92 



NATURE 



[September 23, 1915 



committee. Many dry powder fire extinguishers are 

 much advertised. The Commissioner warns the 

 public, as the result of experiments made at his 

 instance, by a competent committee of experts, that 

 no reliance can be placed upon such appliances for 

 effectively controlling fires such as are likely to be 

 caused by bombs — explosive or incendiary. The Com- 

 missioner is advised as the result of these experiments 

 that the provision, and prompt and intelligent use, of 

 water or sand or of both in dealing with such out- 

 breaks of fire is the best, simplest, and most 

 economical safeguard. 



The United States National Museum, Washington, 

 has recently obtained the greater part of a fine skeleton 

 of Mastodon from a swampy deposit near VVinamac, 

 Indiana. The bones are in a good state of preserva- 

 tion, and when prepared will be mounted for exhibi- 

 tion. 



The eighth number of the Boletin of the Sociedad 

 Physis of Buenos Aires, just received, completes the 

 first volume of this publication. The society was 

 founded in 1912 for the promotion and diffusion of 

 natural science in the Argentine Republic, anrd has met 

 with considerable success. All the published papers 

 record the results of original research, and each part 

 of the journal concludes with a useful series of reviews 

 and notices of writings dealing with the geology, 

 botany, zoology, and anthropology of South America. 



Dr. J. W. Fewkes, of the U.S. Bureau of Ethno- 

 logy, has started to continue his exploration of the 

 remarkable ruins in Mesa Verde National Park in 

 south-west Colorado, which are believed to be the 

 work of the ancestors of the modern Pueblo Indians. 

 One of these constructions, known as Spruce Tree 

 House, resembles a gigantic hotel built in a cave, the 

 floor of which is about 50 ft. above the bottom of the 

 canyon, while the roof is 80 ft. high. In some places 

 the rooms occupied three stories, and the building 

 may have accommodated 350 persons. Cliff Palace Is 

 nearly three times the size of Spruce Tree House, 

 and, like it, stands in a cave to which access is gained 

 by steps cut in the rock and by ladders. An important 

 part of this structure is a ceremonial chamber entered 

 from a subterranean passage. Here it is believed that 

 the tribal ceremonies were performed. These struc- 

 tures, when fully excavated, will throw much light on 

 the social life, religious and secular rites of this 

 remarkable people. 



We have received a copy of the Madras Agricultural 

 Calendar for the year 1915-16, issued by the Madras 

 Agricultural Department, which contains a series of 

 useful articles on green manuring, cotton and its 

 cultivation, on various veterinary subjects, and on 

 native implements and subjects of value to the small 

 proprietor. The calendar portion gives information 

 about cattle fairs and other matters of native interest, 

 and, by way of introduction, the purpose of the 

 Agricultural Department is fully explained. 



The first number of the Journal of the Botanical 

 Society of South Africa has recently been published 

 under the editorship of Prof. H. H. W. Pearson, 

 NO. 2395, VOL. 96] 



hon. director of the National Botanic Gardens, 

 Kirstenbosch. It Includes a short notice of the late 

 Lord de Villlers, the first president of the society, to 

 whose interest and influence the establishment of the 

 gardens and the founding of the society was so 

 largely due. An interesting account of former public 

 and private acclimatisation and botanic gardens at 

 the Cape, with an outline of the establishment in 

 1913 of the National Garden at Kirstenbosch, Is also 

 given. It is a matter of regret that this Important 

 enterprise seems likely to suffer financially owing to 

 the war, just when funds are so essential for further- 

 ing the initial stages of Its development. It is to be 

 hoped that the Botanical Society, to the assistance of 

 which the new National Garden owes so much, will 

 continue to bear its share in the responsibility of 

 developing the Garden as generously as in the past, 

 and will be able to enlist many new members to help 

 on the work. 



The Transactions of the Royal Scottish Arborlcul- 

 tural Society, vol. xxix., part ii. (July, 1915), contain 

 several articles dealing with larch, the most Interest- 

 ing being an account of the first-generation hybrids 

 between the Japanese and the European species, which 

 are making astonishingly rapid growth on two estates 

 in Perthshire, where they originated a few years ago. 

 A new species, Larix olgensis, from eastern Asia, is 

 described and figured; but it is not considered likely 

 to be of any value for economic planting. Mr. Mar- 

 shall, who has extensive plantations of larch in the 

 Lake district, gives the results of experiments, which 

 show that the wood of the Japanese larch Is consider- 

 ably Inferior In strength to that of the European 

 species, at any rate when young and of a size only big 

 enough for pitprops. The Transactions contain useful 

 notes on various insect and fungus pests. It is satis- 

 factory to learn that new regulations of the Post- 

 master-General facilitate the purchase of home-grown 

 Scots pine for use as telegraph poles. 



The number of species of FIcus at present known 

 from tropical Africa is 173, and the genus has recently 

 been revised for the "Flora of Tropical Africa" by 

 Mr. Hutchinson. Descriptions of the new species. 

 Illustrated in many cases by useful text figures, are 

 given In Kew Bulletin No. 7, 1915. Our knowledge 

 of the genus has been increased mainly owing to the 

 collections made by Dr. J. Mildbraed, and to the ex- 

 tensive material sent to Brussels from the Belgian 

 Congo. The genus is broken up Into five sub- 

 genera; four of these have the bracts of the ostiole 

 of the receptacle spread horizontally across the mouth, 

 so that some of them are visible from the outside ; 

 but in the fifth subgenus, BIbracteatae, containing 73 

 species, the ostiole from outside looks like a single 

 pore-like slit, as all the bracts are abruptly reflexed 

 and point vertically downwards into the receptacle. 

 The present paper deals mainly with species belong- 

 ing to this subgenus. 



"The Trees and Shrubs of the Pacific Coast" is 

 the title of an interesting paper by Mr. F. R. S. 

 Balfour, printed in the Journal of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society, vol. xli., part i., August, 1915, which 



