136 



N.A TURE 



[December ii, 1902 



Mr. R. T. Hill (fournal of the Frankhn, Institute, August- 

 October) gives a graphic account of the Beaumont oilfield, 

 a district within the area of the coast prairie of the Texas, 

 Louisiana and Mexican region. The oil was. discovered in 1901 

 by a drill-hole through 1 100 feet of clay apd quicksand. A year 

 later there were 136 wells, now there are 2(4, and more are 

 being drilled. During the first year, 5$ million gallons of 

 oil were obtained, and five or six times this amount is estimated 

 as the product for 1902. The prairie land extends for nearly 

 400 miles along the Gulf of Mexico and from ten to fifty miles 

 inland. The strata at a depth probably comprise bituminous 

 E icene clays, and they are overlaid by later Tertiary and Pleisto- 

 cene sands and clays, nearly 3000 feet in thickness, which contain 

 the oil ; and these, again, are covered by prairie deposits of sea- 

 mud and sand. A drill-hole has been carried to a depth of 

 3050 feet without touching the Eocene. In some localities, hot 

 water has been struck below the oil, and the oil itself is some- 

 times hot. Gas has been encountered in some of the bore- 

 holes. It is remarked that the water becomes not only hotter 

 but more saline with increasing depth, thereby raising its 

 capacity for the collection and flotation of oil, which is pre- 

 served in the porous strata overlying the Eocene clays and is 

 sealed up by the superincumbent muddy sediments. 



Prof. O. Comes, of Portici, Naples, has prepared a series 

 of chronological charts which furnish data concerning the intro- 

 duction, cultivation and general spread of tobacco for all 

 important countries throughout the world. 



With the present contribution (No. 13), Sir George King has 

 brought the " Material for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula" 

 to the end of the Calyciflorae. The genus Begonia furnishes 

 19 species, of which 14 are new to science ; most of these were 

 collected in Perak, several at altitudes varying from 3000 to 7000 

 feet. Two new species of Mastixia are also described. As in 

 the case of the ThalamiflorEe and Disciflprre, a complete list of 

 Calycifloral species has been published separately. 



The possibilities of pitcher plants as a trap for catching the 

 American cockroach, Blatta amcricana, are pointed out in the 

 October Bulletin of the Trinidad Botanical Department. 

 Planted amongst orchids, they may materially help the cultivator 

 to keep this pest in check, and are more especially suitable since 

 they require similar conditions of heat and moisture. A note 

 on the " Nitrogen Content of Flowers" emphasises the manurial 

 value of those of the Immortelle, and Nicaragua shade plants 

 which are sown amongst cacao plants. A new fruit obtained 

 from the Bocas Islands and provisionally determined by the Kew 

 authorities as Anamomis esculenta, judging from its flavour and 

 aroma, seems likely to furnish good table fruit. 



There is a strong physiological tendency displayed in the 

 Bulletin of the College of Agriculture connected with Tokyo 

 University. Several papers by Mr. K. Aso deal with the action 

 of certain poisonous substances when supplied as food to 

 seedlings. Salts of manganese, even in weak solutions, have an 

 injurious effect, but if the solution is diluted to contain about 

 0'002 per cent, of the salt, then the result is stimulating. 

 Similar stimulating effects were obtained with very dilute 

 solutions of other poisonous salts. The same author contributes 

 a suggestive paper on the oxidising enzymes in plants. Mr. M. 

 Toyonaga, on the animal side, obtains results which are in keeping 

 with Prof. O. Loew's hypothesis that the amount of calcium 

 varies with the size of the nucleus. 



We have received a copy of vol. v. No. 1 of the Bulletin of 

 the College of Agriculture at Tokio, which, among other con- 

 tents, includes a memoir on the embryology of silkworms, by 

 Mr. K. Toyama. 



NO. I728, VOL. 67] 



In the November issue of the American Naturalist, Prof. 

 P>. Dean continues the discussion of the origin of vertebrate 

 limbs — this time from the point of view of the flotation and 

 balancing of the body in the sharks. It is concluded that the 

 pectoral, and not the pelvic, fins have shifted their position with 

 the advance of development, in accordance with the exigencies 

 of the physiological factors referred to, and it is urged that this 

 affords strong evidence in favour of the lateral fold theory. 



We have to chronicle the appearance of a new biological 

 serial, Broleria, issued by the College of St. Fiel, Lisbon, and 

 named in honour of the celebrated Lusitanian botanist, Dr. F. 

 d'Avellar Brotero, who died in 18S7. Although the new journal 

 will embrace biological subjects of any kind, its special object is 

 the fauna and flora of the district immediately surrounding the 

 College of St. Fiel. In addition to a number of papers not 

 specially connected with the area in question, the present issue 

 contains one on the Lepidoptera of St. Fiel. 



The Manchester Museum has issued a second edition, revised 

 and enlarged by Dr. Hickson, of Prof. Milnes Marshall's 

 admirable descriptive catalogue of the series of embryological 

 models in the collection. Since the appearance of the first 

 edition, the development of the torpedo has been added to the 

 series. Number 9 of Notes from the Manchester Museum is 

 devoted to observations on the nomenclature and identification 

 of the British cephalopods, by Mr. W. E. Hoyle. reprinted from 

 the Journal of Conchotomy. The author shows that the substitu- 

 tion of the name Polypus for the familiar Octopus, although 

 much to be regretted, is inevitable, unless priority in nomencla- 

 ture is to be altogether discarded. 



" The Solution of the Eel Question " is the title of a highly 

 interesting paper, by Dr. C. II. Eigenmann, published in vol. 

 xxiii. of the Transactions of the American Microscopical Society. 

 After a summary of the investigations and discoveries of Grassi 

 and Colandruccio in Italy in regard to the developmental history 

 of the European eel, the author records the discovery of the 

 larva (" Leptocephalus") of the American eel — a species which 

 differs from its Old-World relative, both in the adult and im- 

 mature condition, by the smaller number of vertebra;. In 

 August, 1900, Dr. Eigenmann had the opportunity of examining 

 some eels' eggs from the surface of the Gulf Stream — the first 

 taken elsewhere than in Italy — which there is every reason for 

 regarding as those of the conger-eel. To the larval form of the 

 American eel, the author — somewhat unnecessarily, in our opinion 

 — applies the name Leptocephalus grassii. In discussing the 

 question whether eels ever breed in fresh water, the author states 

 that while there is nothing inherently impossible in this, yet no 

 decisive evidence of its occurrence has been hitherto recorded. 

 No eels' eggs have at present been taken in fresh water, and the 

 statement that eels found in land-locked basins must, of necessity 

 breed there is by no means conclusive. 



We have received a copy of The Scientific Roll and Magazine 

 of Systematised Notes (Bacteria, vol. i. No. 6), conducted by 

 Mr. Alexander Ramsay. It contains a few notes on various 

 bacteriological subjects culled from various authors, and an essay 

 on specific descriptions. 



In its issue for November 29, the Lancet publishes as a 

 supplement an exhaustive account of the manufacture and nature 

 of Cognac brandy. A number of analyses are given showing 

 how brandy differs from other spirits and indicating how the 

 genuine maybe distinguished from the spurious. The former 

 is the product of distillation and maturation of a grape wine, the. 

 latter is derived from potato or grain spirit. The subject is of 

 considerable importance from a medicinal point of view. ,, 



