86 



NA TURE 



[May 26, 1904 



fiuence exercised by the particular salt contained in the 

 water on the growth and normal action of free-living cells ; 

 cell division in the animalcule Stentor being both acceler- 

 ated and modified in character by an excess of potassium 

 chloride in a normal medium. 



The London County Council is to be congratulated on 

 the issue, at the price of one penny, of a handbook to the 

 collection in the Horniman Museum at Forest Hill, 

 arranged as an introduction to the study of animal life. 

 Although some of the words and sentences are perhaps a 

 little too technical for the class who will use it, the book 

 forms an admirable guide to the general principles of 

 zoology, and is an honest attempt to put them in a popular 

 guise. 



We have received the prospectus of what promises to be 

 a very useful and interesting work, " The Animals of New 

 Zealand," by Messrs. Hutton and Drummond. As it deals 

 only with the air-breathing vertebrates of the colony and 

 its coasts, the bulk of its contents will be devoted to birds. 

 Another faunistic work on our table is the second part 

 of the Boston Society's " Fauna of New England," con- 

 taining the Batrachia, drawn up by Mr. S. Henshaw. 



The contents of the February number of the American 

 Naturalist are restricted to four articles, of which three are 

 devoted to the lower vertebrates. In the first. Prof. H. F. 

 Osborn emphasises in popular language his views with 

 regard to the classification of reptiles, in the course of 

 which he urges the propriety of forming families on phylo- 

 genetic lines. He would, for instance, include the Eocene 

 Hyracotherium in the horse family (Equida?), while a 

 closely allied contemporaneous genus is included among the 

 tapirs. The early stages in the development of an American 

 salamander (Desmognathus fuscus) form the subject of a 

 communication by Prof. Wilder, while Miss Townsend dis- 

 cusses the histology of the light-organs of the fire-fiy 

 Photunis marginellus. Apparently the author accepts the 

 view that the latter organs are modified fat-bodies 

 Fmally, Mr. E. G. Mitchell points out the relation of the 

 breathmg valves in the mouths of bonv fishes to the shape 

 of the mouth itself. 



A USEFUL summary of the metalliferous mining in Ireland 

 has been contributed by Mr. G. H. Kinahan to the Trans- 

 actions of the Institution of Mining Engineeis. 



We have received the annual report of Mr. H. B. 

 Kiimmel, State Geologist of New Jersey. It includes 

 accounts of floods, forest fires, and underground waters, and 

 reports on iron, zinc and copper mining, and on the Port- 

 land cement industry. 



We have received the Transactions of the Geological 

 Society of South Africa, vol. vi., parts i. to vi., a well 

 illustrated and clearly printed volume, dealing, as might be 

 expected, largely with the metalliferous and coal deposits, 

 and also with petrological questions. Mr. J. P. Johnson 

 contributes a paper on the discovery of implement-bearing 

 deposits in the neighbourhood of Johannesburg. In high- 

 level drift near Roodekop Farm he has found water-worn 

 implements of quartzite of Eolithic type, much resembling 

 those of the plateau gravel of the Thames basin. At lower 

 levels, along the bottom of the Bezuidenhout valley, he 

 obtained implements of Palreolithic type, the deposits beino- 

 evidently of later date than the high-level drift. Elsewhere 

 he has found implements of Neolithic type. In his opinion 

 the facts indicate that " South Africa saw much the same 

 evolution in the culture of its Stone age as did that of 

 NO. 1804, VOL. 70] 



the Thames basin and the rest of Britain and Western 

 Europe." The fossil flora of Vereeniging is treated of by 

 Mr. T. N. Leslie, who, aided by the researches of Mr. 

 A. C. Seward, gives revised lists of the plant remains from 

 the Permo-Carboniferous strata. 



The Permian fossils of the central Himalavas are de- 

 scribed by Dr. Carl Diener (Mem. Geol. Survey India, 

 series xv., vol. i., part v., 1903). In previous parts of this 

 volume, Nos. 2 to 4, the fossils obtained by the Geological 

 Survey up to the year 1893 from the " Anthracolithic series " 

 (Permian portion) were described. In the present work 

 Dr. Diener deals with specimens collected during the years 

 1898-iqoo. Under this method the fossils are treated 

 according to their stratigraphical horizon and locality. 

 The localities include Chitichun, Malla Sangcha, the Lissar 

 Valley, Byans, and Spiti. In Spiti the Anthracolithic 

 system is divided into two groups separated by a great 

 unconformity — the upper group is regarded as Permian, and 

 the lower as of Upper Carboniferous age. In the Permian 

 system, to which attention is now directed, two facies are 

 recognised in the Himalayas, and these differ in lithological 

 and faunistic characters. One facies is represented by the 

 white and red limestones of Chitichun and Malla Sangcha, 

 and it corresponds with the topmost zone of the middle Pro- 

 ductus limestone of the .Salt Range and with the Tibetan 

 series. In the other facies, developed in the main region 

 of the Central Himalayas, the Permian strata comprise 

 dark shales and calcareous sandstones ; the fauna is com- 

 posed of cephalopods, lamellibranchs, gasteropods and 

 brachiopods, while corals and Bryozoa are wanting, and 

 the majority of the leading fossils are autochthonous species, 

 none of which has been found outside the Himalayas. 

 Only a small percentage of species is identical with Salt 

 Range forms, and the affinities with the Tibetan facies are 

 less distinctly marked. 



The account of the genus Diospyros, contributed by Mr. 

 H. Wright to the Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Peradeniya, constitutes a monograph of the Ceylon species. 

 Diospyros Ebenitm, which is the main source of ebonv-wood 

 in Ceylon, is found both in the dry and wet regions of the 

 island, and is considered to be ready for felling when the 

 tree has attained a tireast-height circumference of g feet. 

 The different species vary considerably in the colour of 

 their heart-wood; in D. Ehcniim the black heart-wood owes 

 its colour mainly to chemical and physical changes of the 

 materials stored in the elements of the wood, and to a less 

 degree to a change in composition and colour of the cell 

 walls. Considerable variation occurs also in the types of 

 flowers, and in D. Ebcnum the flowers mav be dioecious, 

 monoecious, or polygamous. 



In the Proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society, Dr. 

 T. Johnson describes a fungal disease which was found 

 upon the willows known as " black mauls " growing in 

 osier beds in Connemara, and identifies the fungus as 

 Physalospora gregarina, a member of the Sphgeriacea*. The 

 willows were growing on poor and sour land, and owing 

 to their impoverished condition were especially liable to the 

 attacks of the fungus. 



The development of scientific investigation and methods 

 in connection with the agriculture of the West Indies has 

 been a prominent feature in the policy of Sir D. Morris, 

 the Commissioner of Agriculture, and an instance of the 

 valuable work which is being carried on is furnished by 

 the reports on sugar cane experiments which have been 

 conducted at Antigua and St. Kitts under the super- 



