84 
further information with regard to the assertion (mentioned 
some months ago in these columns) that a pleural cavity 
is lacking in the Indian elephant. The author’s 
ations are based on dissections of four elephants, one 
from the Berlin Zoological Gardens and three from a 
circus. In each instance the structure of 
viscera was of the same type. The heart was normal. 
The lungs possessed a dense fibrous capsule, but between 
their outer surface and the wall of the thorax occurred 
a homogeneous mass of connective tissue, completely 
filling the cavity of the chest. The connective tissue pre- 
sented no signs of being a pathological product, and, in 
the author’s opinion, it must consequently be accepted as 
a fact that a pleural cavity is absent in the Indian 
elephant. In a second article Mr. A. Rauber records and 
of the occurrence of an inter- 
” in the foot of the human subject. The 
bone in question is an ossicle wedged in between the ento- 
cuneiform of the tarsus and the bases of the first and 
second metatarsals. The number of recorded cases of a 
similar abnormality is now brought up to eighty-eight, 
and the author concludes by discussing the bearing of this 
feature on the theory of a lost digit. The contents of the 
same issue also include an article, by Dr. C. Gruber, on 
the structure and development of the reproductive organs 
of the guinea-pig; a second, by Dr. W. Braun, on the 
development of the pancreas in the midwife-toad; and a 
third, by Mr. Max Borchert, on 
system of the torpedo. 
observ- 
the pleural 
“ec 
figures two instances 
metatarsal bone 
the central nervous 
Tue Philippine Journal of Science for September (i., 
No. 7) contains a long paper on beri-beri by Mr. M. 
Herzog, who believes that this disease is an infective 
one, the organism of which has yet to be discovered; 
notes on Philippine and other birds, by Mr. R. C. 
McGregor ; and a description of a new genus and species 
of Culicide, by Mr. C. §. Banks. This mosquito 
(Worcesteria grata) does not bite, and its larvze destroy 
numbers of noxious forms of Culicida. The genus is near 
the genera Megarhinus and Toxorhynchites. The number 
is well illustrated with many plates, and is a most credit- 
able production. 
In the Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital for 
November (xvii., No. 188) Dr. C. W. Eliot discusses the 
future of the medical profession, and concludes that in 
the course of time it will have the satisfaction, not only 
of ameliorating the condition or prolonging the life of 
the suffering individual, but also of exterminating or 
closely limiting preventable diseases. Notes on the Inter- 
national Congress of Tuberculosis, Paris, 1905, are con- 
tributed by Dr. H. B. Jacobs, and on the advantages of 
local sanatoria in the treatment of consumption by Dr. 
D. R. Lyman. Governor John Winthrop, jun., of Con- 
necticut, a physician of the seventeenth century, is the 
subject of a paper by Dr. W. R. Steiner, and Prof. 
Welch’s address on the unity of the medical sciences, de- 
livered at the dedication of the new buildings of the 
Harvard Medical School, is published in full. 
Tue issue of selected papers on rubber from the Kew 
Bulletin as No. 7 of the additional series is opportune 
at the time when this product is receiving so much atten- 
tion. Not only do the papers furnish a historical account 
of the gradual accumulation of knowledge that is bear- 
ing fruit at the present day, but old facts served up as 
new, such as the artificial production of rubber, are here 
placed in proper perspective. The most recent papers are 
the synopses of the genera Kickxia and Funtumia, by 
Dr. O. Stapf, published in the Kew Bulletin, 1905, and a 
NO. 1934, VOL. 75 | 
NALORE. 
| NOVEMBER 22, 1906 
note on the rise and fall in prices of Para rubber con- 
tributed by Mr. J. H. Hillier to the part lately issued. 
A CATALOGUE of botanical slides issued by Mr. A. 
Peniston, Montpelier Terrace, Leeds, can be recommended 
to the notice of those desiring microscopical slides of 
practical educational value, illustrating the chief features. 
in the taxonomy and anatomy of plants. Of the slides 
examined, the root apices showing mitoses and the trans- 
verse section of Equisetum root were especially good, and 
all were satisfactory. Messrs. Clarke and Page, of 
London, supply botanical and geological preparations, but 
make a greater speciality of marine slides, which, judging 
from will be found suitably and well 
prepared. 
specimens seen, 
THE annual report for 1905 of the Royal Botanic 
Gardens, Ceylon, contains eight reports by assistants, in 
addition to the general report by the director, Dr. J. C. 
Willis. The branch gardens at Badulla and Anuradhapura 
were in favour of a botanie garden at Maha- 
iluppalama, where an experiment station has already been 
established. Rubber has, of course, monopolised most 
attention, but the production of the oils of cocoa-nut, 
citronella, and cinnamon shows a considerable increase, and 
closed 
in the market for coca leaves Ceylon provides the 
standard. The curator of the Peradeniya gardens re- 
cords the failure of the attempt to propagate Hevea by 
cuttings; as a substitute for boxwood edgings in tropical 
gardens he recommends cuttings of Malpighia coccifera. 
THERE are several facts and observations, interesting to 
botanists, on the subject of xerophytes and plant transpira- 
tion in the publication No. 50 of the Carnegie Institute 
of Washington entitled ‘‘ The Relation of Desert Plants 
to Soil Moisture and to Evaporation,’’ representing in- 
vestigations by Dr. B. E. Livingston at Tucson, in 
Arizona. With regard to the soil, it was found that the 
deeper layers contained an adequate supply of water even 
at the end of the dry season, this being due partly to the 
formation of a dust mulch. Cacti showed no greater 
osmotic pressure in the cell-sap than plants in humid 
regions. An ingenious evaporimeter, consisting of a 
porous clay cylinder attached to a burette and water re- 
ceiver, was devised for comparing evaporation with tran- 
spiration. The author expresses the opinion that air 
temperature, and not light, is the main controlling factor 
in the rate of transpiration. 
Pror. Poronit, of Berlin, contributed a paper (an 
abstract of which has now reached us) to Section K at 
the York meeting of the British Association, in which he 
pointed out the strict parallelism that exists between the 
different kinds of peat and the different kinds of coal 
(which is simply fossil peat). When conditions are such 
that organic remains collect under terrestrial conditions we 
have ordinary peat formed. This corresponds exactly with 
“bright ’? coal. When, on the other hand, organic remains 
collect under water, the result is an organic slime which 
the author calls ‘* sapropel,’’ becoming of a gelatinous con- 
sistency (‘‘ saprokoll’’) when subfossilised. This, accord- 
ing to Prof. Potonié, is exactly equivalent to the ‘‘ dulf 
coal’’ or ‘‘cannel coal’’ of Carboniferous age. When 
terrestrial and aquatic conditions have alternated during 
the accumulation of organic remains, we obtain “ strata- 
peat’? or “‘ strata-coal,’’ i.e. interbedded saprokoll and 
peat, or “‘ bright’? and “‘dull’’ coal. The chemical and 
physical properties of these varieties correspond very 
closely, the cannel coal being gas coal and saprokoll con- 
taining much more gas than genuine peat. The author 
regretted that living peat bogs were so extensively killed 
ec 
