280 
NATURE 
[ JANUARY 17, 1907 
photograph of a basking-shark (Selacho maxima), measur- 
ing just short of 24 feet in length, taken in salmon-nets 
at Redcar in August last. 
In the National Geographic Mayazine for December, 
1906, Miss E. R. Scidmore graphically describes Kedda- 
operations in Siam, accompanying her notes with repro- 
ductions of a number of photographs of a herd of elephants 
being driven towards the enclosure, and of the same 
herd, or individual members thereof, in the coral. The 
Siamese Royal elephant hunt, which used to be an annual 
institution, is stated by the writer to be the largest affair 
of its kind in the world, but the steady increase of cultiva- 
tion and civilisation in the country threatens the survival 
of the wild elephant. The hunt represented in the photo- 
graphs was held after the King’s return from Oxford and 
America, and resulted in the capture of 250 elephants. In 
Siam the tame elephant has apparently a much better 
time than its wild relative, the former looking sleek and 
well groomed, while the latter is gaunt and weather-worn, 
with projecting ribs and patches of fungoid growth on 
its hide. 
We have received the report of the Government bacterio- 
logist of Natal, Mr. H. Watkins-Pitchford, for the year 
1904-5. The greater part is occupied with experiments on, 
and results obtained by, the Rideal-Walker method of 
testing disinfectants. Experiments were also made on the 
use of sulphate of copper for purifying water, a strength 
of one part of the salt to 75,000 parts of water being 
recommended as being both valuable and safe. A nodular 
disease of the intestines of sheep, due to a small worm, is 
also described. 
Tue Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital for 
December, 1906 (xvii., No. 189), contains a second series 
of interesting reports on the comparative surgery of the 
lower animals, together with observations on distemper 
in dogs; from the latter it is concluded that the ztiological 
agent of this disease has not yet been definitely estab- 
lished. Dr. Knopf contributes an article on ‘‘ Tubercu- 
Social Disease,’’ which contains useful 
maxims for the suppression of the disease. 
losis, a many 
As the result of an examination of material, assigned to 
Rhus glabra, from many different parts of the United 
States, Mr. E. L. Greene, in a paper published in the 
Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. 
viii., separates from the species twenty-eight segregates, 
of which five had previously been suggested as independent 
species. While there is good reason for splitting the 
species, the present affords a good instance in which the 
true value of the species would be best determined by 
cultivation, and not merely, as appears to have been the 
case, from a study of herbarium specimens. 
WHEN engaged upon the inquiry into the devastations 
caused by bark-boring beetles among the ‘ chilgoza”’ 
trees, Mr. E. P. Stebbing was able to acquire an amount 
of information about the forests of Zhob, Beluchistan, and 
the Takht-i-Suliman Range, in the North-West Frontier 
Province of India, that is embodied in the Indian Forest 
Bulletin, No. 7. The chilgoza, Pinus Gerardiana, highly 
valued for its edible seeds, forms in parts extensive forests 
of fine trees 70 feet to 85 feet high and 9 feet to 12 feet 
girth; in a few localities the blue pine, Pinus excelsa, is 
associated with it in appreciable quantity. Owing to in- 
discriminate collection of the cones, unrestricted grazing, 
and attacks of the boring beetles, it is shown that the 
forests, valuable alike for timber and their influence upon 
the water supply, require immediate conservation. 
NO. 1942, VOL. 75] 
Or the scientific papers published in the report for 
1906 of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, the most important 
contributed by Mr. G. G. Hedgecock deals with chromo- 
genic fungi producing colour on wood. A large number 
of fungi were carefully cultivated through various stages, 
and it was found that the blue, grey or brown, and black 
colours produced respectively by the genera Cerastomella, 
Graphium, and Hormodendron were contained in the 
fungus filaments, and no stain was exuded; but in the 
case of Penicillium and Fusarium the pigments were 
exuded and taken up by the wood cells. A brief note by 
the same writer on zonation in fungus cultures, caused by 
alternations of day and night, relates to the results 
obtained under different monochromatic solutions. On the 
subject of abnormal plant developments, Mr. J. A. Harris 
describes saccate structures, ‘‘ ascidia,’? formed by the 
fusion of two leaves, or the edges of one leaf in Gasteria 
and Agave, and prolifications of capsicum and_ passion- 
flower fruits, while Mr. H. Hus refers to fasciation in 
Oxalis crenata. 
Tue discovery of petroleum in the Gulf Coastal Plain 
of Texas and Louisiana has created a demand for specific 
knowledge of the geological relations of the oil. The 
demand was for the time met by the publication in 1903 
of a United States Geological Survey report. The rapid 
development of the industry has necessitated a new ex- 
amination of the fields, the results of which are given in 
a masterly memoir (Bulletin No. 282) by Mr. N. M. 
Fenneman. Detailed descriptions are given of topography, 
geology, and production of the Spindletop, Sour Lake, 
Batson, Saratoga, Matagorda, and minor oilfields, and 
useful information on the utilisation of the petroleum and 
on the methods and cost of well drilling is appended. 
Tue Geological Survey has prepared a very valuable 
memoir on the oil shales of the Lothians (Ordnance Survey 
Office, Southampton, price 4s.). The memoir covers 194 
pages, with three plates and sixty-four illustrations in the 
text, and is divided into three parts. The first, by Mr. H. M. 
Cadell and Mr. J. S. Grant Wilson, treats of the geology of 
the oil-shale fields. The second part, by Mr. W. Caldwell, 
an experienced mining engineer, gives an account of the 
methods of working the oil shales. The third part, by 
Mr. D. R. Stewart, chemist to the Broxburn Oil Company, 
deals with the chemistry of the oil shales and the processes 
and products of manufacture. The whole report, which 
has been edited by Dr. Horne, forms the most complete 
monograph that has been written on the important oil-shale 
industry of Scotland. The first published description of 
the oil shales was a short paper contributed by Mr. Cadell 
to the British Association in 1885. More detailed accounts 
were contributed by him to the Iron and Steel Institute 
in 1888, and to the Institution of Mining Engineers in 
1901. In the course of the recent revision of the Carbon- 
iferous areas of the Lothians by the Geological Survey, Mr. 
Wilson obtained much further information. Among the 
more important results are the determination of the out- 
crops and lines of fault owing to the recent mining develop- 
ments in the Tarbrax, Cobbinshaw, Pumperston, and 
Breich fields, and the mapping of the new shale field at 
Ingliston. The recent discovery of valuable oil shale near 
Duddingston may have a vital bearing on the future de- 
velopment of the industry. The importance of the industry 
in Scotland is shown by the fact that in 1904 a total of 
2,332,000 tons of oil shale was mined, yielding 62,932,000 
gallons of crude oil, from which was produced 2,517,000 
gallons of naphtha, 17,000,000 gallons of illuminating oil, 
38,000 tons of gas oil, 39,500 tons of lubricating oil, 22,500 
