DfCEMBER 2 2, 1904] 



NA TURE 



183 



■was coincident with a temple festival, wherea't there were 

 not sufficient men left to drag the temple car in procession. 

 The headman of another town, when he came to take leave 

 of me, apologised for the scrubby appearance of his chin, 

 as the local barber had fled. One man, who had volunteered 

 to be tested with the tintometer, was suddenly seized with 

 fear, and, throwing his body-cloth at my feet, ran away 

 and was no more seen. An elderly municipal peon wept 

 bitterly when undergoing the process of measurement. 

 Such are a few examples of the results which attend l'.:e 

 progress of the Government anthropologist." Mr. Edgar 

 Thurston finds that the average cephalic index of various 

 groups of natives in the southern (Tamil and Malayalam) 

 ■districts of the Madras Presidency ranges from 72-6 to 76 5, 

 while that in the Canarese and Maratha area ranges from 

 77-1 10 8i-8. The significance of this brachycephalic clfnicnt 

 is not yet elucidated. 



In the Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. 

 Louis, vol. xiii.. No. 8, Mr. J. A. Harris gives some details 

 of polygamy and floral abnormalities in species of Solanum. 

 A collection of flowers of Solanum caroUncnse showed about 

 twenty staminate to eighty perfect flowers. A second paper 

 by the same writer describes the germination of seedlings 

 -with unequal cotyledons of Fachira campestris, a genus 

 sometimes allied with Bombax. 



The formation of a botanic garden in sandhills docs not 

 perhaps suggest utility or success, but in the Gardener's 

 ChroiiicJe (November 19) Dr. Masters gives an account of 

 the practical results obtained by experiments carried out in 

 the garden, or, as it may be called, the e.xperimental station 

 established in the Belgian dunes at Coxyde. As an instance 

 of the way in which experimental results are sometimes 

 opposed to theoretical supposition, the writer describes the 

 successful formation of a forest of dwarf poplars in the 

 sandhills, and even suggests that they would act as nurses 

 to seedling pines. 



It is characteristic of the scattered groups of islands 

 ■which lie between the parallels of 45° and &o° south that 

 in their flora they all contain a proportion of what has been 

 termed a Fuegian element. Amongst these are the so- 

 called Southern Islands of New Zealand, of which the latest 

 account is that given by Dr. Cockayne in the Transactions 

 of the New Zealand Institute, vol. xxxvi. The plant associ- 

 ations of the Auckland Isles include a forest formation, with 

 Olearia lyallii as the dominant tree, which Dr. Cockayne 

 regards as the primitive forest, and one that was previously 

 more e.xtensive, but which has been curtailed by the spread 

 of a rata forest similar to the rata forests found in New 

 Zealand. This fact, and the existence of a well marked 

 New Zealand element in the flora are points of evidence in 

 favour of a former extension of New Zealand to the south. 



Mr. a. Tingle, of the Imperial Provincial College, 

 Chinanfu, Shantung, has sent a further communication upon 

 the flowering of the bamboo, in which he supplements — 

 in view of the letters of Prof. J. B. Farmer, F.R.S., in our 

 issue for August 11, and of Mr. J. S. Gamble, F.R.S., in 

 Nature for September i — the information supplied in his 

 previous letter. Mr. Tingle is unable to tell the species of 

 the bamboos that flowered, but he reports that they were 

 small, growing to a height of about 4 metres, and that the 

 stems averaged about 4 cm. in circumference near the 

 ground. .AH the bamboos have died since flowering. Mr. 

 Tingle points out that the bamboo will grow in Shantung 

 onlv if carefully cultivated in a garden. The seasons, he 

 remarks, have been in no way e.xceptional in Shantung. 



Among the interesting collection of models of Palasozoic 

 seeds and cones exhibited by Mr. H. E. H. Smedley at a 

 recent meeting of the Linnean Society, a few are of special 

 interest to palaeobotanists. The example selected for illus- 

 tration here is that of the group of three models of the 

 sporophylls of the lycopodiaceous cone, I.epidocarpon, from 

 the Carboniferous formation. The model on the left shows 

 the general morphology of a single sporophyll, from which 

 will be seen the peculiar shape of the integument and 

 micropyle, much resembling a hand-bag. The centre 

 model demonstrates Ihe general anatomy as seen in the 



transverse section, and shows the complete lamina of the 

 sporophyll, while that on the right clearly exhibits the com- 

 plex internal structure of the sporangium containing four 

 megaspores, one of which has developed a seed-like form- 

 ation filling nearly the whole of the sporangium, the other 

 three being abortive. In urging an aflinity between the 

 lycopodiaceous cones and the gymnosperms, the author sub- 

 mitted the following points of agreement -.—Integument and 

 micropyle, the single functional megaspore in the spor- 

 angium, and the detachment of the seed-like organ as a 

 wiiole. 



The report of the Meteorological Council for the year 

 ending March 31, 1904, shows increased activity, and is 

 somewhat more bulky than its predecessors, extending to 

 more than 200 pages ; the report proper embraces only some 

 30 pages ; the remainder is composed of appendices which 

 contain details of the operations of the oflice. No change 

 has taken place in the constitution of the council during the 

 year, nor is any clue given to the future of the oflice result- 

 ing from the deliberations of the Meteorological Grant Com- 

 mittee ; their report, however, was not issued until after 

 the period to -which the council's report refers. While the 

 work of a former Government department is arduously per- 

 formed, the Meteorological Oflice continues to hold a very 

 anomalous position compared with similar establishments 

 in other countries ; it performs valuable public duties, but 

 has not the status of a Government office, although sup- 

 ported by a Government grant. The operations may be 

 summarised under four principal heads : — (i) ocean meteor- 

 ology, the collection, tabulation, and discussion of meteor- 

 ological data for all parts of the ocean, and the preparation 

 and issue of charts and the supply of instruments to the 

 Royal Navy and mercantile marine ; (2) the issue of storm 

 warnings to all seaports willing to receive them, of daily 

 weather forecasts, and of forecasts for agriculturists during 

 harvest seasons; (3) the climatology of the British Isles, 



NO. 1834, VOL. 71] 



