December 22, 1904] 



NA TURE 



175 



physiological chemistry, and the second part might 

 quite well have formed the subject of a brief paper in 

 one of the numerous journals devoted to such subjects. 



W. D. H. 



Pages from a Country Diary. By P. Somers. Pp. 

 vi + 280; illustrated. (London: Edward Arnold, 

 1904.) Price 7^. 6d. 



This is one of those delightful books written in the 

 form of a discursive diary, somewhat after the style 

 of Sir Herbert Maxwell's " Memories of the Months," 

 which may be taken up and read during every spare 

 half-hour until the reader finds with regret that he 

 has come to the last page. Almost every kind of topic 

 and pursuit connected with country life receives a 

 share of attention, among them, to a brief extent, the 

 habits and ways of birds and other animals. Among 

 statements connected with natural history is one (on 

 the authority of a well known taxidermist) that albino 

 pheasants always have diseased liver ; this, however, 

 if true, can scarcely be cause and effect, since such 

 birds have white plumage from the first, and they 

 surely cannot be hatched with liver-disease. Special 

 interest attaches to the statement that a hen grouse 

 of normal colouring produced an entire brood of cream- 

 coloured chicks, since this seems to afford an instance 

 of how a new colour-phase might be produced by dis- 

 continuous variation. The subsequent history of the 

 brood is not recorded — probably its members were all 

 shot. 



Several references are made to otters and their 

 habits, and, although he is a thorough sportsman, 

 the author cannot refrain from uttering a word of 

 sympathy with these beautiful animals when sur- 

 rounded in the water by a pack of hungry otter-hounds. 

 On the other hand he has nothing but scorn for the 

 sickly sentimentality of those who would forbid such 

 manly sports as hare-hunting and stag-hunting, even 

 when the deer is a so-called tame animal. 



A Scheme for the Detection of the more common 

 Classes of Carbon Compounds. By Frank E. 

 Weston, B.Sc. Pp. viii-l-5ti. (London: Longmans, 

 Green and Co., Ltd., 1904.) Price 2s. 



This little book is intended for students who are pre- 

 paring in chemistry for the final B.Sc. examination 

 of the University of London. The author, who is 

 lecturer on chemistry at the polytechnic in Regent 

 Street, has elaborated the scheme now offered as the 

 result of many years' experience with his own classes. 

 There certainly has been a dearth of " systematic 

 schemes " for the detection of carbon compounds, and 

 from this point of view the book should be useful. 

 Whether it will have any real educational value will 

 depend very much upon the manner in which it is 

 used. If, as in the case of the " systematic schemes " 

 for the detection of inorganic substances, the identifi- 

 cation of organic compounds is to be reduced to a 

 purely mechanical series of operations involving no 

 real scientific knowledge on the part of the student, 

 the present book will do more harm than good to the 

 cause of education, although it may help candidates 

 through the final B.Sc. as intended. On the other 

 hand, if used intelligently in connection with the scien- 

 tific treatment of organic chemistry, it may be made 

 of some educational use. The selection of compounds 

 has on the whole been judiciously made, and we have 

 no fault to find with the treatment excepting to point 

 out that certain crudities of style and inconsistencies 

 of spelling seem to indicate either imperfect knowledge 

 or imperfect revision. What quantity, for example, is 

 meant by "a pinch"? Why should the word 

 " monohydricphenols " appear on one page and " tri- 

 NO. 1834, VOL. 71] 



hydric phenols " on another? There are too many 

 slips of this kind in such a small book to enable us 

 to recommend it unhesitatingly to students in its pre- 

 sent form. 



Photograms of the Year 1904. By the Editors and 



Staff of the Photo gram, assisted by A. C. R. Carter. 



Pp. xlviii-l- 176. (London: Dawbarn and Ward, 



Ltd., 1904.) Price 2S. net. 

 In these pages we have typical photographic pictures 

 of the year reproduced and criticised. Tfiis statement 

 does not apply simply to British productions, but ex- 

 tends to those made in many lands where pictorial 

 photography is practised. Robert Demachy discourses 

 on the pictures exhibited at the annual series of photo- 

 graphic events in France. British Columbian progress 

 is recorded by H. Mortimer Lamb. The editor of the 

 Australian Photographic journal gives some notes of 

 the advances made in his country, while " A new De- 

 parture in American Pictorialism " is written by 

 Savakichi Hartmann. These are followed by articles 

 on the work of the year, suggestions to would-be 

 picture-makers bv H. Snowden Ward, and " Royal and 

 Ring." The two great exhibitions, the Photographic 

 Salon and the Roval, are dealt with by A. C. R. 

 Carter. The " American Salon " and " Western 

 Workers in the United States " conclude the volume. 

 It may be mentioned that this publication is the tenth 

 annua"! issue, and equals, if it does not exceed, both in 

 quality and number of illustrations, those that preceded 

 it. Most of the reproductions are the work of Messrs. 

 Carl Hentschel, Ltd. 



It seems scarcely necessary to add that those of our 

 readers who follow this special branch of photography 

 will find in this volume material which should prove 

 of great value to them. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



Heterogenetic Fungus-germs. 



The development of brown fungus cells in connection with 

 Zooglcea, as described in Nature, November 24, by Dr. 

 Bastian, is very familiar to me, and probably to all who 

 attempt pure cultures of fungi. 



Various species of microscopic fungi belongmg to the 

 genus Cladosporium are everywhere present on fading and 

 dead leaves. The spores, and also the vegetable portions 

 of these fungi, constantly assume the form railed Demattum 

 pullulans by De Bary. ' Such forms produce exceedingly 

 minute colourless conidia, which can pass through thick 

 filter paper. Under normal conditions these minute 

 conidia on germination form delicate hyaline hyphse 

 which give origin to a Cladosporium. If cultures of these 

 conidia become infested with bacteria that form Zooglcea 

 the hypha; become invested with a comparatively thick, 

 brown cell-wall, and form either compact masses of cells 

 or irregular hypha; consisting of short cells, constricted at 

 the septa, exactly as shown in Dr. Bastian's Fig. 12. In 

 a disease of Primus japonica. caused by a Cladosporium, 

 large masses of gum, just sufficiently dense to prevent 

 dripping, issued from the wounds. The mycelium of the 

 fungus spread into this gum, and produced myriads of 

 brown cells arranged in chains. 



The semi-liquid gum caused the same abnormal develop- 

 ment as that produced by Zooglcea. A plate showing the 

 entire course of development of the fungus in the gum is 

 contained in the Kew Bulletin, December, 1898. As these 

 fungi only develop on fading leaves, it was not to be ex- 

 pected that thev would appear in infusions of young grass. 



Herbarium, Kew. George Massee. 



