520 



NATURE 



[February i6, 191 i 



In Man for January, Mr. H. S. Cowper describes the 

 exploration of a flint implement factory on a site at 

 Hilwan, Lower Egypt, previously examined by Mr. A. J. 

 Jukes Brown, who contributed papers on the subject to 

 the Journals of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society and 

 the Anthropological Institute in 1877. He discusses the 

 theories that this type of implement may have been used 

 for arming the edges of serrated weapons or for fishing, 

 and, deciding in favour of the latter supposition, suggests 

 that the sites where implements of this type are found 

 should be studied in relation to the fishing industry. He 

 asserts that they have no connection with the Neolithic 

 implements found in such large numbers in recent years 

 in various parts of the desert of Lower Egypt. 



The habits of the common American mole, Scalops, or 

 Scalopus, aquaticus, are discussed in two papers, respec- 

 tively by Mr. F. E. Wood and Mr. J. A. West, published 

 in vol. ix., of the Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory 

 of Natural History. This mole, which — despite its name 

 —is not aquatic, undoubtedly does much damage to newly 

 sown cornfields by burrowing along the lines of the drills. 

 From such tunnelled rows the seed is often found to 

 have more or less completely disappeared, and farmers 

 charge the mole with being the culprit. The accusation 

 is proved by Mr. West to be true, the stomachs of many 

 of the moles examined by him containing corn in various 

 proportions to the rest of the food. For the greater part 

 of the year, however, these moles feed on worms and 

 insects. 



" The Sudden Origin of New Types " is the title of an 

 article communicated by Dr. F. Oswald to the January 

 number of Science Progress. After adducing evidence in 

 support of this theory from plants, the author observes 

 that the sudden rise and predominance of mammals in the 

 Tertiary must be due to rapid development of some part 

 of their organisation, and that this part was the mammary 

 glands. These glands, it is suggested, may have been 

 derived from the lateral-line system of amphibians, since 

 both are developed in the Malpighian layer of the skin. 

 Having stated that such a derivation is " within the range 

 of probability," Mr. Oswald proceeds to regard it as a 

 demonstrated fact, and to argue that, "as a necessary 

 corollary to the absence of the lateral line in all reptiles, 

 ft is evident that — contrary to the received and general 

 opinion — the mammals must have taken their origin 

 directly from Amphibia, not from anomodont reptiles." 

 Then follows a review of apparent instances of the sudden 

 rise of certain groups (such as graptolites) or certain 

 organs among invertebrates, special stress being laid on a 

 suggested origin of tracheae from the gills of a hypothetical 

 fresh-water trilobite by the transformation of the latter 

 into lung-books sunk in the body and communicating with 

 the exterior by means of stigmata. 



Much interest attaches to the description by Prof. H. F. 

 Osborn, in the January number of the American Museum 

 Journal, of a " mummy " of the iguanodont dinosaur from 

 the Kansas Cretaceous, known as Trachodon annectans. 

 The specimen includes, not only the greater part of the 

 skeleton, but likewise a large portion of the epidermis, 

 which " is shrunken around the limbs, tightly drawn along 

 the bony surfaces, and contracted like a great curtain 

 below the chest-area." In the opinion of its describer, the 

 reptile, after dying a natural death, lay for a time on a 

 river-bank, without being molested by birds or crocodiles, 

 until it became thoroughly desiccated, after which it was 

 carried down by a flood, and buried in sediment of a 

 character suited to retain a cast of the surface sculpture. 

 NO. 2155, VOL. 85] 



The skin was covered with tubercles, varying in size on 

 different parts of the body. The tenuity of the epidermis 

 favours the theory, according to Dr. Osborn, that these 

 reptiles " spent a large part of their time in the water, 

 which theory is strengthened by the fact that the diminu- 

 tive fore-limb terminates, not in claws or hoofs, but in a 

 broad extension of the skin, reaching between the fingers 

 and forming a kind of paddle. This marginal web, which 

 connects all the fingers with each other, together with the 

 fact that the lower side of the fore-limb is as delicate in 

 its epidermal structure as the upper, tends to support the 

 theory of the swimming rather than the walking or terres- 

 trial function of this fore-paddle." The article is illus- 

 trated with pictures, not only of the "mummy," skin, 

 and skeleton, but likewise of the restored animal, the 

 length of which was about 30 and its height between 

 15 and 16 feet. 



According to the report on the Botanic Station Experi- 

 mental Plots and Agricultural Education, Antigua, 

 1909-10, there are indications that the cotton industry may 

 regain some of its late importance. Experiments are re- 

 ported on the flower-bud maggot and the leaf-blister mite ; 

 hybridisation work has also been begun. The production 

 of cocoanuts and limes is increasing, and becoming an 

 important industry ; onions are also being more and more 

 grown. Experiments are reported on broom corn and 

 other crops likely to be useful. The report on the Botanic 

 Station, St. Kitts-Nevis, shows that the sugar-cane season 

 has been successful ; early planted cotton also did well, and 

 planters are learning to control the pests ; there also seems 

 the prospect that cacao and rubber may be successfully 

 grown. Experiments are recorded on yams, sweet pota- 

 toes, and onions. The Montserrat report shows useful 

 work is being done in connection with cotton selection and 

 the cultivation of limes. Other lines of investigation deal 

 with the improvement of ground nuts and Indian corn by 

 selection, and the determination of the best varieties of 

 certain provision crops. 



An investigation into the effect of coloured light on the 

 development of pure cultures of the green alga Stichococcus 

 bacillaris is described by Prof. G. A. Nadson in the 

 Bulletin du Jardin Imperial Botanique, St. Petersburg 

 (vol. x., part v.). The cultures raised in reddish-yellow 

 light showed weak growth and colour ; those in bluish 

 light showed at first rather weaker development, but 

 eventually the filaments assumed a purer green colour 

 than those in white light, and the improvement was main- 

 tained through successive generations grown in blue light. 

 The same author, with Mr. S. M. Adamovic, describes the 

 experiment of adding to a culture solution for Bacillus 

 myocides a proportion of the products of catabolism taken 

 from a previous culture of the orga.nism. This produced 

 a marked change in the Bacillus, inhibiting its powers of 

 liquefying gelatin and producing spores, and causing it to 

 form special membranes round its cells. 



The International Association of Tropical Agriculture 

 and Colonial Development has issued, in pamphlet form, 

 the report on the present position of cotton cultivation, 

 which was presented to the congress in Brussels in 19 10 

 by Dr. Wyndham R. Dunstan, F.R.S. The reports which 

 Dr. Dunstan has brought together, as reporter-general to 

 the congress on cotton cultivation, relate to all those 

 countries in which cotton cultivation is an established and 

 important industry, and also to those in which cotton 

 cultivation is still in an experimental stage. The writers 

 of the reports were requested to pay special attention to 

 the present position and prospects of the industry, any 



