590 



NATURE 



[October 20, 1898 



him from exercising sufficient care in selecting his com- 

 panions. He broke one of his own rules by taking too 

 many, and the majority of them turned out totally unfit 

 for the work. The climatic conditions, too, were very 

 unfavourable, a succession of furious gales was en- 

 countered with temperatures down to - 60° F., but before 

 acknowledging defeat a magnificent effort was made to 

 cross the ice-cap. 



In 1894-95 Mr. Peary remained in Greenland, whilst 

 his wife, their little daughter, and the majority of his 

 party returned to the United States. One white com- 

 panion, Lee, and the negro servant, Henson, alone re- 

 mained faithful, and in the spring of 1895 Peary and 

 Henson, provided with insufficient supplies, once more 

 made the long tramp across the inland ice, rising to over 

 8000 feet, and back again, 1200 miles in all, reaching the 

 base with one surviving dog and no food. The hardships 

 were severe, and it was impossible to extend the observ- 

 ations at Independence Bay beyond those made in 1892, 

 but the effort was heroic. A visit to Cape York before 

 retui'ning was rewarded by the discovery of the sources of 

 native iron which Sir John Ross heard of in 1818. They 

 were found to be three large meteorites, and the summer 

 trips of 1896 and 1897 were successful in bringing them 

 back (see Nature, vol. Ivii. p. 132.) 



During these expeditions the knowledge of the Arctic 

 regions had been greatly advanced by other explorers, 

 and the drift of the Fratn convinced Mr. Peary that the 

 only reasonable chance of reaching the pole was from 

 the north of Greenland. To this purpose he now intends 

 •to devote himself, and his plan is to become for the time 

 practically an Eskimo, living in snow igloos, and ac- 

 companied by a few picked families of the Smith Sound 

 tribe, every individual of which he has come to know 

 well. Experiments during his three winters in the far 

 north have convinced him that it is quite practicable in 

 good weather to travel with sledges during the Arctic 

 night, although of course the greater part of his journeys 

 will be done in summer. 



Apart from the direct work of the Peary expeditions, 

 great scientific advantages have accrued from the 

 summer parties he has taken up in successive years. 

 These included Prof Chamberlin of Chicago, Prof 

 Heilprin of Philadelphia, Prof Tarr of New York, and 

 a large number of other specialists ; and already some 

 important monographs, such as those of Prof Chamberlin 

 on Glacial Phenomena, have been published. 



In meteorology there is one fact of great importance 

 clearly demonstrated, which Nansen refers to as probably 

 true in the account of his crossing of Greenland. It is 

 that the wind always blows strongly outward from the 

 interior. Once arrived at the summit level of the ice-cap, 

 whether going east or west, Peary always found a strong 

 favourable wind, enabling him to use sails on the sledges. 

 The condensation of air by the extreme cold of the high 

 plateau would naturally give rise to outflowing winds, and 

 the question arises how far this area of permanent low 

 temperature, producing a permanent anticyclonic condi- 

 tion at an altitude of from 5000 to 10,000 feet, may not be 

 responsible for the existence of the low-pressure area 

 south-east of Greenland, which exercises so large an 

 influence on the climate of north-western Europe. The 

 influence of the constant down-draught carrying air from 

 NO. I 512, VOL. 58] 



high regions of the atmosphere to sea-level has probably 

 not been hitherto sufficiently considered by meteor- 

 ologists, and the observations in Greenland suggest what 

 the condition of things on the Antarctic ice-sheet must 

 be. Fohn effects of a very remarkable kind were 

 observed by Peary giving rise on one occasion to de- 

 luges of rain, which were instantly afterwards converted 

 into solid ice. Hugh Robert Mill. 



MODERN MYCOLOGICAL METHODS. 

 Mykologische Untersuchungen aus den Troperi {Myco- 

 logical Researches in the Tropics). By Dr. Carl 

 Holtermann. Pp. viii 4- 122, and Plates. (Berlin : 

 Gebriider Borntraeger, 1898.) 



THE exceedingly important and original investigations 

 prosecuted during a sojourn of fourteen months in 

 Ceylon, Java, Borneo, and the Straits Settlements, by 

 Dr. Holtermann, can only be compared with the admir- 

 able work done by Dr. Moller in Brazil, inasmuch as 

 both authors adopted the Brefeldian method of research 

 by means of pure cultures, and both paid special atten- 

 tion to the simpler forms belonging respectively to the 

 Ascomycetes and the Basidiomycetes. Dr. Holtermann 

 commences by creating a new genus belonging to the 

 Hemiasci, and utilises it as a means of perpetuating for 

 all time the full name of the talented author of " Unters. 

 aus dem Gesamm. der Mykologie" by calling it 

 Oscarbrefeldia. 



Failing a terse generic diagnosis, the salient features 

 of the genus cannot be ascertained morphologically. 

 The species is O. pellucida, bearing remarkably large 

 conidia. The asci are terminal or rarely intercalary, 

 and at maturity contain four i-septate spores. A second 

 new genus appertaining to the Hemiasci is Conidiasctis, 

 which, like the preceding, occurs in " Schleimfluss " on 

 trunks of trees in company with various Anguillideae, 

 Bacteria, Oidium, &c. The feature of this species is 

 that the apparent asci are in reality conidia, the proto- 

 plasm of which becomes differentiated into spores ; if a 

 structure develops, the protoplasm of which remains un- 

 segmented, it has been considered as a conidium ; if the 

 contents divide into several bodies, each capable of 

 germination, it has been considered as an ascus contain- 

 ing spores ; in the present species the two are considered 

 as conidia exhibiting a difference of degree only as to 

 division, or not, of the protoplasm. Coming to the 

 Basidiomycetes, we find a new species of Lentinus 

 described as L. variabilis. Under certain conditions of 

 culture the germinating spores produced a fertile struc- 

 ture resembling the genus Hypochnus., considered as a 

 very primitive type of the Basidiomycetes. Under a 

 different set of conditions, spores of the same Lentinus 

 gave origin to structures resembling Clavaria, a type 

 much higher than Hypochnus. Hence the author 

 says : — 



" Hier Hegt ein Fall vor, der sich mit einigem Recht zu 

 phylogenetischen Speculationen verwenden lasst. Den 

 der Pilz durchlauft Entwickelungsstadien, die selbstan- 

 digen Formen in der freien Natur entsprechen. Das 

 erste Stadium findet in Hypochnus., das andere in 

 Clavaria fast einen Doppelgiinger." 



It has been known for a long time that species of 

 Lentinus,' •w\vtn developing on wood in dark places, as 



