528 



NATURE 



[OeTOBER I, 1 89 1 



in 1889, and reviewed at length in our columns (vol. xli. p. 124). 

 In this work he has explained at length, and with great clear- 

 ness, many points which in his other writings have been too 

 mathematical to allow of their being generally understood. 



We have already recorded with regret that Miss E, A. Ormerod 

 has considered it desirable to resign her post of Consulting Ento- 

 mologist of the Royal Agricultural Society, which she has 

 occupied for about nine years, having been appointed in 1882. 

 We understand that her reasons for resignation are partly on 

 account of health, as in wet and cold weather she cannot take 

 the requisite journeys to attend Committees without risk ; partly 

 on account of claims made of power of Council to direct her to 

 render service in reporting elsewhere, and claims also made as to 

 use of information in her possession beyond what the terms of 

 her engagement granted. These claims, we understand, have 

 been withdrawn, but Miss Ormerod considers she can work 

 more efficiently when freed from the anxieties and possible ties 

 which public office necessarily brings with it. Miss Ormerod's 

 agricultural entomological work, as shown by her annual reports, 

 has now been going on steadily for at least fourteen years, having 

 been begun several years before she was elected to the stafif of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society ; and this she purposes to continue 

 precisely as before in all respects, whether as regards replies to 

 inquiries, or publication by herself of observations in the form 

 of yearly reports. 



In an article on Hooker's " Icones Plantarum," in our last 

 issue (p. 498) we attributed the plates of the earlier volumes 

 to Sir William Hooker. Sir Joseph Hooker informs us that 

 they are all the work of Mr. W. H. Fitch. 



A VALUABLE report, by Mr. A. E. Shipley, on an orange 

 disease in Cyprus, caused by a scale insect, is published in the 

 September number of the Knv BuUetvi. The disease appears 

 to have been noticed in Cyprus for the last six or eight years. 

 The particular insect to which it is due is Aspidiotus aurantii, 

 Maskell, a member of the sub-family DiaspincB, which, with 

 some others, compose the family Coccidce. Mr. Shipley gives 

 an account of the life-history of this insect, and then describes 

 the various methods of dealing with it. The most successful of 

 these methods is the gas treatment, a full description of which, 

 by Mr. Coquillett, is quoted by Mr. Shipley from Bulletin No. 23 

 of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Entomo- 

 logy. We may note that Mr. Shipley is anxious to obtain 

 examples of CoccidcB ■ which infest plants, and examples of 

 nematode worms parasitic in plants, with the affected parts of 

 their respective hosts. 



The JCew Bulletin for September, besides Mr. Shipley's 

 report on orange scale in Cyprus, contains sections on the re- 

 discovery of gutta-percha trees at Singapore, on a new process 

 for recovering some portion of the gutta-percha which is left in 

 the bark of the trees after collection by the ordinary native 

 method, on the fodder plant Tagasaste, and on Kangra 

 buckwheat. 



The OeHerreichische -Botanische Zeitimg for September con- 

 tains a report of Dr. A. v. Degen's botanical excursion to the 

 island of Samothrace, and of Dr. R. F. SoUa's to Southern 

 Istria. 



The fourth number of the first volume of Contributions from 

 the U.S. National Herbarium, published under the auspices of 

 the Department of Agriculture at Washington, consists of a 

 description, by Mr. J. N. Rose, of the plants collected by Dr. E. 

 Palmer in 1890 in Western Mexico and Arizona. Forty-five 

 new species are described, and several of these are illustrated 

 by plates. Most of the new species obtained were from the 

 neighbourhood of Alamos, a mining town of about 10,000 



NO. I 144, VOL. 44] 



inhabitants, situated 180 miles south-east from Guaymas, at 

 an altitude of about 1275 feet, where there are both a dry 

 spring and a rainy autumn flora, very different from one 

 another. Dr. Palmer has again started for a year's exploration 

 of Western Mexico. 



Some valuable and interesting notes on the fertilization of 

 South African and Madagascar flowering plants, by Mr. G. F. 

 Scott ElHot, appear in Annals of Botany (vol. v.. No. xix., 

 August 1 891), and have also been issued separately. They re- 

 present much work done during a two years' botanical trip. 

 While travelling, Mr. Elliot found it impossible to make as 

 thorough and complete observations as are really required for a 

 proper comprehension of all the adaptations of a flower to in- 

 sect visitors ; but he tried to collect every insect which he saw 

 visiting flowers, and brought home with him a numbered collec- 

 tion. Most of the forms secured by him had not previously 

 been studied in their native haunts. 



The Transactions of the Liverpool Biological Society for 1891 

 contain an important paper by Mr. G. Murray on the Distribu- 

 tion of Marine Algae in space and in time. The author compares 

 the algal flora of three widely separated regions — the Arctic Sea, 

 the West Indian region, and Australia ;u and shows in a table 

 how many genera and species are common to any two of the 

 regions. The number of known species of seaweeds is given as 

 259 in the Arctic Sea, 788 in the West Indies, and 1132 in 

 Australia. Only twelve species are common to all three regions, 

 and of these four belong to the Ulvece. 



A great Mining Exhibition is to be opened at Johannesburg 

 next July, and exhibits from all parts of the world are invited. 



The administration report of the Marine Survey of India for 

 the official year 1890-91, by Captain R. F. Hoskyn, has been 

 published. For some time notices had been received from 

 several vessels, which seemed to indicate that the shoals lying off 

 the eastern coast between Ennore and Pulicat were extending 

 seaward. In the early part of 1890, therefore, the Investigator 

 proceeded to this neighbourhood, and made a survey of the coast 

 between these two places, carrying the soundings out to the 

 loo-fathom line. The result showed that no material change 

 had taken place in the size or position of the shoals from the 

 time of the previous survey. The work of the season ended on 

 May 7, when the Investigator arrived at Bombay. In October 

 last a new season's operations began, and at the time when the 

 report was written (March 9, 1891) the survey of the eastern 

 coast of Hindustan had been completed to lat. 16° 50' N. 



The report of Dr. A. Alcock, surgeon-naturalist on board 

 the Investigator, is one of great interest. It is given as an 

 appendix to that of Captain Hoskyn. We have already re- 

 ferred to Dr. Alcock's account of the general results of his 

 deep-sea work. It may be noted that on November 3, 1890, 

 the deepest haul ever made in Indian seas — 1,997 fathoms — was 

 successfully carried out in lat. 9° 34' N,, long. 85° 43' 15" E., 

 the bottom being Globigerina ooze with pieces of water-worn 

 pumice, and the bottom-temperature being 35° F, About 

 2200 fathoms of wire were veered. The following was the 

 entire take : — There were three species of siliceous sponges and 

 numerous detached spicules oiHyalottema ; a large sea-anemone 

 of a salmon-pink colour, with bright red tentacles ; a mutilated 

 specimen of the Brisingoid Freyella benthophila, Sladen, a fine 

 new species of Hyphalaster, and a small, probably new, species 

 of Marsipaster with the nidamental pouches widely open and 

 full of ova ; two species of Ophiurids, one of which is Ophio- 

 mastus ; three species of Holothurians including Echinosoma; 

 numerous specimens of a long-stalked Ascidian ; two specimens 

 of a very large species of Amphipod, a blind Crangonid, three 

 species of macrurous Crustaceans, and a small Scapellum ; a 



