May 3, 1917] 



NATURE 



191 



tt) r^concilp -eati^actorily the results "f theoretical, 

 calculation >with. aiictual observation . 



TiiE newly formed Russian Botanical Society held its 

 annual, and also a special, meeting at Moscow on 

 December 16-19, 1916, and its organisation was then 

 completed. The following officers were elected : 

 Honorary President, A. S. Famincyn ; President, I. P. 

 Borodin; Vice-Presidents, V. I. Palladin and S. G. 

 NavaSin; Chief Secretary, N. A. Bu§; Treasurer, V. N. 

 Suchadev ; Members of the Council in Petrograd, V. L. 

 Komarov, S. P. Kostycev, and V. A. Transel. In 

 addition, the following were elected on the council as 

 representing cities containing a ininimum of five 

 membersof the society : M. I. Golenkin (Moscow), E. F. 

 Votcal (Kiev), V. M. Amoldi (Charkov), B. B. Grine- 

 veckij (Odessa), V. V. Sapoznikov (Tomsk), Ja. S, 

 Medvedev (Tiflis), and V. M. Arcichovskij (Novocer- 

 kassk). The number of the acting members of the 

 society now exceeds 280. Notwithstanding the present 

 unfavourable conditions, more than eighty members 

 attended the four days' meeting in Moscow, and, in 

 addition to the discussion and settlement of various 

 questions of organisation, sixteen scientific reports 

 were read. The next extraordinary meeting is fixed 

 for December, 19 19, again in Moscow. Thanks to a 

 subsidy of 3000 roubles received from the Ministry of 

 Public Instruction, it was possible towards the end of 

 the year 1916 to proceed with the publication of the 

 Journal of the Russian Botanical Society, and the first 

 issue (Nos. 1-2) was placed before, and approved by, 

 the Moscow meeting. The second issue (Nos, 3-4) is 

 "in the press and finishes the year 1916. For this year 

 a subsidv of 10,000 roubles is being applied for, and it 

 IS intended to publish eight numbers of four to five 

 sheets each. Thus the scientific amalgamation of 

 Russian botanists, for which they have long striven, 

 may be considered as achieved, and the formation 

 under the auspices of the Imperial Academy of Sciences 

 ■of the first ail-Russian learned society is an accom- 

 plished fact. 



In the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 

 {vo\. xlvi., July-December, 1916) Sir James Frazer's 

 Huxley memorial lecture, "Ancient Stories of a Great 

 Flood," is published. This subject was suggested by 

 Huxley's article, "Hasisadra's Adventure " ("Collected 

 Essays," vol. iv., London, 191 1). He deals first in detail 

 ■with the Babylonian and Hebrew versions of the story, 

 and then passes on to consider the Greek myth of 

 Deucalion. In regard to the last, he advances the 

 interesting suggestion that the cleft in the Thessalian 

 mountains, which is said to have been rent by Deuca- 

 lion's flood, was no other than the gorge of Tempe. 

 Indeed, it seems probable that the stor^' of this flood 

 ■was suggested by the desire to explain the origin of 

 this deep and narrow defile. If this conjecture be 

 accepted, the Thessalian story of Deucalion's flood, 

 like that of Samothrace based on the tradition of the 

 vast Ponto-.Aralian sea and its desiccation through the 

 piercing of the dam which divided it from the Medi- 

 terranean — in other words, through the opening of the 

 Bosphorus and the Dardanelles — was an inference 

 drawn from the facts of physical geography. In short, 

 both were what Sir Edward Tylor has called "myths 

 of observation " rather than historical traditions. 



In the Review of Applied Entomology (vol. iv., A 

 and B, parts xi. and xii. ; vol. v., A and B, parts i. 

 and ii.) useful summaries of recent papers continue 

 to be published. Those extracted from Russian and 

 Scandinavian sources will be especially valued by 

 r?ritish workers with a limited linguistic aptitude. 



Dr. Angel Gallardo continues his. studies of ants 

 in the Anales del Mtiseo de Historia Natural de Buenos 



Aires (vol. xxviii.)^ contributing systematic not^ on 

 the Attihae of the Argentine,' and. a special illastratefl 

 account of. Trachymyrmex pruinosus, with destrip- 

 tions of observation nests. 



. Two recent numbers of the Bulletin of Entomo- 

 logical Research (vol. vii., parts ii. and iii.) are note- 

 worthy for some further papers by theRev. Jas. Water- 

 ston on tropical chalcids; some of the new forms de- 

 scribed are parasitic on injurious scale insects. There 

 are also valuable papers by Dr. J. W. Scott Macfie 

 on "West African Mosquitoes," of which one on the 

 changes observed in the four larval stages of Stego- 

 myia fasciata is of general interest to entomologists; 

 the author points out the practical importance of trust- 

 worthy characters for the determination of such 

 disease-carr>-ing insects in the larval stage. 



A VERY useful pamphlet on the destruction of the 

 rodent pests of the farmer has been issued by the 

 U.S. Bureau of Biological Sur\'ey. The rodents of 

 North and Middle America include about 1350 forms; 

 but of this number -only a few species are actually 

 troublesome to the farmer. When these pests become 

 unduly numerous trapping is found impracticable, 

 and the use of poison has to be resorted to. Careful 

 instruction as to the employment of this is given. 

 But the protection of hawks and owls, as well as of 

 non-venomous snakes, is strenuously advocated. A 

 number of photographs afford the reader a vivid idea 

 of the widespread havoc these creatures may cause, 

 if allowed to increase unchecked. British farmers 

 might read these pages with profit. 



In the Journal of the Franklin Institute for March 

 Prof. Ulric Dahlgren contributes a further instalment 

 of his studies on the '" Production of Light by 

 Animals." He^tieats now of the Lampyridae, known 

 in this country as "glow-worms," but which Prof. 

 Dahlgren calls " fire-flies," a term res^ved by British 

 coleopterists for another family, the Elateridae. Both 

 larval and adult forms are described in regard to their 

 powers of luminescence, and the suggestion is made 

 that the light-producing powers are dependent on the 

 tracheae, controlled by the nervous sysicm, a con- 

 clusion already arrived at by Wielowiejski, of wboni 

 he makes no mention. Nor is the work of Dubois, 

 who studied the luminescence of the true fire-flies, 

 referred to. The last-named author believed that the 

 light was evoked by the emission of blood, charged 

 with " luci ferine," to the luminous organs, where it 

 combined with " luciferase,." an enzyme formed in the 

 luminous organs themselves. 



The current number of the Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science (vol. Ixii., part ii.) contains an 

 interesting paper by Dr. S. F. Harmer on that hitherto 

 very imperfectly known member of the British marine 

 fauna, Phoronis ovalis. This species was described 

 so far back as 1856 by Strethill Wright, in tne same 

 papers in which the genus" Phoronis was first estab- 

 lished, a genus which has since given rise to an 

 immense amount of discussion on account of its very 

 problematical relationships. Curiously enough, up to 

 the date of publication of Dr. Harmer 's memoir, the 

 species in question had never again been recorded, and 

 considerable doubt had been thrown upon its validity. 

 Its mode of life, rather than its rarity, is probably 

 responsible for its having escaf>ed re-discovery for 

 more than half a century, for it inhabits burrows in 

 the shells of mollusca, along with numerous boring 

 animals, such as Cliona and Polydora. The original 

 specimens came from the Firth of Forth, those ex- 

 amined by Dr. Harmer from the Northumberland 

 coast. A detailed description of the anatomy is given, 

 with numerous illustrations, and stress is laid upon 



NO. 2479, VOL. 99] 



