April 15, 1920] 



NATURE 



217 



>pointment that the numerous inquiries and confer- 

 ices held during the past year have not yet had any 

 suit. Local investigation with n l^mkI to the move- 

 snts of herring shoals is insLifricit in. In this case 

 shoals leave Northumbrian waters and apf)ear later 

 oflf the Firth of Forth, where, apparently, they are 

 t sampled or investigated. It is therefore regret- 

 Me, Prof. Meek suggests, that reconstruction should 

 ire been a departmental rather than a national affair. 



J- J. 



Flora of the Hawaian Islands. 



'HE natural history of the Hawaian Islands has 

 been well worked as regards both the flora and 

 fauna. Generally speaking, there is an extraordinary 

 i^ree of endemism in the plants and animals, asso- 

 ited with a strong Southern Pacific or Australasian 

 id Indo-Malayan affinity and a weak Northern 

 icific or American affinity. The islands are ex- 

 jmely isolated, being further removed from any con- 

 ^ Inental area than is any other region of equal size 

 'upon the globe. The nearest continent is North 

 America, two thousand miles away, and the nearest 

 islands of any importance, 'the Marquesas, are 

 i860 miles distant. Within forty miles of the shores 

 the ocean exceeds 10,000 ft. in depth, and between 

 »e islands and the .American coast reaches in places 

 )re than 20,000 ft. The most commonly accepted 

 ;w of the origin of the archipelago is that the 

 ands, which are entirely volcanic, were raised bv 

 _Mcanic activitv, and that they have alwavs been 

 completely isolated. 



In a paper entitled "The Derivation of the Flora 

 of Hawaii '' (Leland Stanford Junior University Pub- 

 lications, University Series, 1919) Prof. D. H. Camp- 

 bell gives a resumd of the composition of the flora 

 and its relations to .American and Southern Pacific 

 floras generally, and criticises unfavourablv Guppv's 

 view of its origin and distribution. Guppv accepts 

 the view that the archipelago has always been com- 

 pletely isolated, and that air-currents arid birds have 

 been the agents concerned in its population. The pre- 

 dominantly Australasian and Iiido-Malayan element 

 was, he suggests, introduced largelvbv birds, especially 

 fruit-eating pigeons, but Prof. Campbell finds a 

 serious objection in the absence of such birds from 

 the present fauna, as, apart from a number of 

 American migratorv shore-birds, practicallv all 

 are endemic. Prof. Camnl)el! strongly sunoorts 

 the view taken by Mr. H. A. Pilsbry, based on the 

 study of the molluscan fauna. The land-snails are all 

 ancient types the modern representatives of which are 

 largely confined to Polynesia, and thev represent, it 

 is contended, an ancient fauna which has survived 

 from a time when Hawaii was part of a continental 

 area connected to the south-wr^t with (li.it of roI\-- 

 nesia. .A study of the insects Ic.-uK to a similar fcncra! 

 conclusion, namely, that \vhile the ancestors of some 

 of the species may have been introduced through the 

 agency of wind- or ocean-currents or by mitjratorv 

 birds, there are many more sni < ir^ of hoth plants and 

 animals the presence of which ^ m hi -t he explained 

 hy a former more or less (lir<ct land-connection 

 hetween Hawaii and the Tndo-Malavan recfion. 



The multitude of islands constituting Polynesia ar<\ 

 on this hypothesis, the remains of a once extensive 

 land-mass, either a single continent or several large 

 continental islands like .Australia. This r^reat area 

 has been subsiding since Early Tertiary times, and 

 the existin£? islands are the tops of mountain masses, 

 often volcanic, superimnosed upon this submerged 

 continental area. A serious objection to this theory 

 NO. 2633, VOL. 105] 



is the absence in Hawaii of certain types of vegetation 

 characteristic of Southern Pacific regions, such as the 

 conifers, aroids, and figs, and it is suggested that 

 these forms became extinct after the isolation of the 

 islands. Similar examples of such disappearance of 

 plants are afforded by Sequoia, Liriodendron, and other 

 genera, which had once a wide distribution, but are 

 now represented in many regions only by Tertiary 

 fossils. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Dr. J. B. Cleland, of the Health Department of 

 New South Wales, has been appointed to fill the 

 newdy constituted chair of pathology in the Univer- 

 sity of Adelaide, South Australia. 



Applications for grants from the Dixon Fund, of 

 the University of London, for assisting scientific 

 investigations, are receivable by the Academic 

 Registrar, University of London, South Kensington, 

 S. W.7, until May 14 next. They must be accom- 

 panied by the names and addresses of two referees. 



The Marquess of Crewe, chairman of the govern- 

 ing body of the Imperial College of Science and 

 Technology, and Sir Alfred Keogh, Rector of the 

 college, will attend the annual dinner of the Old 

 Students Association of the Royal College of Science, 

 to be held at the Cafe Monico on Saturday, April 24. 

 Other distinguished guests ^vill be Prof. W. H. 

 Bragg, Dr. W. Garnett, Sir Richard Glazebrook, Mr. 

 W. McDermott, and Sir Ronald Ross. Tickets (price 

 los. 6d.) may be obtained from Mr. C. S. Garland, 

 acting secretary, Old Students .Association, Roval 

 College of Science, South Kensington, London, S.W.7. 



At a general meeting of old students held recently 

 at King's College, Strand, it was decided to form a 

 King's College, London, Old Students' Association for 

 the purpose of promoting social intercourse and of 

 keeping the members in touch with their old college. 

 The association hopes to include students from all 

 faculties, and the subscription of 10,9. 6d. per annum 

 will include the King's ' College Review, published 

 once a term, and a list of members with their 

 addresses (and possibly the work on which they are 

 engaged). Further particulars and forms of applica- 

 tion for membership may be obtained from Miss 

 M. .A. V. Fairlie, hon. secretary, 3 St. Julian's Farm 

 Road, West Norwood, S.E.27. 



Societies and Academies. 



Faraday Society, March i.— Dr. T. Martin Lowry 

 and F. C. Hemmings : The properties of powders. 

 The caking of salts is, in general, dependent on the 

 presence of a solvent, usually water. The following 

 cases have been studied : Nitrates, other anhydrous 

 compounds, hydrated salts, loss of sulphur dioxide 

 during caking^ and contraction during caking of 

 copper sulphate.— Dr. T. Martin Lowry and S. Wilding : 

 The setting of dental cements. Phenomena of caking 

 or setting may be divided into five chi~,s(s: (1) Rc- 

 crystallisation'of anhydrous or hydrat.d salt witiiout 

 change of chemical composition. (2) Formation of 

 hydrates. (t,) The hydrolysis of complex salts by 

 water. (4) The formation of new salts, such as the 

 magnesium ow -crmints and the zinc oxv-phosphatc 

 cements u--. d in (l(nti-ii-\, and " silicatr " cement-. 

 (5) .Amalgams in which mercury takes the iilace of 

 water. 



Zoological Society, March 16.— Prof. E. W. Mac- 

 Bride, vi<(-president, in the chair.— R. I. Pocock : 



