48 



NATURE 



[iNoVEMBER lO, 1910 



collections are now being arranged in suitable galleries, 

 and it only remains for the Government of India to provide 

 a series of descriptive catalogues prepared by competent 

 experts, which will render the exhibits available for study 

 by students of art, anthropology, and the exonomic 

 sciences in Europe. 



Part 8 of vol. v. of the Annals of the South African 

 Museum contains five articles on the entomology of 

 the country. Among these, Mr. E. Meyrick continues his 

 description of new Microlepidoptera, while Messrs. A. 

 Raffray and L. B. Billecoq treat, in separate communica- 

 tions, of two groups of Coleoptera. 



To the Journal of Economic Biology for October 

 Messrs. Collinge and Shoebotham contribute a long article 

 on the Apterygota (Thysanura and Collembola) of Hert- 

 fordshire, to which they have devoted special study. 

 Before they commenced there appear to have been 

 no records of these minute insects from the " county of 

 Hertfordshire," but the authors are how enabled to 

 enumerate four species of Thysanura and sixty-nine of 

 Collembola. 



To the Anales of the National Museum of Buenos 

 Aires, ser. 3, vol. xiii., p. 317, Dr. F. Ameghino con- 

 tributes a note on certain teeth from a cavern in Cuba, 

 which are referred to a large monkey the dental formula 

 of which is identical with that of the Cebidae, but the 

 cheek-teeth of which are stated to approximate to those of 

 Old World monkeys and man. For this monkey the 

 new generic and specific name of Monianeia antropo- 

 morpha is proposed. It is noteworthy that no wild 

 monkeys are found in Cuba at the present day. 



In the October issue of the Journal of Economic Biology 

 Prof. Hickson discusses the place of economic zoology in 

 a modern university, and the best way of training students 

 in that branch of science. After pointing out that there is 

 a growing demand for the services of men capable of deal- 

 ing with the problems of economic biology in a practical 

 manner, the author observes that the qualifications usually 

 associated with what is termed " a good field-entomo- 

 logist " will not suffice, and that a man who aspires to 

 a post of this nature must have a working acquaintance 

 with parasitism, parthenogenesis, heredity, and embry- 

 ology ; while he should possess special knowledge of the 

 Protozoa, parasitic worms, land and fresh-water snails, 

 and, particularly, tracheate arthropods. Such a course 

 of study " could be given in the zoological departments 

 of the principal universities of our country without very 

 much additional equipment or a very material addition to 

 the numbers of the teaching staff. But in order that the 

 student may have the opportunity of getting some train- 

 ing in the recognition of insect pests in the field, the 

 work of the laboratory should be supplemented by some 

 systematic teaching in connection with an institution of 

 the nature of an agricultural college, in which access to 

 growing crops may be facilitated." 



The question of the systematic position and feeding- 

 habits of the African Jurassic genus Tritylodon, and its 

 northern aHies Plagiaulax and Ptilodus, is reopened by 

 Dr. R. Broom in the October issue of the Proceedings of 

 the Zoological Society. In the first place, the author has 

 no doubt as to Tritylodon being a mammal, while as the 

 only known specimen is from the Stormberg beds, it must 

 be regarded as of Lower Jurassic, and not Triassic, age. 

 As regards the affinities of the three genera. Dr. Broom 

 refuses to admit that Mr. Gidley is justified in including 

 them among the diprotodont marsupials, remarking that 



NO. 2 141, VOL. 85] 



the dentition, both structurally and numerically, is of a 

 different type, while the presence of a well-developed septo- 

 maxillary in the African genus suggests monotreme rather 

 than marsupial affinities. It is also pointed out that there 

 is a considerable probability of diprotodonts having 

 originated in Australia. " In the present state of our 

 knowledge it seems wisest to leave the Multituberculata 

 as a distinct independent group with no very near affinities 

 with the living monotremes, marsupials, or eutherians." 

 As regards the food of these mammals, the author points 

 out that fruits were non-existent in Jurassic times, while if, 

 as he considers probable, Tritylodon and its relatives were 

 carnivorous, they must have fed mainly on reptiles, which 

 would require a type of dentition different from that of 

 mammal-eating species. 



A NOTE on a fungal disease of the blue pine, Pinus 

 exceha, reported from the Simla forestry division, is con- 

 tributed to the Indian Forester (October) by the assistant 

 tD the imperial mycologist at Pusa. The chief object of 

 the note is to establish the observation of infection pro- 

 ceeding from diseased to healthy roots, for which good 

 evidence is adduced. The fungus is reported to be 

 Tfametes pini, for which such marked fungal development 

 in the root, and infection from root to root, has apparently 

 not been previously recorded. 



Messrs. Flatters, Milborne and McKechnie, of Long- 

 sight, Manchester, are issuing a quarterly publication of 

 fifteen pages entitled the Micrologist. Part ii., issued 

 October i, contains two excellent articles, one on mount- 

 ing microscopical objects in fluid media in cells, the other 

 (by Mr. H. E. Hurrell) on the polyzoa and the methods 

 of collecting and mounting them. It is well printed and 

 illustrated, and contains a beautiful plate of five repro- 

 ductions of photomicrographs of starch, volvox, hydra, &c. 



A USEFUL list of pteridophyta for the Transvaal province 

 is communicated by Mr. J. Burtt-Davy to the South 

 African Journal of Science (October) on behalf of the late 

 Mr. V. G. Crawley and himself. To make the list 

 serviceable to teachers and students, brief diagnoses are 

 supplied for the classes and genera, while analytical keys 

 and localities are given for the species. Among the true 

 ferns, Cyathea Dregei and Mohria caffrorum are two re- 

 markable common species ; Oleandra articulata, Todea 

 barbara, and Marattia fraxinea are said to be rare. With 

 respect to the number of species, Asplenium, Pellaea, and 

 Gymnogramme are conspicuous genera. 



Mr. W. N. Lubimenko publishes in the botanical section 

 (series iii., parts i.-ii.) of Travaux de la Societi des 

 Naturalistes de St. Pitersbourg a long paper (in Russian) 

 in which he presents the results of experiments directed 

 towards ascertaining the relationship that exists between 

 the amount of chlorophyll present in a leaf and the energy 

 of photosynthesis. In the summary it is stated that the 

 minimum intensity of light required to start photosynthesis 

 depends on the amount of chlorophyll, being less as the 

 amount of chlorophyll is greater ; also that as the amount 

 of chlorophyll increases the energy of photosynthesis 

 increases up to a maximum, and then decreases. It is 

 further suggested that certain experiments indicate that 

 photosynthesis proceeds in two stages ; first, CO, is 

 decomposed and O is liberated, then certain photochemical 

 reactions lead to the transport and incorporation of organic 

 material. 



A correspondent sends us examples of a monstrous 

 carnation in which the inflorescences have produced no 

 true flowers, but a superabundance of bracts. This 



