January 29, 1903] 



NATURE 



6^3 



possible survival of one of the ground-sloths to modern times. 

 The article is illustrated by figures of the remains of some of 

 the extinct forms. 



In the second article — " A Conspectus of Science " — Sir 

 Michael Foster tells the history of the founding of the " Inter- 

 national Catalogue of Scientific Literature," three parts of the 

 first volume of which had been issued at the date of going to 

 press. The immense value of the Royal Society's " Catalogue 

 of Scientific Papers " is fully acknowledged ; but the absence 

 of a " subject-index " and the omission of all literature other 

 than periodical render this publication — even if it could be 

 continued — inadequate to present requirements. Finally, a 

 brief reference is made to the portions of the "International 

 Catalogue " for 1901 already published, and the hope is expressed 

 that when the staff has got into full swing, the annual volumes 

 will be produced in a shorter space of time. 



The third article in the January number of the Quarterly 

 contains a review of a dozen works, for the most part on sport 

 and travel, but including President Roosevelt's volume on 

 deer in the " American Sportsman's Library." The latter work, 

 together with Mr. J. G. Millais's volume on wild-fowl shooting 

 in Scotland, has been already noticed in Nature. The list 

 also includes Prince Demidoff's two volumes on big-game 

 shooting in the Caucasus and the Altai and Mongolia, Mr. 

 Powell-Cotton's account of his recent Abyssinian expedition 

 and Mr. W. P. Church's "Chinese Turkestan with Caravan 

 and Rifle." The reviewer directs special attention to three 

 features connected with modern sport — the comparative ease 

 with which regions long thought practically inaccessible can be 

 reached, the destruction of game all over the world and the 

 means which should be taken for its preservation, and the 

 advantage of rifles firing small projectiles at great velocity over 

 weapons of larger calibre. 



The evolution of the northern part of the lowlands of south- 

 eastern Missouri, by Prof. C. F. Marbut (" University of 

 Missouri Studies," vol. i. No. 3, 1902), forms the subject of 

 an essay on river development. The author endeavours to show 

 how the Mississippi has abandoned two valleys and now occupies 

 a third. It has, in his opinion, been twice captured by the 

 smaller Ohio river. 



Referring to our report of Prof. J. B. Farmer's remarks at 

 the Chelsea conference (Nature, January 15, p. 260). in which 

 mention is made of the conditions under which larch grows, 

 Mr. Hawie Brown gives some particulars of his own experience 

 in the cultivation of this kind of tree. He says, " the best and 

 healthiest and oldest Scottish larch grows on hill-slopes facing 

 the north, where there is not a great depth of soil, but often a 

 thin soil resting on a shaly bed." Prof. Farmer has kindly 

 supplemented our brief reference to his instance of the frequent 

 lack of conscious and common-sense appreciation of the 

 relations existing between cause and effect in the cultivation 

 of crops which has led to the planting of a tree like larch in 

 localities and under conditions obviously unsuitable for it. He 

 adds, " of course the larch is a mountain tree, and the whole 

 point of the illustration lies in the fact that in this particular 

 instance the shallow soil overlyin; the rock was of a 'sour' and 

 poor character, as indicated by the indigenous weed vegetation. 

 It is generally accepted that the larch is a tree making consider- 

 able demands on the soil, both as regards fertility and depth — 

 or, at least, of openness." 



Observations on fluctuations in the level and in the alkaline 

 character of the ground water have been made by Mr. W. P. 

 Headden at the Agricultural Experiment Station, Fort Collins, 

 Colorado (Bulletin 72, Agricultural College of Colorado, August, 

 1902). The total salts held in solution in the well waters were 

 NO. I735, VOL. 67] 



less than in the water in the soil. As the water-plane falls, it 

 leaves much saline matter in the soil, but the total solids in the 

 ground water varied greatly in the different wells and also from 

 time to time in each well. Reference is made to the salts 

 that occur at different depths in the soil, to the abundant 

 formation of nitric acid in the upper layers and to the effects of 

 irrigation. 



An' ecological memoir possessing more than ordinary merit 

 is the report on a botanical survey of the Dismal Swamp region, 

 compiled by Mr. T. H. Kearney and published by the U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture. The interest lies, not only in the 

 nature of the associated formations, but is also due to the 

 descriptions accompanied by very admirable and well-chosen 

 illustrations. The region surveyed lies between Chesapeake 

 Bay and Albemarle Sound, and is marked by a series of inlets 

 extending into or towards the inundated swamp area. A 

 peculiar feature of these marshy inlets is the Baccharis-Hibiscus 

 formation on the inner edge. Here Baccharis halimifolia is 

 conspicuous with a snow-white pappus, and colour is added by 

 Hibiscus moscheutos and Kosteletzkya virginica, another mal- 

 vaceous plant. From the coast, a series of dunes leads up to 



Fig. i. — Incursion of the said on inland vegetation near Cape Henry, 

 Virginia. 



the forest. A remarkable plant found on the outer dunes is the 

 aromatic composite Iva imbricate. The dunes are encroaching 

 upon the inland vegetation, though not so rapidly as might be 

 expected. Where the dunes are exposed, there the sand is piled 

 up in hillocks, higher even than the neighbouring forest. The 

 illustration which is reproduced shows how the banked-up sand, 

 with a steep inner slope which may approach an angle of 45', 

 is pouring down on the trees growing in the swampy ground, the 

 desert as it is called, while on the slope some old cypress trees 

 still bearing a few leaves are gradually being overwhelmed in 

 the drift. On the western side is situated Lake Drummond, a 

 small patch in the extensive swamp, where the water has varied 

 from 6 to 15 feet. A weird appearance more especially near 

 the shore is presented by the stumps of old cypress trees, and 

 still more fantastic are the aerating processes, the knees of the 

 bald cypress, Taj-odium distichum, and the arching roots of the 

 same plant and of the black gum Nyssa biflora. 



The Proceedings of the Liverpool Geological Society for the 

 session 1901-1902 (vol. ix. parr ii., 1902) contain an interesting 



