September i6, 1920] 



NATURE 



89 



favourable to the production of large yields of excel- 

 lent cotton, an<f in course of time it should add 

 materially to the world's supply. Since 1917 experi- 

 ments have been conducted by an expert from the 

 Indian Agricultural Service with the view of dis- 

 covering the most suitable kinds to grow, and the 

 results of the work done in this connection and the 

 prospects of establishing a cotton-growing industn,' 

 are fully dealt with in the current number of the 

 Bulletin of the Imperial Institute. So far, American 

 types of cotton seem to be the most suitable for 

 cultivation in Mesopotamia. The members of a 

 deputation of the British Cotton Growing Association 

 which visited the country towards the end of last 

 year were very favourably impre<;?iod with its possi- 

 bilities for cotton production. 



The July-August issue of the Scottish yaturalist 

 <Nos. 103 and 104, pp. 99-144) is devoted to a report 

 on Scottish ornithology in 1919 by Miss Leonora 

 Jeffrey Rintoul and Miss Evelyn V. Baxter — a careful 

 piece of work in which many contributors have 

 assisted. The most interesting feature of 19 19 is the 

 extension of the breeding range of certain species. 

 Of these the most important is the reappearance of 

 the Whoopcr swan as a Scottish breeding species. 

 Migration ran a fairly normal course; the cold 

 spring seemed to have no effect on the arrivals of 

 summer visitors. A very large movement took place 

 in the first half of May, but no very big migrations 

 are recorded in autumn, the only one of any magni- 

 lo being a weather movement in mid-November 

 ised by the very hard frost and snow at that time. 

 Ni> new birds were added to the Scottish list, but a 

 ^'>o<l many uncommon visitors and new records for 

 particular faunal areas are noted, e.g. a blue-headed 

 wagtail at Fair Isle, a red-backed shrike in Moray, 

 J two reed-warblers from Lerwick, a bee-eater at 

 I Lentran, two .American widgeon from Tay and Clyde, 

 ;■ and a spotted crake from Ross-shire. The garden- 

 rbler and the pied flycatcher were both found 

 ling in the Moray area. The report deals also 

 '. :!h the decrease of certain s[H'cies in various areas, 

 A ith varieties of plumage, with the noteworthy pheno- 

 mena of the various seasons, and with peculiarities of 

 ' ''it, such as carrion-crows acting as foster-parents. 

 i^ cheering to read that on October 5, at Swordale, 

 -t Ross, a golden eagle, two buzzards, and a perc- 

 10 falcon were all seen in the air together. The 

 hors are to be congratulatc<l on the continuation of 

 ir valuable series of annual reports. 



is Professional Paper 98-L of the U.S. Geological 



vcy, Messrs. G. C. Matson and E. W. Ikrry pro- 



:•■ the first description of a North .American Pliocene 



tlorn. This comes from the Citronelk' formation of 



the Gulf coastal plain, extending from western Florida 



to eastern Texas, and indicates climatic conditions in 



late Pliocene time similar to those of the present day. 



Tl)e modem forest flora is well illustrated in its habit 



aas it lives, to furnish a picture of the Pliocene period. 



Mr John Parkinson introduces the term "lak" 

 Into geography in his " Report on the Geology and 

 NO. 2655, VOL. 10(6] 



Geography of the Northern Part of the East Africa 

 Protectorate " (Colonial Reports — Miscellaneous, 

 No. 91, 1920). .A lak is a drainage-channel that may 

 carry water periodically ; it is often a guide to the 

 capacity of an area for development. On the banks 

 of some laks in East .Africa the abundance of mol- 

 luscan shells indicates the former existence of exten- 

 sive lakes, and the water-supply found in the wells 

 may be a relic of these lakes in a region that has 

 clearly suffered from desiccation. 



Drumlins, kames, and eskers play a large part in 

 the topography of northern temperate lands in Europe 

 and America, and their relations are well illustrated 

 in maps and landscap>es in Mr. \V. C. .Alden's im- 

 portant memoir on "The Quaternary Geology of 

 South-eastern Wisconsin " (U.S. Geol. Surv., Prof. 

 Paper 106, 1918). The distribution of the drumlins 

 of the Green Bay glacier west of Lake Michigan, and 

 of the subglacial eskers, is a very striking feature of 

 the large " surficial " map. Would the U.S. Survey 

 consider the folding of its maps with the printed 

 side outwards, as is done by the Ordnance Survey 

 of the British Isles, following the plan adopted by so 

 many travellers in their field-work? 



A Catalogue of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Plants 

 of North .America, by F. H. Knowlton, has been 

 issued as Bulletin 696 of the United States Geological 

 Survey. It contains 815 pages, and should form a 

 useful work of reference. The catalogue is an alpha- 

 betically arranged list of the genera and species that ■ 

 have been described. For each American form that 

 is known only in a fossil state the original date and 

 place of publication are given ; then follow all or the 

 most important references, especially such as refer to 

 descriptions and figures. For each Old World form 

 that is recognised in North .American strata the 

 original date and place of publication are given ; 

 a reference to the publication in which the form 

 is first recorded as .American follows, and then 

 in chronological order the .American references. For 

 living species found fossil only the authority is given, 

 followed by the first reference to the species in a 

 fossil state, and then by other important references. 

 The synonymy is placed under the species to which it 

 belongs, but each synonym occurs in its proper alpha- 

 betical place with a reference to the form to which 

 it is now referred. The catalogue is supplemented by 

 a systematic arrangement of the genera and an index 

 of genera and families. There are also a list of the 

 North .American Mesozoic and Cenozoic plant-l>enring 

 formations, with the plants found in each alpha- 

 betically arranged, and a bibliography. 



The Report issued by the United States Geological 

 Survey of the world's production of copper in 1917 

 has recently been published. For many jears the 

 U.S. .A. has been the largest producer of this metal. 

 In 1913 its production was about 57 per cent, of the 

 world's output of just under one million tons. During 

 the war there was a greatly increase<l use of this 

 metal, and the demand of the belligerent countries wag 

 satisfied principally by a very large increase in .Ameri- 



