July i i, 1901] 



NA TURE 



25; 



temperatures naturally calls to mind Prof. Giglioli's most re- 

 markable experiments with regard to the actions of poisons, 

 both gaseous and liquid, on seeds. An account of them was 

 given in Nature, 18S2, p. 32S, and 1S95, p. 544. He found 

 that dried seeds of Mulka^o saliva, although exposed to the 

 prolonged action of gases such as o.xygen, chlorine, nitric 

 oxide, &c., and of poisonous fluids, e.g. alcohol, corrosive 

 alcohol, i.S:c., retained their power of germination. In some of 

 his experiments the time of immersion of the seeds in the 

 poison was so prolonged (many years) that the supposition of 

 the non-penetration appeared precluded. I have repeated 

 Giglioli's experiments with several species, and found, as he 

 did, that some seeds can withstand the action of poisons while 

 others cannot Seeds of MeJicago sa/iz'a were exposed from 

 10-30 days to the action of methylated spirit, spirit saturated 

 with mercuric chloride and with picric acid without their 

 powers of germination being noticeably affected. Similarly, 

 seeds of Papavcr Rhoeas, P. soinniferuin and Sihizopilahni 

 /(W/Jv;/ resisted the action of spirit, but were apparently killed 

 by corrosive alcohol. Papavcr Rhoeas germinated after two days' 

 immersion in chloroform and two days in spirit. On the other 

 hand, seeds of Nicotiana Tahacuin, Liiiaria rctiiiilata, Gyp- 

 sophila paiiiiiilata and Calandriua umbellatuin &\A not germinate 

 alter immersion in spirit. 



The following experiment shows, I think, that this astonish- 

 ing resistance to poisons is not due to the quiescent state or 

 stability of the protoplasm of the seed, but to the imperviousness 

 of the seed-coat. A large number of mii ol Miditago saliva 

 were taken, and half of them were punctured with the prick of a 

 needle. --Ml were then desiccated, and after desiccation immersed 

 some in spirit, some in spirit and mercuric chloride and some in 

 spirit and picric acid. It was then found that the intact seeds ger- 

 minated in large quantities even after immersion in the poisonous 

 fluids, while the punctured seeds germinated in no case after 

 immersion. In a control experiment it was found that the 

 punctured seeds both before and after desiccation germinated 

 freely. It would appear, then, that when the penetration of the 

 poison was secured the effect was to destroy the vitality of the 

 seed. Hen'RY H. Dixon. 



Botanical Laboratory, Trinity College, Dublin. 



An Instance of Adaptation among the Deer. 



My friend i\Iajor C. S. Cumberland has just brought from 

 Manipur the head and hind-foot of a deer, the latter 

 oT whicTi affords an interesting instance of adaptation to 

 environment. The deer in question is the Manipuri representa- 

 tive of the thamin (Cervns eiai) oi Burma, an animal inhabit- 

 ing open tree jungle. The Manipur valley is, however, a huge 

 swamp, and the thamin of that locality have developed a peculiar 

 modification in the foot which enables them to walk with ease 

 in such ground. In the„Burmese thamin the under surface of 

 the hind pasterns is covered with hair in the ordinary 

 manner, and the animal walks entirgly on the main hoofs, 

 keeping the pasterns much elevated. In the Manipuri thamin, 

 on the other hand, the under surface of the pasterns is covered 

 with a hard, horny, bare skin, which immediately above each 

 hoof has almost the consistency of horn, and is practically con- 

 tinuous with the hoof itselfj Moreover, so far as can be deter- 

 mined from comparison wifh a mounted specimen of the Burmese 

 form, the pasterns are very considerably longer than in the latter. 

 In walking, according to the account given by Major Cumber- 

 land, the foot is much bent, so that the animal walks on nearly 

 the whole of the under surface of the pasterns, and thus gains a 

 firm support on the yielding morass. 



Assuming this feature to be constant (as Major Cumberland 

 believes to be the easel, the Manipuri thamin appears entitled 

 to rank as a distinct local form, for which the name C. eidi 

 cornipes will be appropriate. Major Cumberland's specimens 

 standing as the type. 



But, quite apart from this minor point, the specimens are of 

 especial interest as showing a previously unknown mode by 

 which ruminants may adapt themselves to a life in swamps. In 

 the well-known instance of the sitatunga antelope of Africa a 

 sufficiently large surface of support is afforded by a lengthening 

 of the hoofs ; in the present case the hoofs remain of the normal 

 length, and support is obtained by the animal walking on the 

 under surface of the pasterns, which is specially hardened. It 

 is, in fact, an incipient instance of the reversion of a digitigrade 

 animal to the plantigrade progression of its swamp-dwelling 

 ancestors. R. Lydekker. 



NO. 1654, VOL. 64] 



Snow Conditions in the Antarctic. 



The meteorologist of my expedition has unfortunately given 

 a somewhat incorrect idea about the snow conditions at Cape 

 .\dare. He reports, namely, that there is a very small snow 

 fall at the sea-level. This is, in my opinion, not the case. But 

 his mistake is excusable and easily explicable ; of course, being 

 a young Tasmanian and not previously having seen ice and snow, 

 a devotee to his instrument, took down in his note book the 

 evidence of a usual snow gauge. Snow seldom or never fell in 

 the Antarctic except during heavy gales, and it must be clear to 

 anybody familiar with snow that a snow gauge of the ordinary 

 type is worse than useless during heavy gales. Although Cape 

 Adare itself and the peninsula on which we lived were almost 

 free of snow in the open, we had more than ten feet of snow to 

 the leeward of our hut at Camp Ridley, and undoubtedly there 

 would have been still more had the huts been higher. This 

 indicates, of course, that much snow fell, but it was blown away 

 as well from the promontory at Cape Adare as from the un- 

 fortunate snow gauge. In my opinion a very heavy snow fall 

 takes place within the Antarctic circle. And I believe that the 

 strong gales within the .Antarctic circle generally are local and 

 that these snow bared dark promontories are the very homes 

 of the Antarctic gales, while those places where no dark land is 

 to be seen probably are unmolested by great atmospheric dis- 

 turbances and are therefore covered in heavy snow. From time 

 to time in the pack ice I have passed through distances where 

 the ice was covered in several yards of loose snow. This I 

 noticed as well on my first voyage in 1894 as during my last 

 expedition. I will therefore use the opportunity to warn the 

 coming expeditions from not providing against the difficulties 

 which a very heavy snow fall incurs for sledge parties within 

 the Antarctic circle. C. E. Borchgrevink. 



(Commander British Antarctic 

 Expedition, 1898-1900). 



Douglas Lodge, Bromley, Kent, July 6. 



PHO TO GRA PHIC A ND PHO TOME TRIG 

 SURVEYS OF THE STARS} 



E\^ERYONE will naturally wish to offer words of 

 hearty congratulation to Sir David Gill and his able 

 coadjutor, Prof. Kapteyn, on the completion of the Cape 

 Durchmusterung, of which the third and last volume has 

 recently appeared. Some twenty years since, when the 

 capacity of celestial photography was practically an un- 

 known factor, Sir David Gill proposed to himself to 

 complete a survey of the southern hemisphere by means 

 of photographic star maps. The original conception was 

 a tolerably modest one. Sir David Gill's idea was simply 

 to prepare from these maps a working catalogue of stars 

 to facilitate the meridian zone observations, after the 

 programme of the Astronoraische Gesellschaft, but ''to 

 avoid the repetition of such an arduous undertaking as 

 Argelander's Durchmusterung as a preliminary step." 

 How the original plan was extended and grew, till the 

 results fill three bulky volumes, exceeding Argelander's 

 work both in number of stars and in accuracy of observa- 

 tion, he has himself told in the introduction to the first 

 part, to which we have already referred (N.\ture, vol. 

 Ivii. p. 5 1 3). \'ery rapidly has the work gone on once all 

 preliminary difficulties were removed, and now the astro- 

 nomers of the Cape and of Groningen see their work 

 completed on a uniform plan within a moderate space of 

 time, with an accuracy which approaches that attaching 

 to the older so-called " Precision Catalogues," together 

 with the means existing for the determination in special 

 instances of star places with even greater accuracy. For 

 though we have spoken of the completion of the work, 



1 "The Cape Photographic Durchmusterung for the Equinox lili-' 

 By David Gill. C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., &c., His Majesty's .-Astronomer at 

 ihe Cape, and J. C. Kapteyn, Sc.D.. &c., Professor of .Astronomy at 

 Groningen. Part iii. Zones -53° to -69". Pp. 8S-h67i. (Edinburgh; 

 Neill and Co., 1900.) 



" \ Photometric Durchmusterung, including all Stars of the Magnitude 

 7"5 and brighter North of Declination -40', obtained with the Meridian 

 Photometer during the Years 1S95-9S." By Edward C. Pickering, Director 

 of the Harvard College Observatory. Pp. 330. (Cambridge, U.S..\., 

 1901.) 



