4i6 



NATURE 



[July 13, 1916 



more or less intermediate character, with rose to crim- 

 son filaments, are now in cultivation ; and these are 

 regarded as hybrids. 



Queensland. 



Royal Society of Queensland, May i. — H. A. Long- 

 man : The supposed Queensland artiodactyle fossils. 

 In 1886 a series of teeth from post-Pliocene deposits 

 on the Darling Downs, Queensland, was described 

 by the late C. W. De Vis as artiodactyle, under the 

 name of Prochoerus celer (Proc. Roy. Soc. Queens- 

 land, vol. iii., p. 42). Although the author suggested 

 that the teeth denoted an alliance with the peccaries 

 rather than with the true pigs, his statements were 

 interpreted as evidence of the occurrence in southern 

 Queensland of the Papuan Sus, The Darling Downs 

 deposits have yielded such a harvest of marsupial 

 remains (including Diprotodon, Nototherium, Thy- 

 lacoleo, and extinct kangaroos and wombats) that this 

 supposed exception aroused considerable interest. The 

 results of an examination of the type specimens by 

 Mr. Longman show that the tooth recorded as a 

 lower incisor is identical with the left lower laniary 

 incisor of Thylacoleo carnijex ; that the upper incisors 

 and paratypes closely correspond with the posterior 

 incisors of Nototheroid marsupials ; that the imperfect 

 molar tooth has no affinity with the Papuan pig, and 

 does not present sufficient evidence to warrant its 

 designation as non-marsupial. This molar is of a 

 somewhat similar tyf>e to the remarkable large pre- 

 molar of Macleay's '' Zygotnaturus trilohus,'" the 

 status of which is in doubt, and which was included 

 by Owen in Nototherium mitchelli. The evidence for 

 the presence of fossil artiodactyles in Queensland thus 

 disappears, and a much-discussed question has been 

 settled. 



Calcutta. 



Asiatic Society of Bengal, June 7. — Dr. N. Annan- 

 dale : Zoological results of a tour in the Far East. 

 The tour was undertaken chiefly in order to investi- 

 gate the lake-fauna of certain districts in Japan, 

 China, and the Malay Peninsula. Three large lakes 

 were visited, namely, Biwa-Ko in the main island of 

 Japan, the Tai Hu or Great Lake in the Kiangsu 

 province of China, and the Tal6 Sap or Inland Sea 

 of Singgora in the north-east of the Malay Peninsula. 

 The first two of these are inland lakes, whereas the 

 Tal6 Sap is a lagoon connected with the Gulf of 

 Siam. Full geographical details are reserved for a 

 series of faunistic papers. Twenty-eight species of 

 fresh-water Lamellibranch shells are discussed, be- 

 longing to the families Mytilidae, Arcidae, Unionidae, 

 and Cyrenidae. The species of polyzoa of fresh and 

 brackish water discussed are mostly from China and 

 the Malay Peninsula. Four new Spongillidae (three 

 species representing Spongilla and one Trochospon- 

 gilla) were found in the Tai Hu, and three, two of 

 which were already known, in the Tal6 Sap. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Indian Forest Records. Vol. v., part 7. (Cal- 

 cutta : Superintendent, Government Printing.) 25. 3^. 



Indian Forest Memoirs. Sylviculture Series. Vol. i., 

 part i. Pp. iv+ 126. (Calcutta : Superintendent, 

 Government Printing.) 



English Landscape : 

 M. Baring. Pp. 122. 

 Press.) 15. net 



M^moires de la Soci^t^ de Phvsique et d'Histoire 

 Naturelle de Geneve. Vol. xxxviii. Fasc. 4 and 5. 

 (Geneve : Georg et Cie.) 5 and 7 francs respectively. 



NO. 2437, VOL. 97] 



An Anthology, compiled by 

 (London : Oxford University 



A Scientific German Reader. By H. Z. Kip. Pp. 

 xii + 445. (London: Oxford University Press.) 55.net. 



Compendio de Algebra de Abenb^der. By J. A. S. 

 Perez. Pp. xlvii + 117. (Madrid: E. Maestre.) 



Hitting the Dark Trail : Starshine through Thirty 

 Years of Night. By C. Hawkes. Pp. 191. (London : 

 G. G. Harrap and Co.) 35. 6d. net. 



The Mentally Defective Child. By Dr. M. Young. 

 Pp. xi+140. (London: H. K. Lewis and Co., Ltd.) 

 3s. 6d. net. 



Studies in Blood Pressure, Physiological and 

 Clinical. By Dr. G. Oliver. Third edition. Edited 

 by Dr. W. D, Halliburton. Pp. xxiii + 240. (London : 

 H. K. Lewis and Co., Ltd.) ys. 6d. net. 



Department of Mines. Memoirs of the Geological 

 Survey of New South Wales. Geology, No. 7 : 

 Geology and Mineral Resources of the Southern 

 Coalfield, with Maps and Sections. Part i — The 

 South Coastal Portion. By L. F. Harper. Pp. xiii 

 + 410 + plates xlvi. (Sydney: W. A. GuUick.) 15s. 



A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus. By 

 J. H. Maiden. Vol. iii. Parts v. and vi. (Parts xxv. 

 and xxvi. of the complete work.) (Sydney : W. A. 

 Gullick.) 2s. 6d. each. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



British Marine Annelids. By S. J. H 397 



Colloidal Solutions 397 



Mathematical Papers and Addresses. By G. B. M. 398 



W. B. Tegetmeier 399 



Our Bookshelf 399 



Letters to the Editor:— 



Gravitation and Temperature. — Dr. P. E. Shaw . . 400 

 Payment for Scientific Research. — Prof. G. H. 



Bryan, F.R.S 401 



Negative Liquid Pressure at High Temperatures. — 



Sidney Skinner 402 



The Propagation of Sound by the Atmosphere. 



By Dr. C. Davison 402 



Aeronautics and the War. {Ilhtstrated.) ByE. F. R. 403 

 Sir Gaston Maspero, K.C.M.G, (Hon.) By 



E. A. W. B 405 



Notes 406 



Our Astronomical Column :— 



A Partial Eclipse of the Moon 410 



A Bright Meteor 410 



Comet 1916^ (Wolf) 410 



Arequipa Pyrheliometry 410 



Canadian Economic Geology. By J. W. G. ... 410 



Radio-activity and Plant Growth 411 



The Organisation of Industrial Scientific Research. 



I. By Dr. C. E. Kenneth Mees 411 



University and Educational Intelligence 413 



Societies and Academies 414 



Books Received 416 



Editorial and Publishing Offices : 



MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd., 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON. W.C. 



Advertisements and business letters to be addressed to the 

 Publishers. 



Editorial Communications to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address : Phusis, London. 

 Telephone Number : Grrrard 8830. 



