July 4, 19 18] 



NATURE 



349 



University, Baltimore, and'thore are fifteen associate 

 editors in the United States for particular sections of 

 botanical science. Sectional editor<^ are being ap- 

 pointed for other countries, and D:. Marie Stopes 

 has accepted the British editorshijj in ]xtlaiobotany 

 for the new journal. Dr. Stopes will be glad if all 

 British (including the Colonies and Dominions) 

 authors of papers dealing with pakeobotanical sub- 

 jects will send her on publication tlu- titles, volumes, 

 and exact page and plate referemo ct th<ii publica- 

 tions, followed by reprints as soon as ihcy are avail- 

 able. Work from January, 1918, is wanted ai once. 

 Address to Dr. Stopes at Universitv College, London, 

 W.C.I. 



The Norwegian North I'olar Kxpedition under the 

 leadership of Capt. Roald Amundsen was to leave 

 Christiania last week, and is exjxicted to be absent for 

 about five years. According to the Times, the Maud. 

 the vessel of the expedition, will call at ntrt;( n and 

 Tromso, and will proceed thence to Novaya Zenilya. 

 The Kara Sea will be crossed, and the Maud will call 

 at Dickson Island, at the mouth of the River Yenesei, to 

 take on board 225 gallons of oil. From the wireless 

 station at Dickson Island the latest news of the ex- 

 pedition may be expected. Skirting the north coast 

 of Asia, the Maud will turn northward on the east of 

 the New Siberia Islands and enter the polar pack 

 about September. In 1893 the Frani entered the pack 

 west of the New Siberia Islands. Amundsen, by starr- 

 ing from further east, hopes to drift parallel to the 

 From across the North Polar Basin, but further north. 

 He does not expect to touch continental land during 

 the drift of the Maud, although he believes in the 

 existence of a considerable amount of land north-east 

 of Alaska. There is little news so far of ice conditions 

 in polar seas this year, but they were reported to be 

 favourable in Spitsbergen waters in June, and it is 

 hoped that the crossing of the Barents Sea will present 

 no difficulties. July is an early month for navigation 

 in the Kara Sea, and the Maud will doubtless en- 

 counter difficulties there, but Amundsen's early start 

 is a wise choice, since August and September are g^ood 

 months for the navigation along the north coast of 

 Asia. 



We learn from Science that President Wilson has 

 issued a proclamation establishing three new national 

 forests in the East United States — the White Moun- 

 tain, in Maine and New Hampshire, the Shenandoah, 

 in Virginia and West Virginia, and the Natural Bridge, 

 in Virginia. Proclaiming the forests is the final step in 

 carrying out the law for building up eastern national 

 forests through the purchase of lands in the moun- 

 tains. The Pisgah National Forest, in North Caro- 

 lina, and the Alabama National Forest, in Alabama, 

 are the only eastern areas which had received this 

 status before the new proclamations were issued. 

 The White Mountain National Forest is located in 

 Grafton, Carroll, and Coos Counties, N.H., and 

 Oxford County, Me. There is now a total of about 

 391,000 acres under Federal protection. This forest 

 protects in part the watersheds of the Androscoggin, 

 Saco, Connecticut, and Ammonoosuc rivers. The 

 Shenandoah National Forest is situated in Rocking- 

 ham, Augusta, Bath, and Highland Counties, Va., 

 and Pendleton County, W. Va. Here there is a total 

 of approximately 165,000 acres under Federal protec- 

 tion. The forest is for the most part on the water- 

 shed of the Shenandoah River, and it also protects 

 a portion of the watersheds of the Potomac and the 

 James. The Natural Bridge National Forest of 

 102,000 acres is situated in Rockingham, Nelson, 

 Amherst, Botetourt, and Bedford Counties, ^'a. The 



NO. 2540, VOL. 1 01] 



forest, which protects a portion of the watershed of 

 the James River, does not include the Natural Bridge, 

 but this scenic feature is within three or four miles of 

 the iioiindarx . 



Willi ih.' doulil.- ohje.i i,f eiu-oii,-;i-ing ilie Irish 

 agriculturist to greater ellon, ni-ni of making the facts 

 better known in Great iMiiain, the Department of 

 Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland has 

 issued a short leaflet giving a concise exposition of 

 the part played by Ireland. as a food supplier of Great 

 Britain. For many years prior to the war the supply of 

 food from Ireland to Great Britain steadilv increased, 

 until by 1Q13 it was exceeded onh' by that from the 

 I'niled Stair., Since -h,. xvar ih", Irish supply has 

 contintu'd to incinase, and. taking into account quan- 

 tity, character, and proximity, must now be regarded 

 as our most important supply. Comparison of the 

 exports of foodstuffs from Ireland to (ireat Britain 

 for the years 1912-13 and 1916-17 shows a d-crea- 

 only in pig-products, dairy produce, and poultrx, all 

 items which have been detrimentallv affected bv the 

 reduction of the import into Ireland' of feeding-'stufifs 

 from abroad. The export of livestock to Great Britain 

 has been more than maintained de.spite this reduction 

 of imported feeding-stuffs and the breaking up of 

 extensive areas of grass; while, in addition" Ireland 

 has supplied very large quantiti<s of poiai,,. .. .,,,ts, 

 hay, and straw to Great Britain and ;o ihe .\v\\n'. 

 Ireland produces 40 per cent, of die caul, and 

 30 per cent, of the pigs ,,f i\v Tnited King- 

 dom. She consumes onl\- one-fourth of her own 

 cattle. She is thus, in an increasing degree. Great 

 Britain's nearest and greatest food base. An explana- 

 tion is given of the meaning of certain Orders regu- 

 lating exports from Ireland which have aroused 

 adverse comment in Great Britain. It is maintained 

 that these Orders were designed for the common 

 interest of the United Kingdom, and were necessarv 

 to secure that the best possible use should be made 

 of Irish resources. 



Wi-; regret to announce liie 

 illness, of Prof. K. 'id\ama. p 

 the Universitv of 'I'okxo. Umn 



th, after a long 

 soi of zoology in 

 ''7, Prof, Toyama 

 graduated from the College ol Agriculture, fokvo 

 University, in 1892. After graduation he devoted him- 

 self to the study of the silkworm, the foundation of 

 a most important Japanese industry. His earlier work 

 dealt chiefly with the spermatogenesis and embryology 

 of these insects, though he also published papers on 

 their habits and the parasites attacking them. With 

 the re-discovery of Mendel's work he commenced a 

 series of experiments designed to elucidate the various 

 characters distinctive of different breeds. During the 

 progress of this research he si)ent several vears work- 

 ing in the laboratory t)f tlie Ro\aI Siamese' Sericul- 

 tural Department in Bangkok. Ih- first instalment 

 of his results appeared as a long and important paper 

 in 1906— a paper which was the first of a series 

 devoted to the unravelling of the genetic constitution 

 of the various races of the silkworm. Later on he 

 succeeded in clearing up the apparent inconsistencies 

 in the' hereditary behaviour of white and yellow colour 

 in the silk which had puzzled other observe i - lie 

 was able to prove the existence of two differcn; kinds 

 of white, one dominant and the other recessive to 

 colour, a point of scientific interest as well as of con- 

 siderable practi<:al importance. One of his last pieces 

 of work was the elucidation of certain peculiar pheno- 

 mena in the transmission of egg-colours in the silk- 

 moth, and he was able to .show that these are com- 

 parable with those observed in connection with tlie seed 

 characters of many plants. To zoologists, perhaps, 

 his name is best Ivnow 11 in associ.ition with some 



