582 



NATURE 



[October lo, 1901 



•died out ; (2) that its decrease has taken place concurrently 

 with the extension of the rice plantations, notwithstanding that 

 'these form a breeding ground for the mosquitoes ; (3) that the 

 ■mosquitoes in question have not acquired any special immunity 

 from malaria, seeing that they have been artificially infected by 

 being allowed to bite a malarial patient ; (4) that many of the 

 inhabitants spend a portion of the year in infected districts where 

 they frequently take the disease, showing that they likewise are 

 not immune. The only conclusion which Dr. Grassi can draw 

 lis that malaria does not necessarily occur even in districts favour- 

 able to its propagation, and hence he thinks it probable that 

 the disease may be easy to stamp out in infected districts, 

 especially with the systematic use of wire mosquito nets. But 

 there is quite a possibility that the district of Massarosa may be 

 visited at some future time by a scourge of malaria. 



A REPORT on the work done at the observatory of Catania in 

 connection with the international photographic survey of the 

 iheavens is contributed by Prof. A. Ricco to the Atli dei Limei, 

 X. 5. Among the difficulties to be contended against in the 

 work, that of developing the negatives in the hot climate of 

 Catania may be noted. Since the beginning of 1897, the total 

 number of celestial photographs taken was 430, including 250 

 for the catalogue, 7S of the zone traversed by the planet Eros, 

 6 of the new star in Perseus, 3 of the occultation of Saturn, and 

 <j of lunar eclipses. In addition, the writer and Prof. Tacchini 

 took 66 photographs on the occasion of the eclipse of May 20, 

 1900, in Algiers. A number of measurements, embracing 

 22,435 stars, have been made on the plates by Signori L. Franco 

 and M. Massa, and reduced by Signor Mazzarella. Among the 

 ■calculations made by Prof. Boccardi, with the assistance of 

 Signori Traversa and Taffara, we note the construction of tables 

 for the differences of precession depending on the different con- 

 stants of Struve and Newcomb, catalogues of 2200 stars taking 

 account of proper motion and of the constants of Newcomb, and 

 the reduction to the equinox of 1900 of Sooo stars of the zone 

 studied at Catania. Prof. Ricco hopes shortly to commence the 

 publication of the catalogue. 



The Century Magazine for October contains a short article 

 on " How tu cross the Atlantic in a Balloon," by Prof. Samuel A. 

 King, with an introduction by Prof. Cleveland Abbe. Prof. 

 King deprecates the attempts to solve a problem of this character 

 by means of flying machines or mechanically propelled balloons, 

 and thinks that the secret of success lies in mastering the 

 problem of maintaining the ordinary spherical balloon at any 

 required height by the aid of the drag rope or similar appliances. 

 The author also points out the necessity of overcoming the 

 propensity of the balloon to rise and fall with varying temper- 

 ature, and suggests the use of a hood as a protection from solar 

 radiation. With proper precautions. Prof. King considers a 

 Transatlantic balloon voyage now quite within the range of 

 feasibility. 



We have received a copy of the Results of the Magnetical 

 and Meteorological Observations made at the Royal Alfred 

 Observatory, Mauritius, in the year 1899. Some of these results 

 were alluded to in our notice of the Annual Report (Nature, 

 June 6, p. 135). Magnetic disturbances occurred on nineteen 

 occasions. A list of them is given in an appendix ; the principal 

 were : January 28-29, February 12-13, May 3-5, and Sep- 

 tember 26-27. The mean declination in the year 1S99 was 

 9' 32' "89 west. There were only four tropical cyclones in the 

 South Indian Ocean during the year, viz., on January 1-8 

 Match 3-S, November 30-December 3, and December 10-16. 

 This cyclone passed over Mozambique on the 17th ; the length of 

 its path (more than 3000 miles) has seldom been exceeded in the 

 Indian Ocean. The barometrical readings at the Observatory 

 were appreciably affected at a distance of more than Soo miles. 

 NO. 1667, VOL. 64] 



Twenty-seven seismic disturbances were recorded at the 

 Observatory during 1899. The small number of recorded 

 earthquakes at Mauritius as compared with other countries is 

 noteworthy. 



The origin and birthplace of the Proboscidea have long been . 

 a puzzle to students of evolution and distribution, the mastodons 

 suddenly making their appearance in the middle part of the 

 Miocene, without our having hitherto had the slightest clue as to 

 their connection with more generalised types. The puzzle has, 

 in a great degree, been solved by Dr. C. W. Andrews, of the 

 British Museum, who, during a recent visit to Egypt, was 

 fortunate enough, while travelling in the Fayuni district in 

 company with Mr. H. J. L. Beadnell, to come across two 

 Tertiary deposits which have yielded a previously unknown 

 vertebrate fauna, a part of which is described by Mr. Andrews 

 in the September issue of the Geological Magazine. From the 

 upper beds, provisionally regarded as Lower Oligocene, were 

 obtained remains of a small mastodon like animal (Palajo- 

 mastodon), differing from Mastodon by the simpler last molat 

 and by having five pairs of cheek-teeth simultaneously in use. • 

 The other remains are from a lower horizon, perhaps Upper 

 Eocene, but possibly rather older. Most remarkable is a 

 primitive proboscidean (Mceritherium), with a nearly full 

 series of front and cheek-teeth, the latter being of a generalised 

 Ungulate type. That this animal is an ancestor of the mastodons 

 and elephants may be inferred from the enlargement of the 

 second pair of incisors in both jaws and the small upper 

 canines. All the six pairs of cheek-teeth were in use at the 

 same time. More problematical are the affinities of a huge 

 Ungulate described as Bradytherium. From the same beds 

 Mr. Andrews obtained a Zeuglodon, previously described by 

 IJames, and also a Sirenian, probably identical svith Owen's 

 Eotherium. A description of the reptiles is promised later. 

 The importance of the discovery can scarcely be overestimated. 

 It is noteworthy, in connection with a recent theory, that the 

 fauna is situated in the Holarctic, and not in the Ethiopian, 

 region. 



In their Report to the forthcoming anniversary meeting, the 

 committee of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, 

 Durham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne have to deplore the deaths 

 of three prominent members, namely Lord Armstrong, Dr. 

 Embleton and Mr. R. Howse, the last of whom served the 

 Society so well for many years as curator of its valuable 

 museum. We learn that Mr. E. L. Gill, who has been ap- 

 pointed to succeed Mr. Howse, speaks well of the general state 

 of the collections. The finances of the Society, we are glad to 

 hear, continue in a satisfactory condition. 



The Bulletin of the Agricultural College at Tokyo contains 

 a capital investigation by Mr. U. Suzuki on the formation and 

 distribution of theine in the tea plant. The seed contains no 

 theine, but this alkaloid appears during germination even in the 

 dark. The roots and stem contain a moderate amount of theine, 

 the bark very little. It occurs in greater quantity in the 

 dormant leaf-buds, and reaches its greatest development in the 

 young leaves, in which 20 per cent, of the nitrogen is sometimes 

 in this form. In old leaves the quantity is greatly diminished. 

 The theine appears to be specially localised in the epidermis of 

 the leaf. Mr. Suzuki has another paper in the same periodical, 

 on the occurrence of organic iron compounds in plants. The 

 seeds of Polygonum tinctoriuin and Indigofera tinctoria yield an 

 ash containing 12 per cent, of ferric oxide. The whole of this 

 iron exists in the seed in organic combination, apparently as a 

 ferro-nuclein. The greater part of the iron in plants probably 

 exists in a similar state of combination. 



The decorative symbolism of the Arapaho, a tribe of Plain 

 Indians belonging to the Algonquin stock, is the subject of an 



