December 15, 1904] 



NA TURE. 



157 



At first the birds— estimated at 2000 in number— rose in 

 a flocli, and fears were entertained that they would per- 

 manently forsake their nests, but after a time — despite the 

 erection of a " blind " for the camera— they returned in a 

 body. The sight of such an army of large birds, both in 

 flight and when marching, is described as magnificent and 

 imposing, if not, indeed, appalling. The young remain 

 in Ihe nest for about three days, and for the first three weeks 

 after leaving it feed like ordinary birds. By that time, 

 however, the beak has attained its characteristic flexure, 

 and the young birds then search for their food with the 

 lower mandible upwards. Molluscs of the genus Cerithium 

 form almost the sole food of the Barbados species. It is 

 sincerely to be hoped that a movement to prevent these 

 " rookeries " from being raided by the plumage-hunter will 

 be attended with success. 



In vol. iv. of the Bulletin of the Imperial Botanic Garden 

 at St. Petersburg, Mr. J. Palibin describes the plankton 

 which he collected in Barents Sea, and also gives a historical 

 rHumi of other collections made in the Arctic Ocean. In 

 a series of letters Mr. Boris Fedtschenko communicates the 

 botanical observations made during a journey through the 

 Sir Daria region of Turkestan. 



In a pamphlet entitled " Notes on the Commercial Timbers 

 of New South Wales," Mr. J. H. Maiden describes the 

 principal woods, their characters, and uses. The inform- 

 ation is primarily suited to practical men who supply or 

 use timber in the colony. The majority of the timbers are 

 hard woods, and dilTerent species of Eucalyptus give iron- 

 barks, stringy barks, varieties of box, mahogany, and gum. 

 The timbers recommended in lieu of pine are white beech, 

 Gnielina Leichhardtii, a genus of the order VerbenacecE, and 

 red cedar, Cedrela australis, and rosewood, Dysoxylon 

 Lcsscrtiainim, both included in the Meliaceae. 



The establishment of " biologic forms " of species of 

 Erysiphacea; and Uredineae is based upon the restricted 

 powers of infection of the spores upon allied species of the 

 host plant. But the immunity of a species of the host plant 

 is not absolute, because, as pointed out by Mr. E. S. Salmon 

 in No. 3 of vol. ii. of the Atiualcs Mycologici, another host 

 plant may act as a bridging species. Thus the form of 

 Erysiphe graminis which grows on Bromiis racemosus will 

 infect Bromus hordeaceus, but will not infect Bromus com- 

 nuitatus, although the spores found on Bromus hordeaceus 

 will infect Bromus commutatus. If spores from Bromus 

 racemosus are sown on Bromus hordeaceus, then the spores 

 produced- on Bromus hordeaceus as a result of that sowing 

 are found to be capable of infecting Bromus commutatus. 



The daily ' weather report issued by the Meteorological 

 Office on Tuesday, December 6, showed that on the morning 

 of that day the winds and sea in the Channel were still 

 very heavy, and, further, that a rapid fall of the barometer 

 at Scilly pointed to the approach of a fresh disturbance. 

 This storm developed very rapidly, and by 2h. p.m. a deep 

 disturbance lay over Dorsetshire, and another to the north 

 of the Helder. These disturbances were accompanied by 

 very heavy rainfall, amounting in twenty-four hours to 

 225 inches at Cuxhaven, 125 inch at St. Aubins (Jersey), 

 and 094 inch in London, while severe thunderstorms 

 occurred generally in Devon and Cornwall. Much 

 damage to property is reported from various district's, and 

 in parts of Dorsetshire a veritable tornado occurred ; rain 

 and hail fell in torrents, accompanied by heavy thunder and 

 lightning. At Beaminster roofs and trees suffered severely ; 

 NO. 1833, VOL. 71] 



the path of the storm was well defined, and, as is usually 

 the case in these local whirlwinds, was limited to a very 

 small area. The region of heavy rainfall over the country 

 generally was sharply defined on its northern side ; at 

 Nottingham and Spurn Head no rain was reported to the 

 Meteorological Office on the morning of December 7. 



A VOLUME of monthly wind charts for the South Atlantic 

 Ocean, prepared by the marine branch of the Meteorological 

 Office, has just been published by the Hydrographic Depart- 

 ment of the Admiralty. The region covered extends from 

 the equator southward to the 6sth parallel, and from the 

 2oth meridian of east longitude to the 90th of west longi- 

 tude, so that a portion of the Pacific is included. Nearly 

 a million sets of observations, extending over a period of 

 forty-five years, have been used. The winds have been dis- 

 cussed in areas of 5° of latitude by 5° of longitude, and 

 the results are exhibited by means of roses showing the 

 relative frequency and strength at the sixteen even points 

 of the compass. The distribution of mean atmospheric 

 pressure is shown by means of isobaric lines, and the mean 

 air temperature by isotherms, while along the African and 

 American coasts are numerous notes bearing upon the 

 characteristic climatic features of the various months. A 

 striking feature on every chart is the area of high baro- 

 metric pressure covering the whole of the area between 

 Africa and the east coast of Amer4ca, its central space 

 bein.' usually more on the western side of the ocean, as is 

 the case with the anticyclone of the North Atlantic. The 

 wind circulation of the South Atlantic is associated with its 

 dominating high pressure system. On the eastern and 

 northern portions of the ocean the south-east trade is very 

 constant, is never interrupted by storms, nor attains the force 

 of a gale On the western side the winds are more variable, 

 but gales are very rarely experienced northward of the 35th 

 parallel. Except near the land fogs seldom occur north- 

 ward of the 30th parallel, and the south-western part of the 

 ocean is the only region where ice is ordinarily i"«t '■^'*- 

 Statistics of the rainfall at a number of places within the 

 area of the charts show that the annual amount ranges 

 from 0.31 inch at Walfisch Bay and i 54 inches at Serena 

 (Coquimbo) to 9341 inches at Pernambuco and 10063 ■"ches 

 at Valdivia. It may be recalled that at the Cambridge meet- 

 ing of the British Association Commander Hepworth read 

 a paper on the results of the discussion of the observations 

 for these charts. 



In No. 22 of the Phvsikalische Zeitsclmft Messrs. Elster 

 and Geitel reply to Mr. J. R. Ashworth's recent letter to 

 Nature (vol. Ixx., p. 454) suggesting that the human breath 

 may be considered as a source of the ionisation of the atmo- 

 sphere Their measurements of the conductivity of air 

 charged with ordinary human breath show that such air 

 is not more conducting than ordinary air. On the other 

 hand the breath of a person who has been working con- 

 tinually with radium preparations has decided ionising 

 power, and the nature of the ionisation shows that it is 

 due to the emanation of radium. 



Nearly all the physicists who have been approached 

 hitherto bv the Revue Scientijique in the course of. its in- 

 quiries as 'to the existence of the n-rays have unequivocally 

 stated their inability to observe the effects which these rays 

 are alleged to produce. It is therefore particularly interest- 

 ing to note in the Revue for November 26 that M. 

 D'Arsonval has been aWe to reproduce these effects in many 

 instances, and to show that they are not due merely to 

 thermal causes. M. Mascart is stated jointly to have 

 observed with him the same phenomena. M. Poincar^, 



