470 



NATURE 



[August 9, 19 17 



tion of a distantly ancestral or Simian condition. But 

 feeble-mindedness as we know it does not look like 

 a stage in an evolution that went on ! Mosckoff is 

 more explicit. He traces all degeneracy and much else 

 to the persistently assertive mfluence of a Pithec- 

 anthropus strain, which unfoitunately got mixed up 

 long ago with that of " white diluvial man," who seems 

 to have been a sort of Apollo. (2) Another so-called 

 theory is that retrogressive variations are fresh "spon- 

 taneous " sports, bad shots on the part of the change- 

 ful germ-plasm. But there are few who are inclined 

 to rest satisfied with the word "spontaneous," which 

 is only a confession of ignorance. (3) So the third 

 view is that retrogressive variations arise as variations 

 conditioned by a disturbing, depressing, or deteriorat- 

 ing immediate environment, such as toxic conditions 

 of the parent, which may induce senescence or en- 

 feeblement in the germ-cells. The author might have 

 referred with efTect to the striking experiments of 

 Werber, which show how toxic agents, like butyric 

 acid and acetone, produce no end of monstrosities 

 in the developing fish-embryo. Perhaps, as Werber 

 suggests, parental metabolic toxaemia higher up in the 

 scale may account for degeneracy, in the offspring. 

 Dr. Tredgold directs attention to the fact that the 

 chief expression of degeneracy occurs in the most 

 elaborate, and phylbgenetically the most recent, part of 

 the organism — namely, the higher parts of the brain. 

 From his own experience, he notes that all the off- 

 spring of two markedly degenerate persons are always 

 defective, and that those resulting from the union of a 

 pronounced degenerate with a healthy individual tend 

 to be, not some normal and some abnormal, but all 

 abnormal. 



In the Revue Scientifique for July 14-21 M. Andr6 

 Godard directs attention to the important services ren- 

 dered by birds to agriculture. The depredations of 

 insects on cultivated crops, both at home and abroad, 

 he points out, are so serious that it is well that we 

 should realise their extent and the good that is done 

 by truly insectivorous species of wild birds. The 

 opinions of many authorities are qupted, and figures 

 given in support of their various statements, which 

 show that enormous numbers of insects, insect larvae, 

 and eggs are annually destroyed by birds, which, if 

 permitted to live, would make profitable cultivation im- 

 possible. M. Godard is of opinion that although many 

 species may appear to be injurious, they are really 

 beneficial when the nature and quantity of their food 

 are carefully considered. He seems to regard the situa- 

 tion as one in which we must be content to put up 

 with a small amount of damage by birds or absolute 

 disaster due to injurious insects. Whilst fuljy agree- 

 ing with all the author claims for the truly insec- 

 tivorous species, we must differ from him in regard- 

 ing the damage done as small, and bearing in mind 

 that the truly injurious species are comparatively few 

 in number, we think that agriculture will best benefit 

 by the elicitation of a thorough and detailed knowledge 

 of their feeding habits and the nature of their food 

 throughout the whole of the year, and the enactment 

 of wise measures for the destruction of such species 

 as are known to be too plentiful. We believe that in 

 France, as in Great Britain, many of the insectivorous 

 species of wild birds have suffered owing to the un- 

 restricted increase of the commoner and injurious 

 species, and the situation is one that will not improve 

 by neglect or by the shutting of one's ey«s to the 

 actual facts. 



The Scottish Naturalist for July-August is entirely 

 devoted to the rep.ort on Scottish ornithology in igi6 

 by the Misses Leonora, Rintoul and Evelyn Baxter. 

 This in every way maintains the high standard of 

 their reports of former years. One of the most strik- 



NO. 2493, VOL. 99] 



ing of the many good things they record concerns the 

 herring-gull, nesting on the cliffs at North List and 

 the Skerries. After building their nests, which they 

 seem to have done in normal numbers, very few of 

 them laid eggs, and fewer still hatched out young, not 

 more than a dozen being brought off where there used 

 to be scores. So far no explanation of this state of 

 affairs is forthcoming, though it was believed, in the 

 case of the North List birds, that this failure was 

 due to the plague of rats which infests the cliffs there, 

 but it is clear, they remark, that this explanation 

 fails. The presence of rats in such conspicuous num- 

 bers on cliffs facing the sea is in itself a noteworthy 

 fact, and should be kept under observation. "One of 

 our correspondents," they write, "records about twenty 

 pairs of red-necked phalaropes." But the precise 

 breeding-place of this bird is rightly withheld. Anbther 

 note concerns the spotted flycatcher, eight or nine of 

 which were watched catching flies over a big pool in 

 the Malzie Burn, Corsemalzie, where one of them was 

 seen to alight several times on the still -water. 



Mr. N. Hollister, superintendent of the National 

 Zoological Park, Washington, in the Proceedings of 

 the Lnited States National Museum, vol. liii. (June), re- 

 cords some valuable notes on the effects of environment 

 and habit on captive lions, which will be read with 

 interest, not only by those desirous of obtaining data 

 of this kind, but also by such as are responsible for 

 the selection of specimervs for museums. The author 

 shows clearly enough that captivity produces very 

 marked changes, both in the coloration and length 

 of the pelage and in the skeleton, particularly 

 in the skull, where the regions affected are chiefly 

 the areas of origin for the muscles concerned with 

 the seizing of the prey and with certain of the masti- 

 catory muscles. Further, the brain rapacity in captive 

 lions is much less than in wild specimens. 



The April issue of the Agricultural Journal of India 

 (vol.'xii., part ii.) contains two notes from different 

 sources on materials said to ibe now used in Germany 

 as substitutes for jute, and their probable significance 

 as future competitors with Indian jute. Waste paper 

 and cellulose are dismissed as unlikely to be more than 

 war-time substitutes, but a more serious view is taken 

 of the possibilities oif the two plants, Epilobinm hirsu. 

 turn (hairy willow herb) and Typha (reedmace), which 

 are said to be now utilised for fibre by the Germans. 

 The opinion is expressed that the former is unlikely, 

 for some time at any rate, to prove a serious com- 

 petitor, owing- to the necessity for prolonged cultural 

 improvement of the plant before good fibre-producing 

 strains can be evolved. Typha fibre, according to a 

 quotation from the Chicago Daily News of October i, 

 19 16, would appear to be a more formidable com- 

 petitor. It is claimed in Germany that this material, 

 "if it meets with expectations," will malie Grermany 

 independent of the importation of cotton, jute, and 

 wool, and the further assertion is made that Germany 

 so early as next year will make enough of the material 

 to equal all the supplies usually imported, largely from 

 America and Egypt. Capital for the exploitation and 

 manufacture of^ this material has been subscribed by 

 "the greatest spinners, merchants, and bankers of 

 Germany," and attention is being directed first to the 

 development of the coarser grades of material. 



The June issue of Tropical Life contains a review 

 by Mr. H. C. Brill, of the Bureau of Science, Manila, 

 of the outlook for the alcohol industry in the Philip- 

 pines and the tropics generally. Three of the cheajDest 

 sources of alcohol occur in the tropical countries, 

 namely, sugar-cane molasses, "tuba" from the nipa 

 palm, and possiblv from the coconut palm, and starch 

 from the starch plants, such as cassava and arrowroot. 



