Marcu 21, 1907 | 
NATURE 
495 
is very close indeed to the heart of the Admiralty. He re- 
ferred to the services of Sir Alexander Kennedy in con- 
nection with naval construction, to the 
ing dockvards given by Sir William Matthews, and to the 
distinguished work as a designer of ships of Sir William 
White. It is comparatively recently, he said, that the 
Admiralty- has been so closely brought in touch with the 
civil engineer. But all the great works ordered by the 
Admiralty have been carried out by the advice of engineers. 
advice concern- 
An unsettled type of weather prevailed over the whole 
of the British Islands during the past week, and the wind 
frequently attained the force of a gale on our coasts. A 
storm of than ordinary experienced 
in the north-west of Engiand during the late hours of 
Saturday and the eariy hours of Sunday (March 16-17). 
In places on our north-west coast the wind attained the 
pressure of about 18 lb. on the square foot. The storm 
reached its greatest violence from about 9 p.m. to mid- 
night, and afterwards the gale rapidly subsided. Un- 
fortunately, the strongest wind force was coincident with 
the occurrence of high water, and in consequence much 
damage was occasioned by wind and wave. Notwithstand- 
ing the windy character of the weather, thick fog has 
prevailed on our south-west coasts, resulting in the ground- 
ing of at least two large steamships—one going ashore 
late on Sunday night and the other in the early morning 
on Monday. ; 
more severity was 
Tue report of the Maidstone Museum, Public Library, 
and Art Gallery, for 1906, chronicles a very successful 
year, notably for the fact that presentations have been 
made by donors living at considerable distances from the 
borough. Misprints like Malay Peninsular and Osteolepus 
somewhat detract from the style of the report. 
Tue blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata), the killdeer plover 
(#gtaittis vocifera), and the bluebird (Stalia stalis), form 
the subject of the last three of the excellent series of 
illustrated leaflets issued by the (U.S.) National Association 
of Audubon Societies. 
New or little-known perch-like fishes in the collection 
of the academy, and the land-shells of the Ozark Moun- 
tains of Arkansas and Missouri, form the subjects of papers 
ia the issue of the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural 
Sciences of Philadelphia for December last. 
Ar the conclusion of an exhaustive memoir on the 
development of the common ring-snake (or grass-snake), 
published in vol. Ixxxvi., part i., of the Zeitschrift fur 
wissenschaftliche Zoologie, the author, Mr. Theodor 
Viefhaus, institutes a careful comparison to show in what 
respects the early stages of a number of other reptiles 
differ from those of the species described. The preamnion 
and the primitive groove are among the structures in which 
such differences are in many cases very notable. 
Tue report of the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, 
for 1906, contains a well-merited tribute to the services 
of Dr. R. H. Traquair, who retired in August last after 
a thirty-two-years’ tenure of the post of keeper of the 
natural history department. Among the gifts received 
during the year, mention may be made of a giraffe from 
the Quasaengeshu plateau, British East Africa, presented 
by Lord Hindlip. ‘This should be of the same race as the 
large mounted pair exhibited in the Natural History 
Museum. 
NO. T951, VOL. 75] 
To the Naturalist for March, Mr. Arthur Whitaker con- 
tributes further notes on the breeding habits of British 
bats, and more especially the ordinary bat, or pipistrelle. 
July, it appears, is the great month for breeding among 
British and it the 
pipistrelle the period of gestation is not less than forty- 
bats, has been demonstrated that in 
one days, and is probably of about six weeks’ duration. 
At birth the pipistrelle is totally 
blind, and naked except for a few hairs on the muzzle. 
Fur begins to show in about a week, and after 
imparts a golden tinge to the back and a more silvery 
tint to the under-parts. Even when only a few days old 
the young bats might be seen hanging altogether apart 
from their parents, but up to the thirty-first day (when 
the last died) they did not attempt flight on their own 
account. 
young flesh-coloured, 
soon 
INSECTS associated with or related to the Mexican cotton- 
boll weevil continue to engage the attention of the U.S. 
Bureau of Entomology, parts iii., iv., v., and vil. of 
Bulletin No. 63 being devoted to them. The 
important of these is the Texan ant, Solenopsis geminata 
xylone, which attacks the boll-weevil in sufficient force to 
effect. an appreciable diminution in its numbers. An 
examination made last autumn of 300 fallen squares and 
bolls of cotton collected indiscriminately showed that 40 per 
cent. of the weevils (in all stages) by which they were 
infested had been killed by the ants. The ant, which is 
widely distributed in Texas and western Louisiana, and 
may be found on totally different types of soil, is un- 
doubtedly of considerable benefit as an established enemy 
of the weevil throughout nearly all the area at present 
infested by the latter. 
most 
A suGGEsTION for obtaining colour-correct photographs 
of flowers and natural obiects without the use of colour 
screens is made by Mr. J. H. Crabtree in the current 
number of the Photographic Monthly. The method 
consists in using flashlight powders containing lithium and 
strontium compounds. It should be instructive to com- 
pare results obtained by photographing parrot-tulips in this 
way with photographs taken with a carefully selected 
colour screen. 
It is at first somewhat surprising to note the great 
variety of fruits recommended for cultivation in Ceylon in 
a Circular (vol. iii., No. 14) issued from the Royal Botanic 
Gardens, as the lists include such European fruits as the 
pear, cherry, and blackberry, as well as tropical and sub- 
tropical productions. This is possible owing to the 
variations in climate at different elevations, and the author, 
Mr. H. F. Macmillan, arranges his lists according to a 
vertical scale. A second year’s experimental trial of cotton 
cultivation at Maha-iluppalama forms the subject of 
another Circular (No. 18). 
In the Kew Bulletin (No. 2) is published the nineteenth 
series of ‘* Diagnoses Africana,’’ containing new species 
of Hibiscus, Adenium, Strophanthus, and a new 
Landolphia from Delagoa Bay; also the twelfth series of 
““ Decades Kewenses,’’ including an Aconite from Sikkim 
and two species of Vitex from Borneo. A collection of 
marine algz from the Chatham Islands, from which two 
new species were obtained, is described by Mr. A. D. 
Cotton, and Mr. J. M. Hillier contributes some notes on 
economic products imported into Liverpool. The possi- 
bility of growing Catalpa cordifolia, allied to the orna- 
mental Calalpa bignonioides, for timber in this country is 
answered in the negative by Mr. W. J. Bean. 
