620 



NA TURE 



[April 26, 1900 



The sudden rise of temperature over the British Islands to- 

 wards the close of last week, when the temperature in the 

 neighbourhood of London reached 78°, owing to the presence of 

 a large area of high barometric pressure, was a very welcome 

 change from the recent exceptionally cold period to which the 

 latenesss of the spring in all parts of the country was due. This 

 reading has only been once exceeded in April during the last 

 twenty-five years. For the greater part of the month the mean 

 of all the highest day readings was about 1° below the average, 

 a,nd it was not until the 19th that the temperature at Green- 

 wich exceeded 64° ; in many recent years a higher temperature 

 has occurred in March. The returns published by the Meteor- 

 ological Office show that the rainfall over Englajid since February 

 had been much below the average, and that the amount of bright 

 sunshine had been deficient in most parts 



To the March number of the Agricultural Gazette of New 

 South Wales, Mr. W. W. Froggart, the Government Entomolo- 

 gist, communicates an important paper on the "plague" of 

 locusts to which the country has lately been subjected. Although 

 Australia has been visited by swarms of locusts from a very 

 early period, it does not appear that these did much damage till 

 the seventies, when farms had begun to occupy much of the 

 open plains of Victoria and other districts. Between that period 

 and 1891 New South Wales was devastated by swarms of the 

 species known as Packytylus ausiralis ; but in the serious 

 visitation of 1899 the place of that kind was taken hy Epacromia 

 terminalis, which is believed to have moved into the colony 

 from South Australia. Not only did the swarms destroy all the 

 sheep-feed in the districts visited, but they likewise ruined some 

 20,000 acres of young wheat. Mr. Froggart concludes that an 

 effectual remedy would be either to destroy the eggs, or to 

 expose them in such a manner that they would be readily ac- 

 cessible to the attacks of birds. But he has also hopes that 

 inoculation of the immature insects with the so-called African 

 locust-fungus would have good results. 



The March number of the American Naturalist contains 

 some interesting remarks on the habits of the American gilled 

 and blind salamander described some time ago by Dr. Stejneger 

 under the name of Typhlomolge. A number of living specim.ens 

 were obtained from subterranean waters at a depth of 181 feet 

 below the surface, but only one of these survived for any length 

 of time above ground. Unless disturbed, these salamanders 

 spend their time in resting or in walking very slowly ; when 

 walking, they move a few steps at a time, pause awhile, and 

 then once more advance. From the extreme slenderness of their 

 limbs, Dr. Stejneger came to the conclusion that these were 

 employed solely as feelers, and that progression was effected by 

 means of the tail ; but this conjecture is now shown to be 

 incorrect. 



From Mr. J. C. Thompson we have received a copy of his 

 paper on tropical and northerly " plankton," published in the 

 Transactions of the Liverpool Biological Society. 



We have to thank Messrs. Eigenmann and Schafer for a copy 

 of their paper on the mosaic of single and twin cones in the 

 retina of fishes, published in the February number of the 

 American Naturalist. 



The Irish Naturalist for April contains an interesting account 

 by Dr. R. F. Scharfif upon all the species of whales and dolphins 

 known to have visited the Irish coast, illustrated by good figures 

 of their skulls, with the outline of the heads. 



In a paper on some abnormally-coloured Australian birds, in 

 the Victorian Naturalist, Mr. R. Hall calls attention to the 

 fact that while in New Zealand and South Australia birds dis- 

 play a tendency to albinism, in North Australia, as in India, the 

 variation tends to the development of melanism. 

 NO. 159I, VOL. 61] 



Hitherto the genus of vampire bats known as Monophyllus 

 has been represented only by a single species from Jamaica. In 

 a recent issue of the Proceedings of the Washington Academy of 

 Sciences, Mr. G. S. Miller describes three new representatives 

 of the genus, at least one of which is from the mainland. 



The Journal of the South-Eastern Agricultural College, 

 Wye, Kent — issued under the joint auspices of the Kent and 

 Surrey County Councils — contains much valuable information in 

 regard to pests and diseases which infect or afflict cattle and 

 crops ; the one of most local interest being an essay on " red 

 mould " in hops. 



Monsieur C. Janet, President of the Zoological Society of 

 France, has favoured us with a copy of his " Essai sur la con- 

 stitution morphologique de la Tete de I'lnsecte," Paris, 1899. 

 In this brochure, which is admirably illustrated, the author 

 adopts the view that the true head of all insects is primarily 

 composed of five segments. 



We have received from the Trustees of the British Museum 

 the portion of vol. ii. of the "Catalogue of the Lepidoplera 

 Phalsenae " containing the plates, by Sir George Hampson. The 

 execution of the coloured illustrations of these " Microlepidop- 

 tera " is all that can be desired ; but we notice that the author 

 has departed from recognised usage in calling the family 

 Arctiadae instead of Arctiidae. 



The " Psychological Index," published annually by the 

 Psychological Review, is well-known to be a comprehensive and 

 orderly bibliography of original publications in all languages, on 

 psychology taken in its widest sense. The "Index" for 1899 

 has just been published, and it occupies no less than 174 pages 

 of the Psychological Review. 



Engler's Botanisches Jahrbuch fiir SystematiL, PJlanzen- 

 geschichte, und Pfianzengeographie continues to be characterised 

 by the value and excellence of its papers in the domain of 

 systematic botany. The parts most recently received (vol. 

 xxvii. Heft 5 and vpl. xxviii. Heft 2) contain, among other 

 contributions, the conclusion of the Editor's series of papers 

 on the flora of Africa ; a paper on experiments on variation in 

 plants, by Krasan ; an exhaustive paper on the genus Thea, and 

 the anatomical and morphological characters of the teas of 

 commerce, by J. Kochs ; a monograph of the genus Mollincdia 

 (Monimiaceae), by Janet R. Perkins. 



The report of the Epsom College Natural History Society 

 reminds us that the study of natural objects and phenomena 

 which the Board of Education is endeavouring to develop in 

 rural schools, is already carried on in an admirable way by the 

 boys in many of our public schools and colleges. We find in 

 the present report abstracts of lectures, descriptions of work 

 done in the astronomical, botanical, entomological, geological, 

 photographic and zoological sections, a summary of meteor- 

 ological observations, and tables of anthropological measure- 

 ments of boys in the college. The lists of plants observed and 

 dates of first blooms, of insect captures, and of the dates when 

 various birds were seen, or their nest, eggs and young, are 

 particularly interesting from the point of view of phenology. 

 The evidence given by the report of interest in natural things 

 and characteristics is gratifying to every lover of natural history, 

 and a credit to Epsom College. 



The Athenceum makes the following announcement : — The 

 " Diary of White of Selborne" is to be published. He kept it, 

 as is well known, for more than twenty-five years, and used for 

 the purpose a form " invented " by Daines Barrington, entitled 

 " The Naturalists' Calendar," constructed for recording on each 

 day, in proper columns, the readings of the thermometer and 

 barometer ; the direction of the wind ; the measurement of the 



