October 5, 1893] 



NATURE 



545 



are those of the Imperial Academy of Sciences and of the 

 Imperial Botanical Garden, 



The Natural History Society of Danzig has oftered a prize 

 of 1000 marks for the best essay on the best means of pro- 

 ducing and spreading fungus-epidemics for the destruction of 

 insects injurious to the forests in Western Prussia. The essays 

 must be written in German or French, and are to be sent in 

 before the end of the year 1898. 



The numbers of the (Esterreichiiche Botanische Zeilitn^ for 

 August and September contain interesting reports of the 

 botanical excursion of Dr. E. von Halacsy in the Pindus range 

 in Greece, and of that of Dr. J. Bornmiiller in Persia. Dr. 

 Bornmiiller describes the flora of the neighbourhood of Bushire 

 in March as being especially rich and beautiful. 



A SUBTROPICAL botanical laboratory has been established at 

 Euslis, Florida, under the direction of Prof. Swingle. The 

 diseases of fruits belonging to the Aurantiacat are a special 

 subject of investigation. 



The singular swarms of flies observed by Mr. R. E. Froude 

 at the end of May last, and described by him in these columns 

 (vol. 48, p. 103 and p. 176), have also been seen at Muskegon, 

 Michigan, by Mr. C. D. McLouth. Writing from that city to 

 Science of September 15, Mr. McLouth says that on the 

 evening of June 26 the fire brigade was called to two of the 

 highest buildings, the alarms being caused by an appearance as 

 of smoke issuing from the pinnacles of the towers. In 

 both cases the appearance was found to be caused by clouds of 

 insects. Some insects afterwards captured and supposed to be 

 identical with the swarmers were found to be Neuropters. 



The fiftieth volume of the Verhandl. des Uattirhisloi: Vereins 

 der preuss. Rhcinlandc contains numerous short notices on 

 various subjects, and three important memoirs:— B. Stiirtz, on 

 star-fishes, giving a bibliography of recent and fossil forms, notes 

 on classification and distribution, and descriptions of three new 

 species ; a continuation of the monograph, by A. Hosius, on the 

 Foraminifera of the Miocene ; and a paper by H. Laspeyres on 

 the nickel ores and minerals of the Rhenish rocks, giving 

 numerous analyses and crjstallographic notes. 



Mr. G. Christian Hoffmann has prepared an excellent 

 catalogue of Section I. of the Museum of the Geological 

 Survey of Canada. It embraces the systematic collection of 

 minerals and the collections of economic minerals and rocks 

 and specimens illustrative of structural geology. Reference is 

 facilitated very considerably by four very full indexes. The 

 first of these is an index to the cases containing the minerals ; 

 the second to the numbers borne by the specimens ; the third 

 to mining districts, areas, camps, locations and claims, mines, 

 quarries, and pits, and the fourth to subjects. Since all the 

 specimens are from Canadian localities, Mr. Hoffmann's 

 catalogue may be taken as a representation of the mineral 

 resources of the Dominion. 



The modifications in the physiological character of micro- 

 organisms which may be produced by either natural or artificial 

 means, and which may, moreover, become inherited and per- 

 manent, is one of the most fascinating subjects in bacteriology. 

 But it opens up a problem of much importance in the identifica- 

 tion of bacteria, for the characteristic appearance may become 

 so modified that its original parentage is with difficulty recog- 

 nised. In this connection the production of a race of sporeless 

 anthrax, endowed with the same virulent properties, resembling 

 also microscopically the original form, is of particular interest. 

 Such "asporogcne" anthrax was first produced by Chamber- 

 land and Roux, through the addition of small doses of potassium 

 dichromate to broth infected with anthrax-blood. By this 

 means a generation of anthrax bacilli was obtained in which 

 the power of producing spores was permanently destroyed. 

 NO. 1249, VOL. 48] 



Since the publication of the above, " asporogene " anthrax has 

 been obtained by other investigators, whilst Lehmann came 

 upon such a variety quite accidentally in an old gelatine culture- 

 Still more recently {Le Bulletin Med. p. 293, 1892), Phisalix 

 has succeeded in producing sporeless anthrax by the continuous 

 and successive cultivation of anthrax bacilli at 42° C. For the 

 original infection the blood of a sheep dead of anthrax was 

 taken, and portions of this culture were transferred to a second 

 culture, and also kept at 42° C, this process being continued for 

 twenty -five generations covering a period of five months. The 

 twelfth generation already yielded a variety incapable of produc- 

 ing spores except on being first passed through the body of a 

 mouse, but the fourteenth generation had established a race 

 permanently incapable of producing spores. These asporogene 

 cultures, however, unlike those of Chamberland and Roux, 

 suffered an attenuation of their virulent properties, and the 

 descendants of the twentieth generation were absolutely harm- 

 less as regards animals. The possibility, therefore, of pathogeniq 

 microbes losing their virulence, or of harmless saprophytes being 

 trained up to acquire pathogenic propertiei, is one which must 

 without doubt be taken into consideration ; and when we remem- 

 ber that sunshine alone may produce such modifications in the 

 physiological characters of microbes as to permanently deprive 

 certain pigment-producing bacteria of this property, and raise 

 up instead a colourless race (Laurent), the indulgence of this 

 possibility becomes yet more within the bounds of legitimate 

 conception. 



The Meteorological Reporter to the Government of India 

 has published No. 5 of Cyclone Memoirs, containing an elaborate 

 and valuable discussion, accompanied by twenty-five plates, cf 

 three cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea during the 

 month of November, 1891. The first storm, called the Port 

 Blair cyclone, originated in the Gulf of Siam on October 29 and 

 30, and caused great destruction of life and property in the 

 South Andaman Island. It is the first large storm for which 

 there is conclusive evidence that it originated outside the area 

 of the Bay of Bengal, and owing to its rapid recurvature 

 several ships encountered the storm twice ; it was probably owing 

 to this that the pilot vessel Coleroon foundered. An examina- 

 tion of the storms which have occurred since 1737, shows that 

 not more than three or four of them could possibly have ad- 

 vanced across the Malay Peninsula into the bay. The second 

 storn\ originated on the 1st and 2nd, between the Maldives and 

 the Travancore coast, and is said to be the most violent that has 

 been experienced in Minicoy for the past quarter of a century.' 

 This storm is the more interesting from the fact that exact in- 

 formation is rarely obtained of the birth of such a disturbance in 

 the neighbourhood of the equator. The predominant feature 

 was the excessive amount of rainfall, which was quite as 

 exceptional as the storm itself. The third storm originated in- 

 the south-east of the bay, on the 19th and 20th ; it was remark- 

 able only for its track, as it advanced by a curved path into 

 Central Burma, insteadof to the coast of Madras, as usual. The 

 tracks of this and of the first storm show certain abnormal 

 conditions to have existed during the whole of the month. All 

 the disturbances were generated in the humid south-west mon- 

 soon current, and were apparently not due to any mechanical 

 action between two opposite air currents. Mr. Eliot states that 

 rainfall appears to be the dominating factor in all large cyclones 

 in India, and that this or aqueous vapour was the chief agent in 

 determining the origin and motion of the three storms above 

 referred to. 



A remarkable case of resuscitation of an optical image is 

 described from personal experience by Prof. T. Vignoli in a 

 paper recently communicated to the Rcale Instituto Lomhardo. 

 On the morning of July 3, after a railway journey in a bright 



