248 
NATURE 
[May 7, 1914 
In order to commemorate the work of Wilbur 
Wright, who, with his brother, Orville Wright, evolved 
the first successful power-driven aeroplane, the Wilbur 
Wright Memorial Fund was created under the 
auspices of the Aeronautical Society for the purpose 
of providing for the annual delivery of a premium 
lecture. ‘The second memorial lecture will be delivered 
by Dr. R. T. Glazebrook, director of the National 
Physical Laboratory, on May 20, at the Royal United 
Service Institution, Whitehall, S.W. The Right Hon. 
Lord Sydenham will preside. 
Mr. A. N. Harty has been appointed Government 
curator of the Ancient Monuments of Rhodesia. 
According to the Geographical Journal, the objects 
under his charge will include not only ruins, but all 
relics wherever found, and also the Bushman paint- 
ings, all of which are in future to be protected from 
vandalism and preventible destruction. The head- 
quarters of the curator will be at Great Zimbabwe, 
but Mr. Hall hopes, it is stated, to spend four months 
of each year in examining or searching for other 
remains. 
Tue Board of Agriculture and Fisheries desires to 
bring to the attention of the public the arrangement 
now established at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 
whereby a competent guide accompanies visitors on 
weekdays through the gardens and explains the many 
objects of botanical interest. A small charge is made 
for the services of the guide, 6d. for each person 
attending a morning tour, and 3d. for each person 
attending an afternoon tour. The present arrange- 
ments are of the nature of an experiment, and their 
continuance beyond September next will depend on 
the extent of the public demand for the services of 
the guide. A leaflet giving detailed information on 
the subject can be obtained on application to the 
director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 
Tue thirteenth annual general meeting of the 
Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 
was held in the rooms of the Royal Society on April 
29, Sir E. Ray Lankester, president of the association, 
being in the chair. Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell and 
Mr. F. A. Potts were elected to fill two vacancies on 
the council. In the annual report reference was 
made to the discovery at Plymouth of the puerulus 
stage of the sea crayfish (Palinurus) by Prof. Bouvier, 
of Paris, to the investigations on eggs and young 
stages of British food fishes, by Mr. R. S. Clark, on 
the feeding habits and rate of growth of invertebrates, 
by Mr. J. H. Orton, and on the culture of plankton 
diatoms, by Dr. E. J. Allen. Mention was also made 
of work carried out at the laboratory by Mrs. 
Matthews on the development of Alcyonium, by Dr. 
Mortensen on the larvae of Echinoderms, by Dr. 
Shearer, Mr. De Morgan, and Mr. Fuchs on the 
hybridisation of Echinoderms, by Mr. J. Gray on the 
electrical conductivity of Echinus eggs, and by Dr. 
Stuart Thomson on the brain of Elasmobranchs. It 
was reported that Mr. D. J. Matthews and Mr. L. R. 
Crawshay had returned to the laboratory from the 
expedition of the Scotia to the coast of Labrador, and 
Mr. E. W. Nelson from the British Antarctic Expedi- 
NO 2323) VOL Osi 
| tion, and that these gentlemen had been employed in 
working up the material which they had obtained. 
At Greenwich the mean temperature for the month 
of April was 50:8°, which is 2-7° above the average. 
This is the warmest April for the last ten years, but 
there have been six warmer Aprils since 1841, the 
warmest being 53-9° in 1865. The mean of the maxi- 
mum temperatures was 61-:1°, and the mean of the 
minimum 40-5°. There were three days with a tem- 
perature of 70° or above; in 1865 there were fourteen 
days above 70°. The total rainfall was 1-12 in., of 
which 1-10 in. was measured during the first ten days 
and only 0-02 in. at Greenwich in the remainder of the 
month. The duration of sunshine at Greenwich was 
231-6 hours, which is 166 per cent. of the average. 
It is the sunniest month at any time of the year since 
the memorable summer of 1911, and has only once 
been surpassed previously in April at Greenwich, 1909 
having 250 hours of bright sunshine. There were 
thirteen days with more than ten hours of sunshine, 
and April 30 was the only day during the month on 
which the sun did not shine. 
In the recent annual report of the Decimal Associa- 
tion there is a reference to the legalisation of the 
metric carat in this country. Although the Order in 
Council came into operation so recently as April 1, it 
is satisfactory to note that the adoption of the new 
unit by dealers in diamonds and precious stones is 
already practically complete, and has occasioned little 
or no inconvenience. The manufacturers of weights 
in this country do not appear to have realised that the 
change would be effected so readily, and in conse- 
quence of this a large proportion of the sets of metric 
carat weights have been imported from the Continent 
to meet the sudden demand. The largest metric carat 
weight legalised is the 500 C.M., which is equivalent 
to 100 grams. Many diamond dealers who have been 
accustomed to use weights up to 5000 carats were 
inclined at first to imagine that such large single 
weights would not be permissible in future, but they 
now understand that above 500 C.M. the ordinary 
metric series, 200 grams, 500 grams, kilogram, etc., 
may be employed, and little difficulty is experienced 
by them in adapting their operations to the new 
conditions. 
THe Peabody Museura of American Archzology 
and Ethnology, Harvard University, publishes a fine 
monograph by Mr. A. M. Tozzer on the prehistoric 
ruins of Nakum, in Guatemala. The museum expedi- 
tions since 1888 have been engaged in exploring the 
Maya area in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and 
British Honduras. Unfortunately, these interesting 
ruins have suffered much from fires lighted by natives 
to clear the ground for cultivation, and from sheer 
vandalism. Quite recentiy some of the sculptured 
stela at Copan were destroyed to make the founda- 
tions for an adobe wall. Several ruined cities have 
been discovered, and it is well that the surveys now 
in progress should be undertaken while the material 
remains undisturbed. 
THE Times of April 25 publishes a_ preliminary 
report on the excavations at the Great Stone Circle 
