February 



1916] 



NATURI-. 



63 » 



necessary slaughter, in regard to "hawks," is going 

 on, and under official recognition. The hawks, which 

 are diurnal birds, are accused of preying on the Tua- 

 teras, which are nocturnal. The real culprits, it would 

 seem, are feral cats, of which considerable numbers 

 have been killed. If these ancient reptilia are to be 

 preserved, a much more carefully thought-out scheme 

 of protection must be devised. So far as the evidence 

 furnished by this report allows one to judge, it would 

 seem that the haunts of these animals are not suffi- 

 ciently protected by scrub. If this could be appre- 

 ciably increased and the cats exterminated, the Tuatera 

 would probably need little further protection. 



The curious habit which certain minute " Chloropid " 

 flies have of entering human habitations in vast 

 swarms, apparently for the purpose of hibernating, has 

 long been known. A further instance is now recorded 

 in the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine for January 

 by Mr. Hugh Scott. In this case a house about six 

 miles from Cambridge was invaded in October last 

 by myriads of these flies, causing great discomfort to 

 the occupants. They occurred in two rooms only, 

 facing the south-east, and were clustered in seething 

 masses along the bars of the window-panes, and on 

 the ceiling immediately above the window. Samples of 

 the swarm proved to consist mainly of a small yellow 

 Chloropid {Chloropisca ornata) and a slightly larger 

 Anthomyid (Spilogaster), but intermingled with these 

 were several larger species, and a few wasps. These 

 two rooms have been invaded after this fashion for at 

 least five or six years in succession, and in every case 

 that on the first floor has proved the most attractive. 

 For some quite inexplicable reason Cambridge has 

 suffered more from this plague than any other place 

 in England. So far back as 183 1 an enormous swarm 

 invaded the Provost's lodge at King's College, and 

 the visitation was repeated in 1870, while of late 

 years similar swarms have occurred in certain apart- 

 ments of the museums which are near King's College, 

 and always in the same apartments. No clue what- 

 ever as to their origin has yet been obtained. 



The current number of the Journal of the Quekett 

 Microscopical Club (Ser. 2, vol. xii., No. 77) contains 

 an interesting note by Mr. James Burton on the fresh- 

 water alga, Hydrodictyon reticulatutn. This remark- 

 able plant, which takes the form of a net, floating in 

 the water, is not very often seen in this country. For 

 more than thirty years Mr. Burton looked for it 

 almost in vain, though it was known to have occurred 

 in past times in the lake in Kew Gardens. In the 

 autumn of 19 14, however, it made its appearance in 

 that locality in enormous quantities, so that boatmen 

 were employed in gathering it in with rakes and piling 

 it in heaps on the shore. In less than a month's time 

 after first seeing it Mr. Burton was unable to find a 

 single specimen. He compares this sudden outburst 

 of Hydrodictyon to the so-called "breaking of the 

 meres," caused by the sudden and rapid multiplication 

 of other algaj. The same number also contains an 

 obituary notice, accompanied by an excellent portrait, 

 of the late Prof. E. .\. Minchin, a former president 

 of the club. 



NO. 2414, VOL. 96] 



The Indian jute industry formed the subject of a 

 recent lecture by Mr. C. C. McLeod before the RoVal 

 Society of Arts, and this is now printed in the 

 Journal, No. 3292, vol. Ixiv., for December 24 last, 

 with a number of illustrations showing the cultivation 

 and mode of preparation of jute. In Bengal, Cooch 

 Behar, and Assam more than 3,350,000 acres are 

 under jute cultivation, and the value of raw jute 

 exported in 1913 amounted to 20,000,000/. It was not 

 until 1855 that a jute mill was started at Calcutta, 

 and now the mills there turn out nearly 3000 tons of 

 the manufactured article per day. 



The report of the agricultural department, Mont- 

 serrat, for 1914-15 shows a satisfactory condition in 

 the island's present position and future prospects. 

 A definite attempt is being made to establish an 

 onion trade in the island for the Canadian market, 

 which promises to be successful. The bay oil in- 

 dustry is also receiving particular attention. Valu- 

 able work in cotton selection is being continued at 

 the botanic station, and seed of high and uniform 

 quality from types in the island is being selected 

 for estate planting. 



The Indian Forester for November, 19 15, vol. 

 xli., No. II, contains the first part of an interesting 

 article on forest administration in Bashahr, the largest 

 of the Simla Hill States. The State for its greater 

 area lies within the drainage area of the Sutlej river, 

 and consists of precipitous mountain country with 

 narrow ravines. The deodar and blue pine {Pinus 

 excelsa) are the prevalent trees, and the article is 

 illustrated by photographs of some fine specimens of 

 deodars. Girth measurements of more than 35 ft. are 

 recorded, but the average girth in the forests is 15 ft., 

 with height measurements of 120-150 ft. Some good 

 pictures of the precipitous mountain-sides are also 

 included. Mr. Glover gives a history of the 

 forests, which have only been known since 1850. The 

 destruction by fires and improper felling has been very 

 great, especially about the year 1862, when scarcely 

 a quarter of the trees felled ever reached the sale 

 dep6ts, and it was estimated by Brandis that, between 

 1859 and 1863, 30,000 deodars had been felled from 

 the more accessible forests. Now that the forests are 

 under the forest service, conservation is being prac- 

 tised, and the natural regeneration is proceeding pro- 

 perly. 



Symons's Meteorological Magazine for January, 

 19 16, gives a tentative rainfall total for December, 

 1915, over the British Isles obtained from a repre- 

 sentative selection of stations. The rainfall was 

 everywhere in excess of the average except at a few 

 stations in Scotland. The e.\cess was greatest in the 

 south-east and east of England, where in many places 

 the rainfall was more than 250 per cent, of the 

 average. At Arundel the rainfall was 289 f>er cent. 

 of the average, and in London it was 255 per cent. 

 The largest amount of rain was 21 03 in. at Borrow- 

 dale, in Cumberland, and the least was 343 in. at 

 Geldeston, in Norfolk. The rainfall map for the 

 Thames Valley shows the month to have been ex- 

 ceedingly wet, the rainfall values over the area rang- 



