again fed up more rapidly, but whereas the S. ocellatus 

 pupae were heavier, those of A . populi were about 

 15 per cent, lighter than those of the controls. They 

 were perfectly healthy, however, and moths were 

 obtained from every pupa save one. Though there 

 was no definite melanism, there was a tendency 

 towards it, the colours being more intense and the 

 markings more clearly defined ; the difference was 

 sufficiently great to enable one of us, who had not 

 seen the moths before, to sort them correctly without 

 any clue as to their history. 



As the investigation is being continued, and the 

 study of the inheritance of the induced melanism well 

 in hand, we content ourselves with a mere statement 

 of the facts ; next summer we hope to be able to 

 publish fuller details. F. C. Garrett. 



J. W. Heslop Harrison. 



Armstrong College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 

 July 27. 



The Reported Meteorite at Quetta. 



The issue of Nature of May 26, p. 704, contains 

 a short communication from my Department cor- 

 recting a report concerning the fall of a meteorite at 

 Quetta. Further inquiries make it desirable that the 

 opinion in that letter should be modified. Though no 

 traces of a meteorite can be identified in the material 

 collected, it does not necessarily follow that a meteorite 

 did not fall. 



During a storm at Quetta on the afternoon of 

 January 25 last, a large ball of fire is reported to have 

 fallen and struck a stack of baled bhoosa (chopped 

 straw) in the Military Grass Farm Stack-yard. The 



NO. 2807, VOL. I 12] 



stack, composed of 12,800 bales, was for the most 

 part consumed by fire, and amongst the ashes were 

 found some three tons of a hard dark stone. Portions 

 of this stone were forwarded to the laboratory of the 

 Geological Survey and found to consist of slag, parts 

 of which showed a ropy structure and slightly 

 scoriaceous texture. As we were informed that no 

 one had actually seen the fireball strike the stack, it 

 was at first thought that the latter was ignited by a 

 simple flash of lightning. Later information, how- 

 ever, makes it possible that a meteorite did actually 

 fall into the bhoosa stack. Not only was the " ball 

 of fire " witnessed by several people, but the men 

 who were set to work on top of the stack extinguishing 

 the fire immediately after its outbreak reported a 

 hole in the stack 18 inches wide, and their observation 

 was confirmed by Conductor Trewhella, who noticed 

 that the hole led towards the centre of the stack. 



The possible sequence of events may be recon- 

 structed as follows : The bhoosa was struck and 

 ignited either by a meteorite which burned its way to 

 the base of the stack, or by a simple flash of lightning. 

 The intense heat fused the iron bands binding the 

 bales of bhoosa, and this iron combined with the silica 

 in the bhoosa itself or with any mud roofing which 

 may have been present. Mr. A. J. Gibson, of the 

 Punjab Forest Service, has reminded me that the 

 tissues of the Gramineae contain an unusually large 

 percentage of silica, and 12,000 bales would probably 

 supply sufficient to form most of the three tons of 

 slag, consisting of silicate of iron, free iron, and 

 impurities. 



The meteorite, if there were one, was itself probably 

 of iron, and would have mixed with and become part 

 of the fused slag. Unmelted fragments of the iron 

 bands of the bhoosa bales were found in the cooler 

 portions of the melt. In such circumstances it is of 

 course impossible to identify any remains of a 

 meteorite in the slag. E. H. Pascoe 



Geological Survey of India, (Director). 



Simla, July 9. 



Scientific Names of Greek Derivation. 



In Nature for July 7, p. 10, Prof. Cole criticises 

 ■' American authors " for using the term dinosaur, 

 instead of clinging as he does to " deinosaur." In a 

 previous number of Nature (July i, 1922, p. 21) the 

 reviewer of an article on the Deinodontidae takes the 

 authors to task for not using " what is now con- 

 sidered the more correct rendering of the Greek, as 

 Dinodontidae." What can a poor American author 

 do to be saved ? 



In fact, the usual custom among American and 

 Canadian palaeontologists has been to follow the rules 

 of the International Code for names of genera and 

 families, and otherwise adhere to the original spelling 

 of scientific names, although some of us have had 

 sufficient classical training to dislike having to use 

 badly composed or wrongly transliterated names. 

 Dinosauria was Owen's spelling of the word and 

 Deinodontidae is formed according to the rule from 

 the radical of Leidy's genus as originally proposed. 



While the rules and recommendations of the Code 

 are a sufficient guide for future coining of names, its 

 retroactive applications are not altogether clear, and 

 it does not provide any definite guide for the spelling 

 of the larger group names or other scientific termino- 

 logy. Is there any scientific dictionary to which 

 one could refer as internationally authoritative ? 

 Or could the matter be taken up by the next inter- 

 national congresses of zoology and geology ? 



W. D. Matthew. 



American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York, July 17, 



G2 



