78 



NATURE 



[September 25, 1919 



The Scanalnavian Association for a Tropical Bio- 

 logical Station has decided to send an expedition this 

 autumn to select a site for a research station to study 

 marine biology. Dr. Th. Mortensen, who is chair- 

 man and founder of the association, will lead a small 

 party including probably Dr. Nils Holmgren and a 

 botanist. They will visit Celebes, North Borneo, 

 Amboina, and New Guinea. 



Prof. G. T. Morgan will deliver the Streatfeild 

 memorial lecture at the Finsbury Technical College 

 at four o'clock on Thursday, October 2, taking as his 

 subject "Applied Chemistry in Relation to University 

 Training." Admission will be free. 



In the Canadian Field-Naturalist (vol. xxxiii., No. 2, 

 May, 1919), Mr. F. VV. Waugh, of the Geological 

 Survey, Ottawa, gives a careful account of Canadian 

 aboriginal canoes. The types of these are found in 

 separate regions — the Eskimo kayak and umiak in the 

 north, and to the south that of the birch-bark canoe. 

 The latter apparently reached its perfection in the 

 Algonquian area, a region extending from round the 

 Great Lakes and some distance westward, to the mari- 

 time provinces and the New England States. This dis- 

 tribution was largely determined by the range of the 

 canoe birch (Vetura papyrifera), which extends prac- 

 tically from the Atlantic coast to the Rockies. The 

 disappearance of the birch southward is indicated by 

 the inferior canoes of elm, buttonwood, and basswood 

 bark built by the Iroquois of Central New York State. 

 This latter type was heavy, inconvenient for portaging, 

 and usually short-lived. Practically everywhere within 

 the region of Algonquian influence proper the birch- 

 bark canoe was essentially the same, such differences as 

 occur concerning mostly the shape of bow and stern, 

 which has evidently been derived almost exclusively 

 from a single pattern, with local variations in the 

 amount of curvature or recurvature, and the method of 

 decking over at the ends, where such a device was 

 employed. 



Prof. Chilton has published some notes of interest 

 on destructive boring Crustacea in New Zealand (N.Z. 

 Journ. Set. and Techn., vol. ii., no. i). The well- 

 known European Chelura terebrans (an amphipod) and 

 Limnoria lignorum (the "gribble," an isopod) are 

 active destroyers of pier-timber in the southern seas, 

 and the latter devours also the insulating material of 

 submarine telegraph cables. In addition, an Austra- 

 lian isopod, Sphaeroma quoyana, burrows into sand- 

 stone rock as well as into timber. 



In the Annals of the Natal Museum (vol. iv., pt. i), 

 among several interesting zoological papers, one on 

 the wing venation and respiratory system of certain 

 South African termites by Claude Fuller is worthy of 

 special notice. Details are given of the relation be- 

 tween wing nervures and primitive air tubes in several 

 genera of termites, and the student of insect trans- 

 formations may obtain much instruction from Mr. 

 Fuller's demonstration of the development and unfold- 

 ing of the wings from the larval and nymphal rudi- 

 ments. 



Dr. Victor E. Shelford writes in the Scientific 

 Monthly of August last on the general question of 

 the waste involved in the discharge of domestic and in- 

 dustrial sewage into the sea and rivers. Experimental 

 methods for testing the effect on fishes of various 

 substances in solution have been devised. The 

 reaction employed was the turning away of various 

 kinds of fish from the part of a large tank where 

 the contents of the water in the toxic substance was 

 above or below the normal amount. The sensibility 



NO. 2604, VOL. 104] 



of fish to such compounds as occur in waste material 

 is thus shown, to be greater than has hitherto been 

 supposed, thus an increase in carbon dioxide of 2 c.c. 

 in one litre above the normal caused the turning- 

 away reaction. A low oxygen content was also detri- 

 mental, and this was usually found to accompanv a 

 high carbon dioxide content. The waste substances 

 resulting from gas-production works and from muni- 

 tions processes were also studied, and it was shown 

 that these substances, though almost insoluble, had 

 very marked effects on fish-life. References to papers 

 published by the author and his colleagues are given. 



Vol. XXV. of the "Rapports et Proces-Verbaux " 

 issued by the International Council for the Explora- 

 tion of the Sea deals with the administration for the 

 years 1916-18. The usual fiiuMual contributions were 

 made by the neutral count^W* Denmark, Holland, 

 Norway, and Sweden, and fpFGreat Britain for the 

 years 1916-17 and for 1918-19. Some fishery investiga- 

 tions were carried on in Scandinavian waters, and a 

 hydrographical bulletin summarising the results so 

 far obtained is being prepared. The influence of the 

 war on the fish population of the North Sea is dis- 

 cussed, and the opinion expressed that the stock 

 of certain kinds of fish is undergoing considerable 

 changes. " It is even within the bounds of possibility 

 that the previous indications of ' over-fishing' mav be 

 replaced by indications of 'over-population' of fish." 

 The testing of such opinions is regarded as a matter 

 of much importance. "New points of view even as 

 to restrictive laws may be expected as a result of such 

 investigations." There is, however, no indication that 

 such work is being seriously undertaken, and the 

 "accumulated stock," if it exists, must soon be 

 seriously diminished by the intensive trawling which 

 may be expected very soon. 



A DETAILED report on fruit culture in Malava by 

 J. N. Milsum (Bull. Dept. Agr., Fed. Malay States, 

 No. 29, Kuala Lumpur, 1919) has recently appeared. 

 The story that is told here or written between the 

 lines might be told of most countries of the eastern 

 tropics, or, indeed, of most countries where the 

 population that is likely to consume such fruit is 

 small and migratory. The native of the countrV is 

 content with the fruit that is easily produced there 

 and already well known (in this case the durian, 

 mango, sapodilla, mangosteen, jak, etc.), and has no 

 desire for others. The migratory European planter 

 does not think it worth his while to grow fruit that 

 he may not remain to consume. And, lastly, and 

 most important of all, the profits of the established 

 industries (here largely rubber) are greater and more 

 certain than those of fruit culture, so that no one is 

 tempted to grow fruit commercially. The result is 

 that the resident in the country is reduced in general 

 to bananas, pineapples, mangoes, and a few more, 

 and these usually not of the best quality. What is 

 really required, and shows real possibilities, is the 

 improvement of those fruits that are already cul- 

 tivated rather than the introduction of new ones. 

 The resident, too, must be prepared to pay a good 

 price for a good article. A detailed account is given 

 of many different fruits and how to cultivate them, 

 but little attempt is made to discriminate between 

 really first-class fruits, such as banana, mango, or 

 pineapple, and inferior fruits such as rambutan cr 

 rose-apple — interesting fruit to taste once in a while, 

 but not fruit that anyone is likely to wish to cultivate. 



The Memoirs of the Indian Museum (vol. vii., 

 No. 2, July, 1919) contains an interesting paper 

 entitled "Observations on the Shells of the Family 

 Doliidae," by E. W. Vredenburg. The memoir is 



