November 12, 1914] 



NATURE 



289 



recently published by Major A. J. N. Treniearne, of 

 Hausa customs of the same kind in his valuable work 

 entitled "The Ban of the Bori." 



We have received from Mr. Edwards, of Hijjjh- 

 »treet, Marylebone, a catalogue of works relating 

 mainly to fishes, fisheries, and angling. 



Two excellent plates illustrate an article by Dr. 

 Annandale in vol x., part 5, of Records of the Indian 

 Museum on new and other stalked barnacles from 

 Indian waters. Most of the species are of minute 

 size ; the most remarkable being one {Heteralepas 

 reticulata) found in clusters on the spines of a sea- 

 urchin. It is easily recognised by its "honey-pot" 

 shape. 



A MUCH compressed report, crowded with detail, 



Mr. T. Southwell, on the fauna of the Ceylon 



yearl-banks, and a second on the food of certain 



marine Ceylonese fishes have been issued in the 



Educational Section (Science and Art) of the Ceylon 



Administration Reports for 19 12-13. Portions, at 



;ist, of the notes are promised in another and fuller 



rm, when it probably will be easier to grasp and 



-^imilate their contents. 



In the October issue of Naturen Mr. O. J. Lie- 

 ' ttersen continues his illustrated account of the 

 Norwegian tit-mice. The birds of Sarawak form the 

 subject of an article in vol. ii., No. 5, of the Sarawak 

 1^ Museum Journal, by Mr. R. B. Williams, who has 

 ' made coloured sketches of about one hundred species, 

 oni examples shot by himself. These_sketches are 

 accompanied by notes on the appearance of the freshly- 

 killed birds and on the habits of the various species, 

 and it is from these that the article has been compiled 

 by Mr. J. C. Moulton. 



According to a notice in the November number of 

 the Museums Journal, Dr. F. A. Lucas, director of 

 the .\merican Museum of Natural Histor>% New York, 

 disapproves, as a general rule, of large special ex- 

 hibits in zoological museums, on the ground that 

 when they are closed there is a marked falling off in 

 the normal number of visitors. This, however, has 

 not been the experience at the Natural History branch 

 of the British Museum, as a result of the various 

 necial exhibitions which have been displayed at 

 iitferent times during the last few years; and even 

 if it were the case, it would afford no argument for 

 the abandonment of such temporary "side-shows." 



In addition to the gift of the type skull of the 

 ' rissodactyle mammal Pliolophus vulpiceps, to which 

 llusion has been made previously in our columns, 

 -Mrs. Richard Bull, widow of the late vicar of Har- 

 wich, has presented to the British Museum (Natural 

 History) a skull and three shells of one or more of 

 the three large species of marine turtles of the genus 

 Lytoloma which occur in the London Clay of the 

 Essex coast. The museum has also secured a speci- 

 men of the chelonian from the London Clay originally 

 inscribed by Owen as Emys testudiniformis, but now 

 'ferred to the American fresh-water genus Chrysemys. 

 't is in far better preservation than the type, and 

 liithcrto only known, specimen. 

 ^'O- 2350, VOL. 94] 



.\ GROfP of three East African buffalms shot dur- 

 ing the Roosevelt expedition was si-t up some time 

 ;igo in the U.S. National Museum, amid an imitation 

 of .\frican scenery constructed of such material as 

 was obtainable at Washington. This, however, was 

 only a makeshift, and the museum has recently pro- 

 cured from East .Africa a quantity of papyrus and 

 reeds for the purpose of making a really vivid mtnlel 

 of a buffalo-swamp. In the case of the papyrus the 

 stems are slit open, the pithy interior removed 

 and replaced by plaster, and the whole painted 

 green. For the last few months the buffalo 

 group has been withdrawn from public e.xhibi- 

 tion ; but according to an announcement made 

 by the Smithsonian Institution at the end of October, 

 it was then shortly to be reinstated with its new sur- 

 roundings complete. 



The October Bulletin of the .American Geographical 

 Society contains a preliminary report by Mr. R. S. 

 Holway on the recent volcanic activity of Lassen Peak 

 in northern California. The mountain, which rises 

 at the southern end of the Cascade Range to a height 

 of 10,437 ft., is an old volcanic cone from which a 

 lava flow occurred some two centuries ago. On the 

 north side of the bowl of the old crater, a series of 

 steam explosions, beginning on May 30 last, has 

 opened a new vent, from which stones have been 

 thrown over an area more than half a mile in 

 diameter. No freshly molten lava has been seen, and 

 no heat has been noticeable except that of the escap- 

 ing steam. Mr. Holway gives a list of twenty erup- 

 tions up to July 15. The formation of this new vent 

 is the first recorded instance of volcanic activitv wit- 

 nessed in the United States, excluding the outlving 

 regions. 



We have received from Japan the three parts of the 

 Bulletin of the Imperial Earthquake Investigation 

 Committee which were issued in the months of Julv, 

 August, and September of the present year. The first 

 two of these are devoted to a discussion by the able 

 seismologist, Prof. Omori, of the eruptions and earth- 

 quakes of Asama-yama from 191 1 to the date of issue. 

 The records of the seismographs at the volcano-house 

 of Yuno-taira and more distant localities are compared 

 with the observations made in the crater of the vol- 

 cano, the general conclusion arrived at being that the 

 activity within this gigantic volcanic vent is now 

 gradually subsiding. In the number issued in Sep- 

 tember, the same indefatigable observer gives a graphic 

 account of his own studies of the Sakura-jima eruptions 

 and earthquakes in Januar), . 1914. The author was 

 a member of the Commission sent by the Japanese 

 Government to prepare a record of that eruption, 

 which Prof. Omori thinks "may be counted, in point 

 of the magnitude of disturbance, as one of the greatest 

 volcanic catastrophes in modern times." .An account 

 of this outburst appeared in N.\tlre of January 22, 

 1914 (vol. xcii., p. 589). The bulletin is published in 

 English, and the printing and illustrations reflect the 

 greatest credit on the Japanese publishing office. More 

 than fifty plates, including exquisite photographs with 

 clear maps and diagrams, illustrate these three num- 

 bers, which constitute a ver}- important contribution 

 to the <rienof'v of -ieismology and vulcanology. 



