522 



NA TURE 



\' 'li, III tic cxplosivi 



I |..in !i r.col. So. i-,, 



;4l«issy 

 ilure- 



iii. l\!l.iii<'a 



;:iiriii.'l II' t liis 



\\ .1 hmj^loir.-i ;iim1'. - , hi..- 1 Iim . ^ .|, 



M.I' I he I lawaiian l,i\ .IS ;irc <ili\ iiic i ...i 



■Aillmiil .in\ mniMKil iron i on Lent 



li. M-iii inorr iliiid til, 111 tile materials 



tli.ii 11.1 w •■IX 1 M 1 i,r to i>l,,(.Mv ' I,, •!-.•. The 



K-iii.iiic.ililr prr\ ;ilriH ■■ o| li.i,,,|;! iiiong the 



I '.n ilu I.i\ .r. rriii.iiii- iiinxpl.i : ' 



<'\INo/o|i M\\!\1\MA IN \ .. N Mlsl.rMS. 



I'll' Mioiin: iii.iiiim.ilian skeletons, from 



malen.i! tii i]i;ir\-elloiisl\- (Diniiletc. has 



become a lim- .im m the Initeil Si.iie-, .mil \\\ I). 



Matthews' IMper, " 1 o.^n Hones III the K'oiiv, ' in 



the a(lmiral)i\' i!lnstr,ite'i |oiirn;il \((hti,i/ ///s,'..^v 

 (vol. 2^, iw-'^; : Aiiierie.in M useiiin ol .\at nral lli-.torv) 

 (leserilics the proci^ss in a >))e(iiii e\;!nii)ie. We 

 leain how the blot'lvs of stone are reiiio\eil from t lie 

 quarry, liow the bones are cleaned Irom the alln\iiiiii 

 of the swamp that proved a ,ura\c for their lirst 

 owners, and how a reronstrnrt ion is m.ide on one 

 side of the mounted skeleton to lejiresent the animal 

 m lis habit as it li\ed. The author de.ds with the 

 three form> tiiai .ibonnd, to the exclusion of other 

 cind exH'ii nei.^hbonrin^ m;iinni.ils, m a (|uarr\' in 

 Karly Miocene strata iie.ir AL;,ite. Sioux ('oimtv, 

 Nebraska, wliere they were lirst (.lisco\-ered in 1S77. 

 The spe( it's are Diceratherimn cooki, a dwarf p.ir- 

 horned rhinoceros a little larger than a pig see also 

 NAiiki , \ol. no, p. 585, 1922) ; Moropus ,/,ifii<. a 

 clawed ungulate, combining characters of the h.oise, 

 the rhinoceros, the tapir, and the titanothere, and 

 as large as a modern camel; and Dinohyus hollaudi, 

 lite giant pig, which is the largest known entelodont, 

 and was presumably of savage disposition. :Mr. 

 Matthews suggests that some common <lrinking habit 

 brought these tliree animals into association ; but 

 may we not picture the formation of an enclave by 

 three communities at some attractive spot, like those 

 indicated by C. B. Moffatt and other naturahsts in 

 the case of wild birds on coastal flats ? The museum 

 picture (p. 368) of the association is delightful. 

 M. K. Thorpe {Amcr. Jinitii. S(i.. \ol. 207, p. 91, 

 August 1923) treats of new restorations in the Yale 

 Peabody Museum, and illustrates Merycoidodon 

 s;racilis, one of the oreodont ungulates," walking 

 delicately; its larger relative, M. cuthbertsonii, graz- 

 ing copiously; and the carnivore Daphcenus vetus, 

 ihm ilanked and prowling. The specimens are from 

 the Middle Oligocene White River beds of the prolific 

 Sioux County, Nebraska. In the following number of 

 the Journal, p. 229, the same author describes the 

 progress of our knowledge of the Merycoidodontida; 

 from Leidy's work m i,S48 onwards, and points out a 

 number of primiti\ e and also carnivore-like characters 

 in the group. 



Upper Air Results ix jAi\x._The Journal of 

 the Meteorological Society oi Japan for January 

 contains a communication on the snmmarv of pilot- 

 balloon observations at Tokorozawa b\- ^ir. Sekine. 

 The observations were carried out at the aerodrome 

 of the Mihtary Aviation School at Tokorozawa, 

 situate in 35° 48' N. Lat. and 130° 28' !■:. Long. 

 from observations with a single theodolite and with 

 40 gm. balloons, from January 1921 to September 

 1922. The results of 81 trustworthy ascents were 



NO. 2814, VOL. I 12] 



btaiii tlie avt rage wind velocity and the wind 



■• I I'f obH«rvatif>ns confirm the pn ' 



I ol the great westerlies at heights alxne 1 

 I According to the .ohI., r. ,,,,,,,>,.,, .1,,. hcighi 01 v 

 monsoon in this r. „, „, ^j^, 



which the return > , ,,,^^y ,„! ^j| 



above this, again, the anti-trade is said to hav.' 

 slight northrrlv romr'onent. 



'^'' ' ■ 1 h<Te has re-— ••■• ' 



added to the list of resistance glassware a^ 

 produced b\ tlie \\cl! known firm of M, 

 Bros, a I 

 glass ton. 



the firm slating tlie result of tests made on its chemical 

 and thermal resistance at the National Physical 

 '-''""■ate, . i-cai;ents were emiiloved to test 



"'•■ '■•"^'^' .I'lmcil .itta( k, n.imeiv', steam and 



water at jom Liino.spheres pressure, 'boiling and 

 evaporating' li\ drochloric acid of specific gravity 1-15 

 boiling 2X-caustic soda and a mixture of 2X-am- 

 monium chloride and (i to ^ of w.iwr) ammonium 

 hydroxide. The second and ton ,se reagents 



produced no action that couUl led. Com- 



parative tests using another make 01 j->ritish resistance 

 glass showed the new glass as distinctly its superior 

 in resisting the action of water and steam and hydro- 

 chlori( ,ici,l while it was inferior in resjxjct to the 

 caustic sod.i test, althon-h even here it had the 

 advantage of r. m mnn..^ unclouded after attack. 

 Flasks of the new 1 : idled with molten paraffin 

 wax and plunged n ^ did not crack until 



temperatures betw jjo" C. were reached 



being much snjien.-r to tii.- ,-l.i>,^ selected for com- 

 pan.son. On these results, the new glass quite 

 wortlnh- takes a positi(..n among the resistance glasses 

 of the lirsi rank. 



Radio Directio i , itiox. The 



Department of Scientihc and Industrial Research 

 has published the first of a series of special reports 

 dealing witli the work of tli K'esearch Board. 



The report, wdiich is made \ .Smith Rose and 



R. H. Barfield, gives a discu.s.-^ion of the practical 

 systems of direction - finding In- reception. Thev 

 duide the various systems of radio - telegraphic 

 direction-finding into three distinct groups which 

 they call the single frame coil, the Bellini-Tosi, and 

 the Robinson systems. The\- first gi\e the histor\' 

 of direction finders and then a simple approximate 

 theorw Thev demonstrate that in all general 

 particulars the underlying principle of the three 

 systems is th,. same. It has to be remembered 

 that a tilted \\.i\ e front (Uh-s not produce directional 

 errors. A \ erv IarL,'e number of experiments were 

 made on damped and um kiniprd waves to find the 

 relative merits of the t: nis. The variations 



from the true direction^ .v the methods were 



found to be in close aL;reemeiit. At night time the 

 direction for the mmiiiuiin \alue was not sharply 

 defined, and so large observational errors sometimes 

 occurred at night. The experimental results show 

 that all existing systems gi\e results wliich are 

 practically identical with a single twin loop rotating 

 about a \ erlical axis. W hatever distortion is pro- 

 duced in an arriMiiu electromagnetic wave by the 

 geographical surroundings, and whatc^•er the cause of 

 the \ariations ex}->erieiiced both by dav and night. 

 all the systems were aflected to "the .same degree! 

 An ath antage claimed for the Robinson set is that it 

 can be used in a noisy room. No experiments, how- 

 ever, have yet been made to determine the relative 

 merits of the systems in this respect. 



