304 



NATURE 



[July 30, 1903 



A SECOND paper by Prof. Vines is published in the Annals 

 of Botany, and gives an account of further investigations 

 into the action of proteid-dissolving ferments in plants. 

 Certain divergences appear to exist between the observations 

 of the author and other experimenters ; these are traced to 

 the use of different antiseptics, so that it becomes necessary 

 to try several antiseptic substances before formulating any 

 conclusions as to the digestive power of the ferments under 

 consideration. 



The formation of the first tropical experiment station in 

 the British Empire in Ceylon, has already been referred to 

 in these columns. Apart from agricultural experiments 

 and the cultivation of economic products, questions of pure 

 scientific interest will doubtless receive attention. In his 

 report, Mr. Wright, the controller of the station, announces 

 that experimental plots have already been laid out to deter- 

 mine how far the cultivated varieties of cacao plants bear- 

 ing pure purple or pure white seeds will breed true. Should 

 this be the case, the results produced by crossing will give 

 valuable evidence for testing the Mendelian laws. 



Among other articles, the Transactions of the Manchester 

 Microscopical Society for 1902 contain some interesting 

 observations by Mr. J. Barnes on the microscopic structure 

 of the mountain limestone of Derbyshire. In the first place, 

 it is recorded that the rock contains large numbers of very 

 minute but perfectly formed quartz-crystals, frequently 

 formed round a jaspideous nucleus. Of special interest is the 

 description of a mottled phase of the mountain limestone, in 

 which the dark portions have been produced by the carbon- 

 aceous matter contained in foraminifera, with which the 

 rock is crowded. 



The Geological Survey has issued a memoir on the 

 geology of the country around Reading, by the late Mr. 

 J. H. Blake, edited by Mr. H. W. Monckton. The district 

 •is a part of the London Basin, with a foundation of Chalk, 

 overlain by Reading Beds, London Clay, Bagshot and 

 Bracklesham Beds, with extensive coverings of plateau and 

 valley drifts. The Reading Beds are of special interest, 

 and many detailed sections of the strata are given, with an 

 analysis, by Dr. W. Pollard, of the mottled clay which is 

 so largely worked for brick- and tile-making. There are 

 also figures of some of the plant-remains which are found 

 in the strata. A list of fossils from the basement-bed of 

 the London Clay is likewise given. Mr. Monckton has 

 contributed many notes relating to the superficial deposits. 



Some interesting facts referring to the cultivation and 

 economic uses of the potato in Germany were recently stated 

 by the American Consul-General in Berlin in connection 

 with a technical exhibition there. In 1901, for every 

 10,000 inhabitants 160 acres were planted with potatoes, 

 against 98 acres in France, 31 in Great Britain and Ireland, 

 and 34-8 in the United States. The sandy plains of northern 

 and central Germany are well adapted by nature to the 

 cultivation, and elaborate experiments in scientific fertilising 

 and cultivation have increased the production per . acre by 

 about 38 per cent, in the last ten years. The result has 

 been that the crop reached the danger point of over-produc- 

 tion in 1901, and accordingly there was in that year an 

 enormous increase in potato alcohol^ and the market was 

 glutted with raw spirit. In February, 1902, there was an 

 exhibition in Berlin to illustrate and promote the use of 

 denaturised alcohol for technical and industrial purposes, 

 and it has been repeated this year. Besides alcohol, the 

 technical products of the potato are starch, starch syrup, 

 potato flour, dextrin, and starch sugar. The production of 

 NO. I 76 1, VOL. 68] 



these during the last ten years has increased rapidly, as 

 has the export also. Last year the exports of potato flour 

 and starch reached 45,970 tons, or more than double those 

 of 1900, while the export of dextrin was 14,047 tons. The 

 United Kingdom is the largest purchaser of German potato 

 starch, the imports last year being 23,827 tons. The 

 Consul-General adds that the law of 1887 regulating the 

 production and use of untaxed alcohol for technical purposes 

 was one of the wisest and most far-seeing of enactments, 

 for Germany has profited largely by the stimulus thereby 

 given to the cultivation of the potato and to the employ- 

 ment of cheap spirit in the chemistry and the industrial arts. 



We have received a copy of an article published in the 

 Natural History and Scholastic Abhandlungen of Leipzig, 

 by Mr. F. Miihlberg, on the object and extent of the in- 

 struction in natural science given in the higher middle- 

 schools. 



We have received two further instalments of Messrs. 

 Jordan and Fowler's valuable reviews of Japanese fishes, in 

 course of publication in the Proceedings of the U.S. 

 Museum, the one being devoted to the carp group, or 

 cyprinoids, and the other to the cat-fishes, or siluroids. In 

 both groups several new forms are described, some of which 

 have, however, been already referred to in preliminary 

 notices. A new genus of cat-fish receives the name of 

 Fluvidraco, and apparently includes the well-known " yellow 

 dragon " of the rivers of China. In another fasciculus of 

 the same publication Mr. T. Gill discusses the affinities of 

 the opah, or king-fish, and finds that he is not able to 

 accept in their entirety the views on this subject recently 

 published by Mr. G. A. Boulenger. He has some interest- 

 ing observations on the origin of the name " opah," which 

 appears to have been imported from the west coast of 

 Africa, but does not seem to be the proper native title of 

 the fish to which it is now applied. 



Three other papers from the Proceedings of the U.S. 

 Museum are also to hand. In one of these Mr. D. W. 

 Prentiss describes as new an imperfect mink skull from the 

 shell-mounds of Maine. In the second Mr. A. N. Caudell 

 discusses the orthopterous insects of various States, with 

 descriptions of new species; and in the third Mr. J. E. 

 Benedict revises the crustaceans of the genus Lepidopa. 



An issue of the Circulars and Agricultural Journal of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens at Ceylon contains an account, by 

 Mr. E. E. Green, of a recent abnormal and remarkable 

 increase in one district of the numbers of the so-called 

 lobster-caterpillar (Stauropus alternus), which affects tea- 

 plants. Until quite recently this caterpillar was so un- 

 common that good specimens were regarded as prizes by 

 collectors ; but latterly it has made its appearance in enor- 

 mous numbers on certain plantations in the Kalutara 

 district, where it has become a perfect " tea-pest." The 

 reason for this sudden increase has not been ascertained. 



All that Mr. E. Thompson-Seton writes with regard to 

 the habits and ways of animals is well worth reading, and 

 we are therefore glad to welcome an article from his pen 

 in the Smithsonian Report for 1901 entitled " The National 

 Zoo at Washington, a Study of its Animals in Relation to 

 their Natural Environment." The author describes in 

 some detail the history of the formation of this great and 

 important undertaking, and the prime object which the 

 founders had before them, namely, the preservation of as 

 many of the larger North American animals as possible 

 under conditions assimilating, so far as practicable, to their 

 natural surroundings. In the case of many species, such 

 as the wapiti, the bison, and the pronghorn, the experiment 



