October 28, 1915] 



NATURE 



235 



Among the factors of elimination in the " strugglo 

 for existence," one does not usually reckon hot springs. 

 Yet these, too, play their part. This much is apparent 

 from the Bulletin of the University of Colorado (vol. 

 \v., No. 6), wherein Messrs. EUis and Henderson give 

 an account of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Colorado. 

 In the hot springs near Buena Vista, at an elevation 

 8500 ft., they found larvae of the Columbian toad 

 \ujo boreas) in an overflow pool at 23° C. Follow- 

 ing the stream back, toward the spring, the temi^era- 

 lure of the water increased rapidly, but the voung 

 :nads continued abundant until the water was at 34° C. 

 '•>ove this point few were seen, though one small 

 If cimen was taken from water at 45° C. This toad 

 was swimming rapidlj', as if endeavouring to reach 

 I ooler water. The pools of very hot water, they 

 n mark, were death-traps for Bufo boreas, and 

 numerous other animals. From one such pool, the 

 iter of which was 54° C, three large specimens 

 this toad and several insects were taken, the f!esh 

 ; all of them being thoroughly cooked. A list of 

 animals and plants described as new, and a key to 

 the Entomostraca of Colorado, make up the rest of 

 is bulletin. 



In the issue of Knowledge for September there is a 

 short paper on the hairs of rock plants bv K. E. 

 Styan, with illustrations. The glandular hairs of the 

 Saxifrages are described, and those of S. gramdafa 

 and 5. lingulata are figured. The three types of hairs 

 dealt with are the silky or woolly hairs of the Edel- 

 weiss, Sedum arachnoideuni, etc. ; the stellate hairs 

 wliich form a felted covering to many leaves, as in 

 Aubretias and Alyssums, and the glandular, which mav 

 occur alone or in conjunction with one of the other types. 

 The hairs are mainly protective against atmospheric 

 ronditions, but the glandular hairs may In some cases 



rve to attract insects. 



A BOTANICAL survey of some fields near Leicester Is 

 a useful contribution to field botany by Miss Measham, 

 iJLiblished in the Transactions of the Leicester Literary 

 and Philosophical Society, vol. xix. The fields are 

 mapped, and from a study of the grasses In par- 

 idar It was found possible to group certain fields 

 ^ether according to their types of vegetation. 

 i ields, for instance, characterised by Lolium perenne 

 form one group, while those with Rhinanthus crista- 

 i^^idli in abundance are taken as the type of another 

 L;roup. As a preparation for a flora of Leicestershire 

 and Rutland, the work should prove of value. 



The Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edin- 

 l)urgh (vol. xxvi., part iv.) are largely occupied by an 

 important paper on Primula obconica, Hance, and its 

 microforms by Prof. Bayley Balfour. The paper is 

 illustrated by thirty-six plates reproduced from photo- 

 i^raphs of herbarium specimens. The familiar plant 

 P. obconica was collected near Ichang in 1879, and 

 was raised from seed sent by Charles Maries to Messrs. 

 Witch, of Chelsea, in 1880. The typje-plant grows in 

 meadow land, but many of its forms grow on rocks in 

 the limestone gorges. The species is widely distributed 

 in eastern Asia, and extends into Burmah and Bhutan, 

 P. listeri, King, the East Himalayan species, Is mainly 

 a sylvestral form with ivy-shaped leaves and short 

 NO. 2400, VOL. 96] 



flower-scapes, but is linked up to the typical round- 

 leavetl P. obconica. with its longer flower-scapes, by a 

 series of intermediate forms. The variants are nearer 

 to the obconica type than to listeri. Prof. Balfour 

 places in this Obconico-Listeri section fourteen well- 

 marked micro-species, four of which are of his own 

 making. P. sino-listeri, a glablescent form with 

 acute-lobed small leaves and long scapes, was collected 

 recently by Forrest in Yunnan, and may prove to be a 

 plant of horticultural value. It lacks the irritant pro- 

 perty of /'. obconica, Hance. 



The Report of the Agricultural Department of 

 St. Lucia for the year 19 14-15 is a record of steady 

 progress, especially in connection with the lime and 

 coconut Industries. The Government lime juice fac- 

 tory proves to be in a flourishing condition, and 

 products of a high quality are being prepared, of 

 which details are given. Useful work is being done 

 by the staff of the department in collecting the grasses 

 of the island, both native and naturalised, with a 

 view to their correct determination and also in 

 order to obtain definite particulars of their economic 

 value. The determinations of those unknown 

 locally have been made by Mr. Hitchcock, the 

 agrostologist to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

 and useful notes are given on the more important 

 grasses and an analysis to show their comparative 

 feeding value. 



A RELIEF model of Wales has been constructed for 

 the National Museum, Cardiff'. An account of its 

 construction, with a geographical description of several 

 of the blocks, has been published by the museum 

 (•'Descriptive Handbook to the Relief Model of 

 Wales," by W. £. Whitehouse). The whole model 

 measures 12 ft. by 10 ft. 6 in., and Is on a scale of 

 I In. to a mile. The vertical scale is i in. to 2000 ft. 

 The museum hopes shortly to issue copies of the 

 various blocks of the model at as low a price as pos- 

 sible. Despite the care that has undoubtedly been 

 used in Its construction, it is questionable whether 

 such a model is not inferior for teaching purposes to 

 a good contoured map on the same scale. In accuracy 

 of detail there can be no comparison. 



News from Sir Aurel Stein of his explorations in 

 Central Asia is published In the Geographical Journal 

 for October- (vol. xlvi,. No. 4). A despatch from the 

 Ulughart Valley dated July 10, 1915, gives an account 

 of last winter's work in the Turfan region, which 

 included a detailed survey of the Turfan depression 

 and of the Kuruk-tagh mountains. The Kuruk-tagh 

 and the Tian-shan range were linked to the trigono- 

 metrical survey of India. From Turfan Sir Aurel Stein 

 moved to Korla in the spring, and thence to Kashgar. 

 Large and important archaeological collections were 

 made. In a further despatch from " Camp Kara-Chem," 

 Pamirs, August 8, 1915, Sir Aurel Stein says he Is pro- 

 ceeding westward to the Pamir source of the Oxus. 

 This he proposes to follow through Wakhan to 

 Khorok, and thence to visit Roshan, Darwaz, Kara- 

 tegin, and so to reach the railway at Bokhara. He 

 hopes to reach Meshed in Persia in October, and after 

 spending the winter in Selstan, to return to India in 

 March. 



