,12 



NATURE 



[December ig, igi8 



Electrii i o., Ltd., as director "t research labora- 

 tories as from January i, 1919. Pending the erection 

 of the necessary laboratory buildings th< temporal*} 

 offices and address of the research laboratories of the 

 General Electric Co., Ltd., will be at the Osram 

 Robertson Lamp Works, Hammersmith, London. 



An the exhibition galleries ol the Natural History 

 Museum, Cromwell Road, S.W., are now open to 

 the public on weekdays as in pre-war times. The 

 hours of opening during December, January, and 

 February are from ,,, aim. to 5 p.m. 



Diking the present year the Irish newspapers 

 reported the discovery of the apparition of a black 

 pig in the district of Killrustan, Co. Roscommon, 

 which caused much alarm, and w'as supposed to fore- 

 bode some serious national disaster. The question 

 has hem full} discussed by Miss Eleanor Mall in 

 Folk-lore (vol. xxix., part 3, September, n)iS). The 

 writer shows that the legend of the appearance ol 

 the black pig is as ancient as anything we possess 



in these islands, and that it is special!} connected 

 with llie gnat ditch known as the "Black Tig's 

 Dyke," which can be traced in fragments all across the 

 north of Ireland from Bundoran to Donegal Bav, 

 and probably formed the boundary in ancient times 

 of southern and eastern Ulster. The pig seems to 

 have been a sacred animal in ancient Ireland, possibly 

 the representative of the corn spirit, and the hunt of 

 magical boars or swine is the theme of many tales. 

 It is remarkable that it should recently have been 

 resuscitated in Ireland for purposes of religious or 

 political propaganda. 



In the November issue of Man Prof. (.. Elliot Smith 

 discusses an exhibit now in the Liverpool Free Public 

 Museums obtained in excavations in Honduras. It 

 represents an alligator or crocodile, from the open 

 mouth of which a human face protrudes. The writer 

 identities this with various forms of the dragon in 

 India, Japan, and Indonesia, and arrives at the con- 

 clusion that "no one who conscientiously studies 

 the mythology of the Old World, and appreciates the 

 fortuitous circumstances which determined the 

 arbitrary forms assumed by main of the beliefs and 

 ideas, can refuse to admit that the confused mosaii 

 of the identical elements of culture in America must 

 have conn- from the other side of the Pacific, and, 

 for the most part, received the impress of Indian 

 civilisation before the fragments were rearranged and 

 built up again into a new pattern in Mexico and 

 Central America." 



In recent years several discoveries of nmains ol 



am i. nl man in North and South America have- been 

 announced, which are critically reviewed by Dr. Ales 

 Hrdlicka in Bulletin No. 66 of the Bureau of Ameri- 

 can Ethnology. The La Brea skeleton, found in Cali- 

 fornia in IC114, is now shown to possess no charac- 

 teristics representative of any Americans earlier than the 

 Indians. \ long and careful review of the "fossil" 

 man of Vcro, Florida, leads to the conclusion that the 



remains of modern Indian type, and represent 



intentional burials. Dr. Hrdlicka adds the useful 

 warning that "those in whose work credulity and 

 fancy have no part, and who possess sufficient hard- 

 earned experience in these matters, can lie convinced 



of geologically ancient man in \nieiiea c oil \ b\ facts 

 that will make all conscientious doubt on the subject 

 impossible. As chances of peculiar associations ol 

 human bones or human . rtifacts are infinite, anthro- 

 pology in this country must expect to be called upon 

 again and again to pass on alluring claims of the 

 antiquitv of such objects. Bui the burden of proof 

 XO. 2564, VOL. IO2] 



of antiquity of such finds lies, and will always lie, 

 with those who may urge such claims. They must 

 show clear, full, conclusive evidence acceptable to 

 anthropology; and no beliefs, opinions, or convic- 

 tions, even though advanced by men otherwise deserv- 

 ing, can ever take the place of real and sufficient 

 evidence. _ Our colleagues in collateral branches pi 

 science will be sincerely thanked for every genuine 

 help they can give anthropology, but tin \ should not 

 clog our hands." 



An interesting account is given by Mr. Y. Xishikado 

 (Ber. d. Ohara Inst. /. landwirtsch. Forsch., Bd. i.. 

 Heft 2, 1917) of the rice blast fungus (Piricularia), 

 which causes serious damage to rice in Japan as 

 well as in other countries. Various strains of (his 

 fungus were isolated from rice, Italian millet, green 

 fox-tail grass, crab grass, Zingiber mioga and 'A. 

 officinale. By infection, cultural experiments, and 

 moqjhological study it was shown that these strains 

 exhibited a marked degree of specialisation to their 

 host, as well as showing other differences of a morpho- 

 logical and physiological character. The author, 

 therefore, distinguishes four species from one another, 

 viz. (1) Piricularia oryzae, Br. and Cav. Emend., on 

 rice; (2) P. grisca (Cke), Sacc. Emend., on crab' 

 grass; (3) P. setariae, sp. nov., on Italian millet and 

 green fox-tail grass; and (41 P. singiberi, sp. now, 

 on Zingiber mtoga and Z. officinale. All the- above 

 species grow readily as saprophytes upon artificial 

 media, such as rice-decoction agar. On media con- 

 taining carbohydrates the fungal growth becomes deep 

 olive to olivaceous-black, according to the species; 

 but, grown without carbohydrates (such as on bouillon 

 agar), the hvphaj remain white. The physiological 

 relationship of the four species of Piricularia to 

 various culture media, temperature, oxygen, etc., was 

 carefully recorded. Piricularia species were found to 

 exhibit a long vitality (of more than four hundred 

 davs) in cultures ; moreover, in dry conditions the 

 spores of P. oryzae maintain their vitality from the 

 autumn until the next summer (about eight month?). 

 Therefore the spores may be a source e,f early 

 infection. 



We have received the year-book and annual rain- 

 fall returns of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute 

 for the year 1 < 1 1 7 . The mean temperature of die 

 year, taking the country as a whole, was in close 

 agi :ii' ni with the normal,, lent then- was a rather 

 ■ 1 deficiency of warmth north of the Arctk 

 Circle, the mean temperature at All.n (lai. JO c X.I 

 being 1-4° C. under the average. January and July 

 were remarkably warm in all parts, while-, on the 

 '.ill.! band. April and October to November wen 

 unusuafh cold. An interesting summary of the 

 climatic conditions for 1916 is given for Green Har- 

 bour, Spitsbergen, the most northern meteorological 

 Station in the world, situated in Lit. 7S 2' N. The 

 mean temperature of the vear was - tot" t . 

 (13-8 I'. I, with extremes of ,,,s C. (5.1-50 F.) on 

 Julv 1 and -457' C. ( 50-2 I'l on Januaix 6. Onl\ 



in August did the temperature remain above freezing- 

 point. Precipitation was scanty, and amounted to only 

 11-36 in. Hourly values of temperature and press,,,, 

 at Green Harbour are given for I lie year ended June 

 i.ii 7, along with the tri-dailv readings of the various 

 climatic elements. Full particulars of rainfall and 

 mini forms of precipitation during 1017 are given 

 for 1.75 stations, the daib readings being shown for 

 in., si stations. Monthh and annual values expressed 

 as a percentage of the averag< an- shown for si N u- 

 four stations,' the- greatest excess, 45 per cent., oc- 

 curring at Engset (lat. ...•■ 14' N., long. 7 15' LA. 

 and the maximum deficiency, 41 per cent., at Lille- 



