504 



NATURE 



[August 17, 19 16 



tically doubled in size since the outbreak of war. 

 The experimental work that has been done covers a 

 wide range, including experiments in the wind 

 channels on models of aeroplanes and parts of aero- 

 planes, airships, and kite balloons ; investigations into 

 the strength of fabrics, wing spars, light alloys, 

 stream-line wires, and other materials of construc- 

 tion ; and researches into many special subjects that 

 have arisen from time to time. The work of the 

 Royal Aircraft Factory is summarised, with particular 

 attention to the experimental side of the work, and to 

 the endeavours which are being made to link up 

 model experiments with full-scale tests. Considerable 

 stress is laid on the precision with v^hich the perform- 

 ance and stability of a new design can now be calcu- 

 lated, and on the fact that it has been found possible 

 to obtain large quantities of good, stable, and 

 serviceable machines from firms without previous ex- 

 perience of aircraft construction by providing them 

 with complete drawings and details. The design of 

 new machines proceeds by making a few trial 

 machines, and four main types have been standardised 

 for contract purposes. A brief account of the work 

 done specially for the Admiralty Air Department, 

 and of the meteorological work of the past year, com- 

 pletes the report. The technical appendix, containing 

 detailed results of experiments, cannot, of course, be 

 published during the war, but it is clearly emphasised 

 in the report itself that the detailed technical results 

 are freely communicated to Government contractors 

 who need them, and who apply for them through the 

 proper channels. 



The paper by Messrs. H. J. Fleure and T. C. 

 James, published in the Journal of the Royal Anthro- 

 pological Institute, vol xlvi., January-June, 1916, one 

 of the most valuable recent contributions to the study 

 of the races of Great Britain, must be read as a 

 whole with due regard to the mass of statistics on 

 which the authors base their conclusions regarding the 

 geographical distribution of anthropological types in 

 Wales. At present they are inclined to believe that 

 a Brythonic advance into Wales, probably vi&. Powys, 

 occurred at some time not remote from the Roman 

 invasion. It may have been in waves pushing back 

 old languages or dialects which were probably 

 nearer to the Gaelic group than is Brythonic. As 

 regards physical types, they note a characteristic in- 

 crease of the fair, medium-headed type as we descend 

 into the Severn basin and that of the Wye, and all 

 through this region, and the Welsh border generally, 

 there is a suggestion of dilution of pigment in the 

 Neolithic or Mediterranean type. Whether this can 

 be connected with the Brythonic invaders is doubtful ; 

 it may be due to later infiltration. They also remark 

 that while the fair-haired, light-eyed men of the 

 Severn and Wye valleys often have medium to broad 

 heads, this tj'pe also appears in eastern England. 

 The suggestion is made that in the latter area fhe 

 infusion may be partly Brythonic, partly Anglo-Saxon. 

 It is not safe to assume that the fair men in eastern 

 England are necessarily post-Roman Teutons ; they 

 may be Brythons, and it is difficult to distinguish 

 their ultimate origin. There is at least the possibility 

 that the pre-Roman peoples are fairly well represented 

 even in East England. 



In the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Insti- 

 tute, vol. xlvi., January-June, 1916, Mr. Harold 

 Peake investigates the ethnology of the people who 

 destroyed the Trojan city known as Hissarlik II. 

 Following the lead of Mr. Ellsworth Huntington, he 

 suggests that a period of drought, beginning about 

 2450 B.C., led to extensive race movements of Arabian 

 tribes across the Sinaitic peninsula into the Egyptian 



NO. 2442, VOL. 97] 



delta, while later waves successively invaded Pales- 

 tine and Syria, introducing the knowledge of metals, 

 perhaps gained from their kinsmen in Egypt, and 

 founding Damascus. Thence they migrated to 

 .\ssyria and Babylonia. Meanwhile the drought in the 

 steppes adjoining the Caspian led to the migration 

 of the Bak tribes into China. Later on the Nordic 

 steppe-folk on either side of the Volga, finding their 

 pasturage diminishing, occupied the region abandoned 

 by the Bak tribes, and passed into Persia, where they 

 became known as the Kassites. Others of the same 

 group overran Galicia and Rumania, and penetrated 

 into Hungary and Thrace. This last body divided into 

 two groups; one occupied the Larissan plain, while 

 another party crossed the Hellespont, destroyed Hissar- 

 lik II., and poured into Anatolia. These may have 

 later appeared south as the Amorites, or they may 

 survive to the present day as the Kurds. Many of 

 these conclusions are speculative, but the theory now 

 presented with a considerable array of corroborative 

 evidence clears up many difficulties, and is decidedly 

 attractive. 



The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, have received a 

 very interesting and valuable presentation from Lady 

 Church in the collection of botanical water-colour 

 drawings brought together by the late Sir Arthur 

 Church. The drawings have been placed in a roon 

 leading out of the North Gallery; — once Miss North '- 

 studio — and are now open to public inspection. Th' 

 exhibition of the pictures has been made possible b} 

 the generosity of Lady Church. There are some fine 

 examples of the work of Simon Varelst, G. D. Ehret, 

 R. P. Nodder, A. Power, and other well-known flower 

 painters. In order to make the collection as repre- 

 sentative as possible some examples of the work of 

 W. H. Fitch, Sir J. D. Hooker, F. Bauer, and other- 

 have been placed on the walls from the collection oi 

 paintings already at Kew. An account of the collection 

 is given in Kew Bulletin, No. 6, 1916. 



The luminous and very poisonous fungus, Pleurotus 

 japonicus, which grows on decaying trunks of the 

 beech tree in Japan, has been investigated by Kata- 

 mura in the Journal of the College of Science, Tokyo, 

 vol. XXXV., p. I. The light is emitted from the gills, 

 which are luminous all over, and the range of tem- 

 perature for luminosity is 3°-4o° C. It is stated that 

 100 sq. cm. of luminous area gives light enough foi 

 reading, and that the light is noticeable for a distanct 

 of some 30 m. The poisonous properties of the 

 fungus do not appear to be destroyed by cooking. 



The wild and cultivated forms of the Japanese cher- 

 ries form the subject of a monograph by 'M. Miyoshi 

 in the Journal of the College of Science, Tokyo, vol. 

 xxxiv., art. i. The species concerned are PrMn«swM/a- 

 bilis, Miyos., P. sachaliensis, Miyos., and P. serriilata. 

 Lindl. Some sixty-eight varieties of the last-named 

 species are described and figured in a series of ver>' 

 beautiful coloured plates. Ten forms of P. sacha- 

 liensis and sixty-five forms of P. mutabilis are simi- 

 larly described and illustrated. There is some intro- 

 ductory historical matter, and under each form the 

 Japanese name, flowering time, and other particular? 

 are given. Many of the forms are now known in 

 Great Britain, but the monograph deserves careful 

 study by all lovers of flowering trees, if only because 

 of the artistic beauty of the plates. 



The Scottish Naturalist, in the form of a double 

 number (July-August), is devoted entirely to the 

 " Report on Scottish Ornithology in 1915." Though 

 this resumi contains nothing of very remarkable im- 

 port, it is full of interesting items. Among these must 

 be mentioned an extension of the breeding range of 



