20 



NATURE 



[November 3, 1910 



In the Zoologist for October Mr. F. J. Stubbs adduces 

 further evidence, especially an Act of 1564 (2 Eliz. c. 15), 

 to show that egrets were formerly common in England. 

 " At the middle of the sixteenth century England was the 

 liomo^ of an egret that was highly esteemed for the table. 

 It nested with us, and was protected by law; and the 

 same, or an allied, species inhabited an adjacent part of 

 the Continent, and was brought to this country alive for 

 food. Probably the bird was not altogether white, thus 

 •differing from any existing European egrets or herons, and 

 resembling species now found in America." 



Variation in the oyster-boring whelk (Urosalpinx 

 cincreus) forms the subject of an article by Dr. H. E. 

 Walter in the October number of the American Naturalist. 

 This mollusc is a native of the Atlantic coast of North 

 America, but was unavoidably introduced when oysters 

 were transplanted to the Pacific shore. It was the original 

 object of the article to compare these introduced Cali- 

 fornian whelks with their Atlantic prototypes, but com- 

 parisons were extended to a wider basis. As the result 

 of the investigation, it appears doubtful whether 

 Urosalpinx is more variable in its new than in its original 

 home. 



As fossilised birds' feathers have hitherto been recorded 

 from only some fourteen localities — with one exception of 

 Tertiary age — brief reference may be made to Mr. F. 

 Chapman's description in vol. xxiii., part i., of the Pro- 

 ■ceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, of a fossil of 

 this nature from the Tertiary ironstone of Redruth, 

 Victoria. No definite determination of the genus of the 

 specimen, which is in the form of impressions on the two 

 halves of a split nodule, is attempted, although it is 

 suggested that it may have belonged to one of the smaller 

 waders, such as the ibises. 



The third botanical number of the current volume of 

 the Philippine Journal of Science contains a compilation 

 of new or noteworthy Philippine plants, and a sixth part 

 of an index to Philippine botanical literature, both pre- 

 pared by Mr. E. D. Merrill. Among the new plants, 

 about a hundred in number, mostly trees or shrubs, there 

 are eleven additions to the genus Ardisia, ten to Ixora, 

 and six to Hiptage ; also new genera, Astrocalyx and 

 Cephalomedinilla, are proposed under the family Mela- 

 stomacese, Curraniodendron under Saxifragaceae, and 

 Pygmaeopremna under Verbenaceae. With reference to 

 Ixora, it is noted that Ixora coccinea does not grow wild, 

 but a closely allied species, I. philippinensis, is abundant 

 and widely distributed. 



An enumeration of twenty-eight flowering plants and 

 ferns growing on a London building site, about half an 

 acre in extent, in Farringdon Street that has been vacant 

 for two years is communicated by Mr. J. C. Shenstone 

 to the Selborne Magazine (October). As the author points 

 out, the chief interest lies in the methods of distribution 

 by which the plants have reached the spot, and he has 

 classed them as wind-distributed, kitchen refuse weeds, 

 and forage or packing weeds. It is extremely puzzling 

 to find a growth of bracken fern, since the plant is very 

 difficult to transplant, and the appearance of Ficus Carica 

 is not immediately explicable. Three casuals, that is, 

 plants not indigenous to Britain, are provided by 

 Epilohium angustifolium, Senecio viscosus, and Erigeron 

 canadense. 



Of the flowers which undergo marked changes after 

 feitilisation, tropical orchids afford some striking examples. 

 For instance, it frequently happens that after the poUinia 

 reach the stigma the flowers fade prematurely, the column 



NO. 2140, VOL. 85] 



swells, the stigmatic surface becomes enclosed, and eventu- 

 ally the ovules begin to develop. It would generally bi- 

 assumed that these changes can only be induced by the 

 stimulus of the pollen on the stigmatic surface, and the 

 subsequent growth of the pollen tube. It has, however, 

 been observed by Dr. H. Fitting, as is pointed out in the 

 Gardener's Chronicle (October 29), that certain of these 

 effects can be produced by inorganic means. Thus scratch- 

 ing the stigmatic surface suffices to cause premature 

 withering, and the application of dead pollinia or an 

 extract therefrom may bring about swelling of the column ; 

 but apparently development of the ovules does require the 

 stimulus induced by the pollen grains penetrating the 

 ovary. 



Among the numerous articles now appearing in agri- 

 cultural publications on the growth of sugar-beet in 

 England, one, by Mr. Chas. Bathurst, M.P., in the 

 Agricultural Students' Gazette (vol. xv., part i.) deserves 

 some attention. The importation of beet sugar into 

 Great Britain is steadily increasing, and amounted in 1908 

 to nearly eighteen and a half million pounds sterling in : 

 value. Much of this could be produced in England, but 

 the ojjeration of the sugar bounties rendered the industry 

 financially impracticable. Now that the bounties are 

 abolished by the Sugar Convention, active steps are being ! 

 taken in several counties to start factories, which, in Mr. 

 Bathurst 's view, should prove distinctly profitable unless 

 an excise duty is placed on the sugar. An average crop. 

 is given as 18 tons per acre, selling at the factory for i8s^ 

 per ton, or 16I. 45. The cost of production, including 

 the rent of the land, should not exceed gl. per acre, leav^j 

 ing a profit to the cultivator of yl. 45. per acre. 



The summary of the weather issued by the Meteor-^ 

 ological Office shows that for the eight weeks of autumi 

 as yet expired the aggregate rainfall has been largelj 

 deficient over the entire area of the British Islands. The 

 greatest deficiency occurs in the north of Scotland, where 

 the total rainfall is only 2-89 inches, which is 6-24 inche 

 less than the average of the corresponding period for the 

 last twenty-five years. In the west of Scotland the 

 deficiency is 5-13 inches, the aggregate rainfall being onlj 

 3-10 inches. In the north of Ireland the deficiency i^ 

 3-98 inches, and in the north-west of England 3-60 inches^ 

 In the south-east of England, which comprises London, 

 the deficiency amounts to i-i6 inches. The duration 

 bright sunshine for the period is deficient, except in a fev 

 northern districts, the greatest deficiency being fifty-eigli 

 hours in the east of England and fifty-six hours in thf 

 Midland counties. The mean temperature was not ver 

 different from the average, but its maximum readings werfl 

 lower than usual, the absolutely highest temperature since 

 September 4 being 76°, in the Midland counties. Frost al 

 night has, as yet, only occurred in a very few districts^ 

 The aggregate rainfall since the commencement of the yea 

 is not very different from the average, but there is an 

 excess, except in a few of the northern districts. Th«| 

 duration of bright sunshine as yet this year is generally 

 deficient, the deficiency exceeding one hundred hours ir 

 the eastern districts of England. 



In the Proceedings of the Amsterdam Academy 

 Sciences of June 25 Dr. W. van Bemmelen and Dr. Cj 

 Braak give a preliminary report upon the investigation 

 of the upper air, begun at Batavia in 1909. The observa^^ 

 tory is now equipped with registering balloons and suitable 

 instruments, but it was thought advisable to procee 

 cautiously in using them so near to the sea before obtain^J 

 ing more knowledge of the drift of the upper currents by'' 

 means of pilot balloons. The following data showing the 



