i6o 



NATURE 



[June i8, 1903 



by the Smithsonian Institution by means of telegraphic 

 reports, in 1849, and some years previously, from monthly 

 returns, by Prof. Espy. The first telegraphic weather re- 

 port in this country appears to be that published by the 

 Daily Neivs on August 31, 1848. The first printed daily 

 weather map was that issued in August, 1851, at the great 

 exhibition in Hyde Park. The first Government daily 

 weather report was prepared by Admiral FitzRoy, and 

 issued to London newspapers in i860. In January, 1871, 

 the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette published daily wind 

 charts, prepared by the Meteorological Office, and in March, 

 1872, that office issued its first daily weather maps. The 

 6h. p.m. weather maps published by the Times, and pre- 

 pared by the Meteorological Office, commenced on April i, 

 1875. As Mr. Marriott has also quoted the weather maps 

 prepared by Mr. Glaisher from July, 1849, which do not 

 appear to have been entirely based on telegraphic reports, 

 w". may direct attention to one or two early English in- 

 vestigations of a somewhat similar nature. In the report 

 of the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade 

 for the year 1857, Admiral FitzRoy directed attention to the 

 desirability of collecting synchronous weather observations, 

 and subsequently some hundreds of synchronous charts were 

 prepared in the office, although not published, excepting for 

 the time of the " Royal Charter " storm (October, 1859). 

 Mr. Francis Galton discussed the daily weather for the 

 month of December, 1861, and some 600 maps and diagrams 

 were published in " Meteorographica " (Macmillan, 1862). 

 With respect to work abroad, it may not be out of place 

 to state that between 1816-20 H. W. Brandes apparently 

 prepared synchronous weather charts for each day of the 

 year 1783, from the Mannheim and other observations. 

 Although the charts were not published, the data on which 

 they were constructed were quoted in his " Beitrage zur 

 Witterungskunde " (Leipzig, 1820), and one of the maps 

 (for March 6, 1783) was reconstructed and published in 

 " Les Bases de la M^t^orologie dynamique," by Dr. 

 Hildebrandsson and M. Teisserenc de Bort (Paris, 1898). 



At the recent flower show held in the Temple grounds, 

 amongst the hardy shrubs there was displayed a profusion 

 of maples, many of which hail from Japan. An interest- 

 ing article on these and other Japanese trees which com- 

 mend themselves by reason of their quick growth and free 

 flowering habit is contributed by Mr. J. H. Veitch to the 

 last number of the Journal of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society. Amongst the more technical contributions to be 

 found in the same publication, one of considerable import- 

 ance is the account of manurial experiments with vegetable 

 crops carried out by Dr. Dyer and Mr. Shrivell. 



In the absence of the director, the annual report for 1902 

 of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, has been issued by 

 the assistant director, Mr. J. B. Carruthers. During the 

 year an estate of 500 acres was acquired with the object of 

 turning it into an agricultural experiment station, and was 

 placed under the charge of Mr. H. Wright. The value of 

 a special establishment for dealing with agricultural matters 

 of economic importance is evident, and the presence of 

 aggravated canker amongst the cacao trees growing on 

 the land acquired for the purpose provided an opportunity 

 for demonstrating the scientific treatment of this disease. 

 In the ornamental lake of the Peradeniya Gardens an 

 artificial island was constructed of mud taken from a depth 

 of 8 to 10 feet below the water. It is expected that an 

 instructive object lesson in the seed dispersal of terrestrial 

 plants will be afforded by the systematic examination of 

 the plants which develop on this area. A first attempt to 

 raise worms and silk cocoons in the island is recorded by 

 NO. 1755, VOL. 68] 



Mr. E. E. Green. In spite of untoward circumstances, of 

 which the principal was a shortage of mulberry leaves or 

 any other efficient substitute, the few cocoons raised were 

 quite satisfactory, and it seems probable that the industry 

 might with advantage be taken up by the natives. 



Dr. Hacker, whose investigations on the cytology of 

 Copepods are well known, has recently {Jen. Zeitschr, f. 

 Naturw. 1902) reinvestigated the question as to the per- 

 manence of the maternal and paternal chromosomes in the 

 germ cells of the offspring. The result has been not only 

 to show that the parental chromosomes remain distinct in 

 the nuclei of the germ tract of the young organisms, but 

 that the processes associated with the " reduction-divisions '^ 

 may prove to be even more complicated than had previously 

 been supposed. It appears that in the early prophase of 

 the heterotype mitosis, tetrads are formed in numbers equal 

 to those of the somatic chromosomes. These are divided,, 

 during the first polar mitosis, by an " equal " division,, 

 twelve dyads travelling to the respective poles. These the 

 dyads fuse longitudinally in pairs, thus giving rise to the 

 reduced number (6) of chromosomes. The next mitosis 

 divides these in such a way that the collaterally fused pairs 

 are transversely split, and thus a true qualitative " reduc- 

 tion division " is brought about. It would thus appear 

 that the first of the two divisions effects the mingling of 

 the parental chromosomes, whilst the second ensures a 

 qualitative distribution of those originating from the pen- 

 ultimate (grandparent) generation. This occurs in such a 

 way that each of the six chromosomes ultimately passing 

 to the daughter-nuclei consists of halves contributed by two 

 different grandparents. 



W'E have received the report (Aarsberetning) of the 

 Bergen Museum for 1902. 



No. xi. of the Sitzungsberichte of the Vienna Academy 

 for the current year contains a resume of the results of 

 Dr. F. Steindachner's recent expedition to Brazil. 



The " dragonets " (Callionymidae) and allied fishes of 

 Japan are described by Messrs. Jordan and Fowler in No. 

 1305 of the Proceedings of the U.S. Nat. Museum, several 

 new forms being recorded. 



Among the contents of the June number of the Entomo- 

 logist we find a paper on the parasitic Hymenoptera and 

 Tenthredinidai collected by Mr. Whymper in the Andes of 

 Ecuador, and a continuation of Miss Sharpe's list of butter- 

 flies from British East Africa. 



The Proceedings of the South London Entomological 

 and Natural History Society for 1902 is illustrated by two 

 plates, devoted to the life-history of the crustacean Argulus 

 foliaceus, which lives parasitically on sticklebacks. The 

 council reports that the affairs of the Society continue to- 

 prosper, the number of members again showing a slight 

 increase. 



A REVISION of the American moths of the family 

 Gelechiidce, with descriptions of new species, by Mr. A. 

 Busck, of the Department of Agriculture, appears in voL 

 XXV. (No. 1304) of the Proceedings of the U.S. Nat. 

 Museum. No. 52 of the Bulletin of the U.S. Nat. Museum,, 

 comprising 723 pp., is devoted to a list of North American 

 Lepidoptera, which will doubtless prove of great value to 

 entomologists. 



In their thirty-first annual report (for 1902) the directors- 

 of the Zoological Society of Philadelphia record a general 

 satisfactory progress on the part of that institution. With 

 the exception of a slight diminution, probably due to un- 



