lO 



NATURE 



[September 4, 1919 



city of Mexico by Prof. VV. Niven. The writer sup- 

 poses that these remains, rude in design and work- 

 manship in comparison with those from the upper 

 strata, represent Chinese, Egyptian, and negro 

 faces, buried under deposits of lava from volcanoes 

 in prehistoric times. Besides these were found beads 

 of jade, "presumably from China," and seals, "in 

 imitation, or perhaps precedence, of like objects 

 found in the Babylonian and other ruins of the Far 

 East." It is to be hoped that these articles will 

 soon be examined by experts. If these statements 

 can be verified, they will furnish valuable evidence in 

 support of the conclusions of Prof. Elliot Smith and 

 other advocates of the theory of culture transmission. 

 We have received No. 14 of the Journal of the 

 East Africa and Uganda Natural Historv Society, 

 written by residents in the African tropics, biit 

 printed in this country and published bv Messrs. 

 Longmans and Co. The issue contains descriptive 

 articles on such subjects as the transmission of human 

 and animal diseases by blood-sucking insects, and a 

 nurnber of short original notes on the habits of various 

 African animals, such as baboons, crocodiles, and the 

 aardvark. 



The report on Scottish ornithology for 1918 by the 

 Misses Rintoul and Baxter, which appears in the 

 July-August issue of the Scottish Naturalist, is an 

 excellent and comprehensive compilation, and affords 

 much information on a variety of subjects associated 

 with bird-life. Though the necessary field-work during 

 the year was carried out under greater disadvantages 

 than ever before, yet the contributions of the numerous 

 recorders relate to observations on no fewer than 

 184 species. No new birds were added to the avifauna, 

 and the list of uncommon alien visitors is a short one, 

 but a, number of species are mentioned as appearing 

 in counties in which they were previously unknown. 

 The influence of weather on bird-life during the year, 

 the results of "ringing," and notes on plumage, food, 

 habits, etc., are also given. The final section of the 

 report deals with the migratory movements of both 

 native s[>ecies and birds of passage. The observations, 

 which are concisely treated, have been made through- 

 out the mainland and at coastal and insular stations 

 from the Muckle Flugga — the northernmost outpost 

 of the British Isles — to the Tweed and the Solway. 

 The data relate to the comings and goings of no fewer 

 than 160 species. 



The Times of August 18 contained an interesting 

 article on the little owl as a danger to poultry and 

 game. This bird was not originally a native of the 

 British Isles, but was introduced into several parts 

 of England in some numbers about a quarter of a 

 century ago by several well-known ornithologists, 

 who cannot have been aware of its harmful proclivi- 

 ties. Apart, however, from its vices, it is an attrac- 

 tive little bird. Since its introduction it has increased 

 very rapidly, and is now widely distributed over 

 England, and some have found their way into Wales, 

 Scotland, and Ireland. Wherever it has established 

 itself it has become a pest to poultry-keepers and 

 game-preservers owing to the havoc it makes among 

 the chicks. It also destroys great numbers of small 

 birds up to the size of a blackbird. Although the 

 little owl's record is, in the main, a black one, and 

 far outweighs anything that can be placed to its 

 credit, yet it must be admitted that it destroys large 

 numbers of small rodents, such as field-voles, as well 

 as beetles and other insects, and thus renders some 

 service to the agriculturist. The article is evidently 

 based upon a wide knowledge of the bird, and 

 affords much information on other aspects of its life- 

 history. 



NO. 2601, VOL. 104] 



I.N the Bulletin of the Imperial Institute (vol xvii 

 1019, pp. 40-95) there is an e.xcelient detailed account 

 ot the production and consumotion of cocoa chieflv 

 in the different countries of the Empire, and 'showing 

 very clearly the disparities between them in variouf 

 parts of the world. The United States, using 

 bb,5oo tons in 1913, is the greatest consumer, whilst 

 Its production is negligible. The United Kingdom in 

 1913 consumed about 28,000 tons, a great deal of 

 which was imported from foreign countries, while 

 the Empire produced about 88,000 tons, the bulk of 

 which had to go abroad for consumption. In 1917 

 owing chiefly to the enormous increase of cultivation 

 on the Gold Coast and elsewhere in West Africa the 

 production increased to 142,800 tons. No attemnt is 

 '^ l t° .inscribe the methods of preparation in" use 

 in the different Colonies, and one is left to infer, 

 when noting the comparative values of cocoa given in 

 various places, that in general thev leave a good deal 

 to be desired. '1 he cocoa situation at orescnt evidently 

 turns upon the crop of West Africa, and if that 

 country continues to turn out such enormous quanti- 

 ties of an inferior article, trouble is certain' to ensue. 

 I he great desideratum at the moment is to increase 

 the consumption of this most valuable food and palat- 

 able drink, and it is difTicult to do so if the quality be 

 but poor. Cocoa, il< is well known, can be 'produced 

 with less trouble than manv other tropical crops, 

 especially if some of the poorer Forastero "varieties be 

 employed, but to prepare it of reallv good qualitv— 

 as, for instance, it is prepared bv the' English planters 

 of Ceylon— involves much trouble and the use of 

 better varieties. Nothing less than this, however, 

 will save the market from being glutted with inferior 

 brands of cocoa. 



Under the title " Gossvpium in Pre-Linnaean Litera- 

 ture " (Botanical Memoirs No. 2, Oxford University 

 Press), H. J. Denham traces the literature of cotton- 

 yielding plants from the eariiest writers to the time 

 of Linnaeus. The eariiest reference to the use of 

 cotton for textiles is by Herodotus, who mentions 

 trees in India " the fruit whereof is a wool " of 

 which the natives make clothes. The first reference 

 in botanical literature is by Theophrastus (370-285 

 B.C.), who speaks of a wool-bearing tree on the 

 Island of Tylos (in the Persian Gulf). Pliny (a.d. 

 23-79) repeats the information, but quotes the name 

 "Gossypinum" for the trees. Between the classical 

 writers and the herbalists who followed the Renais- 

 sance no botanical mention of cotton occurs. Bv 

 this time the plant was well known around the 

 Mediterranean. The first figure of Gossypium in 

 European literature would seem to be in the 

 "Herbal" of Dorstenius (1540) under the name of 

 Bombax — apparently a conventional drawing of the 

 .\siatic species, Gossypium herbaceum. A better 

 fis?ure of this, plant was given by Fuchs (" Historia. 

 Stirpium," 1542), with a detailed account; but that 

 of Matthioli (" Kreutterbuch," 1563) is more satis- 

 factory. Caesalpino (1583) was the first botanist to 

 indicate the relationship of the plant to the mallows. 

 In 1.^92 Prosper Alpinus, in his account of the flora 

 of Egypt, describes and figures another species, 

 G. arboreuni, a small perennial shrub, a native of 

 northern Africa. Columbus and the early explorers 

 had found cotton in cultivation in the New World, 

 and in 165 1 Hernandez figured a Mexican species, 

 G. tnexicanum, the possible parent of the upland 

 cottons. The botanical history of cotton in the later 

 pre-Linnaean writers is mainly a record of the attempt 

 to simplify the confusion created by the description 

 of different species under the same headings, as, for 

 instance, bv Plukenet (" Phytographia," 1691), 



