April 28, 192 1] 



NATURE 



279 



species has been recorded as an occasional rarity, but 

 there appears to be no previous instance of its occurring 

 in sufficient numbers to cause appreciable damage. 

 There seems to be no doubt that the presence of this 

 beetle is due to infected shipments of barley from 

 Karachi and other Indian ports. The second article 

 refers to Nematode worms in relation to leather manu- 

 facture, these organisms being found in large numbers 

 during the process of removing wool from skins by 

 means of "sweating." It is undoubtedly a healthy 

 sign that a business house deems it worth while to 

 issue a periodical of this nature. Apart from any 

 function by way of advertisement, it should serve as 

 an outlet for the publication of research work carried 

 out in the firm's own laboratories-. It is well printed and 

 the illustrations adequately fulfil the purpose intended. 



The evolution of the lachrymal bone in vertebrate 

 animals is discussed at great length and illustrated 

 with nearly 200 beautiful figures by Dr. W. K. Gregory 

 in one of his studies of comparative myology and 

 osteology (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. xlii.. 

 No. 4). The bone can now be traced back by almost 

 every gradation to a dermal plate in the circumorbital 

 ring of certain Devonian fishes. In the earliest 

 amphibians this and the other bones of the circum- 

 orbital series become better differentiated, and in early 

 reptiles the anterior part of the lachrymal is covered 

 by the progressive upgrowth of the maxilla. In 

 mammals the lachrymal and jugal are the only two 

 parts of the primitive circumorbital series remaining, 

 and the lachrymal is reduced as the upgrowth of the 

 maxilla increases. There can be no doubt that the 

 lachrymal of mammals is homologous with the bone 

 similarly named in reptiles. The anatomy of the 

 lachrymal and malar fossae in the skull of horses and 

 other hoofed mammals is also discussed by Dr. Gregory 

 (No. 5). He concludes that the large lachrymal fossa 

 of the extinct horse was occupied neither by a facial 

 gland nor by muscle, but by the end of a greatly en- 

 larged nasal diverticulum. The malar fossa seems 

 to have lodged part of one of the lip-muscles. 



The structure and uses of balsa wood are fully 

 described by Mr. R. C. Carpenter in Trans, .^mer. 

 Soc. Civil Engineers (vol. Ixxxi., No. 125, 1917). 

 This wood is the lightest known, a cubic foot weigh- 

 ing only 73 lb., yet its strength is fully half that of 

 spruce. It has been used for rafts, floats, and life- 

 preservers, and is now much employed, since it is a 

 non-conductor of heat, for ice-boxes and refrigerators. 

 Frozen butter sent from Virginia in a small balsa box 

 arrived after an eight days' journey in summer weather 

 at Los Angeles still hard and frozen. It is possible 

 that containers made of balsa wood will eventually 

 displace thermos flasks. Untreated balsa wood is 

 of little value for most purposes because it soon rots 

 and decays in consequence of its liability to absorb 

 water. This has been overcome by R. A. Marr's 

 process of waterproofing timber with a bath of 

 which the chief ingredient is paraffin. Balsa wood 

 is the product of various species of Ochroma, trees 

 allied to Bombax, which have lately been elucidated 

 by Prof. W. W. Rowlee in Journ. Washington Acad. 

 Sciences (vol. ix., p. 157, 19 19). The best known is 

 Ochroma lagopus, Swartz, which occurs wild in 

 NO. 2687, VOL. 107] 



Cuba and Jamaica. Eight other species, including 

 seven new to science, occur in the tropical forests of 

 America, ranging from Guatemala and Honduras to 

 Ecuador and Bolivia, Ochroma limonensis, Rowlee, 

 is extraordinarily rapid in growth ; a seedling in 

 Costa Rica was 16 in. in diameter at the end of three 

 vears, and this individual is said to be in no way 

 exceptional. 



The Geological Survey of Western Australia has 

 published a series of memoirs intended especially to 

 aid prospectors and miners. In addition to sections 

 dealing with the occurrence, distribution, and produc- 

 tion of the various minerals, there are a number of 

 chapters designed to teach the prospector the rudi- 

 ments of geologv, mineralogy, and petrology so far 

 as these are of use in discovering or developing the 

 mineral resources of the country. 



The Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau has issued 

 a small volume of statistical and technical informa- 

 tion upon zinc covering the period 1913-19. It con- 

 tains an excellent review of the zinc industry at the 

 close of 1919 by Mr. Gilbert Rigg. Unfortunately, 

 sufficient care has not been bestowed upon the all- 

 important statistical portion ; thus for 1913 the pro- 

 duction of zinc-ore in the United Kingdom is given 

 as 17,294 tons, capable of producing 5823 tons of 

 spelter, while the quantity of imported ore is given 

 as 64,670 tons. The production of smelted zinc is 

 given as 66,000 tons, so that the quantity of imported 

 ore given above must be assumed to have yielded 

 about 60,000 tons of spelter, which is clearly quite 

 impossible. Surely, too, an official British publica- 

 tion should not use the term "long" tons when 

 "statute " tons are meant. 



The Meteorological Department of the Government 

 of India has issued its report on the administration in 

 1919-20. Observations in connection with the upper 

 air have been developed on behalf of the aviators 

 who are from time to time crossing India. Storm 

 warnings for stations in the Bay of Bengal and in the 

 Arabian Sea are said to have been carried out success- 

 fully. It is, however, admitted that the warning of 

 the storm which caused much damage to life and 

 property in eastern Bengal on the night of Septem- 

 ber 24, 1919, was inadequate. Inland stations were 

 not communicated with until early evening, and were 

 then informed that a " slight to moderate storm " was 

 expected. Special arrangements have been made to 

 avoid the repetition of a similar mishap. The storm, 

 which was tracked from September 22-25, developed 

 rapidly as it approached, and crossed the Bengal coast 

 as a cyclone about noon on September 24. It reached 

 Dacca at about 2.30 a.m. on September 25, and finally 

 broke up on that day in the Assam hills. At the centre 

 the deficiency of pressure was about i^ in., and the 

 calm area at least 15 miles in diameter. The 

 total loss of life is estimated at 3500. The value of 

 property destroyed was probably greater than in any 

 storm in Bengal for the last two hundred years, but 

 the destruction of human life was probably greater 

 in the Bakarganj cyclone of 1876. An additional 

 terror was caused by a vivid red glow appearing in 

 the sky during the period of the lull. Details are 

 given of the several storms which occurred during the 



