466 
NATURE 
fjuLy 2 Pom 
This mode of rock origin was suggested by Dr. 
Wayland Vaughan in 1912, and he contributes a 
further paper on the subject, and on the geology of 
the Bahamas in the present volume. It appears there- 
fore as a companion paper to the work of Drew, and 
both should be read by those who wish to realise how 
bacteriology and marine research are throwing light 
on the problems of geology. Dr. Vaughan also con- 
tributes a memoir on the origin of the coral reefs on 
the Florida coast with especial reference to the origin 
of the atolls of that district. His main conclusion is 
that atolls are formed ‘‘not by solution of an interior 
mass of limestone, but by constructional geologic pro- 
CeSsses: | 
Careful systematic studies of the Polyzoa of the 
Tortugas Islands and of Jamaican Echinoids have been 
made, and the result should be of interest to 
systematists. Of more general importance is a study 
of mammalian spermatogenesis, curiously out of place 
in a publication of this kind, and therefore likely to be 
overlooked by werkers on this subject. Prof. H. E. 
Jordan, who contributes this paper, comes to the con- 
clusion that in several mammals examined the sperma- 
tozoa are not all alike, but, as in certain other groups 
of animals, fall into two classes. Amongst the mam- 
mals exhibiting this important peculiarity are white 
mice, sheep, horse, mule, bull, and dog. In man the 
evidence is at present contradictory and difficult 
properly to assess. The importance of this subject 
lies in its bearing on the theory of sex determination. 
The last paper we have space to refer to concerns 
the habits and power of regeneration in sea-fans or 
Gergonians, a group of corals which have been little 
studied in a living state. The establishment of a 
marine laboratory in the tropics now permits these 
and many other neglected subjects to be more fully 
investigated, and under the directorship of Dr. A. G. 
Mayer there is every reason to believe that important 
biological advances will be made. 
TERMITES AND THEIR HABITS. 
WO interesting papers on termites and_ their 
habits, by Mr. T. Petch (reprinted from the 
Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, 
November, 1913), have reached us. The author has 
already made a special study of the fungi which grow 
in termite nests, and not only serve as food for the 
insects, but are also frequently cultivated by the latter, 
and undergo remarkable changes in form and mode 
of growth as the result. The first paper deals with a 
supposed association of white ants with a mushroom- 
like fungus, and though the facts are not vet definitely 
established, it would seem probable that after a period 
of cultivation in the termite nest this fungus loses its 
vigour, and in order to remedy this defect the termites 
carry spherical masses of the fungus up to the surface 
and plant them out in places where they will develop 
spores, which the termites convey back to the nest as 
‘““seed’’ for a new fungus crop. 
The second paper is an extended study of the habits 
of the Ceylon black termite (Eutermes monoceros), 
which usually builds its nest in hollow trees. The 
nest contains a single comb, and consists of thin, 
tortuous plates, irregularly united to form a sponge- 
like mass with wide passages separated by thin walls; 
its substance is composed of excrement, fragments of 
the epidermis of various plants, fungus threads, and 
spores, and crystals, and the same mixture is found 
in the stomachs of the workers and soldiers. After 
describing the process of nest-building, the remark- 
able organised foraging processions, etc., the author 
states that lichens form the staple food of the black 
termite, and that they prefer lichens with loose texture 
NO. 2331, VOL. 93] 
i 
and powdery surface (crustaceous lichens); they prefer 
algz, but as the supply of these is small in comparison 
with the extensive growths of lichens on tropical trees, 
they evidently eat the lichens for the sake of the con- 
tained algae, and not the fungal constituent, since they 
rarely touch fungi even when no other food is avail- 
able. 
THE AUSTRALASIAN ANTARCTIC 
EXPEDITION, “roi t=142 
of object of the expedition was to investigate the 
Antarctic regions to the southward of Australia, 
a locality where the hypothetical Antarctic Continent 
was supposed to extend far to the north, but concern- 
ing which only the most meagre information was at 
hand. Most of the expeditions of late years have had 
as their objective the South Pole. Consequently, in 
order to secure the most promising route, their geo- 
graphical fields have much overlapped, and the area 
of the unknown has not diminished commensurably 
with the magnitude of those undertakings. 
There is still a vast unknown at the southern ex- 
tremity of the globe, and, now that the Pole is reached, 
it is hoped, in the interests of science, that no further 
consideration will arise to cause future expeditions to 
follow upon each other’s tracks, until at least a super- 
ficial knowledge of the whole has been attained. F 
It was our intention to land several self-contained 
wintering parties at widely separated points between 
longitude go° E. and 150° E., each to make continu- 
ous scientific records at the base-station, and to in- 
vestigate the surrounding region by sledge journeys. 
On the southward voyage, a party was also to be left 
at Macquarie Island, a little-known possession of the 
Commonwealth. Wireless telegraphy was to be used 
for the first time in Polar exploration, our Macquarie 
Island station transmitting Antarctic news to Hobart. 
The vessel selected and fitted for the work was the 
Aurora, with a carrying capacity of about 600 tons. 
The ship sailed from Hobart on December 2, Ig11. 
Macquarie Island, a sub-Antarctic possession of 
Tasmania, situated in the same latitude as South 
Georgia, was sighted on December 11. There exists 
there but one main island around the shores of which 
are many rocky reefs and islets. Rocks also appear 
for many miles to the north and south rising from a 
submarine ridge, which is the submerged continuation 
of the main island itself. The habitable island has a 
length of more than 20 miles and greatest breadth of 
33 miles. The chief vegetation is tussock grass and 
Kerguelen cabbage, but it abounds in a truly won- 
derful population of birds and animals. 
At one time the island was a favourite haunt of the 
valuable fur seal, but for fifty years or more only 
odd specimens have been seen. The ruthless slaughter 
of the early sealers is responsible for this almost com- 
plete extermination. Sea elephants, however, are 
numerous, the bulls being met with up to 20 ft. in 
length and weighing probably some 2 tons. 
Very little accurate information was known con- 
cerning the island, and the only available map pre- 
ceding Blake’s survey was a sketch made by a sealer. 
Rumours of the existence of wingless parrots and 
other continental forms of life indicated that perhaps 
Macquarie Island was the last remaining summit of 
a vast sunken southern land. Other evidence also 
suggested that probably at one time such a land 
existed uniting Australia with the Antarctic Continent. 
There was, indeed, an interesting field for scientific 
work. 
Steaming south from Macquarie Island, the first ice 
1 From a paper read before the Royal Geographical Society on June 9 by 
Sir Douglas Mawson. 
