DECEMBER 13, 1906| 
INAT OLE 
157 
which, so far as they go, indicate a certain degree of 
homogamy, and it is to be hoped that the investigation 
will be taken up again next year with the view of obtain- 
ing sufficient observations to warrant a more confident 
conclusion. 
A PRELIMINARY notice of the Ramie Growing Association, 
formed with the object of fostering the industry in this 
fibre, has been received from the honorary secretary, Mr. 
D. Edwards-Radclyffe. 
Tue list of seeds of hardy herbaceous plants and of 
trees and shrubs available from Kew for exchange with 
botanic gardens has been published as the first appendix 
io the Kew Bulletin for 1907. 
In view of the fact that there is an import trade of 
sugar into India exceeding a quarter of a million of tons 
per annum, it is difficult to realise that nearly one-fifth of 
the world’s output of sugar is produced in the Indian 
Empire chiefly from the sugar-cane and also from certain 
palms. 
Tropical Life (November), the annual production in India 
is roughly computed at three million tons, and if more 
efficient methods of extraction were 
adopted this amount could be largely 
increased. Among various references 
to rubber in the journal, a note on 
block rubber indicates the advantages 
attending this method of preparation 
over the previously belauded biscuit, 
and an article on Ceara rubber refers 
to the hopeful expectations of estab- 
lishing the tree in various parts of 
southern India. A short account of 
Mr. W. Faweett’s efficient work in 
Jamaica accompanies his photograph 
that is presented in this number. 
A FiLora of the State of Washing- 
ton, prepared by Mr. C. V. Piper, 
forms vol. xi. of the Contributions 
from the United States National 
Herbarium. Partly owing to the sea-» 
board position of the State, the 
flora presents numerous ecological 
features of interest that are described at some 
fength and lavishly illustrated. Six important zones are 
distinguished, the upper Sonoran area coextensive with 
the sagebrush, Artemisia tridentata, the humid transition 
where the red fir, Pseudotsuga mucronata, is dominant, 
the arid transition area characterised by prairies of 
Agropyron spicatum or forests of Pinus ponderosa, a 
Canadian zone where Pinus monticola grows, a Hudsonian 
or zone of Abies lasiocarpa, and an Alpine region. The 
systematic enumeration shows a preponderance of Com- 
posite, in which order Senecio is an important genus; 
among other large orders, Castilleja, belonging to the 
Serophulariacee, Lupinus and Phaca, to the Leguminos, 
are characterised by a considerable proportion of endemic 
species. 
Photo. J. 
Tue current issue of the Records of the Geological 
Survey of India (vol. xxxiv., part ii.) contains the statistics 
of the mineral production of India during 1905, by Mr. 
T. D. La Touche. The total value is given as 5,707,956l., 
which is 350,116l. in excess of that for 1904. Nearly every 
item shows an increase. Gold, with a value of 2,416,966l., 
takes the first place, and coal, with a value of 1,436,951/., 
the second. The output of coal, 8,417,739 tons, has again 
NO. 1937, VOL. 75] 
In the course of an article on the subject in | 
M. Maclaren. 
Ancient Rock Mortars, with Pestles, near Sangli Mines, Gadag. 
exceeded all previous records. Other minerals for which 
returns of production are given are, in order of import- 
ance, petroleum, salt, saltpetre, manganese ore, mica, 
rubies, jadestone, graphite, iron ore, tin ore, chromite, 
diamonds, magnesite, and amber. Incomplete returns are 
given for alum, arsenic ore, bauxite, borax, building stone, 
clay, copper ore, cornelian, corundum, garnet, gypsum, 
limestone, marble, slate, steatite, and tourmaline. In the 
same issue Mr. E. Vredenburg gives a detailed account of 
Nummulites Douvillei, an undescribed species from Kachh, 
named in honour of the geologist whose researches on the 
Foraminifera have thrown so much light on the classifi- 
cation ot the Tertiary system. The paper concludes with 
a summary of the zonal distribution of Indian Nummulites. 
Mr. J. Malcolm Maclaren gives a detailed description of 
some auriferous tracts in southern India, in territory under 
British administration or within the Nizam’s dominions. 
The paper is accompanied by a coloured geological map 
of the Gadag auriferous belt, Dharwar district. In this 
goldfield the extensive old workings are of great interest. 
Numerous small vertical shafts, 4 feet square, were sunk 
by the ancient workers to the dip of the veins, often not 
cutting the vein until the shafts were 80 feet in depth. The 
veins were then followed on the underlie with great 
assiduity to a depth of at least 300 feet. Abundant relics 
of mills for crushing quartz exist. Those of most frequent 
occurrence were essentially rock-breakers, in which the 
quartz was broken to the size of a walnut. They are de- 
pressions 6 inches wide and 4 inches deep in hard rock. 
Into these mortars there fitted rude stone pestles 9 inches 
long, and sufficiently thick to be grasped in the hand. 
The Gadag goldfield is exceptionally well situated for 
economic working, and is of special geological interest in 
the occurrence of its gold-quartz veins in argillites. In 
the last paper Mr. R. R. Simpson records the abandon- 
ment of the collieries worked by the Government of India 
at Warora, Central Provinces, in consequence of a serious 
subsidence that took place on March 28. 
FaTHER GuTI£RREZ-LANzA, S.J., assistant director of the 
Belén Observatory, Havana, writes taking exception to the 
statement in these Notes, in Nature of October 25 (vol. 
Ixxiv., p. 642), that the great hurricane of October 17 had 
burst over Cuba “‘ apparently with little or no warning.”’ 
The note was based on the cabled reports, which stated 
that Father Laurent Gangoiti had telephoned to Columbia 
Camp an hour before the storm burst, announcing its 
