1 2 



A' ITU RE 



[September 5, 1918 



n species. Sever, speeiss were ob- 

 tained in the vicinity of McMurdo Sound, and two "I 

 these wen also taken in Ross Sea. All these (vers 

 dredged from deep water, and most of them have a 

 thick, still l.i iily-wall. The remaining eight species 

 were collected in New Zealand, off Rio de Janeiro, off 

 the Falkland Islands, and at South Trinidad Island. 

 \ nl description is given of each species, and, 



thanks to the excellent preservation of the material, 

 an account of the histology of most of them is added. 

 In the examples of Leptoteichus, Bolocera, and Cym- 

 bactis the author found numerous zooxanthella; in or 

 around the gonads, and in Phvmactis the greater part 

 of the mesoglcea of the mesenterial filaments is 

 crowded with small zooxanthellae. 



We have recently received three additional parts of 

 vol. v. of the Scientific Reports of the Australasian 

 Antarctic Expedition, niii-14. In part ii. (5 pp.) Miss 

 Mary J. Rathbun gives an account of the crabs which 

 are referable to three species, two of which are well- 

 known species of Halicarcinus and Nectocarcinus. 

 The third is a nii-galops stage of large size, taken oil 

 Macquarie Island, and described as Marestia ma-wsoni, 

 n.sp. In part iii. (4S pp., 15 pis.) Prof. G. S. Brady 

 reports on the Copepoda from the tow-nettings; fifty- 

 three species are noted, twenty-five of which are 

 described as new. The species fall into thirty-eight 

 genera, six of which are new. Several of the more 

 prevalent Antarctic forms in the collection were 

 previouslv known onlv from Giesbrecht's descriptions 

 in his report on the collection made by the Belgit a. 

 These seem to be purely Antarctic species, while a few- 

 others, e.g. CaJanit*. propinquus, seem to be almost 

 cosmopolitan in distribution. In part iv. (11 pp., 2 pis.) 

 Prof. Bradv gives an account of the Cladocera and of 

 the Ostracod family Halocypridas. 



The diminution of foreign imports into India has 

 forced the Forest Department to exploit local 

 sources of supply. Home-grown timber is now largely 

 used for industrial purposes. Indian walnut has 

 lately replaced the European variety for rifle-stocks ; 

 Chir pine has been found equal to that of Oregon for 

 gun-carriages, and Himalayan spruce is little inferior 

 to the famous Sitka variety for the manufacture of 

 aircraft. Materials for paper are being successfully 

 utilised, and tar for the Calcutta jute industry is being 

 distilled in the Punjab. A solution of gum from 

 Bauhinia retusa has been successfully used as a bind- 

 ing material for making charcoal briquettes. On the 

 whole, the efforts of the Forest Department to utilise 

 indigenous resources have been well conceived, and 

 promisi to be financiallv successful. 



•The Geological Survey of Great Britain, in the 

 sixth volume of its special reports on the mineral 

 resource^ .,t the country (19x8, ys. 6d.), describes the 

 occurrences of refractorv materials, including dolom- 

 ite. Dr. J. W. Melior has furnished tests of many 

 of the samples. One of several interesting points is 

 the present demand for calcined dolomite as a lining 

 for converters or for I In- beds of open-hearth furnaces 

 in steel manufacture. I he rock should be a compact, 

 nearly pure dolomite— that is, with some 21 per cent. 

 of magnesia. Silica should not exceed 2 per cent. 

 The manufacture of silica bricks from ganister and 

 quartzite is also described. The crushed rock is 

 usuallv bound bv an addition of some 1-5 per cent, 

 of lime during grinding, and the moulded bricks are 

 fired at a temperature of about 1500 C. 



We have received from the Pala?ontological Labora- 

 tory of Yale University a collection of reprints detail- 

 ing the results of the recent activities of Prof. Charles 

 Schuchert and his associates. They are very varied, 



NO. 2549, VOL. I02] 



ranging from notes on the Palasozoic rocks in the 

 Grand Canon of the Colorado to the evolution of 

 Palaeozoic corals and the function of the so-called 

 sacral brain in dinosaurs. One paper by Prof. R. S. 

 Lull (from Amcr. Journ. Sci., May, 1918) is a welcome 

 contribution to our knowledge of the footprints of 

 Carboniferous land vertebrates. The animals which 

 made these prints are still unknown, but they seem to 

 have been very bulky, small creatures with sprawl- 

 ing legs, having broad, stumpy feet and four toes in 

 front, five toes behind. The absence of any trace ol 

 the lail show-, that the bodv was carried clear of the 

 ground. 



Meteorological tables giving the mean values in 

 1917 for the several elements at Falmouth are published 

 in the "Report of the Observatory Committee of I In 

 Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society," and some notes 

 of interest are added. Tlie minimum barometer 

 reading for the year, 9700 mb. or 28-645 m -> was 

 recorded on August 27; it is the only instance that 

 the minimum pressure has occurred at the observa- 

 tory in the month of August. Air temperature had a 

 mean of 40-4° for the year, which is the lowest since 

 observations were commenced in 1882 ; the next lowest 

 annual mean was 50-2° in 1888. From January 14 to 

 February 3, a period of eighteen days, the maximum 

 ii mperature only once reached 40 , apparently an 

 unprecedented circumstance in the district. The total 

 rainfall was 3621 in., which is 958 in. below the 

 average of the forty-five vears, 1871-1015. The mini- 

 mum fall in anv month was 1-83 in., in December, 

 which is the lowest record for that month, and is in 

 marked contrast to 11-14 in. measured in December, 

 1015. Bright sunshine registered 1632 hours during 

 the vear, which is 132 hours fewer than the mean for 

 the thirty-five vears 1881 to 1915. In an easterly gale 

 on Januarv 27 the height to which the water washed 

 the cliffs is stated to be unprecedented so far as is 

 known. A table of sea temperature values is given, 

 and as the means at the station are now available for 

 about forty vears, the results are of considerable 

 value. Some improvement might probablv be made 

 bv comparing the sea temperature mean for the 

 several months with the corresponding days of air 

 temperature, instead of with the means of air tem- 

 perature for the several months, and the maximum 

 and minimum comparisons seem also open to ques- 

 tion. The new scale values are not systematically. 

 used, but this is probablv a matter of time, as with 

 many other observatories. 



The manufacture of synthetic indigo in Germany is 

 still considerably hampered through shortage of raw- 

 materials (Zeitschrift fur angewandtc Chemie, June 

 2r). The recent discovery of a practical source of 

 acetic acid in calcium carbide has given new life to the 

 industry bv securing supplies of one of the most 

 important raw materials. The relatively high prices 

 for synthetic indigo have favoured the cultivation of 

 the indigo plant in Eastern countries. Two large fac- 

 tories in the United States have commenced the manu- 

 facture of artificial indigo. 



Dagcus Nyheter, Stockholm, reports that it has 

 been decided to install a high-power wireless station 

 at Karlsborg. The range is 5000 km., and the masts 

 will be 210 m. high, and weigh onlv 25 tons. The 

 radiating system is formed of 60 phosphor-bronze 

 wires 450 m. long. A balancing antenna is provided, 

 consisting of a bronze wire 1 mm. thick, suspended 

 5 m. above the ground over the entire area of the 

 station. The energy will be supplied from the gene- 

 rating station at Trolhattan, and an emergency gene- 

 rator is installed at the station. 



