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NATURE 



[February 23, 1911 



remunerative. The author, Mr. D. E. Lantz, states that, 

 were it not for prohibitive laws, there would be a large 

 and constant demand for venison in the country, and that 

 it could be placed on the market at a lower price than 

 beef, owing to the facility with which deer can make a 

 living on poor pasture. Both the wapiti and the white- 

 tailed deer ate rapidly diminishing in numbers, and since 

 both kinds can be easily tamed and bred in confinement, 

 there is every inducement for trying the experiment, which, 

 if successful, would prove a lasting benefit. For a time, 

 the rearing of both species for stocking parks ought to be 

 more profitable than the sale of the venison. Schemes for 

 domesticating the caribou and the moose as beasts of 

 draught, as well as for introducing Indian and African 

 antelopes into the United States, are likewise mooted. 



The Journal of the College of Science of the Imperial 

 University of Tokio (vol. xxvii., article 17) contains an 

 interesting account by N. Yatsu of his experiments on 

 germinal localisation in the egg of Cerebratulus. These 

 experiments afford a typical illustration of the manner in 

 which experimental methods are now being applied to the 

 study of animal development. Ovisection in various planes, 

 and separation or dislocation of the blastomeres by 

 mechanical or chemical means are employed, and though 

 the results obtained cannot, perhaps, be regarded as very 

 definite, they are certainly very suggestive. The author 

 concludes that the egg contains " organ bases," but that 

 these have no hard and fast lines of boundary between 

 them ; still, there is " something " for each larval organ. 

 He also concludes that there must be a regulating 

 " factor " which in some way brings back shifted 

 blastomeres to the normal position, or, at any rate, to such 

 a position that they are able to produce a larva which 

 differs but little from the normal. 



The problem of sex-determination is just now receiving 

 a good deal of attention from students of heredity, and an 

 interesting controversy has arisen with regard to the 

 Mendelian interpretation of sex ratios. Russo maintains 

 that he is able to alter the proportion of the sexes in the 

 case of rabbits by injecting lecithin into the female parent 

 before the eggs have arrived at maturity. Two kinds of 

 eggs are said to occur in the ovary, one of an anabolic or 

 constructive type, containing globules of lecithin, and the 

 other of a katabolic type, containing crystals of acid fat. 

 The former are believed to give rise to females and the 

 latter to males, and the injection of lecithin into the 

 parent increases the proportion of females. Russo's results 

 have been criticised by Punnett, and more recently by 

 Castle {American Naturalist, July, 1910), and Russo replies 

 in the Biologisches Centralblatt (January i, 191 1). He 

 points out that Punnett, in repeating the experiment, only 

 administered the lecithin by the mouth of the rabbit, 

 instead of by injection, and that it is decomposed in the 

 alimentary canal. It is obviously very important that 

 Russo's experiments should be repeated by an impartial 

 observer, and that the methods employed by him should 

 be strictly followed. 



A CATALOGUE of botanical books, chiefly secondhand, 

 comprising floras of all countries, has been recently pub- 

 lished by Messrs. John Wheldon and Co., Great Queen 

 Street, Lx)ndon. The fullest sections are those enumerating 

 general and local British floras, and systematic publica- 

 tions dealing with the plants of India, North and South 

 America, and Australasia. 



The fifth number of last year's botanical volume of the 

 Philippine Journal of Science contains the conclusion of 

 the article, by Mr. E. D. Merrill and Mr. M. L. Merritt, 

 NO. 2156, VOL. 85] 



on the flora of Mt. Pulog, and a revision of the Philippine 

 Piperaceac, by Dr. C. de Candolle. The latter paper raises 

 the total number of Piperacea; known to exist in tli • 

 Philippines from thirty to one hundred and twenty-five, all 

 referable to the two genera Piper and Peperomia. 



Two articles on the subject of pansies and violas, pub- 

 lished in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society 

 (vol. xxxvi., part ii.), cannot fail to interest growers, as 

 they are contributed by Mr. J. Grieve and Mr. Wm. Cuth- 

 bertson, experts of many years' standing. Mr. Grieve 

 explains that he originated his violas by applying pollen 

 from " show pansies " to the stigma of wild species, 

 V. lutea, V. cornuta, V. stricta, and V. amoena ; the 

 reverse cross did not give any good results. Hints on 

 culture are supplied by Mr. Cuthbertson, who remarks that 

 many of the best varieties raised years ago still continue 

 to maintain their position. 



Some historical notes, compiled by Mr. H. B. Watt, with 

 reference to early tree planting in Scotland appear in 

 the Glasgow Naturalist (vol. iii.. No. i). The introduction 

 of fruit-bearing trees during the period of Roman occupa- 

 tion, and plantations round monasteries and ecclesiastical 

 establishments, are suggested as the earliest beginnings. 

 Historical references date from the fifteenth century, and 

 the first plantations at Inveraray appear to have been about 

 the year 1600. Evidence for computing the ages of the 

 oldest trees, chestnuts, sycamores, and beeches, is pre- 

 sented ; the Kippenross sycamore and Corstorphine 

 " plane " are referred to the fifteenth century. A list of 

 trees enumerates twenty native and fifty introduced species. 



In many countries at the present time the detailed 

 investigation of their geographical conditions attracts as 

 much attention as the study of distant lands, and has the 

 advantage of being based on much fuller and more accurate 

 information ; moreover, the period over which such data 

 are spread enables comparisons to be made between the 

 conditions which existed at different periods. In the 

 December (1910) number of Petennann's Mitteilungen 

 Prof. H. Hassinger presents a brief study of the geography 

 of towns and cities, indicating in a systematic manner the 

 lines of investigation which may be followed in order to 

 show the influence that their surrounding and the require- 

 ments of the population have had on their development. 

 Dr. Maull in the same number discusses a more localised 

 subject, the zone of the northern limestone Alps, and traces 

 the settlements and lines of communication as they occur 

 in forest belt and neighbouring region, as well as their 

 gradual development. A more specialised type of study is 

 that of Dr. K. Schneider (,Mitt. k.k. Geog. Gesell. Wien, 

 Nos. II, 12, 1910), wherein he discusses at some length 

 the geographical relations of the German and Czech peoples 

 in Bohemia, the development of towns and cities, com- 

 munications, and commercial intercourse. 



The meteorology of the future is the subject of an 

 instructive lecture delivered some time since by Prof. C. 

 Abbe at Columbia University, and printed in the Popular 

 Science Monthly for January. The author admits that the 

 question is a very difficult one, and that it is impossible to 

 foresee in detail the problems of the future. Long ago 

 mariners took advantage of the knowledge of trade winds 

 and monsoons, but it took two more centuries to acquire a 

 knowledge of whirlwinds as they advance over the globe, 

 and we are not yet able to speak of weather forecasts as 

 more than probabilities. Some very interesting experiments 

 were arranged, illustrating the formation of cloud and 

 rain, and, with reference to ineffectual attempts made in 

 some countries, it was shown that if we wish to avert 



