390 



NATURE 



UuLY 17, 1919 



the washings of tar-treated roads has selected Mr. 

 A, J. Mason-Jones as biologist and observer to assist 

 with experiments, which will be commenced in the 

 near future. Mr. Mason-Jones has had a distin- 

 guished academic career and considerable experience 

 as naturalist on the staff of the Marine Biological 

 Association. He has recently been engaged in a study 

 of the biological conditions of fresh-water streams. 



The third annual meeting of the Association of 

 British Chemical Manufacturers was held on July 10. 

 The chairman, Mr. R. G. Perry, reported a member- 

 ship of 145 firms, representing a capital of about 

 70,000,000/. In addition, seven kindred associations 

 are affiliated to the association. During the year 

 much useful work has been accomplished in con- 

 solidating the industry and strengthening the position 

 of its various branches. The chairman pointed out 

 that we are only on the threshold of a great dye 

 industry in this country, and the council of the asso- 

 ciation 'has paid close attention to this question. A 

 strong commission of the association, representative 

 of all branches of the industry, has recently returned 

 from, and reported comprehensively upon, its visit, 

 under Government auspices, to the chemical factories 

 in the occupied area of Germany. Chemical industry 

 has derived great benefit from the activities of the 

 association since its formation in 1916. 



The death of Mr. Albert Vickers, formerly chair- 

 man of Vickers, Ltd., occurred at Eastbourne on 

 Saturday last. Mr. Vickers resigned his chairman- 

 ship last September on attaining his eightieth birthday. 

 He was born in Sheffield, and entered his father's 

 business in 1854. After a few years in the United 

 States he returned to this country, and took charge 

 of the commercial side of the business. The success 

 with which the firm has met the enormous demands 

 made upon it during the war is striking testimony to 

 the soundness of the policy pursued by Mr. Vickers. 

 The construction of guns began with the intro- 

 duction of Mr. (afterwards Sir Hiram) Maxim in 

 1883, and orders for large guns were secured from 

 the Admiralty in 1888, as well as orders for armour- 

 plate. A further development took place in the direc- 

 tion of enabling the firm to carry out the complete 

 construction of products, e.g. battleships, instead of 

 furnishing steel, etc., to other constructional firms for 

 this purpose. The Naval Constructional Works at 

 Barrow-in-Furness were absorbed in 1896, and the 

 Maxim-Nordenfelt Works in 1897. Others followed 

 until the company became independent of outside sup- 

 plies, and the capital increased from 155,00^/. to more 

 than eight millions sterling, and the workers from 

 1000 to more than 100,000. 



We are glad to note that the publication of the 

 Quarterly journal of Experimental Physiology has 

 been resumed after suspension during the past year. 

 The editors announce that it is intended that the 

 journal shall now again appear regularly. Of the 

 eight papers in the present issue (vol. xii.. No. 2, 

 May, 1919) we have space to note only certain con- 

 clusions in one. Prof. P. T. Herring finds that the 

 suprarenals of the young adult female white rat are 

 normally some 40 per cent, heavier than the supra- 

 renals of male animals of the same body-weight, and 

 that the adrenalin content of the suprarenals of the 

 female white rat is rather more than twice that of 

 the suprarenals of the male animal of the same size. 

 The larger suprarenals and adrenalin content of the 

 female white rat are associated with sex differences 

 in the other endocrine glands and organs of the body 

 (e.g. thyroid and pituitary). 



Crawling medusae, or jellyfish, with their tentacles 

 modified to form what may fairly be called legs, 



NO. 2594, VOL. 103] 



have long been known, but they are rarely met with, 

 and the discovery of a new species at the Cape of 

 Good Hope is a matter of considerable interest to 

 zoologists. Dr. J. D. F. Gilchrist describes this 

 species under the name Cnidonema capensis {Quar- 

 terly Journal of Microscopical Science, vol. Ixiii., 

 part 4), instituting a new genus for its reception, and 

 associating with it generically four other southern 

 species previously known. The medusa, which first 

 appeared in a tank at the Marine Laboratory near 

 Cape Town, is very small, usually less than i mm. in 

 diameter. Its numerous tentacles divide, as usual in 

 the crawling medusae, into two branches, one of 

 which is modified for "walking," while the other is 

 provided with batteries of thread-cells and curves over 

 the back of the animal. It is produced by budding 

 from a small hydroid form, with a verticil of three 

 capitate tentacles around the mouth, and a second 

 verticil of six non-capitate tentacles lower down, 

 which was also found in the aqliarium. 



Mr. J. RuNNSTROM has made at Monaco and at 

 Bergen some very careful observations on the move- 

 ments and physiology of sea-urchin larvae, now pub- 

 lished in Bergens Museums Aarbok, 19 17-18, Loco- 

 motion is generally in spirals or in large curves, 

 accompanied by a revolution of the larva, so that 

 the course reminds one of the moon's orbit. This is 

 effected by the cilia, chiefly of the processes and 

 epaulettes, but also of the general body-covering, and 

 the curves are due to greater intensity of action on 

 one side or the other. The direction of motion is 

 affected by light, and by chemical or other stimuli. 

 The course of the ciliary currents which convey food 

 to the mouth is also studied, and they are found to 

 have some selective power, not, however, free from 

 error. The food-particles when they reach the 

 oesophagus are retained by a slimy secretion, and are 

 carried further bv ciliary currents, the course of which 

 is described. In his remarks on the action of 

 the larval water-vascular system, Mr. Runnstrom 

 mentions that the hydropore is at first on the left, but 

 closes, and a new hydropore opens on the median line. 

 There are many other points in this detailed study 

 which should be of interest to general physiologists 

 as well as to students of Echinoderms. 



Two areas in the forest-lands of eastern Canada, 

 easily accessible from the growing cities to the south, 

 have been recently described by the Geological Survey 

 of Canada. In Memoir 95 Mr. W. H. Collins deals 

 with the Onaping map-area, and describes some 

 interesting rocks from the pre-Huronian schist- 

 complex, including what he believes to be the first 

 discovery of variolite in Canada. He refers the cliff- 

 bordered linear valleys of the district to faulting, and 

 Mr. M. E. Wilson, in Memoir 103, on Timiskaming 

 County, Quebec, comes to the same conclusion. These 

 valleys are pre-Glacial, and are probably due to a 

 Pliocene uplift. It may be remarked that similar 

 valleys of recent origin in Finland are also ascribed 

 to earth-movement acting on the hard pre-Cambrian 

 rocks. The cliffs are thus uneroded fault-scarps, On 

 both shores of Lake Timiskaming the passage from 

 the Lorrain granite to a quartzite of the Cobalt series, 

 through an arkose that represents the soil-surface of 

 eaply Huronian times, is an interesting feature of 

 fhe region ; exploration is as yet practically confined 

 to the waterways. The first hint of the mineral 

 wealth of Canada was given when the veins of galena 

 on the lake-side at Anse de la Mine were indicated 

 on a map published in 1744. 



Persia's mineral wealth is great, but the greatest 

 yet discovered is mineral oil, the exploitation of which 

 will shortly be commenced (Allgemeine Oesterreichische 



