446 



NATURE 



[March 12, 1903 



Some observations on seiches and their relation to sea 

 waves are given by Messrs. S. Nakamura, Y. Yoshida and 

 H. Nagaoka in No. 15 of the Tokio Physico-mathematical 

 Reports. Investigations were begun in 1901 on the seiches 

 of Lakes Biwa and Hakone, and this year the instrument 

 — a portable tide gauge described by Mr. Nakamura — was 

 tarried to the bay of Osaka. Mr. Nagaoka finds that 

 seiches in lakes and the destructive sea waves observed on 

 the coast of Japan are similar from the hydrodynamical 

 point of view, and considers that the latter waves may be 

 predicted, resulting in saving of life. 



It is proposed to publish an index volume of the three 

 first series of the Journal de Physique, including an analytical 

 subject-index and an index of authors' names. The volume 

 will be drawn up by MM. E. Bouty and B. Brunhes, with 

 the collaboration of MM. Bernard, Carre\ Couette, Lamotte, 

 Marchis, Maurain, Roy and Sandoz. 



Prof. Ernest Lebau has published a short note on the 

 manuscript of a course of lectures delivered at the College 

 Royal by Prof. J. N. Delisle on the geometry of the 

 celestial sphere. The manuscript, which he calls manuscript 

 D, was obtained from a dealer in old books, and is a quarto 

 volume of 460 pages, written neatly in the handwriting of 

 a good copyist of the eighteenth century ; and from references 

 to the prediction of a transit of Mercury, as well as the 

 documents of the college, its date has been fixed as 1719. 

 It has been presented to the library of the Paris Observatory. 



A very interesting essay on Mendel's law of heredity, 

 by Mr. W. E. Castle, appears in the January issue of the 

 Proceedings of the American Academy. 



In Annotationes Zool. Japoncnsis, Mr. I. Ikeda records 

 the occurrence in Japanese waters of an Australian species 

 of the aberrant annelid-like genus Phoronis. 



The feature in the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 

 for March is the record of two additions to the British fauna. 

 The first is Kermes quercus, a continental scale-insect, of 

 which colonies were taken at Wimbledon and in Sherwood 

 Forest ; while the second is the beetle CEdemera vircsccns, 

 of which examples were obtained some years ago in Norfolk, 

 although not at the time identified with the common con- 

 tinental form. 



The osteology and affinities of American Cretaceous and 

 Eocene birds are discussed by Mr. F. A. Lucas in No. 1320 

 of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum. Marsh's 

 Hesperornis gracilis is assigned to the new genus Hargeria. 



To Naturiuissenschaftliche Wochenschrift of February 15 

 and 22 Herr J. Meisenheimer contributes an interesting 

 article on the method of estimating the degree of variation 

 occurring in the individuals of a species, and the bearing 

 of the results thus obtained on zoology. 



The scientific Bulletin of the Royal Belgian Academy 

 contains the report of an address, by Prof. E. van Beneden, 

 on the reproduction of animals and the continuity of life. 

 In another address M. Masius discourses on immunity to 

 infection in man and the lower animals. 



Remarks on the Atlantis problem forms the title of a 

 paper by Dr. R. F. Scharff in the Proceedings of the Royal 

 Irish Academy. The author is of opinion that until the 

 Miocene the Azores and Madeira were connected with 

 Portugal, and that a land-bridge extended from Morocco 

 via the Canaries to South America. Further, it is urged 

 that the Atlantic islands were again connected with Europe 

 and Africa after man made his appearance. 



no. 1 74 1, vol. 67] 



The movements and reactions of fresh-water planarians, 

 or fiat-worms, form the subject of a long article by Dr. 

 R. Pearl, of Michigan, in the February number of the 

 Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science. These move- 

 ments are, in the main, what may be termed reflex ; that 

 is to say, they are dependent upon external impulses, and 

 are not due to anything resembling volition. In another 

 article Miss Sollas describes a new generic type of compound 

 ascidian, from the Malay Peninsula, under the name of 

 Hypurgon skeati. 



In his notes on whaling and sealing during 1902, Mr. 

 T. Southwell (Zoologist for February) records the capture 

 of twelve Greenland whales by British vessels, most of 

 which were full-grown individuals with " bone " from 10 

 to ioi feet in length. Whalebone now fetches as much as 

 2500Z. per ton ; the total value of the seals and whales taken 

 by British vessels is estimated at 32,420!. In the same 

 journal Mr. Frohawk adduces arguments to show that the 

 common British bean-goose is Anser arvensis, and not, as 

 generally supposed, A. segetum. 



Two papers — one on mammals, by Mr. Miller, and the 

 other on birds, by Mr. Richmond — in the Proceedings of 

 the U.S. National Museum are devoted to specimens col- 

 lected by Dr. Abbott on the coast of Sumatra and certain 

 adjacent islets. It is considered that every distinguishable 

 form of mammal from these islets is entitled to rank as a 

 species — a course of procedure that will render mammali- 

 ology an almost impossible science. The most interesting 

 mammal is a rat, referred by Mr. Miller to a new genus 

 and species, under the name Lenothrix canus. 



If only it be adequately carried out, an excellent scheme 

 is announced in the February number of the Field 

 Naturalist's Quarterly. This is a " symposium " in which 

 the various members of the British fauna, commencing with 

 the lowest, will be treated by different writers, mainly 

 from the point of view of habits and adaptation to surround- 

 ings. The first of the series will commence in the next 

 issue. It is perhaps not very hopeful to find, in the very- 

 next article, the marten called Martes sylvatica, which is 

 certainly not its proper name. 



In its report for 1902 the council of the Royal Zoo- 

 logical Society of Ireland has to record a most successful 

 year, the list of donations having been probably more 

 numerous and more valuable than on any previous occasion, 

 and including a fine giraffe from the Sudan. The expenses 

 connected with the carriage of the latter animal, and the 

 outlay on the " Roberts' house " (which was opened during 

 the year) have, however, seriously crippled the finances of 

 the Society. Lion-breeding has, as usual, been successful, 

 and attention is called to certain cubs of abnormal form 

 which, it is thought, may be reversions to an extinct type. 

 The report is illustrated with some excellent photographs. 



A third edition of Mr. Andrew Pringle's " Practical 

 Photo-Micrography " has been published by Messrs. Iliffe 

 and Sons, Ltd., at 3s. 6d. net. The work has been largely 

 rewritten, and important advances in photographic science 

 and method have been utilised in the new edition. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Ltd., have published Mr. 

 S. L. Loney's " Arithmetic for Schools " in two parts at 

 2S. 6d. each. The first part takes the subject as far as 

 proportionate division, and includes contracted methods of 

 multiplication and division ; the second part completes the 

 whole subject, concluding with upwards of five hundred 

 miscellaneous examples. 



