September 25, 1890] 



NA TURE 



519 



miles of Rudok itself. The news was soon conveyed there, and the 

 Governor, a nativd of Lhassa, came out to meet me. He brought 

 presents of tea, sheep, and goats, and was most civil, but begged 

 that I would go back, as he would lose his appointment and be 

 disgraced if it became known that he permitted me to advance 

 further. His politeness disarmed opposition, and my orders, given 

 in writing, were not to get into collision with the Tibetans. We 

 drank a good deal of tea, made in their mode churned with 

 butter and salt, which was always simmering in his tent, and I 

 managed to persuade him to let me ascend a conspicuous peak 

 a few miles further on, and from which I obtained a magnificent 

 panorama of the lake-dotted plain to the eastward of Rudok. 

 We parted excellent friends, and I presented him with a single- 

 barrelled pistol, in return for the presents he had given us. I 

 feel sure that had I been able to get back there the following 

 year, I could, starting from other points, have got very much 

 further to the eastward, and returned again via Rudok itself I 

 was, however, sent to another and equally interesting part of 

 the Himalayas. 



This country of Rudok is now, in 1890, to be visited, examined, 

 and reported upon by the Russians. Twenty-seven years have 

 gone by since I was on its very threshold. In the interval we 

 have had political officers appointed Residents in Leh, we have 

 seen many journeys made by English officers and English traders 

 to Yarkand, and yet no one has penetrated into Rudok and 

 all that unknown country on the north and north-east which 

 is much nearer. It does not say much for our British energy that 

 a Russian is now to enter this area, and is now perhaps survey- 

 ing within almost, I may say, a stone's-throw of our own border, 

 which we have made no attempt to get into and know. Perhaps 

 M. Grombchevsky may not succeed, perhaps he may lose his life, but 

 that does not detract from the activity and devotion the Russians 

 are at present giving to the exploration of Central Asia down 

 to the Himalayan chain, or prevent their doing so. If they 

 from their base can do this, why can we not ourselves ? We 

 have been content to send in natives of India, but this is not the 

 same thing as sending European officers, for in one case the 

 information obtained is purely topographical, no actual know- 

 ledge of physical features is gained, nothing from a military 

 point of view, and no personal acquaintance is made with the 

 people which might be of political or other advantage hereafter. 

 Proceeding to the north-west of Ladak, where the Russians 

 have lately been exploring, it appears extraordinary, with the 

 knowledge the Government of India possessed of the vast system 

 of glaciers of the Mustakh, south of the main range, that no 

 attempt has been made during the past twenty-five years to finish 

 that tract of country, and map the glaciers which descend on the 

 north or Yarkand side, and trace the rivers flowing from them, 

 which would be easy to accomplish, and with little or no danger 

 of interruption. This I consider would be of far more import- 

 ance and of infinitely greater interest scientifically than spending 

 thousands of rupees on large-scale surveys of Indian hill stations 

 and cantonments, or the resurvey of parts we know well on larger 

 scales. 



Although the Indian Survey and the Quarter-Master-General's 

 department have made us acquainted with vast tracts of country, 

 yet much more might have been explored if persistent effisrts 

 of every kind, along the line of the Himalayas from Kashmir to 

 Assam had been made during the past thirty years, and if the 

 Government of India had given encouragement to officers who 

 were able to survey and to make the most of their opportuni- 

 ties to do so. I can remember when many such good opportuni- 

 ties have been lost, owing to a contrary policy, for fit men ready 

 to go have not been wanting ; also, when such opportunities have 

 been taken, and at a time when the Government would not have 

 given their sanction had it been applied for, as, for instance, when 

 Mr. Johnstone, an uncovenanted assistant of the Kashmir Survey 

 party proceeded to Yarkand alone, and returned in safety in 

 1864, bringing back a large addition to the then complete blank of 

 intervening country, and fixing with some exactitude the position 

 of the large cities he visited. We thus have left and are leaving 

 to Russian subjects, who have the good wishes and countenance 

 of their Government, to survey tracts of country lying upon our 

 line of frontier, and we shall probably see tliem the first of 

 European nations to plant their teet in Lhassa. They go to 

 work on the right system, for much more can be done by single 

 individuals in a quiet way, with a few carriers and attendants, 

 than by organizing large unwieldy missions, with a little army of 

 camp-followers and sepoys, such as it was proposed to send from 

 Darjiling some few years ago. Such preparations become mag- 



nified into an army with aggressive aims, certain to arouse 

 political difficulties ; it is a burden on the resources of the country 

 it has to pass through, and the possibility of misunderstandings 

 and quarrels arising over the collection of and payment for the 

 same. 



We might have been working for years past to the northward, 

 in many directions, by small exploring parties, and have now 

 possessed an intimate knowledge of the physical features of the 

 country, and its zoology, fauna, and flora, such as the Russians 

 do in their thorough manner, but which our Government appears 

 not to understand the value of, eminently unscientific as it is. 

 After all, disagreeable though it be to see opportunities lost, 

 those who do appreciate scientific methods of work must thank 

 Russian explorers, such as Prejevalsky, and now Grombchevsky, 

 for the light they have, in the last few years, thrown on the 

 geography and natural history of Central Asia, from Siberia 

 south towards British India. H. H. G-A. 



Variability in the Number of Follicles in Caltha. 



It is easy to understand, supposing a tendency to variability, 

 that characters of little value (as the colours of certain domesti- 

 cated animals) might vary considerably, because not kept in 

 check by natural selection. If it does not matter to a species 

 whether it is unicolorous or spotted, for instance, one can see 

 how both varieties may coexist without any tendency to the 

 formation of a new species, and it might be rather an advantage 

 than otherwise that individuals should differ from one another. 

 But those parts connected with so important a function as the 

 reproduction of the species would, one might suppose, be rigidly 

 guarded over by the survival of the fittest, and any great varia- 

 bility in the number of offspring would hardly be expected 

 within the limits of a species. 



That such variability exists, however, we have abundant proof. 

 The variability in the number of follicles in the Ranunculaceae is 

 astonishing. Coulter (" Manual of Botany of Rocky Mountain 

 Region ") gives the pods of Caltha as from 5 to 12; but this 

 does not nearly represent the amount of variation. Caltha 

 leptosepala, DC, is very abundant at West Cliff, Colorado, and 

 this year I examined a number of specimens of the flowers, and 

 counted the follicles, with the following result : — 



Follicles. 

 2 



3 

 4 

 5 

 6 



7 



8 



9 

 10 

 II 



12 



>3 



14 

 15 



Total 



Specimens. 

 I 



7 



4 



II 



•• 3 



.. II 



10 



7 

 •• 4 



5 



I 



5 

 3 

 I 



•• 73 



It thus appears that 73 flowers presented as many as 14 varia- 

 tions in the number of follicles, and curiously, the odd numbers 

 are more numerous than the even, in the proportion of 47 to 26. 



Miss Lowther and Miss Byington, of West Cliff, were good 

 enough to search for variations other than those tabulated above, 

 and they succeeded in finding specimens with i, 18, 23, and 25 

 follicles respectively. T. D. A. Cockerell. 



3 Fairfax Road, Bedford Park, Chiswick, W., 

 September 16. 



The Origin of Melinite and Lyddite. 

 (Picric Acid.) 



In your issue of the 4th inst. (p. 444) there occurs the 

 following sentence : — 



" Although picric acid compounds were long since experi- 

 mented with as explosive agents, it was not until a very serious 

 accident occurred, in 1887, at some works near Manchester, 

 where the dye had been for some time manufactured, that public 

 attention was directed in England to the powerfully explosive 

 nature of this substance itself." 



NO. 109 1, VOL. 42] 



