3^S 



NA TURE 



[May 12, 1910 



the daughter-cell, together with a portion of the vacuole 

 and chromatin. In spore formation the vacuole disappears, 

 and the nucleolus then divides, forming two nearly equal 

 portions, between which the granular chromatin is shared, 

 and which again divide. Volutin granules occur in the 

 cytoplasm and vacuole, and glycogen is deposited in 

 vacuoles in the cytoplasm, and appears and disappears 

 with astonishing rapidity under varying conditions of 

 nutrition. 



An account by Mr. F. Pitcher of Victorian vegetation 

 in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, which appears in the 

 Victorian Naturalist' (vol. xxvi.. No. 11), was prepared 

 with the three-fold object of pointing out a few specimens 

 of trees dating back to pre-settlement days, supplying a 

 list of native plants under cultivation in the garden, and 

 recommending a few of these as suitable for general culti- 

 vation. Of the last, the small flowering shrubs, for 

 the greenhouse, are Bauera rubioides, 

 Rossiaea citierea, Grevillea ericifolia. 

 Hibbertia siricta. Lcucopogon virgatus, 

 and Tetratheca ciliata. 



Among the remarkable instances of 

 plant dispersion cited by the Rev. G. 

 Henslow in a lecture addressed to the 

 fellows of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, the most . striking is that of 

 Oxalis cernua. This is a bulbous plant, 

 indigenous to South Africa, that has 

 spread to the Bermudas, Canaries, and 

 Madeira, as well as along the north and 

 south coasts of the Mediterranean. It 

 appears to have been originally intro- 

 duced to Malta, where it now carpets 

 roadsides, covers old walls, and is 

 generally ubiquitous. The plant in its 

 native habitat is trimorphic, but in 

 Malta and along the Mediterranean 

 only one, the short-styled, form occurs, 

 so that propagation is effected entirely 

 by bulbs, borne on thread-like stems 

 that proceed from the parent plant. In 

 rich soil the stems may also grow above 

 ground, forming runners. Further de- 

 tails will be found in the journal of the 

 society (vol. xxxv., part iii.), where the 

 lecture is published. 



The Bureau of Entomology of the 

 United States Department of Agricul- 

 lure adopts the very useful plan of 

 issuing bulletins in which full accounts 

 are given of the various insect pests 

 troublesome to farmers, market gar- 

 deners, and fruit growers. Mr. Web- 

 ster describes the lesser clover-leaf weevil {Phytonomus 

 nigrirostris, Fab.), a fairly common European in- 

 sect that appears to have got into the States 

 some forty years ago, but is not yet very widely 

 distributed there. It is, however, capable of doing so 

 much damage if once it is thoroughly established that a 

 careful watch is rightly being kept. A fungus (Empusa 

 [Entomophthora] sphaerosperma) was found to destroy the 

 pupse. Mr. Phillips deals with the slender seed-corn 

 ground-beetle {Clivina impressifrons, Lee), which attacks 

 recently planted maize seed in swampy, peaty soils. It is 

 a native of the eastern States, and, of the whole genus, 

 IS the only species that lives on' plants, the others being 

 carnivorous, according to our present knowledge. Dr. 

 Chittenden describes the parsnip-leaf miner (Acidia fratria, 



NO. 21 15, VOL. 83] 



Loew.), the parsley-stalk weevil (Listronotus latiusculus. 

 Boh.), an insect usually associated with aquatic or semi- 

 aquatic vegetation, but found occasionally on terrestrial 

 plants, and the celery caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes, Fab.), 

 which attacks practically all umbelliferous plants — celery, 

 carrot, parsley, parsnip, and so on. Tha larvae are very 

 conspicuous, and are readily picked off the plants ; more- 

 over, certain ichneumon flies destroy the insect in its pupal 

 stage. Another bulletin, by Mr. Sanders, is devoted to the 

 Euonymus scale (Chionaspis euonymi, Comstock), which 

 can be kept in check by kerosene emulsion. 



The current number of the Zeitschrift of the Geo- 

 graphical Society of Berlin (1910, No. 3) includes statements 

 as to the aims of the projected German Antarctic Expedition 

 by the leader, Lieut. Filchner, and by Prof. Penck, and a 

 message of goodwill from Prof. Otto Nordenskjold. The 

 plan of the expedition is based on the hypothesis that the 



Sketch-map illustrating the possible connection of the Ross and Weddell Seas. 



Ross Sea is directly connected with the south-western part 

 of the Weddell Sea by a narrow belt of sea separating the 

 main area of Antarctica from the land which is assumed 

 to connect Graham Land and King Edward the Seventh 

 Land. This possibility, and also the view that the 

 .Antarctic land to the south of the Pacific consists only 

 of an archipelago, must have occurred to all who carefully , 

 considered the results collected by the expeditions of Captain | 

 Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton. The meteorological I 

 evidence and the apparently well-marked westward trend ^ 

 of the land which drove Sir Ernest Shackleton on to the 

 South Polar plateau seem, however, not very favourable , 

 to the idea of the direct connection of the Ross and Weddell 

 Seas. Indications of any such connection might also have 

 been expected from the tidal observations of the Discovery. 



