January 24, 19 18] 



NATURE 



4JI 



We have received copies of the official tide-tables 

 of the Pacific and Eastern Coasts of Canada for 19 18, 

 issued free by the Dominion Department of Naval 

 Service. The eastern tables are based on records 

 varying from seven to twenty years. The Pacific 

 tables are naturally based on shorter series of records, 

 but it is claimed that in accuracy they are superior to 

 the tide-tables for any ports in the Pacific Ocean in 

 .America, Asia, or Australia. Next to these Canadian 

 ports is San Francisco, which is based on the longest 

 record at any harbour on the Pacific coast of the 

 United States. 



A STUDY of the nationalities of Hungary is of great 

 importance in relation to the Slav claims on that 

 country. In the December (19 17) number of the Geo- 

 graphical Review (vol. iv.. No. 6) Mr. B. C. Wallis 

 has a detailed paper on the subject, accompanied by 

 several small but admirably clear maps, two of which 

 deal with density of population and distribution of 

 nationalities respectively. Mr. Wallis 's analysis of the 

 population gives little support to the claim of the 

 northern Slavs, Slovaks, Czechs, and Poles, for union 

 with the southern Slavs by a corridor of territory 

 along the border-lands between Austria and Hungary. 

 The population of the Austrian part of that corridor is 

 entirely German, and of the Hungarian part chiefly 

 German. The Jugo-Slav claims to the BaCka have 

 more foundation, but cannot be admitted as a whole 

 on a basis of nationality. 



Capt. J. K. Davis contributes to the Geographical 

 Journal for January (vol. li.. No. i) a short account 

 of the Aurora Relief Expedition to the Ross Sea in 

 December, 1916, and January, 1917. The Aurora left 

 Port Chalmers with Sir Ernest Shackleton on board 

 on December 20, 1916. .After entering the Ross Sea 

 Capt. Davis skilfully avoided heavy ice by keeping to 

 the west, and did not enter the pack until he reached 

 70° 20' S., 175° 20' E. Then followed five difficult days 

 spent in traversing a belt of pack, 104 miles wide, 

 after which the Aurora emerged into the open sea, and 

 reached McMurdo Sound. Off Cape Barne fast ice 

 extended across the sound on January 10. After the 

 seven survivors of the expedition had been embarked, 

 the ship crossed to Butter Point, where Sir Ernest 

 Shackleton searched the coast fruitlessly for the two 

 missing men. A further search at Cape Barne and 

 Glacier Tongue resulted in no clue, and it was decided 

 to return to New Zealand. Off Cape Adare heavy ice 

 was encountered, to avoid which Capt. Davis returned 

 southward and bore northward further to the east, 

 thus passing through the pack and out of the Ross 

 Sea. The Aurora returned to Wellington on February 

 9, 1917, and in June left New Zealand, homeward 

 bound vid Cape Horn. We regret to hear that no 

 definite news has been received of her since her depar- 

 ture from New Zealand, and that there is little hope of 

 her arriving in port. On her homeward voyage the 

 Aurora was in command of Capt. Reeves. 



The thirty-first annual report of the Marine Bio- 

 logical Station at Port Erin shows that twenty-one 

 ■workers have occupied tables in the laboratory during 

 the past year, twelve of these being students who 

 attended the course of instruction during the Easter 

 vacation. The usual operations were carried on in the 

 plaice and the lobster hatcheries. Nineteen plaice, 

 hatched and reared during the season of 1914, and 

 afterwards kept in the pond, spawned this season. 

 These fish had attained an average length of lo^ in. 

 It was noticed that their eggs were smaller than the 

 average egg of the plaice, Che proportions being as 

 :; to 6-5, but otherwise were normal. .Appended to the 

 report is an interesting address (30 pp.) by Prof. Herd- 



NO. 2517, VOL. 100] 



■ man on " Sir John Murray, the Pioneer of Modern 

 Oceanography." 



The annual report of the Scottish Marine Biological 

 Association for 1916 gives an account of the work of 

 the marine laboratory at Millport. During the year 



I nine workers, in addition to students attending courses 

 of instruction, occupied tables in the laboratory, and 

 the report contains notes on some of the results of 



! their investigations, especially noteworthy being those 

 of Messrs. J. H. Paul and J. S. Sharpe on the de- 

 position of lime salts in the integument of decapod 



{ Crustacea, and the observations of Dr. J. F. Gemmill 



■ on the development of certain starfishes and sea 

 anemones. The eggs of three species of anemones 

 were obtained in the-aquarium, and the larvae reared 



I either to the stage of fixation or to the final form in 

 separate hatching vessels under aeration. In Adamsia 

 ! pMiata and Actinoloba dianthus it was found that the 

 i formation of the endoderm takes place by invagina- 

 tion, and that in the formation of the blastula of Tealia 

 a much-folded stage occurs which does not appear to 

 have been noticed previously. 



The courtship and subsequent events in the life- 

 history of the moorhen during the breeding season are 

 briefly and skilfully summarised by Miss Frances Pitt 

 I in British Birds for January. The aggressiveness of 

 j this species in asserting its territorial rights is well 

 I known. After observations extending over three 

 j seasons, Miss Pitt is confident that these rights are 

 challenged, for the most part, by the young of Che 

 previous year. This is what one would have expected. 

 j Incubation appears to begin long before the clutch is 

 complete, and during the whole period of sitting new 

 j material is constantly added to the nest, so that it 

 has reached a considerable size by the time the last 

 chick has hatched. The young remain for some days 

 in the nest, where they are assiduously fed on insects 

 by both parents. But they will drop out of the nest 

 into the water on the slightest alarm ; this leads to 

 ' considerable and hitherto unsuspected mortality, for 

 I frequently the nursery is placed on the bough of a 

 tree at some distance above the water. In such cases 

 the nestlings are unable to return when danger is 

 past, and speedily die of starvation. A second, supple- 

 mentary, nest appears generally to be built for the 

 use of the young, presumably after they have left the 

 first to acquire the art of feeding themselves. Finally, 

 some interesting observations are made on the loss of 

 the brilliant coloration of the head which charac- 

 terises the nestling of this species, in common witfti 

 that of its ally, the coot. 



We have received vol. xiv,, part ii., of the Proceed- 

 ings of the Birmingham Natural History and Philo- 

 sophical Society, which contains several interesting 

 papers, and in particular ".\ Survey of the Flora of 

 East Worcestershire," by Mr. John Humphreys, to 

 which we would direct the attention of botanists and 

 geologists in particular. A great number of different 

 geological formations are represented in this district 

 from Archaean rocks to the Lias, with several lime- 

 stones of different ages, and the effect on the flora is 

 very marked. This is especially noticeable on the cal- 

 careous rocks of the Lias, where a great collection of 

 new forms crop up. At Droitwich, Hartlebury Com- 

 mon, and the Salwaipe valley an interesting set of 

 maritime plants occurs, and though the theory that in 

 late Pleistocene times the sea penetrated to the present 

 loo-ft. level is not now generally accepted, the presence 

 of such plants is difficult to explain. Birds and insects 

 afford similar evidence, and certainly lend support to 

 the view that estuarine conditions prevailed in the 

 Severn Valley in recent geological times. Hartlebury 



