May 19, 192 1 J 



NATURE 



Z7i 



accurate and informative as possible in an industry 

 which does not lend itself readily to minutely 

 made records. In order to locate the regions in which 

 the fishes were captured by means of the trawl, Dr. 

 Fulton devised the scheme subdividing- the North Sea 

 into equally sized divisions numbered consecutively. 

 This arrangement was adopted and found to be of 

 great service. Dr. Fulton has served during the past 

 twenty years as one of the experts on the International 

 Committee for the Exploration of the North Sea, a 

 body which has published many imf>ortant reports 

 dealing with fisheries biology. In 191 1 a Depart- 

 mental Committee of which he was a member inquired 

 into the Scottish fishing industry ; the wide extent 

 and thoroughness of its labours are indicated by the 

 large report which it issued. Dr. Fulton's publica- 

 tions deal with the development, distribution, and 

 migrations of fishes ; they are numerous and of great 

 interest and value. 



In an account of the leeches of the Chilka Lake 

 (in the province of Bihar and Orissa) Mr. W. A. 

 Harding records (Memoirs Indian Museum, vol. v., 

 1920) the occurrence of a colour variety of Glosso. 

 siphonia heteroclita, a species well known to occur 

 in fresh-water in North America and throughout the 

 greater part of Europ»e, but now recorded from India 

 for the first time. Mr. Harding has received examples 

 collected in many other parts of India, and the species 

 is evidently widely distributed there. A new species 

 of Piscicola, from fish, and one of Placobdella, from 

 mud-turtles of the genus Emyda, are also described. 



As a result of the late war and the consequent 

 dearth of foodstuffs in certain parts of Central 

 Europe, increased interest is being aroused in the 

 wider utilisation of wild plants — more especially fungi 

 — as food for human consumption. An association 

 has been formed in recent years, having its head- 

 quarters in Heilbronn a. N., styled the " Pilz- und 

 Kriiuterzentrale," am.ongst the main objects of which 

 are the fostering of the study of fungi and the dis- 

 semination of information, particularly as regards the 

 nutritious qualities of the various edible kinds and 

 the properties of those that are noxious or specifically 

 poisonous, amongst the lay public. In furtherance of 

 its aims a congress of mycologists is being arranged 

 under the auspices of the association to be held in 

 Nijrnberg during the coming autumn. The associa- 

 tion issues a monthly periodical, Der Pilz- und 

 Krduterfreunde, now in its fourth year of publication. 

 The articles in this periodical are naturally more or 

 less of a popular nature, but descriptions of new fungi 

 are also included. One of the recent issues contains 

 a description, with a coloured plate, of a new 

 poisonous species of agaric, Inocybe lateraria. In the 

 list of supporters of the association are to be found 

 such well-known names as Giinther-Beck v. Mana- 

 getta, Bresadola, Faick, and Lindau. 



The National Institute of .Agricultural Botany has 

 recfentlv published the report of its Potato Synonym 

 Committee for the year 1920. The necessity for reduc- 

 ing to order the chaos existing in the nomenclature 

 of potato varieties has become more urgent than ever 

 NO. 2690, VOL. 107] 



in recent years, owing to the fact that some varieties 

 are immune to the dreaded wart disease, while others 

 are susceptible. Two hundred and forty-two varieties 

 are dealt with in the report, and they are classified in 

 forty-two groups. Immunity or susceptibility to wart 

 disease is generally indicated. In a large number of 

 cases the varieties, although possessing different 

 names, were found to be indistinguishable in morpho- 

 logical and certain physiological characters (such as 

 time of maturity, immunity or otherwise to wart 

 disease) from well-known types such as " Up-to- 

 Date," "Abundance," etc., so that in practice one 

 and the same variety may possess many names. It 

 is proposed to publish an annual handbook of potato- 

 svnonyms, the practical value of which will be con- 

 siderable. Nevertheless, it is to be hoped that the 

 institute will not rest content with a mere indexing of 

 names. What is really required is a detailed and 

 scientific monograph of the leading types of potato 

 varieties at present in cultivation, with adequate illus- 

 trations and descriptions of their differentiating charac- 

 teristics. The preparation of such a monograph would 

 entail a considerable amount of additional effort; but 

 a better opportunity for embarking on such a project 

 is scarcely likely to occur than that now presented by 

 the work of the National Institute at its Ormskirk 

 Trial Grounds, while it would be difficult to find 

 men more thoroughly equipped for the enterprise 

 than those who form the Synonym Committee. 



The annual report of the Marlborough College 

 Natural History Society for the year ending Christ- 

 mas, 1920, has just been received. It forms an 

 interesting record of the work carried out by this 

 active and vigorous association. No fewer than 

 fourteen papers were read to the astronomical section 

 dealing with such diverse subjects as the moon, 

 stellar photometry, tides, and relativity. The 

 botanical, ornithological, and entomological sections 

 also receive notice in the report. Their activities were 

 confined mostly to recording the appearance of plants, 

 birds, and insects in the neighbourhood, and the 

 results provide useful contributions to the knowledge 

 of the local natural history. The report concludes 

 with a summary of the meteorological observations 

 made at the college during the year; maximum, 

 mean, and minimum barometric and thermometric 

 readings for the several months are given, together 

 with remarks on observations of wind, rainfall, and 

 sunshine for similar periods. We are glad to see 

 that this useful society is, according to the annual 

 balance-sheet, in a sound position and proposes to 

 carry on and, if possible, extend its labours to other 

 branches of natural history. 



The Queensland Museum recently obtained fronT 

 post-Tertiary sand on the Darling Downs a marsupial 

 cranium apparently of the species Nototheriiim 

 dunense, founded by De Vis in 1887 on some mandibles 

 and cranial fragments. The new skull is described 

 and figured in the Memoirs of the museum (vol. vii., 

 part 2) by the director, Mr. H; A. Longman, who feels 

 impelled to establish for the species a new genus, 

 Eurvzygoma. The character that suggests the name 

 is the enormous relative width given to the skull by 



