410 



NATURE 



[July 24, 1919 



Mr. R. a. Smith describes in the issue of Man for 

 July a discovery of flint implements from Victoria 

 West, in the heart of the Great Karroo, South 

 Africa. Among them are examples of what are 

 known as "tortoise-cores," best known in Europe 

 from Northfleet, in Kent, and from Montieres, near 

 Amiens, and dating from the period of Le Moustier, 

 to which they are probably confined. The core was 

 preiKired with the object of getting an ovate flake- 

 implement from the upper face by a final blow on the 

 faceted bulb. This, if successful, was a special case 

 of the Levallois flake. Those from Victoria West are 

 rather pointed at one end, and generally struck 

 from the left edge near the point; in a few cases 

 the detaching blow was struciv on the right of the 

 point. 



In a |);ii)tr entitled "Customs Connected with Death 

 and Burial among the Roumanians," published in 

 the June issue of Folk-lore, Mrs. A. Murgoci has col- 

 lected much interesting information less known than 

 it deserves to be in western Europe. The accounts 

 of the death feasts are curious,- still more the custom 

 of disinterring the dead seven years after burial ; 

 when a death feast is given for the last time, the 

 bones are washed in wine, put in a smaller coftin, 

 and reburied. At present the priests are over- 

 burdened with work, for not only have they an 

 unusually large number of deaths to deal with, 

 but they are now beginning to be occupied in 

 digging up those who died before the war. On the 

 Monday after Easter Monday women put the red 

 shells of the Easter eggs into water in the hope that 

 thev mav be thus conve^'ed to the Blajini, the good 

 men who live in some other world and are ignorant 

 of what passes in this. When they see the egg-shells 

 floating within their view, they know that Easter has 

 come, and they, too, rejoice. 



The South London Entomological and Natural 

 History Society takes a high place among associations 

 of the kind for the thoroughness of its work and for 

 the excellence of its published Proceedings. The 

 activities of the society are chiefly entomological, and 

 the contributions of many of its members to our 

 knowledge of the morphology and ontogeny of native 

 insects are of great value. The last published volume 

 of Proceedings contains a well-written summary of 

 recent work in economic entomology, both British 

 and foreign, delivered as his annual address by the 

 president, Mr. Stanley Edwards. A careful analysis 

 of variation in the wing-markings of Epinephele 

 tithonus, compared with other species of Satvrid 

 butterflies, and illustrated by two excellent photo- 

 graphic plates, is contributed by Mr. G. Wheeler. 

 Other elaborate studies of variation in Lepidop-tera are 

 furnished by Mr. H. J. Turner and Mr. A. Sich. The 

 reports of meetings, with notes of discussions and 

 the exhibition of specimens, are adequately given, and 

 accounts are included of various excursions and visits, 

 including one to the John Innes Horticultural Insti- 

 tute at Merton, and another to Wimbledon Common, 

 where the natural features of the site appear to have 

 suffered less interference of late years than might have 

 been expected. There is a brief notice of a lecture 

 bv Prof. A. Dendv on sponges, and an abstract of a 

 lecture by Miss G. Lister on the Mycetozoa. Alto- 

 gether there is reason to congratulate the members on 

 the healthy condition of their society, and we should 

 not omit to mention that a full index much enhances 

 the value of the present volume. 



The Bulletin of the Imperial Institute, vol. xvii., 

 No. I, for this year contains an important article on 

 the cocoa production of the Empire. The quantity of 



NO. 2595, VOL. 103] 



cocoa prodiHid in Iiiiiish countries in jtjij was more 

 than three times die amount consumed in the United 

 Kingdom, yet this country obtained only about one- 

 half of its supply from these sources. Large quanti- 

 ties of prepared cocoa and chocolate were also being 

 imported from foreign countries which had been manu- 

 factured there from British-grown cocoa. During 

 the war the position improved, and about 86 per 

 cent, of the total imports came from British posses- 

 sions in 19 17. The money value of the imports irk 

 19 16 was 6| million pounds sterling, so that the im- 

 portance of the matter can readily be realised. Two 

 points) are worthy of special mention : first, the re- 

 markable growth of the cocoa industry on the Gold 

 Coast, which colony started to export cocoa in 1891 ; 

 and, secondly, the enormous increase in the consump- 

 tion of cocoa in the United States in recent years. 

 The consumption has trebled since 1913, and about 

 one-half of the total quantity produced in the world 

 now goes to the States. 



The possibility of growing New Zealand flax 

 {Phorniium tenax) on a commercial scale in the British 

 Isles has for many years been under consideration, 

 and the publication of an important paper on the 

 subject in Keiiv Btilletin, No. 4, is of considerable 

 interest. From the account there given it is clear 

 that in south-west Ireland, south-west Scotland,, 

 and possibly in the south of England, the successful 

 cultivation of New Zealand flax is a definite possi- 

 bility. The article, which mainly consists of an ac- 

 count of Lord Ventry's successful experiments in co. 

 Kerry, is illustrated by several photographs of New- 

 Zealand flax under cultivation in Ireland shoviing a re- 

 markably vigorous growth. The fibre of this Irish- 

 grown flax has been tested at Belfast, and has been 

 found almost as good as "Good-fair" iinported fibre 

 from New Zealand, which was valued in July, 1914, at 

 32L j>er ton. As paper-making material, the leaves 

 have also been very well reported on by the Irish 

 Paper Mills Co. near Dublin. The great value 

 of New Zealand flax, however, is its fibre, which is 

 used for making binder twine and high-grade string 

 and cord. As the demand for this is a very heavy 

 and rising one, the possibility of g^rowing New Zealand 

 flax for the purpose in the British Isles is of consider- 

 able importance. It is pointed out in the article that 

 only certain parts of the United Kingdom are suitable 

 for the growth of New Zealand flax as a commercial 

 undertaking, but as the results so far obtained are- 

 promising, it is to be hoped that every encourage- 

 ment will be given to the enterprise, which promises 

 to vield a sound financial return to the impoverished 

 farmers in the south-west of Ireland in particular. 



The U.S. Bureau of Standards Technologic Paper 

 No. 128 (copies of which may be obtained on applica- 

 tion to the Bureau) deals with the effect of solar 

 radiation upon balloons from the thermal point of 

 view. After discussing the characteristics of radiation- 

 from the sun and the effects of its absorption by 

 balloon fabric, the authors give the results of reflec- 

 tion and transmission measurements on nineteen 

 different samples with Coblentz's apparatus, using 

 light from the sun and from a nitrogen-filled tungsten 

 lamp with copper chloride filter. With a model air- 

 ship 12 ft. x3 ft. the temperatures of the fabric and 

 of the contained gas were determined in sunlight ; the 

 temperature-rise of the upper fabric was found to be 

 proportional to the cosine of the angle between the 

 sun's rays and the normal to the surface; the mini- 

 mum temperature occurred just below the shadow 

 line, and not at the bottom. In the lower half of the 



