5i6 



NA TURE 



[March 30, 1905 



semi-aquatic, or at least marsh-haunting in their habits. 

 Although the massiveness of their vertebrae recalls cetaceans, 

 yet there is no trace in the latter group of the lightening 

 of this part of the skeleton by means of hollowing and 

 fluting which is so characteristic of these reptiles. More 

 important evidence is afforded by the structure of the 

 limbs, which appears to conform strictly to the terrestrial 

 type. The species described in this paper, Brachiosatirus 

 aUit)iorax, is regarded as the type of a family characterised 

 by the great relative length of the fore-limb, the humerus 

 in this genus being as long as the femur. 



From Dr. Florentine Ameghino we have received a copy 

 of a paper published at Buenos Aires entitled " Nuevas 

 Especies de Mamfferos, Creticeos y Terfiarios, de la 

 Repiiblica Argentina," and purporting to be a reprint from 

 vols. Ivi.-lviii. of the Anales of the Scientific Society of 

 Argentina. It contains a large. number of new generic and 

 specific names, which in the absence of illustrations can 

 scarcely be regarded as of much scientific value ; and it 

 may be suggested that, despite their admitted richness, 

 the Argentine extinct faunas can scarcely include such a 

 number of forms as the author would have us believe. 

 Moreover, we feel sure that naturalists will display great 

 reluctance in admitting the occurrence of ancestral forms 

 of Tragulus and Galeopithecus in the Argentine Tertiaries, 

 while they will most certainly refuse to follow the author 

 in regarding the latter genus as a member of the Typo- 

 therium group of ungulates. 



We have been favoured with a copy of the Schriften of 

 the Philosophical Society of Danzig for 1904 (new series, 

 vol. xi., parts i. and ii.). To the naturalist the most 

 interesting of its contents is perhaps the long article by 

 Dr. W. Wolterstoff, director of the Magdeburg Museum, 

 assisted by several specialists, on the fauna of the districts 

 of Tuchel and Schwetz, in west Prussia (" Beitrage zur 

 Fauna der Tucheler Heide "). A systematic zoological 

 survey of this well-wooded area appears to have been 

 undertaken in 1900, and the general results of this are 

 summarised in the introductory chapter. Specialists are 

 responsible for the determination of the specimens collected. 

 Captain Barrett-Hamilton having undertaken this duty in 

 the case of the mammals, represented only by three mice 

 and one vole. The amphibians receive special attention, a 

 coloured plate indicating the distinctive features of Fana 

 esculenta and R. arvalis. 



The nuclear divisions in the embryo sac of Fritillaria 

 imperialis have been studied by Dr. B. Sijpkens, who has 

 published his results in the Recueil des 7 ravatix botaniques 

 neerlandaises, No. 2. 



The scope of plant morphology, and the nature of the 

 fundamental problems in this subject which await investi- 

 gation at the present day, could have no better exponent 

 than Prof. Goebel, who has expressed his views in the 

 Biologisches Centralhlatt (February). Distinction is drawn 

 between structural morphology, originally based upon 

 systematic study, but later concerned with comparison and 

 phylogeny, and causal morphology, which, inquiring into 

 circumstances and conditions, can only be determined by 

 experiment. The question whether a sporophyll is a modi- 

 fied leaf, or a vegetative leaf a sterilised sporophyte, is 

 not without interest to botanists, but whether it is possible 

 to control development and produce at will a vegetative life 

 or a sporophyll is a problem of much greater significance. 



Amongst American horticulturists engaged in plant 

 breeding with the object of improving certain definite 

 characters of flowers and fruit, -Mr. L. Burbank, of Cali- 

 NO. 1848, VOL. 71] 



fornia, holds a high position. The improvepient of plums 

 by hybridisation and selection is a subject which has re- 

 ceived much attention, and by crossing the Japan plum 

 with ."American species he has produced such fine varieties 

 as the Golden, Climax, and the Wickson. More remarkable 

 are the raspberry-blackberry hybrids, of which the Primus, 

 a cross between the western dewberry and the Siberian 

 raspberry, ripens its fruit several weeks before either of 

 its parents, and is superior in productiveness and size of 

 fruit. The first part of an appreciative article by Mr. 

 \V. S. Harwood appears in the Century Magazine for 

 March. 



We have received a copy of the observations made at 

 the Hong Kong Observatory in the year 1903. In addi- 

 tion to the usual tables for the year in question, the report 

 contains a valuable summary of hourly and monthly results 

 of the various elements for the ten-yearly period 1S94- 

 1903. During this period the maximum shade temperature 

 recorded was 77°, in .•\ugust, and the minimum 37°.5, in 

 January, and the highest solar radiation was i6o°.i, in 

 September. The greatest daily rainfall was 10 19 inches, 

 and the maximum hourly fall was 2-86 inches. A com- 

 parison of the daily weather forecasts with the weather 

 subsequently experienced gave a total and partial success 

 of 92 per cent. ' The extraction of observations from the 

 logs of ships for the construction of trustworthy pilot 

 charts has been continued; the number of days' observ- 

 ations collected during the year was 9428. This useful 

 work is undertaken by Miss Doberck. 



The rainfall of the six months September, 1904, to 

 February, 1905, is summarised in Symons's Meteorological 

 Magazine for March, and forms an interesting supplement 

 to the account we published last week from the official re- 

 ports of the Meteorological Oflice. The results obtained 

 from fifty-five representative stations are tabulated, and 

 referred to the average rainfall of the thirty years 1870- 

 1899, and although, as Dr. Mill points out, the circum- 

 stance is not unprecedented, it very rarely happens that 

 the general rainfall of the country remains below the 

 average for each of six consecutive months. The great 

 advantage of graphical representation in dealing with such 

 data is clearly shown by the map which accompanies the 

 discussion ; from that it is seen at a glance that while the 

 rainfall for the six months reached, and even slightly 

 exceeded, the average over a narrow strip in the west of 

 Scotland, and amounted to 75 per cent, in the north of 

 that country, in the north-west of Ireland, in the English 

 Lake district, and a small part of the Welsh coast, all the 

 rest of the British Isles had less than three-quarters of 

 the usual fall. In two large areas it fell short of 50 per 

 cent, of the average, viz. in the south-east of Scotland 

 and in the midland counties of England. Taking each 

 country separately, the rainfall of the six months was : — for 

 England and Wales 60 per cent., Scotland 78 per cent., 

 and Ireland 75 per cent, of the average for the thirty 

 years referred to. The necessity of economising the water 

 supply had already made itself felt in several large towns 

 within the dry area before the end of February. 



Prof. G. Torelli, of Palermo, contributes to the Naples 

 Rendiconto (physical and mathematical section), x., 12, 

 some new formulae for calculating the totality of prime 

 numbers below a given limit. The formulae are non- 

 asymptotical, and they are applicable to an arithmetical 

 progression as well as to natural numbers. 



I.\ the Annals of Mathematics for January, recently re- 

 ceived, Prof. G. .\. Bliss discusses the proofs of the exist- 

 ence of solutions of the differential equation of the first 



