January 28, 19 15] 



NATURE 



597 



penny a useful catalogue of the collection of imple- 

 ments of the Stone age. From Lincolnshire only one 

 Palaeolithic implement, now in the British Museum, 

 is recorded, but the local museum possesses a good 

 collection of Neolithic implements discovered in the 

 county. Most of these are the gift of the Rev. Canon 

 A. Rowe, augmented by a series recently presented by 

 the authorities of the British Museum. 



The December issuj of the National Geographic 

 Magazine is devoted to the Nearer East. The most 

 important contribution is that by Frederick and Mar- 

 garet Simpich, under the title " Where Adam and 

 Eve Lived," in which the scenery, city, and rural 

 life of Bagdad and its neighbourhood are described and 

 illustrated by a collection of admirable photographs. 

 Mr. Simpich, in a second article, describes an adven- 

 turous trip to the little-known Nedjeb, "■ the Shia 

 Mecca," where the fanaticism of the people is readily 

 excited against Christian visitors. The writer had a 

 narrow escape from attack when he attempted to 

 examine the Abbas Mosque, the inner glories of which 

 no Christian has ever seen. 



The report of the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery 

 for 19 14 is a record of steady progress, but the death 

 of Lady Smith, of Ashton Court, deprived it of one 

 of its most generous benefactors. During the year 

 the director accompanied the British Association to 

 Australia and procured a good collection of corals and 

 marine invertebrata from the Great Barrier Reef. 

 The great Watkins collection of Gloucestershire in- 

 sects, including some 13,000 specimens, has been re- 

 mounted and classified, and the other collections have 

 been widely extended. The museum is largely used 

 by students, and the authorities have made an impor- 

 tant new departure by deciding that research work 

 upon the museum collections or in the field shall in 

 future be a definite part of the duties of the museum 

 assistants. 



We have to acknowledge the receipt of the 

 Aarsberetning of the Norske Meteorologiske Institut 

 for the financial year ending June 30, 1914. The 

 records of 507 stations are included, some of which, 

 however, contain much fuller statistics than others. 



In No. 4 of vol. ii. of the Children's Museum Sews 

 reference is made to a special case of the influence 

 of the museum on the mind and pursuits of a bov, 

 and thus of his whole future career. .Although his 

 family were all engaged in business occupations, he 

 became deeply interested in wireless telegraphy, and 

 now, after a special course of instruction, hopes to 

 graduate in electrical engineering. " What the Chil- 

 dren's Museum has done for this boy is tvpical of 

 what it is constantiv doing in a greater or less degree 

 for other children." The number of visitors in 

 October last was 4729 — an increase of 1033 over the 

 corresponding month of the preceding year — and in 

 November 4864. 



The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries has issued 



a compendium of regulations for the show of 



thoroughbred stallions, suitable as sires for half-bred 



horses, to be held at the Royal Agricultural Hall, 



NO. 2361, VOL. 94] 



Islington, on March 2 and 3. The show is in con- 

 nection with the Hunters' Improvement and National 

 Light Horse Breeding Society. A cup for the 

 champion stallion, to which a King's premium has 

 been awarded, to b? selected from those recommended 

 for super-premiums, has been graciously offered by 

 H.M. the King. It will be tenable for one j-ear only; 

 but a gold medal will also be awarded by the Board 

 to the owner of the winning stallion. Fifty King's 

 premiums, averaging a little more than 300/. each, 

 are offered to owners who arrange for thoroughbred 

 stallions to travel in prescribed districts. In addition, 

 super-premiums, not exceeding a dozen in number, of 

 the value of looL, will be given for stallions of excep- 

 tional merit. 



The Earl of Cromer presided at the monthly general 

 meeting of the Zoological Society, held on January 

 20, when the Council reported that 52 additions 

 were made to the menagerie in Decembc-r, of which 

 27 were presented, 18 received on deposit, and 3 in 

 exchange, and 4 born in the Gardens. .Among the 

 more notable of these are a dwarf mongoose (Helogale 

 undulata) from the Tana district of British East 

 Africa, deposited ; a golden-eared honey-eater {Ptilotis 

 chrysotis) from Papua, presented by Mr. A. Ezra, 

 and a pair of red-crowned fruit-pigeons (Alectroenas 

 Pulcherrima) from the Seychelles, received in ex- 

 change; the first and second of these being the first 

 representatives of their kind received at the Gardens. 

 The number of visitors to the Gardens in December 

 was 17,279, a decrease of 12,541 as compared with 

 the corresponding month of 1913. The total number 

 of visitors in 1914 was 1,055,208, or 102,766 fewer than 

 in the previous year ; the total gate-money amounted 

 to 24,666/., or 3557/. less than in 19 13. The total 

 number of additions to the list of Fellows was 305, 

 or 59 fewer than in 19 13, and 7 below the annual 

 average for the last decade, .\uditors were appointed 

 to go through the Society's accounts for the past year 

 on February 24 next. 



An important economic application of ecology is 

 suggested by Prof. F. W. Oliver and Dr. E. J. Salis- 

 bury in a study of vegetation and mobile ground, as 

 illustrated by the shru'pby sea-blite {Suaeda fruticosa), 

 reprinted from the Journal of Ecology, vol. i., No. 4. 

 The authors give the results of their detailed and con- 

 tinuous observations on the distribution and manner 

 of growth of this plant on the shingle beach at 

 Blakeney Point, Norfolk, showing that where condi- 

 tions permit its establishment on the lee edge of a 

 beach it will, as the beach slowly travels over it, 

 respond by continually growing to the surface, hence the 

 plant disposes itself in longitudinal belts on the beach 

 corresponding in establishment to periods of dormancy 

 of the beach. By its great capacity for rejuvenescence 

 and power of arresting the travel of shingle, and thus 

 raising the height of a beach, Suaeda would appear 

 to be pre-eminently adapted for planting on shingle 

 spits and similar formations with the object of arrest- 

 ing landward travel. The authors point out that as 

 knowledge accrues of the detailed mechanism of accre- 

 tion due to the establishment of plants on blown 

 sand, tidal flats and shingle beaches, it will become 



