May 19, 192 1 J 



NATURE 



379 



Zoological Laboratory, Imperial College of Science, 

 South Kensington, S.W.: (i) Embryonic calcareous 

 structures of the lantern of the sea-urchin, Echinus 

 miliaris (Mr. Devanesen). The calcareous parts of 

 the lantern, with the exception of the teeth, arise as 

 tri-radiate spicules. While the jaws, the epiphyses, 

 and the compasses each make their first appearance 

 as a pair of spicules, the rotulae alone arise from 

 single spicules. Each tooth is made up of two ad- 

 jacent vertical rows of rectangular lamellae which 

 afterwards fuse together. (2) The spermatogenesis 

 of the louse, Pediculus corporis (Mr. H. G. Cannon). 

 The somatic chromosome number in both sexes is 

 twelve, but spermatogonial mitotic figures show only 

 six, and there is evidence that these are double. 

 There is only one spermatocyte division, which is 

 extremely unequal, leading to the separation of a 

 minute polar-body-like cell which degenerates. It is 

 this division which was exhibited. 



Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew : Abnormal develop- 

 ment of lime-tree branches due to the presence of 

 mistletoe (Viscum album, Linn.). Large and small 

 swellings often occur on the branches of lime-trees 

 infested with mistletoe, and there can be little doubt 

 that they are due to the presence of the parasite, 

 although on the larger swellings mistletoe is weak 

 and sometimes diflficult to find, while on small swell- 

 ings, or where very little abnormal increase in girth 

 is noticeable, mistletoe may be very vigorous. From 

 the presence and character of the dead haustoria in 

 the older parts of the large swellings it is apparent 

 that healthy mistletoe was present at an earlier date. 

 Canker, however, occurred, whereby the mistletoe 

 became insecure and was eventually torn away by 

 the wind. Vigorous new aerial branches did not 

 appear, but buds and haustoria in the bark continued 

 to grow, and the affected part of the lime branch 

 developed at an abnormal rate, the consequent 

 thickening of the bark probably inhibiting any 

 strong aerial growth of the parasite. 



Dr. W. Bateson : Variegated prothallia of a fern. 

 The variegated fern, Adiantum cuneatum var. varie- 

 gata, produces prothallia of which many are green 

 and some variegated. From these arise ferns which 

 may be green, variegated, cr white. Apparently 

 segregation here occurs in haploid tissue. 



Mr. Franklin Kidd : Application of cold-storage and 

 gas-storage to English apples. The Food Investiga- 

 tion Board has been investigating the possibilities of 

 the cold-storage method and of a new method known 

 as "gas-storage" in application to the English app1<-' 

 crop. Improved methods of apple storage are re- 

 quired in order to bring the home-grown apple into 

 successful competition with imported apples through- 

 out the winter season. In cold-storage the apples are 

 kept just above freezing point. The method is costly. 

 In "gas-storage" the apples are held in a gas mix- 

 ture created and maintained bv their own respira- 

 tory activity, no machinery being required. This 

 method is cheaper. 



Dr. W. Lawrence Balls: Portable cotton-sorting 

 mechanism. The "sorter " mechanism is designed to 

 analyse a collection of such fibres as cotton-hairs by 

 distributing them on a collecting surface in the order 

 of their individual lengths, thus enabling the frequency 

 distribution of length to be plotted. The instrument 

 shown was re-designed from the original automatic 

 form in order to provide a portable pattern convenient 

 for the use of cotton-growers and agricultural experi- 

 ment stations abroad. 



Dr. A. Smith Woodward: Fossil fishes from the 

 Old Red Sandstone of Shetland. This is part of a 

 collection latelv made bv Mr. T. M. Finlay, of the 

 Universitv of Edinburgh, and is important as includ 



NO. 2690, VOL. 107] 



ing well-preserved specimens of a Palaeoniscid fish 

 related to the Carboniferous Rhadinichthys. Scales 

 of a similar Palaeoniscid are already known from 

 Upper Devonian formations in North America and 

 Antarctica. 



Dr. F. A. Bather: Some questionable fossils, 

 (i) Tubular quartzite of Cambrian age from Sweden 

 and of Lower Devonian age from the Eifel. Are the 

 structures produced by worms or by ascending air- 

 bubbles? (2) EchiAoderm remains of Permian age 

 from Timor. Are they spines of sea-urchins or bases 

 of crinoids? (3) Horned Trilobites of Middle Devonian 

 age from the Eifel. What, if any, was the use of 

 the horns ? 



Mr. J. Reid Moir : A series of ochreous flint im- 

 plements, cores, and flakes of Early Chellean (Palaeo- 

 lithic age) from the base of the Cromer Forest Bed 

 deposits. The specimens exhibited were collected 

 from a limited area of foreshore exposed at low water 

 at Cromer, Norfolk. The series included implements 

 of Early Chellean forms, such as have been found 

 hitherto in river-terrace gravels, together with rostro- 

 carinates, choppers, scrapers, points, cores, and a 

 large number of flakes. If the specimens are as- 

 signed correctly to the base of the Cromer Forest 

 Bed, then the earliest Palaeolithic cultures are refer- 

 able in East Anglia to the Upper Pliocene deposits. 



Mr. George H. Gabb : The original portrait of 

 Galileo by D. Tintoretto, in oil, painted about 1605-7, 

 when Galileo was from forty-one to forty-three years 

 of age. This portrait is of great historic interest as 

 probably the earliest original existing portrait of 

 Galileo, a somewhat earlier one bv Sant^ di Tito 

 having been lost. At the time D. Tintoretto painted 

 the portrait Galileo was master of mathematics at 

 Padua, whi(:h is indicated by the inscription on it, 

 "Gallileus Gallileus Mathus." This was some vears 

 before he began the great astronomical discoveries bv 

 means of the telescope which consolidated the theory 

 of the Copernican svstem and immortalised his 

 name. A small engraving by Schiavoni was made of 

 this portrait about 1812. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Cambridge. — The Adams prize has been awarded to 

 Dr. W. M. Hicks, St. John's College. 



It is proposed to form an advisory committee on 

 geodesy and geodynamics to make provision for study 

 and research in geodesy, including arc measurements, 

 primarv triangulation, precise levelling, and gravity 

 determinations ; also for geodynamics and tidal 

 phenomena. It is hoped to take the first active step 

 towards the foundation of a school of geodesy and 

 geodynamics which would eventuallv meet the prac- 

 tical needs of the surveys of the Empire. The ad- 

 visorv committee would be largely nominated by out- 

 side bodies, and both the Hydrographer of the Navy 

 and the Director-General of the Ordnance Survey 

 would be represented on it. Further steps in 

 organisation await the appointment of a praelector in 

 geodesy by Trinity College. 



London. — The following new appointments have 

 been made at Universitv College :— Mr. T. A. Brown, 

 senior lecturer in pure mathematics for the session 

 iq2i-22, and Dr. Percy Stocks, medical officer in 

 connection^ with the department of applied statistics 

 and eugenics (this appointment has been instituted bv 

 means of a grant made bv the London Countv 

 Council). 



Sir William Tilden will deliver three public lectures 

 at Universitv College on "The Historv of Chemistry 

 in the Nineteenth Century " on Fridavs, Mav 27 ani 



