July 19, 1917] 



NATURE 



411 



have now increased to such an appalling extent as to 

 threaten the sheep on the runs with destruction, the 

 animals becoming- '* flv-blown " and infested with the 

 larvae of this troublesome and dangerous insect. Simi- 

 larly, the Victorian Naturalist for April relates that, 

 for the last month or two, wheat buyers have been at 

 their wits' end to protect the immense wheat stacks 

 at country stations, especially in the Wimmera dis- 

 trict, from mice, which have increased to an incredible 

 extent. Most of the stacks have now been enclosed by 

 sheets of galvanised iron, openings in which are left to 

 correspond with kerosene tins, sunk in the ground, and 

 partly filled with water. It is no uncommon occur- 

 rence to capture 10,000 mice in this way in a single 

 night. At Minyip, recently, the catch for two nights 

 weighed rather more than a ton. Australia would do 

 well to follow the lead of Canada and the United 

 States and appoint a Bureau of Economic Ornitho- 

 logy, which might also be charged with the task of 

 inquiry into the status and usefulness, or otherwise, of 

 such of the native carnivora as have escaped the un- 

 fortunate and ill-considered legislation which has 

 brought about suoh disastrous results. 



Of the many varieties of rice grown in India, some 

 of the most interesting are the deep-w-ater paddies 

 grown in Orissa. Unlike other paddies, these deep- 

 water forms, of which eight are known to be culti- 

 vated, can endure complete submergence for seven 

 to ten days without sustaining any material damage. 

 As the water rises the plants keep growing, main- 

 taining their heads above water, and plants 10-15 ft. 

 long have been measured, yielding at the same time a 

 bumper harvest. The value of these paddies is that 

 land which would otherwise be unutilised, since at 

 crop seasons it is always under water, is found to be 

 admirably suited to them, and a good return has been 

 realised, owing to the introduction of these deep- 

 water forms, from land which formerlv was valueless. 

 The account of the deep-water paddy of Orissa is 

 sriven in the Journal of the Department of Agriculture, 

 Bihar and Orissa, vol iv., p. 66. by Mr. E. L. Rout, 

 Inspector of Agriculture, Cuttack. 



The Times Trade Supplement for July contains some 

 interesting statistics as to the production of potash 

 salts and products in the United States in 1916. The 

 total production represented 8830 tons of potash, of 

 which 5750 tons were obtained from mineral sources 

 and 3080 tons from organic sources. Of the former. 

 3850 tons were obtained from natural salts or brines, 

 and 1900 tons from alunite and silicate rocks, includ- 

 ing recoveries from furnace-flue dusts. Of the potash 

 from organic sources mo tons were obtained from 

 kelp, 220 tons from pearl ash, and 1750 tons from 

 miscellaneous industrial wastes. Canadian felspar, 

 which has long been imported for use in pottery manu- 

 facture, is now imported by American manufacturers 

 of fertilisers for use as potash manure. Portland 

 cement works in Ontario are also producing potash &s 

 a by-product from the felspar used in making the 

 cement. It is claimed that more than 80 per cent, of 

 the potash of the felspar is recovered, and at a cost 

 less than the freight charges paid on imported German 

 potash before the war. 



Two articles on the Near East in the July number 

 of the Geographical Journal (vol. 1., No. i) are of 

 special interest at the present time. The first, by Dr. 

 E. W. G. Masterman, is on Palestine. Dr. Master- 

 man, who knows Palestine well, and is secretary of 

 the Palestine Exploration Fund, has no exaggerated 

 views on the value of the country as a field for 

 colonisation, and believes that the first needs of Pales- 

 tine must be afforestation, irrigation, and the restora- 

 tion of_ the terraces on the mountain-sides. Side by 

 side with these efforts, he insists on an organised 



NO. 2490, VOL. 99] 



attack on the causes of the prevalent diseases — malaria, 

 ophthalmia, dysentery, tuberculosis, and others. So 

 far as present conditions go there is little room for 

 increased population, and Dr. Masterman foresees no 

 immediate opening for settlers on an extended scale 

 after the war. The second pap>er is a long one, by Mr. 

 H. C. Woods, on the Bagdad Railway and its tribu- 

 taries. This paper deals also with the other railway 

 lines and projects in Asia Minor, and with those in 

 Syria so far as they act as feeders to the Bagdad line. 



In the Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists' 

 Field Club for 1916, p. 129, Mr. C. T. Gardiner gives 

 a detailed study of the Silurian inlier on the east of 

 the South Welsh coalfield between Usk and Pontypool. 

 Dr. F. R. Cowj>er Reed describes and figures some 

 new species from the area. The Wenlock Shales, it 

 is urged, have a greater extension than appears on 

 the Geological Survey map, while the Ludlow area is 

 correspondingly reduced. A newjy discovered outlier 

 of Old Red Sandstone is indicated. 



The seventeenth report of the committee of the British 

 Association on Photographs of Cieological Interest ap- 

 peared in 19 10, and is now supplemented by the 

 eighteenth report (1916), drawn up under the care of 

 Prof. W. W. Watts and Prof. S. H. Reynolds. A 

 large part of the interval has been unsuited for photo- 

 graphic work, especially along our coast-line, but valu- 

 able additions have been made from special localities, 

 such as the series bv Prof. Reynolds from the Carbon- 

 iferous sect'on in Burrington Combe, Somerset, fol- 

 lowing on his great Avon gorge series, and Mr. God- 

 frey Bingley's extensive studies of the Magnesian 

 Limestone of Sunderland. Geologists desiring prints 

 or lantern-slides from the negatives named in the lists 

 now published are asked to communicate with the 

 individual photographers, whose names and addresses 

 are conveniently given. 



The study of earthquakes in California is in the 

 hands of the Weather Bureau in that State, assisted by 

 observers at twelve first-class stations and by 314 

 " climatological observers." The results for the year 

 1916 are contained in an interesting paper by Mr. A. H. 

 Palmer, contributed to the Seismological Society of 

 America (Bulletin, vol. vii., 1917, pp. 1-17). The total 

 number of earthquakes recorded during the year is 

 sixty-six, which exceeds the number felt throughout 

 the rest of the United States. None of them attained 

 a destructive intensity', and two-thirds were so slight 

 that they were felt at one station only. They occurred 

 more frequently near the coast than in the interior, 

 the region of greatest frequency being- that about 

 Monterey Bay. At San Francisco there was only one 

 very slight shock. A peculiar feature of these earth- 

 quakes is the comparative absence of the earthquake- 

 sound, which is mentioned in only one-fifth of the 

 records. The earthquakes are attributed generally to 

 movements along the well-known faults which traverse 

 the State in a south-easterly direction, but the evidence 

 is too scanty to enable the author to assign an earth- 

 quake to any particular fault. The State of California 

 is one of the most interesting seismic regions, and it 

 is to be hoped that the Weather Bureau will not re- 

 main content until the network of stations is greatlv 

 expanded, especially in the Owens Valley, the Impe- 

 rial Valley, Humboldt County, and in the districts 

 surrounding San Francisco and Monterey Bay. 



Science for June i contains an interesting 

 address by Prof. G. \. Miller on the function of 

 mathematics in scientific research. It is rather dis- 

 cursive, but contains many striking epigrams; for 

 instance, " I would be inclined to say that modesty 

 is the attitude of mind which has contributed most 

 powerfully to mathematical progress"; "Unless we 



