574 



NATURE 



[January 29, 1920 



what is known as ventilation in Europe is of little use 

 in the tropics, and houses designed in Europe are 

 never, so far as I have seen, sufficiently airy for the 

 Red Sea coast." Hence he lays down, with the help 

 of diagrams, what is his idea of a suitable house. The 

 author does not appear lo have any experience of 

 India, where the subject has been carefully inves- 

 tigated. But the paper will be useful to all who 

 intend to reside in the tropics. 



Mr. H. Bolton, Director of the Bristol Museum 

 and Art Gallery, in his report for the year igi8-ig, 

 points out that the museum suffered from the necessity 

 of exercising a strict economy in order that the changed 

 conditions of the cost of labour, supplies, and museum 

 material may be met as well as possible by the un- 

 altered pre-war income — conditions affecting institu- 

 tions of this kind throughout the countr}'. But the 

 educational work has been carried on with success, 

 no fewer than 60,000 visits having been made by 

 wounded soldiers during the war period. The im- 

 portant collection of guild banners has been increased 

 by some welcome gifts ; Mrs. C. Ryland presented a 

 valuable series of pictures, and Mr. H. Mardon a 

 large collection of European engravings and his extra- 

 illustrated copy of Nichol and Taylor's " History of 

 Bristol," extended to fourteen volumes and contain- 

 ing almost every known illustration and map of im- 

 portance relating to Bristol. 



Sir C. Hercules Read describes in the January 

 issue of Man an ancient Chinese bronze from the 

 collection of Mr. H. Oppenheim. It represents a 

 monstrous mammalian quadruped, winged, with a 

 long neck and a feline head, which seems to be 

 struggling with a snake-like form. Figures of a 

 similar kind are said to have been used as a refrigera- 

 tor for food, or as a brazier for heating water or 

 wine. Sir C. H. Read remarks that "the practical 

 identity of the Tartar figures and the surrounding 

 animals would further suggest that if one be of the 

 Han dynastv type, the other is also. In any case, 

 the suggestion helps my theory as to the affinities of 

 the Oppenheim bronze, viz. that in some respects it 

 has clear connection with the later Bronze age in 

 the Far East. The architectural treatment of the 

 base is quite un-Chinese, and at the present moment 

 I can think of nothing nearer than Gandhara with 

 which to compare it. Ten years ago such a sugges- 

 tion would have been thought fantastic, but Sir Aurel 

 Stein's discoveries have reduced it to a common- 

 place. " 



Dr. J. W. H. Harrison, continuing his experiments 

 with the Geometrid subfamilv Bistoninae, finds 

 peculiar sex-relationships particularly in inter-generic 

 hybrids of these Lepidoptera {Journal of Genetics, 

 vol. ix., No. i). Occasional inter-sexes, inter- 

 mediate between males and females, were produced, 

 and in several crosses only males appeared, 

 although all the fertilised ova developed. In such 

 cases the male parent in the cross is found to be 

 " phvlogenetically older" than the female. Thus 

 Nyssia zonaria x Lycia hirtaria yielded males only. A 

 NO. 2622, VOL. 104] 



further complication is found in the fact that hirtaria 

 has fourteen (haploid) chromosomes, while zonaria 

 has fifty-six. An explanation of the results is 

 attempted in terms of intensity of sex-factors. 



"Notes on the Survey of India Maps and the Modern 

 Development of Indian Cartography," by Lt.-Col. 

 W. M. Coldstream, 'R.E., is the title of a volume re- 

 cently published by the Survey of India. The author 

 traces the history" of map production in India and the 

 development of colour printing. The size of sheets, use 

 of symbols, selection of colours, and lettering and other 

 problems in cartography are discussed at length, and the 

 volume is illustrated by forty coloured plates showing 

 specimens of all the most important maps published 

 by the Survey of India, as well as illustrations of 

 several old maps. The collection of these plates alone 

 makes the volume of great interest. 



Military operations in the Libyan desert in 1914-18 

 gave Dr. J. Ball opportunities of taking the latitude 

 and longitude of several places of which the position 

 had not been accurately determined. These are pab- 

 lished by the Egyptian Survey (Survey Department 

 Paper No. 34). The positions determined extend from 

 the Nile west to the Siwa oasis and Jarabub, and south 

 to the oases of Kharga and Dakhla. The position of 

 Bir Terfawi, which had hitherto only been guessed at, 

 was determined by Lieut. Moore, who places the well 

 nearer to Wadi Haifa than had been previously sup- 

 f>osed. 



The question of Suess's "sal" and "sima" 

 magmas is dealt with by Dr. Holtedahl in relation 

 to continental margins in a paper on the causes of 

 large earth-movements, which appears in Naturen. 

 1919, p. 266. 



Mr. F. L. Hess proposes (Amer. Journ. Sci.. vol. 

 xlviii., p. 377, November, 1919) a new and useful geo- 

 logical term, "tactile," for the body of rock altered 

 by contact with an igneous mass. The abbreviation 

 rendered possible in descriptions of contact-phenomena 

 bv the adoption of so simple a word is at once obvious 

 and welcome to geologists. 



Memoir hi of the Geological Survey of Canada, 

 on "The Silurian Geology and Faunas of Ontario 

 Peninsula," is of special interest, since it includes the 

 well-known Niagara group and its development in 

 the Niagara district. Few new species of fossils ar^- 

 described, but the fauna is admirably illustrated b\ 

 photographs, and two coloured maps are added in a 

 pocket at the end. 



All known occurrences of platinum in Canada are 

 described and u.sefully set down upon a general map 

 bv Mr. J. J. O'Neill in Part G of the Summary 

 Report of the Geological Survey of Canada for 191S 

 (issued in 1919). The conclusion is that "Canada cer- 

 tain! v has possitiilities of becoming one of the world'- 

 largest producers of metals of the platinum group." 

 It appears that at present a very large quantity of 

 platinum, here estimated at 50,000 oz. annually, is 

 lost bv the ,-ibsence of proper methods of recovery in 

 placer working. 



