!26 



NA TURE 



[February 2, 1905 



A THIRD example of variation — among gold and silver 

 pheasants — is discussed by Mr. F. Finn in the AvicuXiural 

 U.i^.isi'fie for January. These variations, in the colour 

 .ind markings of the plumage, would, in the author's 

 opinion, be regarded .is at least of subspecific value if 

 the birds were wild instead of domesticated. 



Is the Ptoteedings of the Royal Physical Society of 

 Edinburgh for December last (vol. i. part i.) Dr. Gerald 

 Lcighton discusses the variation in the matter of scaling 

 displayed by the common viper (ri7>cr<i bcriii), which he 

 shows to be very extensive. His main thesis is apparently 

 to demonstrate that squamation is an unsound feature 

 upon which to rely in the discrimination of rcptili.in 

 species, and consequently that the " small red viper " of 

 the British Isles is entitled to be regarded as a distinct 

 form. .\s regards mammals and birds, at all events, 

 modern naturalists by no means accept it as " an axiom 

 in zoological classification that morphological characters 

 alone are to be taken into consideration." 



^'ARIATION of another type forms the subject of a paper 

 by .\lr. O. C. Br.idley in the above-mentioned issue of 

 the Proceedings of the Edinburgh Physical Society. The 

 trapezium of the carpus of the horse is the structure dis- 

 cussed in this communication, and it is shown that this 

 bone is present, either in one or both limbs, in about 

 so per cent, of the skeletons examined, while if each 

 carpus be taken separately (that is, without reference to 

 the condition in its fellow^ the percentage is a little 

 more than 40. This, in conjunction with its minute 

 size, leads to the conclusion that in the evolution of 

 the motiodactylo fo<it of the horse the bone in question 

 is following in the steps of the lateral metacarpal with 

 which it was originally connected. 



The article on Dr. True's recent memoir on " The 

 \\halebone Whales of the Western North Atlantic " which 

 appeared in Nature of November 14, 1904 (p. S4V has 

 led NJr. F. A. Lucas, of the Brooklyn Institute Museum, 

 to send us some results of measurements of whales made 

 by him at Balena, Newfoundland. Mr. Lucas was one of 

 the party sent to Newfoundland by the C.S. National 

 Museum in 1903 to secure the skeleton and mould of a 

 large sulphur-bottom whale in order that the skeleton 

 and a reproduction of the whale might be prepared for the 

 St. Louis Exposition. If whales grow slowly and require 

 many >-ears to re.ich their full size, there should naturallv 

 be examples of all sires from small to large among those 

 measured. .\s a matter of fact, Mr. Lucas remarks that, 

 with the single exception of a female c^ft. long, all the 

 sulphur-botKim w-hales examined by him were fairly 

 large, and while some were immature and some old. the 

 difference between the largest and smallest was, for such 

 lat^ animals, inconsiderable. With the exception noted the 

 females, ten in number, varied from 68ft. join, to 75ft., 

 the greatest jump being from 71ft. Sin. to 74ft. 4in. 

 Fourteen males varied from 67ft. 7in. to 74ft. Sin., the 

 greatest break being at the comnienccment of the scries, 

 fron» 67ft. 7in. to fiSft. iiin. No XTerj- small sulphur- 

 bottom whale was taken during Mr. Lucas's stay, but 

 se\-eral \-oung humpbacks were brought in from 24ft. to 

 26ft. in length. These were still nursing, and it seems 

 fair to assume that a sulphur-K-ittom whale of the same 

 age (a yearling?) would \x from ^^oft. to 35ft. long. This 

 seems to indicate that young sulphur-bottoms keep awav 

 from the ooast of New^foundland , while the fact that the 

 (>4ft. specimen was much younger than those 67ft. to 69tt. 

 long would indicate that up to this point at least whales 

 NO. 1S4O. VOL. 71I 



grow with great rapidity. .\s to the size of adult whales, 

 .Mr. Lucas remarks that, neglecting the wild statements 

 of sailors and others, the length of the sulphur-bottom, 

 B<i/<iciio;ifcr<i muscwXus, is given as being from 85ft. 

 to Q5ft. No whales so large as this were taken 

 during the season of 1003. The largest four females 

 ranged from 74ft. 4in. 10 75ft. long, the largest 

 three males 73ft. 4in. to 74ft. Sin., the measure being 

 taken from the notch of the flukes, along the body, to 

 opposite the tip of the nose. .Ml these whales were not 

 merely adult, but, as shown by an examination of their 

 vertcbr.-e, were old, the largest male, taken for a skeleton, 

 having the epiphysial sutures obliterated save for a line 

 or two on the thoracic vertebra^. Mr. Lucas consequently 

 considers that it seems fair to assume that the average 

 length of a fully grown sulphur-bottom is just under Soft. 



CoNTixviNC their notes on the Codiaceae in the Journal 

 of Botany (January). Mr. and Mrs. Gepp describe with 

 figures a new species and a new variety of the incrusted 

 alga Penicillus. also a new icrm of RUipocefhalus Phoenix, 

 which were collected by Mr. M. .\. Howe off the Bahamas. 

 Mr. G. C. Druce publishes in the same journal a long 

 list of flowering plants and ferns for which new localities 

 in Berkshire have been recorded since the " Flora of 

 Berkshire " was issued, and Mr. C. E. Salmon discusses 

 Lt'iiioniHiM vutgare and its varieties. 



.\ LIST of the species of Composita: from the Island of 

 Formosa w^hich are represented in the herbarium of 

 Tokio University forms the concluding part of vol. xviii. 

 of the Journal of the College of Science, Tokio. The 

 author, Mr. B. Hayate. prefaces his list with an analysis 

 of the genera, thirty-nine in number. Among these 

 Blumea furnishes seven species, including, of course, 

 Rlumca hahamifcra, the source of Ngai-camphor. Two 

 new species, a Gynura and a Eupatorium, are described 

 and figured. 



The limit of an Antarctic phytogeographical zone is 

 discussed by Mr. C. Skottsberg, the botanist of the 

 Swedish Antarctic Expedition, 1901-3, in an article in 

 the Geographical Journal (December, 1904). It has been 

 usual to include in the .\ntarctic flora the plants of Tierra 

 del Kuego and the Falkland Islands, but Mr. Skottsberg 

 prefers to confine the term .\ntarctic to a cold desert 

 zone which comprises Graham Land and the islands lying 

 north of it, also the South Shetlands and the South 

 Orkneys, and to distinguish another, the .\ustral zone, in 

 which the climate permits of the formation of forest or 

 grassland. The two zones differ also with regard to their 

 algal vegetation ; the .\ustral flora contains algst with 

 floating fronds such as Maeroeystis pyrifera and DurvilUa 

 utilis. but these are wanting in the .\ntarctic zone, where 

 calcareous algas predominate. 



.\\ interesting summary of the rainfall of the British 

 Isles for the year 1904 is given by Dr. H. R. Mill in 

 .Nymoiii's Meleorologieal Sfagasine for January. Taking 

 the British Isles as a whole, the year may be considered 

 as a moderately dry one ; the deficiency in the amount of 

 r,\infall does not seem to have exceeded S per cent. : the 

 extremes noted were 129.3 inches at Seathwaite. and 16.1 

 inches at Shoeburyness. The whole of the .\tlantic border 

 irom Cornwall to Shetland hj>d more than the average 

 I .i.-iount ; the excess was most marked in the west of 

 Ireland, being as much as iS per cent, in places, but the 

 oast of Ireland was so dry that the whole island exceeded 

 the average by only i per cent. In England and Wales there 

 was a deficiency of about 12 per cent. The driest region 



