March 23, 19 16] 



NATURE 



«7 



The third part of "The Useful Plants of Nigeria," 

 forming Additional Series No. ix. of the Kew Bulletin, 

 has just been published. This part, consisting' of 

 pp. 343-536, includes the families Rubiaceae to Labiatae 

 inclusive, and deals in detail with the plants of 

 economic value contained in those families. The pub- 

 lication is a valuable companion volume to the "Flora 

 of Tropical Africa," also emanating from Kew, and 

 stands to the flora in a similar position as does Sir 

 George Watt's classic ''Dictionary of the Economic 

 Products of India " to the " Flora of British India." 

 Now that the "Flora of Tropical Africa" is nearing 

 completion, it is to be hoped that the publication of 

 the final part of this useful complementary volume 

 dealing with the economic plants will not be long 

 delayed. One of the most valuable features in "The 

 Useful Plants of Nigeria " is the list of references 

 cited at the end of each species, which appears 

 to be well-nigh exhaustive in every case. The present 

 part contains accounts of various rubber-yielding 

 plants, tobacco, coffee, teak, Achras Sapota — the source 

 of chicle gum — etc. With regard to this latter pro- 

 duct, as, indeed, is the case with many other plants 

 of economic importance, botanists are not yet certain 

 as to the exact species or variety of tree which yields 

 the commercial article. This publication is not onlv 

 of value for our West African colonies, but is of great 

 use at home as a source of information about the 

 economic possibilities of tropical Africa. 



P. PoRSiLD describes in Meddelelser om Gronland, 

 vol. li., p. 253, the measures that have been taken to 

 establish nature-reserves for plants in western Green- 

 land, and he quotes a notice-board written in the 

 Eskimo language, which is in itself good evidence 

 of the spread of civilising influences. 



In Physis (the journal of the Sociedad Argentina de 

 Ciencias Naturales) for November lo, 19 15, F. Pastore 

 describes some of the basalts that cover an enormous 

 area in the plateau-land of Patagonia. At the base 

 of the flows, which appear to have possessed great 

 fluidity-, tube-like vesicles have sometimes arisen, 

 parallel to one another and several centimetres in 

 length. This is clearly the same structure as that 

 which gave rise to the " pipe-amygdaloids " of the 

 British Isles In the same number, in reference to 

 a notice that appeared in Nature of April 22, 19 15, 

 It IS pointed out that R. S. Lull decided against the 

 proboscidean nature of Pyrotherium before 'fullv con- 

 s^denng the characters of a skull described bv Loomis. 

 \^. Ameghino afterwards urged the importance of the 

 o-anial features, and Physis hopes that Prof. W. B. 

 ^cott will now state his opinion of them. 



Prof. H. F. Osborn has contributed to a new part 

 of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 

 •^01. xxvi., pp. 215-315) an exhaustive review of the 

 neistocene formations of Europe, Asia, and northern 

 Atnca. with full references to the recent literature of 

 tne subject. It is written in the same stvle as his 

 well-known volume on "The Age of Mammals," and 

 may be regarded as a revision and extension of the 

 Kleistocene chapter of that work, with the addition 

 ot new discoveries. A glance at this review make.<5 it 

 possible to realise how difficult is the interpretation 

 01 tne local superficial deposits on which alone our 

 ^rfJ^ ?f .°^ ^^^ ^^*"* P«"°<i of geological time is 

 .n fu n, *^ ^^'■'^«ly surprising that geologists' views 

 Jr^i ^^l^istocene glaciation of the northern hemi- 

 sphere are very varied. 



^J^ ^^^ °J submerged wire drags towed bv two 

 l;d?r.Ki ^ ', °''^- ^'?tance from one another has con- 

 sSile chLt'^ I- '" l"^^^^f "& the accuracv of large- 

 ^caie chart.. Experience has shown, again" and again, 



NO. 2421, VOL, 



97] 



that even in the most carefully sounded seas dangerous 

 rocks may be missed and only found by a ship strik- 

 ing. The work is, of course, neither necessary nor 

 applicable in deep waters, but from 1906 onward a 

 large amount of submarine survey has been accom- 

 plished by wire drags on the coast of New England. 

 The value of the method and the cost entailed are 

 discussed in a paper published by the U.S. Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey (Special Publication No. 29). Several 

 diagrams show the apparatus and methods, but these 

 were described in detail in an earlier publication 

 (No. 21). In order to ensure that the bottom wire 

 is at the right depth to catch all obstructions, it is 

 not allowed to swing free in a single sweep from 

 one vessel to the other, but is suspended from a line 

 of buoys. And, furthermore, to obviate the necessity 

 of the buoys being ver\- close to one another, and yet 

 to prevent the line sagging, cedar floats are attached 

 to the line between the buoys. These serve to balance 

 the weight of the line. The nature of the method 

 only admits of its being used where the general con- 

 tours of the sea bottom have already been determined 

 by sounding. It appears that on the coast of New 

 England the wire drag has disclosed many unsus- 

 pected rocks and reefs. 



We have received from the director of the Royal 

 Meteorological Institute of the Netherlands a set of 

 copies of the De Bilt declination, horizontal force, and 

 vertical force curves on the principal days of magnetic 

 disturbance of the year 1913. The preparation and 

 circulation of such curves is an international scheme, 

 De Bilt serving as headquarters for the selection of 

 the days. On the whole, 19 13 was a very quiet year 

 magnetically, and none of the selected disturbances 

 were very large. They include, however, several in- 

 teresting movements, amongst others three "sudden 

 commencements." The curves are clearly shown on 

 good paper, and full details are given of scale values 

 and base-line values. 



Messrs. A. Gallenkamp and Co., Ltd., announce 

 the issue of a set of models and other apparatus 

 designed with the view of facilitating the teaching of 

 military science. Four of these, bearing on field tele- 

 phones, are now ready, and should prove of service 

 to teachers in the various schools and colleges in which 

 military instruction is in progress. The items consist 

 of a diagram-model of the D Mark III. telephone, 

 arranged so as to show the working and adjustment 

 of the buzzer, models of the receiver and transmitter, 

 both of which may be dissected, and a board showing 

 the correct method of repairing a broken line in the 

 field. The tracing of circuits and the arrangement 

 of windings is made easy bv the use of coloured cords, 

 and an examination of the models should enable a 

 beginner to form a correct idea of the working of the 

 various parts. Models of this kind should be found 

 specially useful at military training centres, as a tele- 

 phonist who understands' his instrument is far more 

 trustworthy than one whose work is merely automatic. 

 Full descriptions of the models are contained in the 

 circular issued by the firm. 



La Nature for Februar\- 26 contains an illustrated 

 description of the Nice automatic public telephone 

 system, which has been in operation since October, 

 1913, and has now 3000 subscribers. The subscriber 

 wanted is called up by the sender of the message 

 without the intervention of anv person at a central 

 office. This is done by means o'f a small circular disc 

 with numbered holes round its circumference attached 

 to the front of the ordinary telephone box. The 

 sender w;ho wishes to ring up,' say. No. 2547, on taking 

 down his receiver is automatically connected to a 

 selector at the central office. On inserting his finger 



