450 



NATURE 



[March 7, 1901 



a spray of water and passes through a final rotating cooler into 

 trucks, by which it is conveyed to stock-boxes over the grinding, 

 plant. From the crushing of the raw materials to the storing 

 of the finished cement, no hand, labour was employed, all con- 

 veyance, distribution and transmission being done mechanically. 



In the/^?//-«rt/of the Royal Statistical Society, Ixiii. part iv., 

 Mr. Thomas Welton discusses the distribution of population in 

 England and Wales and its progress from 1801 to 1 891. In 

 1801 the author finds (i) that urban populations, including most 

 small towns, amounted to 35 per cent, of the total population ; 

 (2) that rural districts, exclusive of areas surrounding towns, 

 included 91 per cent, of the total area; (3) that "populous" 

 areas were less than l per cent, of the whole ; (4) that the 

 density of population averaged 47 per square mile in sparsely 

 peopled districts and 103 per square mile in the better peopled 

 rural districts. In the unprogressive districts, Mr. Welton finds 

 much uniformity (i) in the comparative large increase of popu- 

 lation from 181 1 to 1821 ; (2) in the maintenance of a reduced 

 increase from 1821 to 1841 ; (3) in the prevalence of low rates 

 of increase in unprogressive towns and populous districts from 

 1851 to 1891 ; (4) in the absolute decrease of population in 

 rural districts, with certain exceptions, from 1851 to 1891. The 

 general inquiry brings out the vast change in the teriitorial 

 distribution, the amount and the means of support of our 

 population since 1801, and at the same time the moderate 

 extent of country affected by the developments of this period. 



The whole of Part i. of vol. Ixix. of the Zeitschrifl fiir 

 wissenschaftliche Zoologie is devoted to an important paper by 

 Ilerr J. Meisenheimer on the developmental history of the 

 bivalve rao\\\i%t Dfeissensia polymorpha. In addition to figures 

 in the text, the memoir is illustrated by thirteen beautifully 

 executed plates. 



We have received the tenth annual report of the Society for 

 the Protection of Birds. The advance of this body, both in the 

 number of its members and in its financial resources, is reported 

 to be steady, although. its efforts might be greatly extended if a 

 larger income were at the disposal of its council. Among the 

 efforts of last year, a special crusade has been made against the 

 pole-trap ; and, as a model to other landlords, a paper of 

 instructions has, by permission, been issued to the gamekeepers 

 on the estate of Lord Barnard, forbidding the use of this instru- 

 ment and the destruction of certain specified birds. The practice 

 of ornamenting poulterers' shops with the carcasses of non-edible 

 birds at Christmas has also been discouraged. The announce- 

 ment of several clutches of great skua eggs for sale in London 

 last June drew the attention of the Society to the necessity of 

 further protection for the bird in question ; and on their 

 initiation a proposed sale at the same time of the eggs of other 

 British birds taken during last season was abandoned. Attention is 

 also directed to the resolution recently passed by the B. 0. U., 

 discouraging the collecting of eggs or skins of certain of our 

 rarer bfrds. The latter part of the report deals with work 

 abroad. 



In the Ibis for January, Mr. Chalmers Mitchell, from the study 

 of the anatomy of kingfishers, makes a further important contri- 

 bution to a right understanding of that peculiar feature in the 

 arrangement of the quills of the wings of certain birds now 

 known as "diastaxy." It will be within the recollection of 

 many of our readers that in 1899 Mr. Pycraft and Mr. Mitchell 

 independently made communications to the Linnean Society in 

 which they showed that the gap which occurs in the diastaxic 

 •wing is not due to the loss of a quill, whence they were led 

 to abrogate the original term "aquinto-cubitalism." In his 

 own communication Mr. Mitchell showed that among pigeons 

 NO. 1636, VOL. 63] 



both " diastaxy " and " eutaxy " (a regular series of quills) might 

 occur, and also that the latter was the more specialised type. 

 Similar conditions are now shown to obtain among the king' 

 fishers, in which also, as indicated by their myology, eutaxy is 

 the specialised modification. The gradual change from perfect 

 diastaxy to complete eutaxy in this group is most clearly explained 

 by the diagrams illustrating Mr. Mitchell's communication. 



Article 19 of vol. xiii. of the Bulletin of the American 

 Museum of Natural History contains a revised memoir on the 

 phylogeny of the European rhinoceroses, by Prof. H. F. Osborn. 

 The author is of opinion that the rhinoceroses (inclusive of the 

 Siberian Elasmotherium) are divisible into six distinct phylo- 

 genetic subfamilies, three of which are represented by existing 

 members of the family. Rhinoceros proper, he considers, is now 

 restricted to the Indo-Malay countries, as is Ceratorhinus, as 

 represented by the Sumatran species, the two African species 

 being assigned to a third genus, Atelodus. More importance 

 is attached to the structure of the skull (especially the form of 

 the nasal bones) than to that of the molar teeth, which, may 

 have been independently modified for grass-eating in two or 

 more species. Accordingly, Elasmotherium, in place of being 

 considered a specialised type akin to the white rhinoceros of 

 Africa, isaflSliated to the middlef Tertiary Aceratherium. Again, 

 the great two-horned rhinoceros of the Indian Siwaliks (A'. 

 platyrhinus) is removed from its association with the aforesaid 

 African species to find a position next to the living Sumatran 

 animal. 



The Council of the Zoological Society has given instructions 

 for the publication of an index-volume to the new generic names 

 mentioned in the " Zoological Record," vols, xvii.-xxxvii. (1880- 

 1900). The volumes previous to vol. xvii. have been indexed in 

 the "Nomenclator Zoologicus " of Scudder, published by the 

 Smithsonian Institution in 1882. The contemplated index- 

 volume of the "Zoological Record," in order to increase its useful- 

 ness, will include names omitted from Scudder's list and from the 

 volumes of the " Zoological Record." Thus zoologists may have 

 at their disposal (in the " Nomenclator Zoologicus " and the 

 new index together) a complete list of all the names of genera 

 and subgenera used in zoology up to the end of 1900. It is 

 requested that any one who knows of names omitted from 

 Scudder's " Nomenclator," or from the volumes of the 

 " Zoological Record," will forward a note of them, together, if 

 possible, with a reference as to where they have been noticed or 

 proposed, so that the new list may be made practically com- 

 plete. Such information should be addressed to the editor of 

 the " Zoological Record," 3 Hanover Square, London, W. ; or to 

 Mr. C. O. Waterhouse, British Museum, Natural History, South 

 Kensington, London, who is engaged in compiling the list. 



The Journal of the South-Eastern Agricultural College 

 contains an article by the Principal, Mr. A. D, Hall, on the 

 economic aspects of the cultivation of sugar beet in England. 

 The matter is gone into very fully, both from the point of view 

 of utilising the produce as food for farm stock, and of the manu- 

 facture of sugar. .In a feeding experiment with sheep, where 

 mangels were tried against sugar beet, the advantage rested with 

 the mangels, the writer's verdict being that "The superiority 

 of the mangold is very manifest, and it is clear that it will not 

 pay the farmer to grow sugar beet for feeding purposes." Nor, 

 with foreign bounties on exported sugar, does it appear that 

 there is any prospect of producing sugar at a profit in England. 

 The writer has shown that the price obtained by the German 

 grower cannot be looked for). in. this country, and concludes that 

 "At the pi'esent price of sugar, no factory could afford to pay 

 for sugar-beet a price that would be remunerative to the farmer.'* 

 The same issue of ^kx^ Journal ?\%o contains an article by Mr» 

 Hall on the influence of certain manurial substances on the 



