398 
NATURE 
[ FEBRUARY 25, 1904 
in this genus has been known only in two Old World 
species, and the author institutes comparisons between this 
organ in the two latter and in the American form. 
To the Bulletin of the American Museum Dr. J. E. 
Duerden communicates an article on certain small sea- 
anemones infesting West Indian sponges. In the dead | 
state they are white, and look not unlike small serpule. 
Aithough many species and at least two genera have been 
founded for their reception, they all appear referable to three 
species of the one genus Parazoanthus, and their range 
extends from the 
Antilles. 
Bermudas and 
Bahamas to the Lesser 
AMONG our weekly budget are two faunistic papers, the 
one, by Messrs. Snodgrass and Heller, dealing with the 
birds collected during the Hopkins-Stanford Expedition, and 
the other, by Messrs. Eigenmann and Kennedy, with a 
collection of fishes from Paraguay. Several new forms are 
described in the latter paper, which is from the Proceedings 
of the Philadelphia Academy, but in the former, which is 
published in the Proceedings of the Washington Academy, 
all the novelties appear to have been previously named 
preliminary notices. 
in 
Pror. L. Errera, of the Royal Academy of Brussels, has 
favoured us with a copy of the second edition of his brochure 
entitled “Une Legon Elémentaire sur le Darwinisme,”’ 
which is published at Brussels, and is considerably larger 
than its predecessor. The main arguments in favour of 
evolution—and more especially Darwinism—are treated in 
a popular style, emphasis being laid on the importance of 
the evidence afforded by the phenomena of hybridism and 
variation, as well as on that derived from the geographical 
distribution of organisms. 
WE have received a copy of the reports of the Ulster 
Fisheries and Biology Association for 1903—the first work- 
ing year of that body. It is satisfactory to learn that, 
under the able management of the hon. director, Prof. G. 
Wilson, and the hon. secretary, Mr. R. Patterson, the 
association is starting on its career under the best auspices, 
and has already done good work. ‘The hon. secretary re- 
quests us to state that the laboratory at Larne Harbour, 
which is provided with a steam-launch and dredging outfit, 
and has a resident naturalist, is now in working order. 
The resources of the establishment are at the disposal of 
any working naturalist, with the proviso that the results of 
any investigations undertaken should be published through 
the association. The secretary adds that this is the first 
opportunity afforded to British naturalists of working with 
comparative ease and comfort on marine biology in Ireland, 
and a wide field of labour lies before them. 
A very complete list of Irish hepatics, with their geo- 
graphical distribution, has been published by Mr. SD: 
McArdle in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
The writer has taken up the work which was begun by the 
late Dr. More, who issued a report of Irish hepatics in 
1876. The botanical district of Kerry and south Cork is 
particularly rich in rare species which have been collected 
in the Killarney district and in the Dingle Peninsula. 
A LEAFLET has been issued by the Board of Agriculture 
having reference to the pine beetle, Hylesinus pintperda, 
which infests all varieties of pine trees, but rarely attacks 
other soft-timber trees. The damage is mainly caused by 
the destruction of the young shoots, into which the beetles 
bore in June or July, with the result that in the autumn | 
many of these break off. 
destroy the larvae 
May. 
The most effectual remedy is to 
which are found under the bark 
in 
NO. 1791, VOL. 69] 
Or the numerous additions to the botanical department 
of the Natural History Museum which are recorded in Dr. 
G. Murray’s report for 1902, the most important are the 
late Mr. Comber’s collection of diatoms, including micro- 
scopical preparations, lantern slides and photographs, which 
was presented by his widow, and the herbarium of hepatics 
which was purchased from Mr. W. H. Pearson. Besides 
this report, there appears in the Journal of Botany 
(February) a list of Leicestershire lichens, compiled by Mr. 
Horwood, which is supplementary to that contained in the 
flora of the county. 
Mr. Horace Cox has published a fourth edition of Mr. 
W. Bb. Tegetmeier’s ‘‘ Pheasants: their Natural History 
and Practical Management.” edition been 
enlarged. 
The new has 
A sEcOND edition of Mr. A. T. Warren’s ‘‘ Experimental 
and Theoretical Course of Geometry ’’ has been published at 
the Clarendon Press, Oxford. The propositions required, 
according to the most recent changes in the syllabus of the 
universities, for pass examinations at Oxford and Cam- 
bridge, have been included in the new edition. 
A cory of the ‘‘ Year-Book of the Royal Society of 
London * for 1904 has been received. It contains, in addi- 
tion to other information, a list of the fellows of the society ; 
particulars of the standing, occasional, and sectional com- 
mittees ; the statutes of the society; the standing orders of 
the council; the regulations for administering the Govern- 
ment grant for scientific investigations; the report of the 
council; and the president’s anniversary address. 
Tne publication of a series of monographs on scientific 
subjects has been commenced by the firm of Vieweg and 
Son, Brunswick. The first volume, which has just 
appeared, is a translation into German of Mme. Curie’s 
thesis on radio-active substances, by Herr W. Kaufmann. 
A list of papers on radio-activity, brought up to October, 
1903, is given at the end of the volume. 
Tue Smithsonian Institution has just published an index 
to the literature of thorium from 1817 to 1902. The com- 
pilation has been carried out by Dr. C. H. Joiiet, of 
Columbia University, and 1123 scientific papers dealing with 
the chemistry of thorium are indexed in the publication. 
of the 
and Sciences, 
Ix the January number Proceedings of the 
American Academy of Arts Mr. W. E. 
McElfresh describes experiments on the influence of occluded 
‘The 
resistance increases with the quantity of hydrogen occluded, 
but the two factors are not strictly proportional. By the 
occlusion of 1030 volumes of hydrogen, which represents 
the electrical 
hydrogen on the electrical resistance of palladium. 
the maximum absorption, resistance is in- 
creased by about 68 pes cent. 
Tue reaction between potassium iodide and hydrogen 
peroxide in neutral aqueous solution has been the subject of 
to experiments of 
Walton, published ‘n the current number of the Zeitschrift 
fiiy physikalische Chemie, it appears to be established that 
the decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide with the evolu- 
tion of oxygen is due to a catalytic action of the iodine ions. 
The production of small quantities of iodine and alkali makes 
it probable that hypoiodite is formed as an intermediate 
frequent investigation. According 
product, the chief reaction taking place according to the 
equations 
KI+H,O,=KIO+H,0, 
KIO+H,0,=KI+H,0+0, 
The second reaction takes place with very great velocity in 
comparison with the first. 
