August 26, 1920] 



NATURE 



835 



India, which point to the widespread influence of 

 Hinduism in the peninsula prior to the establishment 

 of Islam as the dominant faith. 



Mr. Henry Balfour has reprinted his interesting 

 presidential address from the Proceedings of the 

 Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History 

 Society (vol. Ixv., 1919, pp. xxiii sqq.). He claims 

 connection with Somersetshire on the ground that his 

 late colleague, Sir E.'B. Tylor, was a Somersetshire 

 man bv birth, and that Mr. H. St. G. Gray, now 

 curator of the Taunton Museum, was his own 

 assistant at Oxford. In his address Mr. Balfour 

 crosses the county border to Rushmore and Cranborne 

 Chase, on the border of Wilts and Dorset, the home 

 of a great archaeologist and ethnologist. Col. Pitt 

 Rivers. He closes his review of this notable man with 

 the remark that " he has left his own record of diligent 

 and broad-minded research, and the example afforded 

 by his enthusiasm, characteristically tempered with 

 caution, should have the effect both of stimulating 

 and of restraining the work not only of this genera- 

 tion, but of generations lo come." 



The Quarterly Summary for July issued by the 

 Royal Botanic Society of London contains notes on 

 some plants of interest in the gardens. The gigantic 

 floating leaves of the Victoria regia water-lily are now 

 7 ft. in diameter, and, as each new leaf at this time 

 of vear exceeds its predecessor, it seems likely that 

 they will reach the maximum of 8^ ft. by the end of 

 August. As the sunlight becomes less the new leaves 

 oet smaller, until the plant dies down in October. 

 One of the earliest accounts of this remarkable tropical 

 American water-lily was that given by Lindley in the 

 Proceedings of the society in 1839 (vol. i.). The plant 

 was discovered by Robert Schomburgk, the traveller, 

 on the River Bernice, in Guiana, and the detailed 

 description which he sent home was sufficient to en- 

 able Lindley to recognise it as a distinct genus of 

 water-lilies, which was, by permission, dedicated to 

 the young Queen. Efforts to grow the plant at Kew 

 were at first unsuccessful, but in 1849 some fifty 

 plants were successfully raised from seed and dis- 

 tributed to various gardens. The fine specimen grow- 

 ing at Kew is one of the most popular attractions of 

 the Royal Gardens. Another interesting plant in the 

 same tank at the Botanic Gardens is the Lotus, 

 yelumbium speciosum, which has flowered profusely 

 this year. Its large salver-shaped leaves and tall pink 

 flowers rising from the water present a striking ap- 

 ])earance. The plant was held in esteem by many 

 ancient peoples in the East; in Egypt paintings of 

 it decorate the temples, and it is still associated 

 with temples in India, where the long, fleshy 

 roots are eaten as well as the oval, nut-like seeds. 

 The society has also been making experimental 

 i^rowths of the soya bean, with the view of ascer- 

 taining the most suitable variety for cultivation in this 

 country. 



A.\iONG the recently issued reports of the Canadian 



Arctic Expedition, 1913-18, are two on the Crustacea, 



which form part of vol. vii. An account of the 



marine Copepoda is given by Prof. Arthur Willey (in 



NO. 2652, VOL. 105] 



Part K) and of the Cladocera by Dr. Chancey Juday 

 (in Part H). Cladocera have been examined previously 

 from Greenland and from Alaska, but not from the 

 intervening region of Arctic America. Seven fresh- 

 water and two marine species are recorded, all of 

 which are well known and have a wide geographical 

 range. The fresh-water species belong to the genera 

 Daphnia {pulex and longispina), Bosmina, Eurycercus, 

 Alona, Chydorus, and Polyphemus, and the marine 

 species to Podoa and Evadne respectively. The 

 common Daphnia pulex is also recorded from Polaris 

 Bav, Greenland, about 82° N. latitude, where it was 

 collected by the United States North Polar Expedi- 

 tion on August I, 1872. This seems to be the most 

 northerlv record for any of the Cladocera. The 

 material of this species from Polaris Bay consists of 

 several hundred speciniens, the great majority being 

 females with ephippia. The specimens of Daphnia 

 pulex in the various catches of the Canadian Expedi- 

 tion sho\v that the winter ejrgs in the ephippia prob- 

 ably hatch during the latter half of June ; that females 

 bearing parthenogenetic or summer eggs appear 

 about the first week in July; and that males and 

 ephippial females make their appearance in late July 

 and in August. The season is therefore a relatively 

 short one 



A NOTEWORTHY contribution to the study of that 

 fascinating group of insects, the parasitic aculeate 

 Hymenoptera, is made by Prof. \V. M. Wheeler in the 

 Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 

 (vol. Iviii., 1919, No. 1). Prof. Wheeler gives a compre- 

 hensive summary of the subject, citing and criticising a 

 long array of literature, and discussing the evolution of 

 the parasitic habit. He is disposed to regard the aculeate 

 parasites as originating directly or indirectly from 

 the insects which serve as their hosts. "The object 

 of the parasite is to secure the provisions accumulated 

 by the host for its own progeny. This involves a 

 destruction of the egg or young larva of the host." 

 But a higher specialisation is reached by the social 

 insects which foster the host-brood so that their own 

 young may be reared and fed. 



Anatomical details of some morphological import- 

 ance are elucidated by Prof. G. H. Carpenter and 

 Mr. F. J. S. Pollard in a recent paper (Proc. R. Irish 

 .^cad., B, vol. xxxiv.. No. 4) on the presence of 

 lateral spiracles in the larvae of warble-flies (Hypo- 

 derma). Six pairs of these vestigial structures, sug- 

 gesting a primitive peripneustic condition of the 

 respiratory system, are recognisable in the ripe 

 warble-maggot, connected with the outer lateral 

 tracheae by fine, thread-like, solidified air-tubes. 



Dr. E. H. Pascoe, of the Geological Survey of 

 India, revived at a meeting of the Geological Society 

 of London in March, 19 19, in a new form the 

 question of the relations of the Indus, the Brahma- 

 putra, and the Ganges (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., 

 vol. Ixxv., p. 138, 1920). He traces back the now 

 divided system to a river, the Indobrahm, the head- 

 waters of which were in, or soon cut back into, the 

 Brahmaputra region of Assam, while the mouth was 

 in the Indus region of the Arabian Sea. This river 



