February i8, 19 15] 



NATURE 



683 



that annually visit our coasts. The reduction in the 

 numbers of cetaceans in recent years must also be 

 taken into account, as well as the increasing capture 

 of dog-fishes for food. Nothing can ever exhaust 

 the shoals save the trawl-net, which in a few hours 

 can destroy, in the shape of ova on the sea-bed, 

 millions more potential herrings than those devoured 

 in the adult state by birds in a twelvemonth. 



The most striking photographs in the January 

 number of Wild Life are those of the head of a 

 Guinea baboon and of a magnificent cluster of eggs 

 of the large yellow underwing moth. In some 

 instances a moth of that species will lay no fewer 

 than two thousand of these beautifully sculptured eggs, 

 which are at first white, but change to purple before 

 hatching. Another good sample of photography is 

 a badger just peering out from its "sett" beneath 

 the trunk of a giant oak. The writer of the accom- 

 panying letterpress, or at all events the editor, 

 should, however, have known that it is quite out of 

 date to refer to the badger as " Ursus " meles. 

 Indeed, the practice of introducing the scientific 

 names of well-known animals in publications of this 

 nature is altogether unnecessary. 



The Imperial Department of Agriculture for the 

 West Indies has issued a useful pamphlet (No. 76) 

 dealing with Indian corn (maize). The cultivation, 

 husking, milling, etc., are described in detail, and 

 the insect pests are fully treated with the aid of illus- 

 trations. Of these the corn-ear "worm," Laphygma 

 frugiperda, is the most serious. 



Indian Forest Bulletin, No. 26, gives an account 

 of the resin industry in Kumaon, the preliminary 

 experiments for which were carried out by Dehra 

 Dun officers twenty-five years ago. The oleo-resin 

 from the Chi'r pine {Pinus longifolia) is now success- 

 fully obtained by methods similar to those in use in 

 the Landes district of France, and 43,000 maunds of 

 crude resin were yielded in 1913-14. 



The buildings of the Forest Research Institute at 

 Dehra Dun are described and illustrated in the 

 December number of the Indian Forester. The 

 buildings just completed consist of a main research 

 institute in which the fine library is housed, a 

 chemical laboratory with a separate distiller\- and 

 separate gas-house, workshops for the economist and 

 entomologist, an insectarj', and a students' labora- 

 tor}\ The buildings are in red brick, uniform in 

 st^ie but unfortunately very- far from beautiful. 



The Potamogetons of the Philippine Islands have 

 been examined by Mr. A. W. Bennett, and his 

 account appears in the same number of the Philip- 

 pine Journal of Science. Only one new species is 

 described. The almost world-wide range of some of 

 the species of these aquatic plants is of interest, 

 P. angustifolius, for instance, being found in Europe, 

 North America, Cuba, Madagascar, India, China, 

 and Luzon. P. pusillus is equally widespread. P. 

 javanicus appears to be the only species found in 

 the Philippines which extends to Australia. 



NO. 2364, VOL. 94] 



In 1901, amongst 2000 seedlings that were raised 

 from the nuts of a certain black walnut (Juglaus Cali- 

 fornica) tree, growing at Santa Ana, in California, 

 there were found twenty plants with peculiar foliage. 

 The parent tree, which was normal, had large com- 

 pound leaves, each composed of eleven to nineteen 

 leaflets. The i>eculiar seedlings bore small leaves, 

 each made up of three leaflets, or in rare cases reduced 

 to a single leaflet. Mr. N. B. Pierce, of Santa Ana, 

 writing in Nature, September 10, 1914, p. 34, con- 

 sidered this sport to be a hybrid between the Cali- 

 fornian walnut and the evergreen oak, Quercus agri- 

 folia, which grows in the same region ; and the 

 occurrence of a supposed bigeneric cross created a 

 sensation in California. The sport, while interesting, 

 seems merely to be a case of arrested development, 

 exactly similar to that of the simple-leaf ash well 

 known in Europe, and figured in Nature, January- 7, 

 1915, p. 522. Prof. Babcock, of Berkeley University, 

 has made an elaborate study of this sport, publishing 

 the results in two profusely illustrated bulletins 

 ("Studies in Juglans," i. and ii., L'niv. of California, 

 Pub. in Agri. Sciences, vol. ii., 1913, 1914), and comes 

 to the conclusion that there is no evidence of hybrid- 

 isation, and that the sport does not arise from visibly 

 malformed flowers or fruits. He states that a normal 

 tree has been found which annually produces a small 

 percentage of the trifoliolate form. This is exactly 

 the case with the simple-leaf ash, and the real cause 

 of the arrested development which is present is as yet 

 unexplained. 



The Monthly Meteorological Charts of the Atlantic 

 and Indian Oceans for February, 1915, which have 

 recently been issued by the Meteorological Office, give 

 much detail of interest to the seaman, such as winds, 

 currents, barometric pressure, tem(>erature, and ice. 

 The Atlantic chart mentions that the frequency of fog in 

 February is similar to that recorded since OctoBer, and 

 the maximum frequency in mid-Atlantic seldom ex- 

 ceeds 5 per cent., as against 40 per cent, in Juty. 

 Steamers making the Transatlantic passage in Febru- 

 ary are not likely to be hindered by fog. Thick 

 weather is, however, commonly experienced from 

 December to February near the African land, due 

 largely to dust blown seaward from the Sahara. Charts 

 of mean salinity and surface temperature are given for 

 the Atlantic and for the English Channel for October, 

 19 14. The isohalines coupled with the sea surface 

 isotherms will be of considerable scientific value with 

 the extension of the period. The Indian Ocean chart 

 has a copious note on submarine seismic disturbances. 

 It mentions that some years ago the late Sir G. H. 

 Darwin, member of the Meteorological Council, 

 pointed out that probably the actual places of origin 

 of earthquake shocks are usually situated under the 

 sea in proximity to a coast. Numerous extracts are 

 given from special meteorological logs kept on board 

 ship, and in these the sensation is commonly described 

 as though the vessel was grinding over a rocky bottom 

 or reef. 



In his address to the physics section of the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of Science in 



