S6o 



NATURE 



[Julys, 19 19 



and other species and genera of African Ichneu- 

 monidae. — G. A. Boulenger : (i) A list of the snakes of 

 West Africa from Mauritania to the French Congo. 

 (2) A list of the snakes of North Africa. — The Rev. 

 T. R. R. Stebbing : Crustacea from the Falkland 

 Islands collected by Mr. Rupert Vallentin. Part iii. 



Linnean Society, June 19.— Dr. A. Smith Woodward, 

 president, in the chair. — ^T. A. Dymes : Notes on the 

 life-history of the yellow flag (Iris pseudacorus, Linn.), 

 with special reference to the seeds and seedlings 

 during their first year. I. pseudacorus, Linn., is a 

 plant of shallow swamps and wet pastures, occurring 

 in many different kinds of soil. Its xerophytic adapta- 

 tions and its contractile roots are a protection from 

 some of the dangers of the physical world. Its acridity 

 and astringency protect it from being readily eaten, but 

 the larvae of some insects feed upon it, those of a saw- 

 fly doing considerable damage ; a few molluscs resort 

 to it for food. It appears that wild-fowl eat the seeds 

 and the very young seedlings ; it is also attacked by 

 a parasitic fungus. This plant hibernates, and the 

 normal minimum for the seeds is about seven months, 

 the maximum being not less than twenty. Flowering 

 in its fourth year, the capsules begin to dehisce in 

 September. There are tw'o kinds of seed, flat and 

 round, and the difiference between them has some 

 significance both in dispersal and in germination. Un- 

 injured seeds float for two years or more. The most 

 im,portant of the agents are diving wild-fowl, and the 

 least is the wind ; running water plays a very consider- 

 able part.-— S. L. Moore : A contribution to the flora 

 of Australia. This memoir contains notices of rare 

 and descriptions of new Australian olants preserved 

 in_ the British Museum.— A. W. 'Waters : Selen- 

 ariadae and other Brvozoa. The paper deals 

 with some cup-shaped or flat forms of Bryozoa, 

 and while the zoarial shape alone is sufficient for 

 generic classification, an examination has been made 

 to see how far other characters run through all or 

 most species.— Dr. E. Penard : Studies on some 

 Flagellata. The author gives the result of his ob- 

 servations on some Flagellata from the vicinity of 

 Geneva. — Dr. W. M. Tattersall : Report on the 

 Stomatopoda and Macrurous Decaooda collected by 

 Mr. Cyril Crossland in the Sudanese Red Sea. 



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The Metals of the Rare Earths. By Dr. J. F. 

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La Tension de Vapeur des Melanges de Liquides. 

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Annals of the Philosophical Club of the Royal 

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Practical Butter-making. By C. W. Walker-Tisdale 

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CONTENTS. PAGE 



Sir William Turner 341 



Applied Physiology. By M. G 341 



The Problem of Individuality 342 



Our Bookshelf 343 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Dr. Kammerer's Testimony to the Inheritance of 



Acquired Characters.— Prof. W. Bateson, F.R.S. 344 



The Food of Rats.— Thos. Steel 345 



Some Recent Atomic Weight Determinations. By 



Sir T. E. Thorpe, C.B., F.R.S 346 



The Peace Treaty and Mineral Fields. By H. L. . 348 



Notes 349 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Nova Aquilae u 353 



The Parallax of the Orion Nebula 353 



Planetary Nebula; 353 



Medical Science in the War 354 



Experimental Studies of Selection 354 



Fungus Diseases of Economic Plants 354 



The Fisheries and the International Council. I. 



By Prof. Mcintosh, F.R.S 355 



University and Educational Intelligence 358 



Societies and Academies .... 359 



Books Received ... 360 



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