5 66 



NA TURE 



[April 16, 190^ 



Mr. O. A. Sayce contributes an account of the Phyllopoda 

 of Australia, including descriptions of some new genera 

 and species. Prof. J. W. Gregory describes under the name 

 Heathcotian a series of phyllites and schists, with diabases, 

 porphyrites and amphibolites, which occur along the floor 

 of the Heathcote Valley, and form the crest of the Col- 

 binabbin Range, about seventy miles north of Melbourne. 

 Conflicting opinions have been expressed with regard to 

 the age of these rocks, and even now it is uncertain whether 

 they are Cambrian or pre-Cambrian. In Lower Ordovician 

 times they formed an extensive land area across Central 

 Victoria. A new genus of trilobite, Notasaphus, is de- 

 scribed from the Lower Ordovician rocks, and evidence is 

 given to show that Dinesus (previously described by Mr. R. 

 Etheridge, jun.) is also a trilobite. 



'I'm; geographical distribution of fresh-water decapods 

 forms the subject of an interesting essay by Dr. A. E. 

 Ortmann (Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc, vol. xli. No. 171). He 

 points out that any division of the earth's surface into zoo- 

 geographical regions should not be based exclusively on 

 the present distribution of animals. The geological history 

 must be considered, and even then it is impossible to create 

 any scheme that covers all cases, owing largely to the 

 difference of the means of dispersal of the various groups 

 of animals. In most cases the instances of " abnormal 

 distribution have to be traced back into the geological past 

 to be understood properly, and the introduction of 

 " regions " in our method is only a means of tabulating 

 the more interesting and important facts, and not the final 

 aim of zoogeography. The author deals fully with the 

 geographical distribution of the fresh-water decapods, and 

 discusses the great changes in the distribution of land and 

 water which have modified the shapes of the continental 

 masses since Cretaceous times. His views are clearly ex- 

 plained and illustrated by maps showing the " regions " of 

 past periods, and these lead up to the " regions " of recent 

 time, which do not differ materially from those constructed 

 by Wallace on distinct principles. The author deals not 

 only with the causes of present distribution, but points out 

 reasons for the local absence of particular forms — the cray- 

 fishes and crabs, for instance, being mutually exclusive. 



In the Publications of the Field Colombian Museum, Dr. 

 Millspaugh has compiled a " Flora of the Island of St. 

 Croix." Baron Eggers published a "Flora of St. Croix 

 and the Virgin Islands " in 1879, and the present list 

 incorporates the plants brought together by Prof. Rick- 

 secker of Iowa, but does not include the collections made 

 by several Danish botanists 



The characters and affinities of the oxlip form the subject 

 of a small brochure, in which Mr. C. Bailey amplifies a 

 paper read before the Manchester Field Club. The true 

 oxlip, known distinctively as Jacquin's oxlip, is found only 

 in certain of the eastern counties, grows in the uplands on 

 Boulder-clay, and is associated more often with the cowslip 

 than with the primrose. Crosses with the cowslip are rare, 

 with the primrose more frequent, suggesting that its racial 

 affinities are closer with the latter. 



The problem of unravelling the true relationships between 

 various plant rusts has been taken up by Prof. J. C. Arthur 

 in America, and in addition to papers published in the 

 Botanical Gazette, this subject formed the theme of an 

 address to the Botanical Society of America. By means of 

 cultures extending over several seasons, the author has 

 endeavoured to discover the second host plants on which 

 many rusts complete a stage of their life-history, and also 

 to determine the differences between apparently similar 



NO. I746, VOL. 67] 



forms which develop as totally different varieties. Prof. 

 Arthur has confined his experiments mainly to the rusts 

 which occur upon grasses and sedges. 



A third edition of Engler's " Syllabus der Pflanzen- 

 familien " shows some additions of which the more im- 

 portant are the incorporation of several paragraphs summar- 

 ising the principles of systematic classification, and the 

 introduction of a list of the more definite vegetative form- 

 ations of the world. In the syllabus the changes refer 

 mainly to points of detail, as in the ultimate subdivisions 

 of a few of the phanerogamic families, also there has been 

 some rearrangement of the main divisions of the lower 

 organisms. The value of the book lies, of course, in the 

 portion dealing with the higher plants, and objections 

 might be offered to the arrangements of several of the 

 cryptogamic groups. Under the Dictyotales, the occurrence 

 of motile antherozoids demonstrated five years ago by 

 Lloyd Williams is not yet noted. 



A new monthly journal devoted to bacteriological re- 

 search, the Bulletin de I'Institut Pasteur, has just been 

 commenced. It is to be conducted by the junior staff of 

 the Pasteur Institute, and appears to be much on the lines 

 of the Centralblait fur Bakteriologie.' The first number 

 issued contains an introduction bv M. Duclaux, an article 

 by M. Roux upon microorganisms that are so minute as 

 to be invisible, and a number of reviews of articles in 

 current periodicals. 



The Corporation of the City of London is rightly taking 

 part in the crusade against tuberculosis. It has for man) 

 years instituted legal proceedings against farmers, butchers 

 and meat-salesmen for sending tuberculous meat into the City 

 markets, or for exposing the same for sale. Since it would 

 appear that in some cases such offences may have been clue 

 to ignorance, the Public Health Department has issued a 

 circular describing the indications of tuberculosis in the 

 carcase, and the symptoms of the disease in the living 

 animal, drawn up by Dr. Collingridge and by Mr. King, 

 the Medical Officer of Health and the Veterinary Inspector 

 respectively. 



We have received the report of the Director of the Illinois 

 State Laboratory of Natural History for the years 1899- 

 1900. 



The necessity for financial assistance, if its work is 

 to be adequately carried on and expanded, is the cry of 

 the Committee of the Marine Biological Association of the 

 West of Scotland, of which the report for 1902 is just to 

 hand. It has been decided to issue an appeal for an endow- 

 ment fund of 25,000/. "The Millport Station," according 

 to the report, " has the almost unique distinction of being 

 a scientific institution founded and maintained entirely by 

 private effort, and the committee would therefore address 

 an earnest appeal to all who have hitherto shown an interest 

 in the station to direct their attention to this object." 

 During the past year the opportunities offered by the 

 Association for obtaining practical instruction in dredging 

 and marine biology have been taken advantage of by several 

 educational bodies. Our knowledge of the fauna of the 

 Clyde estuary has likewise been considerably increased. 



In the report of the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Laboratory 

 and Sea-Fish Hatchery at Piel for 1902, Prof. Herdman 

 makes some comments on the proposal that the British 

 Government should take a share in the international in- 

 vestigation of the North Sea and its products. Prof. Herd- 

 man remarks that if those who have advised the Govern- 

 ment to take part in it will declare distinctly that they 



