June i, 1916] 



NATURE 



287 



Oranges and lemons in which the style is persistent 

 up to maturity are known to occur at certain seasons 

 and in certain localities, and various theories have 

 been advanced to account for the fact, some writers 

 suggesting that these forms are peculiarities of a dis- 

 tinct variety of the plant. In a note contributed to 

 the Mii dei Lincei, xxv. (i), 3, R. Pirotta dissents 

 from these views, and advances the theory that the 

 persistence or otherwise of the style depends on the 

 effects of weather in retarding or accelerating the 

 processes of fertiUsation and the ripening of the fruits. 



Owing to the scarcity of dyestuffs resulting from 

 the war, considerable interest attaches to the attempts 

 to obtain and utilise new colouring matters. In this 

 connection the Atti dei Lincei, xxv. (i), 5, contains an 

 account of investigations by R. Lepetit and C. Carta 

 Satta on the yellow substance extracted from the bark 

 of Pinus pinaster. These researches, commenced ten 

 years ago, show that this colouring matter furnishes 

 tints of a beautiful yellow with mordants of alum, of 

 an orange colour with tin, of a less bright yellow with 

 chromium, dirty yellow with copper, and olive-brown 

 with iron. It is thus identifiable with quercetin, and 

 exists in the bark of the fir-tree in a state of complete 

 combination with a tanno-glucoside. 



The report of the Botanic Gardens and Government 

 Domains, Sydney, New South Wales, has just been 

 received, and contains an interesting account of the 

 various botanical activities undertaken under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. J. H. Maiden. In addition, the report 

 includes a valuable contribution relating to the 

 Arachnida, Myriapoda, and Insecta of the Botanic 

 Gardens, by Mr. Rainbow, entomologist of the Aus- 

 tralian Museum, and is on similar lines to the account 

 of the mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, and shells pub- 

 lished in the report of the previous year. A long list 

 is given of interesting plants introduced, or re-intro- 

 duced, into the Gardens, and in the herbarium report 

 we note that 2725 sheets have been added to the 

 collection, many being additions to the flora of New 

 South Wales. 



The report of the Agricultural Department and Ex- 

 periment Station in tne Virgin Islands for the year 

 ended March, 1915, has recently reached us, and shows 

 that considerable attention has been given to the 

 cotton crop, especially with regard to establishing a 

 local seed supply, and thus ensuring uniformity of 

 crop and staple. Coconut planting in the islands is 

 being encouraged, and nearly 3000 nuts were distri- 

 buted during the year. An Onion Growers' Associa- 

 tion has also been formed with every prospect of suc- 

 cess. A similar association has been formed in 

 Antigua, where conditions are also favourable for this 

 crop. From the reports of the various islands, it is 

 clear that the Imperial Department of Agriculture 

 is making every effort to extend the scope and foster 

 the progress of agriculture in the West Indies. 



In the course of the voyage of the Carnegie from 

 New Zealand to South Georgia last December and 

 January search was made for the Nimrod and 

 Dougherty Islands in the South Pacific. The search 

 in both cases was fruitless. In the Geographical 

 Review for April (vol. i., No. 4), where an account of 

 the search appears, it is suggested that the result of 

 this work is to remove these islands, especially 

 Dougherty Island, from the map. The writer is per- 

 haps not aware that in 1909, on the homeward 

 voyage of the Nimrod, with Sir E. H. Shackleton's 

 Antarctic Expedition, Capt. J. K. Davis made a 

 thorough search for these islands, and failed to find 

 them. They were in consequence removed from the 

 last edition of the Prince of Monaco's bathymetrical 



NO. 2431, VOL. 97] 



chart of the oceans. Without a doubt icebergs gave 

 rise to the reports of the islands, for it is very difficult 

 in certain conditions of light to distinguish some ice- 

 bergs from land. 



During the last year or two the Geographical 

 Journal has been devoting some attention to articles 

 on different regions, more or less affected by the war, 

 each from the pen of an expert. In the issue for May, 

 1916 (vol. xlvli., No. 5), Prof. J. W. Gregory has a 

 long article, illustrated with maps, on Cyrenaica. 

 Prof. Gregory deals particularly with the economic 

 possibilities of Cyrenaica and its future as a colony. 

 Over this he is not enthusiastic, but at the same time 

 is strongly opposed to the view that Cyrenaica is a 

 useless desert. The climatic question is an important 

 one, and Prof. Gregory holds that the evidence points 

 to no change since classical times ; nor will he admit 

 that Turkish control has been altogether bad for the 

 land. The change in the economic value of Cyrenaica 

 since Roman times he holds is due mainly to competi- 

 tion by new lands, making the production of corn and 

 wool less profitable, and to honey, a valuable product 

 in the past, being superseded by sugar-cane and beet- 

 root. The decline in the trans-Saharan trade, owing 

 to its diversion to Nile and Niger routes, and the 

 development of steam navigation on the Mediterranean 

 have robbed the country of its position on several 

 great trade routes. 



In connection with the Daily Weather Report the 

 Meteorological Office has issued a revised edition of 

 the quinquennial appendix, giving normal values for 

 pressure, temperature, and bright sunshine. The 

 values are extended to Include the year 1915, and with 

 the increased length of period are becoming of greater 

 value. Pressure normals for the hour of the reports 

 are now for ten years instead of five, while the 

 normals for air temperature, rainfall, and bright sun- 

 shine are for thirty-five years, from 1881 to 1915. The 

 values are given for the several months, and are issued 

 in quarterly sheets. Normals for the current season 

 show only slight differences of pressure, the values 

 being relatively lower in the north and west than in 

 the south and east. Temperature is rising brisldy, and 

 in the late spring and early summer the mean daily 

 maximum is about 10° warmer in the south of Eng- 

 land than in Scotland, and the mean night tempera- 

 ture shows an almost equally large difference. Rain- 

 fall is increasing somewhat at the English stations, 

 while the duration of bright sunshine is at about its 

 maximum. 



According to a short note in the Atti dei Lincei, 

 xxv. (i), 5, containing the Proceedings for March 5, 

 it would appear that piracy of mathematical dis- 

 coveries was common in Italy in early times. In this 

 note the writer. Prof. Gino Loria, discusses the claims 

 of a work by Luca Pacioli (1445-15 14), entitled 

 " Divina Proportione," dealing with mensuration of 

 plane and solid figures, and gives evidence in support 

 of the view that the substance of this work was 

 purloined from an unpublished manuscript by Pier 

 della Francesca entitled " De corporibus regularibus." 

 That Tartaglia's solution of the cubic equation should 

 have become wrongly attributed to Cardan would 

 appear to be the result of a practice of which Tar- 

 taglia himself was not altogether innocent. A second 

 part of Prof. Gino Loria 's communication deals with 

 some interesting writings by Tommaso Ceva (1648- 

 1737) and Guido Grandi (1671-1737) on the properties 



I of certain curves traced on the surfaces of cones and 



j cylinders. These investigations anticipate Monge's 

 descriptive geometry, inasmuch as the method of pro- 



I jection was used in studying the curves in question. 



j Ceva discussed the properties of the curv'e which pro- 



