October 23, 1919] 



NATURE 



159 



land, a little-known district north-west of the Kalahari 

 region, which seems threatened by the desiccation that 

 has overtaken the country to the south. In a paper 

 entitled "The Kalahari Lake Scheme" (5. Airican 

 Mining and Engineering JournaU— the complete refer- 

 ence is not given on the separate copy sent us), Prof. 

 Schwarz proposes to save Ovamboland and its native 

 population by damming the Cunene River at the 

 cataracts and diverting the water that now flows into 

 the Atlantic back into a depression known as the 

 Etosha Pan. Hence irrigation could be arranged 

 northwards and eastwards. A " Makarikari Lake " is 

 also proposed as a development of the Soa Pan, west 

 of Bulawayo, and from this irrigation might be 

 possible in the eastern Kalahari down the channels 

 of streams flowing to the Orange River. The scheme 

 is already exciting discussion in the States of the 

 Union. 



L\ a recently published memoir of the Carnegie In- 

 stitution of Washington (No. 285), Prof. T. H. Morgan 

 gives an account of his experiments relating to the 

 secondary sexual characters of poultry, and discusses 

 at some length the genetic and operative evidence with 

 regard to secondary sexual characters in general. In 

 some breeds of poultry, notably Sebright bantams, the 

 cocks are feathered like the hens, lacking the long, 

 silky hackles of the neck and saddle, and the curved 

 sickle feathers in the tail that distinguish the cocks 

 of normal breeds. Prof. Morgan demonstrates by 

 crossing experiments with game bantams — a breed 

 with the normal sexual differences of feathering in the 

 cock — that the hen-feathered condition is dominant. 

 His figures suggest that two factors are concerned, but 

 the experiments are not sufficiently extensive to render 

 this certain. Castration ex{>eriments were performed 

 on the Sebright cocks and some of their hen-feathered 

 progeny, and the interesting fact was disclosed that 

 removal of the testes results in the male assuming a 

 type of plumage characteristic of the cocks of normal 

 breeds. The fact is of great interest in connection with 

 the recent work of Goodale, who showed that removal 

 of the ovary from the hen leads to the assumption of 

 the male plumage. A further point of interest lay in 

 the demonstration of luteal cells in the testes of hen- 

 feathered cocks, similar to those which are known to 

 occur in the ovary of normal "hens. Cells of this type 

 are stated to be absent from the testes of normal cocks. 

 The greater part of the memoir is taken up with a 

 discussion of secondary sexual characters in animals 

 generally, in relation both to Darwin's hypothesis of 

 sexual selection, and to the many other views which 

 have been put forward at various times since. A brief 

 review is also given of the heredity of the colour of 

 the plumage in domestic fowls. The memoir contains 

 an ample and useful bibliography, and is well illus- 

 trated with coloured and other plates. 



The economic value of the forests of New Zealand 

 is discussed by Mr. D. E. Hutchins in the Trans- 

 actions of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society 

 (vol. xxxiii., part 2, July, 1919). The forests are of 

 great value, and admittedly the best soft-wood forests 

 in the southern hemisphere. In quality New Zealand 

 fimlx;rs come before those of Europe and Australia 

 and after those of North America. The valuable 

 kauri-pine (Agathis australis) is the largest timber- 

 producing tree in the world, owing to its massive 

 bole having little or no taper.' .\t one time 

 there were about three million acres of kauri forest 

 in New Zealand, now reduced to about half a million, 

 in the extreme north. The next most valuable timber 

 is supplied by another conifer, Totara (Podocarptis 

 totara) ; it is very durable and of a fine colour. This 



NO. 2608, VOL. 104] 



tree is generally distributed through the North and 

 South Islands. A third conifer, Rimu (Dacrydiiim 

 cupressinum), also abundant throughout the islands, 

 is the common house-building timber, a deep red, 

 strong, hard, and heavy wood. White pine (Podo- 

 carpus dacrydioides), one of the tallest trees in the 

 colony (the writer records one of 210 ft.), has white, 

 easily worked timber suitable for inside work. 

 Honevsuckle (Knightia excelsa), a tall, handsome tree 

 with beautifully variegated wood, has never been ex- 

 ported. There is a large class of so-called secondary 

 timbers in New Zealand forests which have .never 

 been utilised. The writer deplores the destruction of 

 forests without any attempt to discriminate between 

 land best suited for farming and land best suited for 

 forestry'. In 1886 the forest area of New Zealand 

 was estimated at 21,000,000 acres, which by 1909 had 

 become reduced to about 17,000,000 acres. The 

 forests even in their present reduced and neglected 

 condition are worth more than all the known mineral 

 wealth of New Zealand, and they still offer more 

 employment than any other industry. Compared 

 with sheep-farming, the New Zealand forest, if 

 worked as are forests in Europe, would afford about 

 ten times the employment. 



In the Indian Forester for July last, Mr. H. H. 

 Haines gives an elaborate description, with figures, of 

 the various shrubs belonging to the genus Carissa, the 

 bark and leaves of which are an important source of 

 tannin. Thirteen species have been described by 

 various authors, but these are reduced by Mr. Haines 

 to five distinct species with several varieties. 



Mr. Alex. L. LIoward wrote some time ago in the 

 Timber Trades Journal a series of short articles giving 

 a popular description of the most important woods that 

 are imported into London from India, with notes upon 

 their properties and uses in this country. These 

 articles are now issued by Messrs. W. Rider and Son 

 in pamphlet form, entitled "The Timbers of India" 

 (pp. 16, quarto, price 2S. 6d.). 



In the description which appeared in Nature of 

 October 9 of the aurora of October i, and the simul- 

 taneous magnetic storm, several observations were 

 recorded, but unfortunately the time reckoning is rot 

 the same throughout. The observations described in 

 the first and last paragraphs were received from the 

 Meteorological Office, and the times mentioned in 

 them were all referred to the civil day, which runs from 

 midnight to midnight, whereas in the other para- 

 graphs describing observations at Bristol and in the 

 Isle of Man the astronomical "day" seems to have 

 been used. When the change of time reckoning to 

 which astronomers have agreed comes into force, the 

 risk of similar accidents will be obviated. 



Sir Robert Hadfield has just issued copies of a 

 Foreword which he prepared on the occasion of the 

 Prime Minister's recent visit to Messrs. Hadfield's 

 works at Sheffield. Sir Robert has some timely 

 remarks on the labour situation in the country and 

 the extreme necessity for joint intelligent effort on 

 the part of capital and labour, without which under- 

 standing the burden of debt arising from the war 

 cannot be wiped out. During the present year many 

 hundreds of valuable working hours have been lost 

 as the result of trade disputes ; but it is really hard 

 to see what can be done without increased enlighten- 

 ment of the working classes, whose destinies 

 mav be said largely to rest with themselves. Sir 

 Robert pleads for the revision of the existing patent 

 laws in this country, so that all classes, without dis- 

 tinction, mav benefit from the fruit of their discoveries. 



