152 



NATURE 



[October 7, 19 15 



co-operation found in the United States between 

 scientific experts, farmers, and chemical manufac- 

 turers, and wishes that similar conditions might be 

 brought about in this country. 



The trustees of the British Museum have issued 

 an account of the Nemertine Worms collected on the 

 Terra Nova Antarctic Expedition (Nat. Hist. Report, 

 Zoology, vol. ii.. No. 5), by Mr. H. A. Baylis. The 

 number of species is small, and most of them are 

 represented by few examples, but the author in his 

 systematic and anatomical descriptions and drawings 

 has made the most of the material at his disposal. 

 Worms from Antarctic localities described by other 

 naturalists as species of Cerebratulus and Eupolia, 

 are all referred to M'Intosh's Kerguelen species 

 Linens corrugatus, which, on this view, has an ex- 

 tensive circumpolar range. 



A VALUABLE account of the penguins of South 

 Georgia, by Mr. R. C. Murphy, has been published, 

 in the form of a bulletin (vol. ii.. No. 2) by the 

 Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. The charge 

 of wanton slaughter, which the author makes against 

 the crew of the Daisy, a sealing brig which he 

 accompanied for the purpose of studying the pen- 

 guin rookeries, makes painful reading. It would 

 seem that the doom of the king penguin, so far as 

 South Georgia is concerned, is sealed. In addition 

 to his studies of this bird, Mr. Murphy gives some 

 lengthy notes on the Gentoo penguin {Pygoscelis 

 papua). Since so much has already been written 

 on these birds, more than Mr. Murphy seems to be 

 aware of, judging from his references to the litera- 

 ture of this subject, it is not surprising to find that 

 the author has nothing new of importance to record. 

 In one particular he has missed a fine opportunity. 

 We have heard much of the central "pouch" and of 

 the " flap of skin " under which the king penguin 

 incubates its egg, and later broods its young, but 

 so far no really careful, or accurate, description of 

 this structure has yet been given. Mr. Murphy has 

 done nothing to help forward the solution of this 

 matter. 



The Geological Survey of Great Britain describes 

 the mainland portions of Sheets 330 and 331 in a 

 memoir by H. J. O. White on "The Geology of the 

 Country near Lymington and Portsmouth" (1915, 

 price IS. 6d.). The district includes the admirably 

 fossiliferous strata of Bracklesham and the Oligocene 

 beds of Brockenhurst, where a band occurs in the 

 Headon series that is more purely marine than its 

 representative in the Isle of Wight. It is stated that 

 the drowned valley of the Solent and the inlets near 

 Portsmouth generally .have been considerably enlarged 

 by marine erosion. 



The United States National Museum has received 

 from a marine Miocene formation in California the 

 greater part of the skull of the rare SIrenian Desmo- 

 stylus, which shows that in several respects this is 

 one of the most primitive genera of its order. The 

 snout is not bent downwards so much as in modern 

 sirenians, and the nostrils are comparatively small 

 and far forwards. The new specimen is described in 

 NO. 2397, VOL. 96] 



detail by Dr. O. P. Hay in the Proceedings of the 

 United States National Museum, No. 2 113, and refer- 

 ence is also made to an allied species found on the 

 opposite coast of the Pacific in Japan. 



The difficulty of restoring extinct reptiles, even 

 when nearly complete skeletons are known, is well 

 illustrated by the armoured dinosaur Stegosaurus, 

 described by Mr. C. W. Gilmore in a recent part of 

 the Proceedings of the United States National 

 Museum (No. 2 no). When Marsh first found the 

 greater part of a skeleton of this reptile, he supposed 

 that its large plates of bony armour were arranged 

 as a ridge along the middle of the back; subsequent 

 authors recognised that the plates were not median, 

 and regarded them as forming a paired series ; Mr. 

 Gilmore now concludes that the plates were neither 

 median nor paired, but must have formed two 

 alternating series along the middle of the back. He 

 also thinks that the largest plates were above the root 

 of the tail, not above the pelvis, and thus he feels 

 obliged' to make the trunk shorter than in previous 

 restorations. A readjustment of the head gives to 

 Stegosaurus the appearance of a browsing animal. 



The American Journal of Science for September, 

 1915 (vol. xl.. No. 237), contains two papers of special 

 geological interest. W. M. Davis gives the results 

 of his studies, during 19 14, of the coral-reefs of the 

 Pacific, and strongly supports the theory put forward 

 by C. Darwin "when he was twenty-five years old 

 and before he had ever seen a true coral-reef." W. H. 

 Twenhofel discusses the making of black shale, such 

 as that in which graptolites abound. He shows, from 

 a remarkable instance on the Esthonian coast, 

 described by several Russian writers, that black slimes 

 are not necessarily deposits of deep water, but may 

 fill up coastal shallows. The blackness is in this case 

 due to hydrocarbons of vegetable origin ; the absence 

 of tides, and a cool temperate climate are favouring 

 conditions. " Sulphur gas *' is present, and the author 

 believes that animal remains would ultimately be 

 pyritised in such an environment. Anaerobic bacteria 

 probably play a large part in the production of the 

 slime. The muds of the Black Sea are contrasted 

 with these shore-deposits. 



The August number of The Royal Engineers' 

 Journal (vol. xxii.. No. 2) contains a lengthy summary 

 of General Maitrot's study of the strategical relations 

 of France and Germany. The original appeared in 

 French in a third edition this year as " Nos Fronti^res 

 de I'Est et du Nord," and while in the main it deals 

 with military considerations, contains a valuable 

 study of the geography of the western theatre of war. 

 Major W. A. J. O'Meara's summary is accompanied 

 by several useful maps from the original publication. 

 Events have proved the accuracy of General Maitrot's 

 estimate of the value of the geographical factor in 

 the plan of campaign. 



Investigations of ocean currents around Australia 

 have been made by floats thrown overboard from various 

 vessels. A chart indicating the drift of fifty of those 

 which have been recovered from the end of 1909 to 

 the middle of 19 14 has been published by the Com- 

 monwealth Government. Most noticeable is the 



