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KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



(Dec. 



1904. 



Intermittent Disturbances on Jupiter. 



In the Observatory for October, Mr. Denny arrives at the 

 very significant conclusion that " features exhibiting various 

 peculiarities of appearance and rates of motion are common 

 to certain latitudes and break out from time to time, enduring 

 for certain unknown intervals, then disappearing to be replaced 

 by similar phenomena." In his recent paper to the Royal 

 Astronomical Society, Mr. Maunder draws attention to a 

 somewhat similar intermittent action in the magnetic dis- 

 turbances observed on the earth which are associated with 

 certain solar longitudes. 



BOTANICAL. 



By S. A. Sh 



The exhibition of an extraordinary- grass fruit at a meeting of 

 the Linnean Society was noted in the columns of "Kxowleuge" 

 nearly three years ago. A full account of its remarkable 

 structure, written by Dr. Otto Stapf. is now published ia the 

 last part of the Society's Transactions. The fruit is the pro- 

 duct of Melocanna bambiisoidcs, which belongs to the tribe 

 BambusesE of the grass family. It is an arborescent plant, 

 growing to a height of from fifty to seventy feet, and is a 

 native of Eastern Bengal and Burma. Unlike the ordinary 

 fruit of che Gramineae, which is small, often almost minute, 

 and albuminous, that of Mtlocanna is sometimes as much as 

 five inches long and two inches thick, globose or ovoid in 

 shape, and exalbuminous. It is also remarkable in being 

 viviparous, germinating before it falls from the parent plant, 

 but this does not appear to be a constant character. Its peri- 

 carp, instead of the thin, membranous or crustaceous bodv of 

 the usual grass fruit, serving practically only a mechanical 

 function, is very largely developed and is fleshy, and serves 

 partly as a reservoir for food material, a function which is 

 shared by the scutellum, though this body retains its original 

 character as a haustoiium. Some albumen, or more cor- 

 rectly, endosperm, is formed in Melocanna. but Dr. Stapf 

 shows that at an early stage it collapses " and is finallv 

 crushed into an apparently structureless film, wedged in 

 between pericarp and scutellum." 



* * * 



The latest part of the " Annals of the Royal Botanic Garden. 

 Calcutta," contains an elaborate monograph of the species of 

 Diitbergia of South Eastern Asia, by Major D. Prain, Dalbergia 

 is a large genus of Leguminosae (Fapilionacea;), chiefly in- 

 habiting the warmer parts of Asia. Its species are trees or 

 cUmbing shrubs insignificant in their flowers, but several are 

 important economically on account of their wood. Dalbergia 

 latifolia is the Indian Blackwood or Rosewood, valuable for 

 furniture. The Sissoo iD. Sissoo) supplies a timber remark- 

 able for its strength and elasticity. Like the excellent mono- 

 graphs of Qitercus, Fictis. and other genera which ha\e appeared 

 in the '"Annals," Major Prain's work isaccompanied by numerous 

 illustrations, 



* * » 



Wiesner, Bonnier, Warming, Schimper, and other botanists 

 have published observations on the influence of either 

 humidity, heat, or light on plant structures. Monsieur J. 

 Bedelian, in a series of papers appearing in the current volume 

 of the Revue Gincrah de Botaniqiie, shows the combined 

 influence of these agencies on the growth in a greenhouse of 

 several common plants which are found growing wild in the 

 neighbourhood of Paris. Specimens of such plants as the 

 Daisy, Dandelion, Shepherd's Purse, Plantain (three species), 

 and Milfoil were selected, some of each species being grown in 

 the open air and others in a greenhouse. The experiments 

 were carried on between the montlis of November and May. 

 During this period, especially, the conditions of heat, light, and 

 moisture in the greenhouse would be very different from those 

 prevailing outside. The heat would be greater and more 

 equable, the light more diffused, and there would be more 

 moisture in the atmosphere. The influence of cultivation in 

 the greenhouse on plants which normally produce a rosette of 

 le;ives adpressed to the soil was shown in a pronounced elonga- 

 tion of the intemodes whereby the rosette arrargement dis. 



■ \ ^ ■ ives tended to become erect, and a marked 



increase in si^e was noticed. The internal structure of the 

 roots, stems, and leaves of each set of specimens has been 

 carefully examined and compared. In general the plants 

 grown in the greenhouse have less differentiated tissues, less 

 wood is formed, cell-walls are thinner, and intercellular spaces 

 larger. 



ORNITHOLOGICAL. 



By W. P. PVCRAFT. 



A Nestling Toura-cou. 



At the last meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, Mr. D. 

 Seth-Smith exhibited the onlj- known nestling of a Touracou. 

 This was of the species known as Eraser's Touracou (Turacns 

 inacrorhynclius). The unique character of this exhibit was still 

 further increased by the fact that the bird had been hatched 

 in confinement in the aviaries of Mrs. Johnstone, at Bury St. 

 Edmunds. 



Mrs. Johnstone is the possessor of a pair of these birds, 

 which, after a preliminary but abortive attempt at nesting in 

 June last, succeeded, towards the end of July, in hatching two 

 eggs, laid in a nest of sticks placed on a hamper-lid in a rhodo- 

 dendron bush. 



Only one egg seems to have hatched out, and the nestling 

 therefrom lived for four weeks, when it was killed by the cold 

 nights of September. 



Hitherto nothing was known of the condition of the young 

 Touracou at birth. It was supposed that it would prove to 

 resemble the young of the cuckoo; but this is not the case, 

 inasmuch as the young cuckoo remains quite naked till the 

 feathers appear, while the young Touracou is sparsely clad 

 with down feathers, and bears a rather close resemblance to 

 the remarkable and aberrant Hoatzin. 



The wings of this nestling were, at the time of death, of 

 great size, while the rest of the body remained still invested in 

 its downy coat. Save that it was seen to clamber about the 

 nefct occasionally during the day. nothing was learned concern- 

 ing it during life ; but it is probable that the habits of the nest- 

 lings will turn out to resemble those of the Hoatzin described 

 in our last issue. 



* » * 



Short-Eared Owl Nesting in Hampshire. 



Mr. Trevor-Battye. iu the A'icultm-al Magiui>!e for Novem- 

 ber, records the breeding of a pair of Short-Eared Owls {Asio 

 accipitriniis) on Bransbur\- Common, where a pair of young 

 birds were successfully reared. This appears to be the first 

 known instance of the nesting of these birds in this country. 



* * * 



R^obins Catching Fish. 



The Field. October 15. contains an interesting account of a 

 partv of five robins which were discovered hunting about 

 among the pebbles in the bed of a small stream, from which 

 they constantly flew on to a neighbouring wall, carrying some 

 live object in their beaks. On a visit to the spot being made, 

 a stickleback kicking vigorously was found. The observer 

 (who signs himself " W. H."| then retired for about ten yards 

 and watched their proceedings. The fish was taken from the 

 water crosswise, and borne from the water to the wall to be 

 dispatched. There seems to have been no attempt made to 

 kill the prev before eating, as is done by the kingfisher; but 

 then the fish was not swallowed alive. 



A White Snipe. 



A very beautiful white variety of (he Common Snipe {Gal- 

 linago ca-lestis) has just been received at the Natural History 

 Museum, South Kensington. This bird was killed at Poltal- 

 lock, Argyllshire. The only normally-coloured feathers were 

 a patch on each side of the head, meeting one another at the 

 crown ; a few scapulars, the tail and under tail-coverts, a few 

 under wing coverts, and three primaries in the left wing. 



