FEBRUARY 4, 1904] 
NAT ORE 329 
Tue fourth part of vol. Ixxv. of the Zeitschrift fiir wissen- 
schaftliche Zoologte is taken up by two papers on parasitic 
organisms. In the first, Dr. R. Ritter von Stummer- 
Traunfels commences a general account of the anatomy and 
histology of the Myzostomaria, those remarkable annelids 
parasitic on crinoids and starfishes, with a description of 
Myszostoma asteriae. In the second Mr. F. Schmidt de- 
scribes Branchiobdella parasita, an oligochate worm infest- 
ing the gills of the crayfish. 
Tue first appendix to the Kew Bulletin for the present 
year has been received. It contains a list of, seeds of hardy 
herbaceous plants and of hardy trees and shrubs which 
ripened at Kew during the preceding year. The unfavour- 
able conditions which prevailed have considerably reduced 
the number of species in the list. 
Tite Journal of Botany (January) opens with the first part 
of an account of R. Brown’s list of Madeira plants, which 
is contributed by Mr. J. Britten. The Rev. W. M. Rogers 
presents a general list of plants gathered in the three 
botanical counties which form the subprovince of the north- 
east Highlands, and gives separately the collections made 
near Tomatin and Dalwhinnie, two stations situated above 
the thousand feet level. 
S1GNor F. ArpissoneE has made a study of the flora of 
Monte Baro, a peak near Lake Como, and publishes a list 
-of the plants collected there in the Memoirs of the Lombardy 
Institute of Science and Arts. Despite the somewhat low 
altitude and the circumscribed area of the mountain, the 
number of species is considerable, and the flora contains 
‘several types which are sparsely distributed in Lombardy, 
this being especially noticeable in the case of the orchids. 
AN account of the native timber trees is contributed by 
Mr. A. O. Green to the Proceedings of the Royal Society of 
Tasmania. The author not only describes their specific 
qualities and uses, but is able to give the results of tests 
which he has made in order to determine the strength of 
the more important of these. Owing to the scarcity of soft 
wood trees in Australasia, it is interesting to note that two 
valuable pines, the huon pine, Dacrydium Franklinii, and 
the celery-top pine, Phyllocladus rhomboidalis, are both said 
only locally 
to be common, the former being, however, 
abundant. 
A sMALL brochure upon the application of electricity to 
the cultivation of plants has been received. The writer, 
M. Guarini, has summarised the principal experiments 
which have been recorded under two heads, distinguishing 
between those in which electricity has been adopted as the 
source of continuous artificial light and those in which the 
plant is stimulated by electric currents. The latter method 
is the more important, and, according to the experiments 
of M. the results are distinctly 
beneficial, mainly in the increased amount of growth. 
Lemstroem and others, 
Tue Mitteilungen aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten con- 
‘tains a new map of the central part of Kamerun, between 
Sanaga and the eighth parallel cf north latitude, by Herr 
M. Moisel. The scale is 1: 1,000,000, and the map includes 
much new and unpublished material. 
Tue first number of the new volume of the Abhandlungen 
of the Vienna Geographical Society is devoted to the intro- 
ductory part of a valuable monograph on the Federated 
Malay States, by Mr. W. R. Rowland. The section issued 
‘deals with the physical geography of the region and its flora 
-and fauna. Publication has unfortunately been delayed for 
NO. 1788, vol. 69] 
two years, but the paper has been brought up to date by 
competent hands in Vienna. The second part, which will 
apparently deal with the development of the States under 
British protection, is to be accompanied by a map. 
Tue National Geographic Magazine for January contains, 
besides a number of short articles of interest, a report of an 
address delivered before the National Geographic Society 
by Mr. F. H. Newell, chief engineer of the Reclamation 
Service, United States Geological Survey. The Reclam- 
ation Service is responsible for the carrying out of a law 
passed by Congress in 1902, which provides that the pro- 
ceeds of the disposal of certain public lands shall be set 
aside for the construction of irrigation works in the arid 
regions of the west. Mr. Newell gives some account of the 
progress of work up to the present time. The paper is 
illustrated by a number of useful physical maps. 
A THIRD edition, which has been greatly enlarged and 
almost entirely rewritten, of Dr. A. Rabagliati’s ‘ Air, 
Food and Exercises. An Essay on the Predisposing Cause 
of Disease,’’ has been published by Messrs. Bailliére, 
Tindall and Cox. 
Messrs. CHARLES GRIFFIN AND.Co., Ltp., have published 
a third English edition of ‘* The Cyanide Process of Gold 
Extraction,’’ by Prof. James Park, the first edition of which 
was reviewed in Nature for June 14, 1900. The text-book 
has been revised and enlarged, much new material—dealing 
for the most part with lead-smelting of gold-slimes, the 
sulpho-telluride ores, and filter-press practice—having been 
added. 
Women workers in all branches of activity will find some- 
thing useful to them in the ‘* Englishwomen’s Year Book 
and Directory, 1904.’’ Miss Emily Janes, who edits the 
volume, is to be congratulated upon the completeness of 
the new issue of this annual publication. The volume con- 
tains sections dealing separately with science and educa- 
tion. The former includes brief notices of the research work 
in science upon which women are at present engaged; a 
list of the principal scholarships and exhibitions for science 
attainable by women; and lists of the societies of which 
women may women who are 
engaged as examiners or lecturers in science. The section 
of the ‘‘ Year Book’”’ dealing with education contains an 
excellent account of the present facilities for the higher 
education of women in our home universities. 
become members, *and of 
A NEW magazine for technical students, entitled Technics, 
has been started by Newnes, Ltd. The new 
periodical is designed to become the organ of the great body 
of students of technological science throughout the country. 
Messrs. 
If the magazine, as its founders intend it to do, succeeds in 
increasing the number of people interested in technical and 
scientific work, and in becoming a medium for the inter- 
change of ideas between those engaged in technical instruc- 
tion, it will have fully justified its existence. The contents 
page of the first number is an exceedingly varied one, 
ranging as it does from the art of dyeing to the training 
of chauffeurs. Among the articles may be mentioned a de- 
scription of the Technical High School at Charlottenburg, 
by Prof. Dalby; on radium, by Mr. E. Edser; on rapid- 
cutting steel, by Prof. J. T. Nicolson; and contributions” 
on different aspects of the technical education problem by 
Sir William Abney, Sir William White and others. 
A seconD edition of vol. ii. of Dr. F. 
“ Grundriss einer Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften ’’ has 
been published by Mr. W. Engelmann, Leipzig (London : 
Williams and Norgate). The volume deals with the de- 
Dannemann’s 
