October 20. 192 1] 



NATURE 



253 



I.v Natural History (vol. 21, Xo. 3), Mr. F. Morton 

 Jones gives a most interesting account of the influence 

 of insect-trapping plants on their insect associates, 

 with special reference to ihose species of the moth 

 Exyra which pass their entire life-cycle in intimate 

 contact with pitcher plants of the genus Sarracenia. 

 There are three species of Exyra, two of which are 

 confined each to a single species of Sarracenia, and 

 a third species, more adaptable than the other two, 

 which seems equally at home in five other species of 

 pitcher plant. Mr. Jones considers the plant-insect 

 relation stage by stage in the life-cycle of the insects. 

 He points out first those adjustments common to them 

 all which relate to the general plan of the insect trap 

 of Sarracenia, indicating an association ante-dating 

 the splitting of the insect group, if not the plant 

 group, into its several species. He then indicates the 

 further adjustments which each species of moth 

 shows to its own species of food plant, suggesting 

 that the process of adjustment has continued, either 

 coincident with the development of the plant species 

 or at least following the insect's association with the 

 plant. He concludes that the peculiar characters of 

 the plant have been a significant factor in deter- 

 mining the course of evolution of the insects, and 

 demonstrates the stages by which the latter have be- 

 come adapted to their uniquely dangerous habitat. 



Writing in the August number of the South African 

 Journal of Industries on '"Science in the Ser\ice of 

 the State," Mr. T. G. Trevor complains that the 

 government of nations Is still in the hands of the I 

 •predator}- " class, although the civilisation of to-dav ! 

 depends in every detail of its existence on science j 

 and the labours of the "creative" class. He attri- 

 butes the unfavourable position of the scientific and 1 

 technical classes in the South African civil service to 1 

 this fact. Scientific workers in the Union's civil ' 

 service are pilloried indiscriminately with the clerical i 

 and administrative classes when the Parliamentary- \ 

 estimates are under discussion, yet since Lord Milner ■ 

 inaugurated the scientific departments of the Union I 

 Goxernment senice, "locusts have disappeared, | 

 nalaria is a thing of the past, whole districts which 

 u-ere formerly regarded as impossible for white popu- 

 lation are now fully peopled." The work on irriga- 

 tion and cattle diseases has transformed vast areas, i 

 ^^'hat is more important still, these senices rendered j 

 "are infinitesimal compared to what they might be if j 

 It were once appreciated by the countrv at large j 

 what scientific work really is." The country- should ^ 

 regard the expenses of those civil ser\ants 'who are I 

 engaged in research and productive work as an in- ! 

 vestment. Instead, the Government offers a much ' 

 lower salary to a chemist than the Rand Club offers 

 to its billiard markers. Mr. Trevor outlines the ad- 

 ministrative scheme under which the Union's 

 men of science suffer. He is under the impression that 

 thmgs are vastly different in this countrv; there he 

 is mistaken. Salaries are probably on a better level, 

 but Mr. Trevor's criticism of the attitude towards 

 science, the ignorance of the Pariiamentarian 

 NO. 2712, VOL. 108] 



contempt of the administrator, and the indifference of 

 the average citizen, can be applied with equal apposite- 

 ness to the condition of affairs here. 



The Kew Bulletin (So. 6, 192 1) contains an account 

 of a visit to the Cameroons and Nigeria bv Dr. A. W. 

 Hill, assistant director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 undertaken at the request of Sir Hugh Clifford, 

 Governor of Nigeria. The main object of the visit 

 was to report upon the Botanic Gardens at Victoria, 

 Cameroons, which have suffered from some neglect 

 during and since the war. .\ description of the 

 gardens and associated buildings is given, and Dr. 

 Hill strongly recommends their restoration to a state 

 of proper order and efficiency. A large area of the 

 British sphere of the Cameroons, from sea-level to 

 about 1800ft., is occupied by large plantations, where 

 cocoa, rubber, kola, oil palm, and bananas are exten- 

 sively cultivated. The writer emphasises the need for 

 a department of plant pathology at the Victoria 

 Gardens for the investigation of the problems in rela- 

 tion to plant-diseases,' selection, breeding, and the 

 soil, which will arise on these extensive plantations. 

 In addition to research, instruction should also be 

 an important function of the garden. In Nigeria 

 somewhat different conditions prevail ; the soil is 

 generally less fertile, and the cultivated plots are in 

 native hands, and relatively small. Dr. Hill insisis 

 on the need for appointing agricultural chemists to 

 study the principles of- the native practices of culti- 

 vation, and to develop and improve any that are 

 found to be of value. Economic botanists are also 

 needed to investigate the native economic products 

 and demonstrate their value for the good of the com- 

 munity. A brief visit was made to the Bauchi 

 Plateau, a dr>- granitic area in Northern Nigeria, the 

 botany of which had not previously been studied, and 

 proved to be of considerable interest 



Ix a pamphlet published by the Institution of 

 Water Engineers, Mr. T. Sheppard colhects the pub- 

 lished facts relating to Spurn Point and the lost 

 towns of the Humber coast. As regards Spurn 

 Point, plans, and in recent times, measurements, 

 give accurate data as to the growth of the land. This 

 has been so rapid that from the seventeenth century- 

 onward the lighthouse at the point has been con- 

 tinually moved westward. Thus between 1766 and 

 177 1 the point is said to have grown 280 yards in 

 length, although during the next centur\- its growth 

 was slower, and barely exceeded the same amount. 

 The point is still extending in length and width, but 

 if the growth continues a break will occur some- 

 where in this narrow spit of land. This has prob- 

 ably occurred in the past, since more than one old 

 charf shows an island where the peninsula now is. 

 The lost town of Ravenser, the site of which is un- 

 certain, possibly existed on such an island. Founded 

 by the Danes in the ninth centur}-, Ravenser became 

 in time a flourishing and wealthy port, but during 

 the sixteenth cen*tur\- it was entirely swept awav. 

 The last reference to the place is said to have been 

 the 1 in Leland's ' Itinerar}." Mr. Sheppard goes at length 



