JAN ‘ARY 10, 1907] 
NATURE 255 
the reader in a happy state of ignorance as to the species 
really referred to. 
Tue whole of the second part of vol. vii. of the Bulletin 
of the Tokyo College of Agriculture is devoted to silk- 
worm culture and problems connected therewith, all three 
articles being from the pen of Mr. K. Toyama. Breeders, 
it appears, have a belief that if a male moth is 
with more than one female, the product of the later unions 
will be feeble. The author finds, however, that polygamy 
is a normal condition of the species, and that the reputed 
ill-effects of this habit are non-existent. The study of a 
fly parasitic on silkk-worms forms the subject of the second 
article. In the third, the conformity or otherwise of 
hybrid silk-worms to the Mendelian discussed. 
Careful investigation has shown that, as regards the colour 
of the cocoons and eggs and the nature of the larval mark- 
ings, Mendel’s law is followed, although in respect to the 
shape of the cocoons and the brood-characters no adherence 
to this can be detected. 
mated 
law is 
_ In the twentieth annual report of the Liverpool Marine 
Biological Committee, or, in other words, the Marine 
Biological Station at Port Erin (Isle of Man), reference 
is made by Prof. Herdman to the urgent need of a steam- 
yacht for local collecting. For two months such a vessel 
was privately chartered, and employed in experimenting 
on the kinds of nets best suited for collecting micro- 
organisms, but, unfortunately, the funds at the disposal 
of the committee do not permit the permanent engagement 
of a steamer. The aquarium continues to form a great 
attraction to visitors, of whom more than 15,000 were 
recorded during the summer. Several invertebrates new 
to the fauna of the Irish Sea have been collected. The 
suitability to their purpose of the tanks is demonstrated 
by the fact that several organisms have made their appear- 
ance spontaneously, having gained entrance by way of the 
supply-pipes, some of which were blocked by the invasion. 
Care has to be taken in regard to placing animals together, 
as one rare anemone was devoured by a commoner kind, 
while it was found that the worm Nereis is in the habit 
of dragging Sabella from their tubes. The fact that the 
lugworm can swim is a new discovery. Prof. Herdman’s 
address on ‘‘ Some Problems of the Sea,’’ referred 
our issue of last week, forms an appendix to the report. 
to in 
In the January issue of the Century Magazine Prof. 
H. F. Osborn describes a find of prehistoric crania from 
a mound in Douglass County, Nebraska. Of the six 
skulls discovered, two from an interment near the surface 
of the mound were of the modern Indian type; but beneath 
these, and covered by a layer of ashes resting on a stratum 
of silt compacted by the fire above, four skulls of a re- 
markable character were unearthed. The only implement 
found with them was a small, broken, triangular flint 
knife. Unfortunately, the back part of each of these crania 
is wanting, but the portions which remain exhibit low 
cranial capacity, and are believed to approximate to the 
Australian type. The supra-orbital ridges are not more 
pronounced than those of the Australian, but the forehead 
is even more flattened and receding. These skulls, which 
have been deposited in the museum of the University of 
Nebraska, indicate a race of low cerebral capacity, inferior 
to the modern Indians or the typical American mound- 
builders. Their average stature was about 5 feet 10 inches. 
Compared with typical primitive forms—those of the Javan 
Pithecanthropus that of Gibraltar, and the 
Neanderthal skull—the American specimens seem to repre- 
sent a class more recent than the last. It would be rash 
NO. 1941, VOL. 75] 
erectus, 
to speculate on the importance of this discovery until the 
can be recovered or more perfect speci- 
mens unearthed. ‘‘ Even if not of great antiquity,” 
Prof. Osborn, ‘‘it is certainly of a very primitive type, 
and tends to increase rather than diminish the probability 
of the early advent of Man in America.’’ The same issue 
of this magazine contains President Roosevelt’s enthusiastic 
account of ancient Irish Sagas, in the course of which he 
the foundation of 
missing portions 
says 
takes occasion to advocate chairs of 
Celtic in the universities of America. 
Tue latest issue—a double number—of Le Bambou, dated 
mid-December, completes the first volume. The articles 
include a note on the indigenous localities of species of 
Phyllostachys, an account of the vegetative development 
of bamboos, and a report on the growth of the species 
cultivated at Ermitage during the year. 
AmonG the papers read before the Botanical Society of 
Edinburgh, and published in the second part of vol. xxiii. 
of the Transactions and Proceedings, Mr. J. A. Alexander 
communicates an article on the flora of Portuguese East 
Africa, with illustrations, detailing the more conspicuous 
plants. The dominant Composite, containing 
several species of Vernonia, Helichrysum, and Senecio, but 
the Leguminosz and Euphorbiacew are more interesting 
and useful. Of Landolphia rubber vines only the species 
florida and petersiana are mentioned. An account of the 
extra-tropical trees planted and grown in Arran by the 
Rev. D. Landsborough testifies to the mildness of the 
seasons in parts of Scotland, as the list includes species 
of the Chamzrops palm, the palm-lily Cordyline, Euca- 
lypts, and numerous bamboos; measurements of the height 
and girth of the trees are recorded. The discovery of an 
evergreen Cystopteris by Mr. W. Young in Aberdeenshire, 
that receives the name of C. fragilis, var. sempervirens, is 
noteworthy. 
order is 
Ir is annoying, but often necessary, when the names 
of a group of economic plants are revised to find familiar 
designations displaced by others more justifiable. The 
limits of the genus Andropogon have always been un- 
certain, and consequently, in working out the nomen- 
clature of the oil-grasses of India and Ceylon, to which 
subject the whole of the eighth number of the Kew 
Bulletin is appropriated, Dr. O. Stapf has found it neces- 
sary to transfer ten species to the genus Cymbopogon, to 
re-christen the species muricatus, better known as “ khas- 
khas,’’ by the name of Vetiveria sisanioides, and to retain 
under Andropogon only the insignificant species odoratus. 
This, however, is only a portion of the tangle Dr. Stapf 
has endeavoured to unravel. The following names are given 
to the commercial oils :—citronella oil is Cymbopogon 
nardus; lemon-grass oil is C. citratus; the lemon-grass 
oil of Malabar or Cochin becomes C. flexuosus; Rusa grass 
or palmarosa oil, C. martini; and C. schoenanthus is 
limited to the ‘‘izkhir’’ of Arabia, that receives the 
appellation of camel-grass oil. 
IN the Journal of the Franklin Institute (vol. clxii., 
No. 6) it is announced that Mr. E. G. Acheson, of Niagara 
Falls, has succeeded in making soft graphite artificially. 
Hitherto the artificial product has been hard graphite, 
which has been used in the manufacture of electrodes and 
as a pigment. The soft graphite will be used as a lubri- 
cant, as a stove polish, for electrotyping, and for coating 
gunpowder. 
Tne Pioneer Mail of December 14, 1906, directs atten- 
tion to the extraordinary development of the manganese 
ore industry of India since the discovery in 1896 by Mr. 
