December 29, 1904] 



NATURE 



209 



as to whether birds are or are not harmful requires dis- 

 cussion on a business footing, altogether apart from senti- 

 ment. If they are proved harmful, we can decide whether 

 ■we will put up with the damage for the sake of the attrac- 

 tion they add to the landscape ; but let us abandon attempts 

 to gloss over charges of damage and to defend birds at all 

 costs. The society urges the advisability of establishing 

 a " bird and tree day '" throughout the country : possibly 

 an excellent way of developing interest in nature — but this 

 time will show. 



We have received four zoological papers from American 

 serials. The first (from the Proceedings of the Boston 

 Natural History Society) contains a list of molluscs from 

 Frenchman's Bay, Maine, by Mr. D. Blaney, while in the 

 second (from the same journal) Mr. W. R. Coe discusses 

 the terrestrial nemertean worms of the genus Geonemertes 

 from Bermuda. These worms, it may be remembered, were 

 first discovered, dwelling in company with ordinary earth- 

 worms, during the Challenger cruise, but the specimens 

 were lost, and no others were ever collected until 1S98 and 

 1901. In the third paper (from the Proceedings of the 

 U.S. National Museum) Mr. P. Schmidt re-determines a 

 Japanese fish, while in the fourth (from the Proceedings 

 of the American Academy) Messrs. Parker and Starratt 

 record some interesting experiments with regard to the 

 effect of heat on the colour-changes of the .'\merican 

 chamaeleon-iguana {Anolis carolinensis). 



Messrs. Jordan, Russell, and Zeit publish details of ex- 

 periments on the longevity of the typhoid bacillus in water 

 (Journ. of Infectious Diseases, i.. No. 4, p. 641), from which 

 it appears that under conditions probably closely simulating 

 those in nature the vast majority of typhoid bacilli intro- 

 duced into a water perish within three or four days. This 

 is rather opposed to the views now generally prevailing, 

 and needs confirmation before it can be absolutely accepted. 



At a meeting of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 

 held on December 15 Messrs. Thomas and Macqueen read 

 a paper on methods of dealing with dust in the air and 

 gases from explosives in a Cornish mine (Dalcoath). 

 Miners' phthisis is especially due to inhalation of stone 

 dust, and it is found that the use of a water-jet with machine 

 drills entirely prevents dust if used from the commence- 

 ment of operations and properly directed, a coarse spray 

 being more efficient than a fine one, but is difficult to apply 

 when the drill-holes become deeper than about two feet. 

 James's water blast was found particularly effective for 

 laying the dust caused by shovelling and blasting. 



An interim report has been issued by a conunittee 

 appointed by the British Association to inquire into 

 ankylostomiasis in Britain. The Ankylostoma is an intes- 

 tinal parasite producing serious and sometimes fatal effects. 

 The report states that there are many channels by which 

 •the .•\nkylostoma might be introduced into British coal 

 mines (it has been introduced into the Westphalian coal 

 fields and into the Dalcoath tin mine in Cornwall, as 

 already recorded in these columns). The conditions exist- 

 ing in our mines are such that it would probably flourish 

 and become firmly established. Once introduced it is 

 doubtful if it could ever be eradicated, and therefore it is 

 recommended that proper sanitary regulations should with- 

 out delay be formulated and enforced to prevent infection 

 of the pits. 



A REPORT by Drs. Haldane and Wade has been issued 

 by the Local Government Board on the destruction of rats 

 and disinfection on shipboard, with special reference to 

 plague. For destroying rats the burning of sulphur, the 



NO. 1835, VOL. 71] 



use of liquid sulphurous acid, carbonic oxide, carbonic acid, 

 and the Clayton process are discussed. Carbonic oxide, 

 while very fatal to rats, has no effect on insect vermin and 

 no disinfecting action, and having no odour may be 

 dangerous to man, and may form an explosive mixture 

 with air. Carbonic acid, while fatal to rats, is similarly 

 without lethal effect on vermin, has no disinfecting action, 

 and a large quantity is required, which makes it expensive, 

 but it is less dangerous to man than carbonic oxide. Burn- 

 ing sulphur is tedious and only applicable in empty cabins 

 and holds, but is cheap and fairly effective. Much the 

 same may be said of liquid sulphurous acid, but it is quicker 

 though more costly. The Clayton process consists in burn- 

 ing sulphur in a furnace, the fumes from which are pumped 

 into the holds, &c., and is probably the best of the methods 

 discussed. Properly carried out it is fatal to rats and all 

 vermin, has considerable disinfecting and penetrative 

 power, is not likely to cause accident as its odour is so 

 marked, but it damages certain articles, especially if 

 damp, and does not diffuse well in a ilosely packed hold. 



The area planted with cotton this season in the West 

 Indies is estimated in the Agricultural Neivs, November 19, 

 at from eight to ten thousand acres, excluding Carriacou, 

 where four thousand acres were planted mostly with Marie 

 Galante cotton. Of this amount Barbados and St. Vincent 

 each have sixteen hundred acres under cotton, and in St. 

 Kitts the acreage exceeds two thousand acres. The crops 

 generally are much healthier than in the previous year, and 

 an output of about 5000 bales may be expected. 



The Quarterly Record of the Royal Botanic Society of 

 London for the second quarter of this year contains an 

 account of the horticultural exhibition held in June, and 

 most of the papers read at the conferences have been pub- 

 lished. The educational section attracted a number of 

 speakers and visitors when nature-study and horticulture 

 formed the subjects of addresses by Sir George Kekewich, 

 Mr. F. Verney, and others. At the forestry conference 

 Prof. W. R. Fisher delivered the address, in the course 

 of which he discussed the selection of seeds of forest trees, 

 and advocated the formation of experimental stations in 

 order to study the suitability of different trees for particular 

 districts and soils. 



The morphological nature of the ovary in the genus 

 Cannabis has engaged the attention of many botanists, in- 

 cluding Payer, C. B. Clarke, and Briosi and Tognini ; 

 finally. Dr. Prain, having been deputed by the Government 

 of India to report upon the cultivation of gdnjd, has upon 

 the evidence of certain abnormal forms contributed a new 

 explanation in No. iz of the Indian Scientific Memoirs. 

 Previously the views had been expressed that the pistil 

 consists either of a single carpel, or of two carpels of 

 which the anterior alone is developed, and bears an ovule ; 

 the bicarpellary nature of the ovary is, in Dr. Prain's 

 opinion, fully borne out by specimens showing phyllody of 

 the gynoecium, but it is the posterior carpel which is fertile. 

 With respect to the character of the diclinism of the flower, 

 this is shown to be primitive and not vestigial. 



We have received from the Rev. J. de Moidrey, S.J., of 

 the Zi-ka-wei Observatory, an interesting and useful 

 memoir on the climate of Shanghai, based upon observ- 

 ations made between 1873 and 1902. The coldest weather 

 occurs about the beginning of February, and the warmest 

 about August i, nearly forty days after the solstices. The 

 mean temperature for thirty years at Zi-ka-wei was S9°-2 F., 

 and the mean range 43°-2. The extreme readings were :— 

 maximum i02°-9, minimum io°-2. A variation of the 



