October 21, 1915] 



NATURE 



207 



marks that throughout the Cambrian system not a 

 single star-fish has yet been discovered, from which 

 he infers that the skeleton was not evolved until the 

 Lower Ordovician, "where they will surely be found." 

 The Ordovician Hudsonaster he regards as the 

 ancestor of the asterids of the Phanerozonia type. 

 Numerous diagrams in the text and several excellent 

 plates illustrate this difficult theme. 



The autumn number of Bird Notes and News con- 

 tains much readable matter in regard to the effect of 

 the war on bird-life in France and Flanders. Swallows 

 returning this spring to their accustomed nesting sites 

 only too often found them reduced to a heap of ruined 

 masonry. In such cases huts erected for military 

 purposes have been adopted as substitutes. This fact 

 shows the tenacity with which these birds cling to 

 their old haunts. Birds roosting between the lines of 

 the opposing forces have on more than one occasion 

 given timely warning to the sleeping men of the near 

 approach of poison gas fumes, by the rustle of their 

 wings and low cries as they passed over our trenches. 

 Except, indeed, when actually within the zone of fire 

 the birds have shown themselves strangely indifferent 

 to the strife around them. Some valuable data in 

 regard to birds in relation to agriculture are also 

 given in this number. 



The Psychological Bulletin (vol. xii., No. 8) contains 

 a valuable summary of recent literature on habit 

 formation, imitation, and higher capacities, in animals. 

 The difficult task of summarising the work done in 

 this field has been skilfully performed by Mr. John 

 Shepard. All kinds of animals, have been experimented 

 on, from fiddler-crabs to monkeys. A series of studies 

 carried out with pigs, by Messrs. Yerkes and Coyurn, 

 on the multiple choice method, convince the authors 

 that they have established an approach to " free Ideas " 

 in that animal. Though visual and kinaesthetic fac- 

 tors in the main determine the responses, the pig, 

 they consider, is more independent of the particular 

 situation than is the crow. The same number also 

 contains a similar summary, by Mr. K. S. Lashley, 

 on sensory discrimination in animals. The experi- 

 ments recorded are mainly those concerned with re- 

 sponses to light, sound, touch, and smell. Echino- 

 derms, molluscs, and insects, frogs, birds, and various 

 mammals furnished the material for these investiga- 

 tions. 



The October number of Irish Gardening contains 

 some extracts of letters written in August by Mr. 

 C. F. Ball, the editor, to Sir F. W. Moore, in which 

 some interesting accounts of the vegetation on the 

 Gallipoli peninsula are given. It is with great regret 

 that we have received the news that Mr. Ball was 

 recently killed in action in the Dardanelles. Mr. 

 Ball, who received his horticultural training at Kew, 

 I was assistant to the keeper of the Royal Botanic 

 ': Gardens, Glasnevin, and, on the outbreak of the war, 

 volunteered for service, and enlisted in the 7th Royal 

 Dublin Fusiliers. 



The new garden plants described in English and 

 foreign botanical and horticultural publications during 

 the year 1914 are brought together in a complete list 

 NO. 2399, VOL. 96] 



in appendix iii. of the Kew Bulletin. Some 350 new 



plants, varieties and hybrids, are enumerated. In the ^ 



case of hybrids the parentage, where known, is given, 1 



and the place of origin. In the case of new plants ; 



a brief description is appended, the country of origin ] 



stated, and the name of the introducer. This publica- 1 

 tion, which is produced annually at Kew, should 



prove indispensable to the maintenance of a correct I 



nomenclature, and affords valuable information in a ] 



concise form respecting new plants under cultivation, I 



abstracted from a very large number of scattered ' 

 publications. 



A CENSUS report on the mosses of Ireland occupies j 



No. 7, section B, of vol. xxxii. of the Proceedings : 



of the Royal Irish Academy. As far as possible the ; 



earliest and latest known records are given for each j 



species, except in the case of the commonest and \ 



widely distributed species. The divisions of Ireland ] 



adopted in Mr. Praeger's " Irish Topographical i 



Botany" are used. Since the publication of David \ 



Moore's "Synopsis of the Mosses of Ireland" in 3 



1872, 118 mosses new to Ireland have been recorded, ^ 



and forty-two of these are recorded for the first time ;j 



in the present report. The list of records is preceded j 



by a very interesting account of the progress of ■) 

 muscology of Ireland, giving details of the various 



collectors and their contributions. John Ray is the j 



first to mention mosses in Ireland, and these were I 

 probably collected by William Sherard, of Oxford. 



To David Moore our knowledge of the mosses of i 



Ireland is very largely due, and he added sixty-seven J 



species and varieties to the Irish flora. A useful I 



bibliography of papers dealing with Irish mosses is \ 

 also included in the report. 



The second part of Father E. Blatter 's " Flora of j 

 Aden" has recently been published as vol. vii.. No. 2, I 

 of the Records of the Botanical Survey of India. 

 Part i., which appeared in 19 14, consisted of a general \ 

 account of the flora and of the physical aspects of the | 

 country, and was accompanied by a large scale map \ 

 of the district; the present part deals entirely with a \ 

 systematic account of the flora. A synopsis of the ] 

 natural orders — Ranunculaceae to Urticaceae — is given, | 

 and the families, genera, and species are fully de- 

 scribed ; keys are also given for the genera and species. ] 

 The indigenous species number 250, distributed under ■ 

 138 genera; 33 of these species belong to the grasses, \ 

 32 to the Leguminosae, 18 to the Capparidacese, 13 to ] 

 the Euphorbiaceae, 11 to the Chenopodiacese and Bora- ! 

 ginaceae, and 10 to the Compositae. Most of the other 

 families are represented by only one or two species. , 

 It is of interest to notice that the three plants belong- 

 ing to the family Burseraceae found at Aden are the 

 well-known myrrh, Commiphora abyssinica; balm of . 

 Gilead, Commiphora opobalsamum ; and frankincense, ■ 

 Boswellia Carterii, about which Father Blatter gives ) 

 some interesting historical details. Much of our in- \ 

 formation about the flora of Aden is due to the col- ; 

 lections of passing travellers, who may have spent only 

 a few hours on shore, but their labours brought to- I 

 gether in systematic form make a valuable contribu- 

 tion to our knowledge of the little-known vegetation ^ 

 of southern Arabia. j 



