36 
NALOKRE 
| NovEMBER 12, 1903 
structed by Messrs. Groombridge and South, is described, 
which is stated to be 80 feet long and 60 feet wide (the 
figure of the ‘‘ full-sized model ’’ hardly corresponds to 
these dimensions), and is to be supported on two sets of 
superposed aéroplanes, one at the front and the other at 
the rear of the machine. 
In his fifth report on seismological investigations pre- 
sented to the British Association at Bradford, Prof. Milne 
directed attention to the connection between large earth- 
quakes and variations of latitude indicated by a comparison 
of the statistics for the period 1895-1898. Mr. Adolfo 
Cancani has published in the Bolletino of the Italian 
Seismological Society the corresponding figures for 1899- 
1902, and the results tend to confirm Prof. Milne’s hypo- 
thesis. The figures for 1895 and 1896 give a smaller 
number of earthquakes satisfying the conditions laid down 
by Mr. Cancani than would be required on the hypothesis 
of such a connection, but this the author attributes to the 
fact that the arrangements organised by Prof. Milne for 
recording seismological observations were not completed in 
the two years in question. 
WE have received from the makers—Messrs. Newton and 
Co., 3 Fleet Street—an extremely simple device called the 
““ Boyla’’ tube, which has been designed for the purpose 
of demonstrating all the phenomena attendant upon the 
processes of ebullition and condensation. It consists of a 
strong glass tube about four inches long and three-eighths 
of an inch in diameter, in which a readily vaporisable 
liquid is hermetically sealed. When held over a very small 
flame the liquid boils, and when its temperature reaches 
the critical point the surface rises and becomes ill-defined ; 
then the liquid vaporises and forms clouds in the upper 
portion of the tube, which in turn condense and form drops 
that fall through the space above the liquid in the form 
of rain. Thus the whole process of ebullition and con- 
densation may be shown to a number of students at one 
time, and in a much more convenient manner than is at 
present in general use. The tube is bent round at the top 
in the form of a hook, so that it may be readily suspended 
over the flame, and, in the absence of accidents, it may be 
used over and over again ad libilum. 
THE author of the article on ‘‘ Botany at the British 
Association ”” in Nature for November 5 writes to say 
that the last line of the paragraph dealing with Miss 
Sargant’s paper on the origin of the Monocotyledons (p. 
18) should read, ‘‘ it was more like a Dicotyledon than a 
Monocotyledon.”? In his report he inadvertently transposed 
the words Dicotyledon and Monocotyledon. 
THE September issue of the American Naturalist contains 
a continuation of Prof. Morse’s synopses of North American 
invertebrates, this section dealing with the parasites of the 
genus Trichodectes, which infest mammals. 
In the October number of the Zoologist Mr. J. L. Bonhote 
records the existence of a British example of the mouse- 
coloured bat (Myotis murinus), taken at Girton in 1888. 
The specimen was probably brought over from the Con- 
tinent with plants or other produce. The only other record 
of the species in our islands is afforded by some specimens 
taken in the grounds of the British Museum previous to 
1855. 
A PAPER in the October issue of the Zoological Society’s 
Proceedings on ‘‘ The Marine Fauna of Zanzibar and 
British East Africa,’ by Mr. F. F. Laidlaw, deals with the 
planarians of the Zanzibar district, in which, out of a total 
of nine species collected, eight are described as new, four 
of them being referred to new genera. Apparently no shore- 
NO. 1776, VOL. 69] 
haunting species have hitherto been recorded from the 
eastern side of Africa, except in the Red Sea and Cape 
Colony, hence the high percentage of novelties. Q 
Unper the title of ‘‘ Cold Spring Harbor Monographs,” 
the Brooklyn Institute has commenced the issue of a series 
of short animal biographies after the plan of the well- 
known ‘‘ L.M.B.C. Memoirs.’’ Of the two issues before 
us (forming the first and second of the series), the one, by 
Miss Smallwood, deals with the beach-flea or sand-hopper 
(Talorchestia longicornis), while the second, by Mr, Daven- 
port, is devoted to the local representatives of the insects 
of the group Collembola, with special reference to the move- 
ments of the section included in the family Poduride, Both 
memoirs are illustrated with plates, which are perhaps a 
little rough in execution, 
Dr. O. ABEL, in the Sitzungsberichte of the Royal Vienna 
Academy, describes certain isolated molars of anthropoids 
from the Leithakalk. One of these, for which the name 
Griphopithecus suessi is suggested, indicates a new generic 
type, while the other is assigned to Dryopithecus, with the 
title D. darwini. It is also pointed out that the name 
Arthropodus, proposed by Dr. Schlosser last year for certain 
anthropoid remains, is preoccupied, and the name Neo- 
pithecus is suggested.in its place. In the same journal 
Dr. F. Werner describes the reptilian and amphibian fauna 
of Asia Minor. Special attention is devoted to the true 
lizards (Lacerta), which are illustrated in three coloured 
plates, one form being described as new, under the name 
of L. anatolica. 
A RECENT Bulletin of the New York State Museum is 
devoted to an account, by Dr. J. L. Kellogg, of the feeding 
habits and growth of Venus mercenaria, commonly known 
as the ‘‘little-neck clam.’’ In his introductory remarks 
the author directs attention to the rapid diminution in the 
number both of that species and of the true “‘ clam ’”’ (Mya 
arenaria), both of which form important articles of diet in 
New York. ‘‘ Clam-farming’’ would undoubtedly long 
ago have taken the place of ‘‘ clam-digging ’’ were it not 
that beaches and sand-flats are public property to which 
everyone has the right of access. The little-neck clam, 
although it will also flourish between tide-marks, grows 
most abundantly below low-tide mark, where it is taken 
with tongs. ‘‘ Much of the shallow bottom about Long 
Island, in which clams were formerly taken, has been 
leased to oystermen. The profit from oyster culture is 
much greater, acre for acre, than that derived from the 
taking of hard clams, which are left to propagate by the 
natural method. The areas left to clammers are now 
limited, and the great part of the supply used in the canning 
industry comes from the southern coast. At the same time 
clams are’rapidly diminishing in the available beds.” 
Tur new cone of Mont Pelée and the gorge of the 
Riviére Blanche, Martinique, are dealt with by Mr. E. O. 
Hovey (Amer. Journ. Science, October). He directs 
special attention to the new ‘‘ spine”’ or obelisk of which 
an illustration was given in Nature for October 1. Mr. 
Hovey remarks that no one can say exactly what the nature 
of the spine is, but probably it is largely pumiceous. 
Another striking feature is the filling of the gorge of the 
Riviére Blanche with calcined rocks, dust, and ashes which 
have been poured out of the crater by numerous eruptions. 
Tue National Transcontinental Railway is planned to 
extend to the north of the Canadian Pacific Railway, from 
New Brunswick through Quebec and Ontario to Winni- 
peg, in Manitoba. There it meets the Canadian Pacific 
Railway, and diverges again to the north, through parts of 
