) 
=) 
35 
number of hours at schools prescribed for physical train- 
ing and military drill. The economic science section was 
also well attended, and great interest was attached to the 
papers read dealing with the betterment of the status of 
the peasantry, a subject which engages the attention of 
all political parties of the country. The outcome of this 
meeting has been the inauguration of a special society, 
starting with above two hundred members, and having 
as its object the thorough investigation and discussion 
of the social and economic problems of Rumania. One 
of the characteristic features of the congress was the fact 
that, for the first time, the clergy, as a body, participated 
by forming a separate section, and among other questions 
discussed the scientific aspects of religious teaching. It is 
believed that the industrial and commercial section will 
grow in importance in the near future. Among the other 
sections in which good work was done, mention may be 
made of the medical, physical, and chemical sections. 
On the whole, more than 160 papers were read. Much 
credit is due for the success of the congress to the presi- 
dent, secretaries, and council of the association, who, 
through their energy and zeal, have secured a promising 
future for their association, in the welfare of which the 
King and Queen of Rumania and the Royal Family take 
a great interest. The next congress will be held in 
September, 1907, at Focsani. 
CoRALLINES and burrowing-sponges, illustrated by a 
plate reproduced from Johnston, together with an account 
of the abnormally grown beak of a bird (presumably a 
rook, although no statement to that effect is made in the 
text), and sundry notes and observations on natural history, 
form the chief zoological contents of the Museum Gazette 
for October. 
Tue issues of Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau (pub- 
lished at Brunswick) for October 11 and 18 contain articles 
on “‘ embryonic transplantation *’ (embryonale Transplant- 
ation) and the present state of our knowledge of the 
““rarer earths.’? Embryonic transplantation, it will be 
remembered, was the name given by G. Born, of Frank- 
fort-on-Maine, to the operation of grafting portions of 
one young larva of a newt or frog on the body of another, 
whereby two-headed or double-tailed monsters were pro- 
duced. In the opinion of the author, Prof. H. Spemann, 
of Wurzburg, the continuation of such experiments would 
probably shed light on certain obscure biological problems. 
In the course of ‘his article on the rarer earths, Dr. R. J. 
Meyer, of Berlin, points out 
found in 1879 in gadolinite 
never to have been seen again 
member of the whole group, 
cluded therein. 
that scandium, which was 
and euxenite, and appears 
in that state, is the scarcest 
if, indeed, it be rightly in- 
To the October issue of the American Naturalist Mr. 
J. C. Herrick communicates an illustrated account of the 
results of his investigations into the mechanism of the 
dental, or ‘‘ odontophoral,’’ apparatus of the gastropod 
Fulgur, or Sycotypus, canaliculatus. Especial attention 
was directed in this investigation to the discovery of the 
manner in which the gastropod perforates the shells of 
other molluscs. The mechanism of the ‘“ radula,’’ or 
dental apparatus, corresponds, in the case of this genus 
at any rate, to the action of a chain-saw, with the restric- 
tion that the sawing action is accomplished only during 
the return stroke. The buccal cartilage forms a stiff 
framework and a grooved passage for the radular sac and 
the retractor muscle of the dental ribband. The muscles 
for protruding and retracting the radula are of very 
NO. 1932, VOL. 75] 
NA TORE 
[| NovEMBER 8, 1906 
different power, owing to the fact that, from the backward 
direction of the teeth, the rasping is accomplished during 
the return pull. The author might have added that the 
chain-saw action is continued during the process of feed- 
ing. The second article, by Mr. L. B. Walton, deals 
with the microscopic fresh-water annelids of the family 
Naididz obtained at Cedar Point, Ohio. 
To the October Zoologist Mr. R. B. Lodge contributes 
an interesting article on pelicans in Eastern Europe, illus- 
trated by the reproduction of a group of Pelecanus crispus 
on an island in an Albanian river. In the case of P. 
onocrotalus, the parents have been stated to feed their 
young from the pouch, but in the species observed by the 
author the young birds were seen to thrust their heads 
into the parental throat much below the opening of the 
pouch, thus resembling young cormorants. The nests 
were generally in groups of six or eight, the majority 
mere flat rings of sticks on the ground, but a few large 
structures of sticks some 2 feet in height, and very 
similar to cormorants’ nests. In a second article Mr. 
Harvie-Brown discusses the best method of identifying the 
nests of the various species of wild ducks by means of the 
down with which they are lined, and shows that exact 
observations are necessary before our information on this 
subject can be regarded as anything near complete. The 
past history of the kite in Somerset forms the subject of 
a communication by Mr. F. L. Blathwayt, while Mr. 
B. F. Cummings discusses Goldsmith’s qualifications as a 
naturalist. In the ‘‘ Notes’’ column Mr. Harvie-Brown 
is enabled to announce, from the evidence of notes and a 
sketch communicated by the Duchess of Bedford, that the 
““sea-monster ’’ recently seen in Loch Broom, on the 
Cromarty coast, was almost certainly a basking-shark. 
GumMiInG of sugar-cane plants forms the subject of 
Bulletin No. 3 issued from the pathological division at 
the experiment station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ 
Association. The author, Mr. N. A. Cobb, was the first 
to ascribe the disease to a bacterium; this opinion has 
been confirmed, and the organism has received the name 
of Bacterium vascularum. Diseased plants can be detected 
by the presence of dwarfed shoots bearing narrow, dried- 
up leaves; also on cutting the stems gum oozes out of the 
fibres, thus furnishing a convenient means of testing sets 
intended for propagation. Some varieties were found to 
be immune to inoculation, and it has been suggested that 
immunity is correlated with acidity of the sap. 
A FIFTH instalment of new or noteworthy Philippine 
plants identified by Mr. E. D. Merrill forms supplement iii. 
to the first volume of the Philippine Journal of Science. 
Pachycentra formicana, an epiphytic shrub forming a new 
species of a Malayan genus, is characterised by bulb-like 
roots inhabited by ants; Sundra supa, a leguminous tree, 
yields timber serviceable for naval construction, and an 
oil suitable for making paint and varnish. Several new 
species of Loranthus are reported, also an Anthoxanthum 
similar to sweet-scented vernal grass, and a Poa related 
to Poa pratensis. The writer has drawn up two lists of 
plants, the one illustrating the floral relationship between 
the Philippines and the Celebes, the other showing the 
northern element in the Philippine flora. 
Tue curator of the botanic station in Dominica refers 
in his annual report for 1905-6 to the large demand, con- 
stituting a record, for young plants, the chief requests. 
being for cacao and lime plants; a considerable number 
of budded orange plants, mostly of the Washington 
navel variety, was also supplied. In the matter of 
