Marcu 10, 1904] 
NATURE 
445 
the office of president, which he has filled with such con- 
spicuous success for the last seven years, and the society 
is deeply sensible of the loss it has thereby sustained. The 
new president is the Lord-Lieutenant, the Earl of Dudley. 
The purchasing power of the society has been somewhat 
crippled by two circumstances, namely, the large amount 
of damage done to the buildings in the gardens by the 
great storm of February, 1903, and by a falling off in the 
gate-money. On the other hand, the gifts of large and 
valuable animals have been unusually numerous, including 
a young elephant and a young leopard from the Duke and 
Duchess of Connaught, and a pair of young giraffes from 
Sir Reginald Wingate. 
WE have received from the Smithsonian Institution a 
batch of papers published in the Proceedings of the 
U.S. Museum. Among these is one, by Mr. G. S. 
Miller, on bats collected in Cuba, which contains an 
interesting account of a visit to a bat-cave in the island. 
Two others, by Mr. H. C. Oberholser, are devoted re- 
spectively to the American wrens and great horned owls. 
In a fourth Messrs. Jordan and Snyder describe and figure 
two chimzras from Japanese waters, while in a fifth the 
former writer and Mr. E. C. Starks review the scorpzenoid 
fishes of Japan. Special interest attaches to the. account, 
by Mr. F. A. Lucas, of a new labyrinthodont and a new 
reptile from the Trias of Arizona, on account of the identifi- 
cation of the former, which is known by the central thoracic 
shield, with the European genus Metoposaurus (olim 
Metopias), and from the apparent affinity of the latter, 
which is known from a humerus, and is named Placerias, 
with the African Pariasaurus. 
WE have to acknowledge the receipt of vol. ii. of the 
third series of the Anales of the Buenos Ayres Museum. 
Dr. Ameghino’s article on ‘‘diprotodont’* Tertiary 
mammals from Patagonia has already been noticed in our 
columns. Among the other contents, two articles by Dr. 
H. von Ihering, the one on “* Cretaceous ”’ 
other on Tertiary brachiopods of Patagonia, are of prime 
importance. In the former the author, after pointing out 
what he regards as serious errors in the determinations of 
previous observers, that strata regarded 
Pliocene are really Pleistocene, and classed 
Miocene are truly Pliocene, while the alleged Cretaceous 
beds are considered to be more probably Eocene. Further 
observations on the subject, in which it may be hoped that 
the age of the various mammaliferous horizons will be 
taken into consideration, are promised. As regards Tertiary 
brachiopods, the remarkable resemblance between the South 
American forms and those of New Zealand, coupled with 
the equally striking difference between the former and their 
Chilian representatives, justify the opinion that the South 
American continent was formerly prolonged towards the 
Antarctic, and for this prolongation the author has suggested 
the name Archinotis. This Archinotis extended from Pata- 
gonia to Kerguelen Island at a comparatively modern 
(Tertiary) epoch, but if it formed a connection with Africa 
it must have been quite separated from the Chilian side of 
South America. 
molluscs and the 
concludes as 
others 
as 
Or the papers which appear in the second part of the 
last volume of the Transactions of the Royal Scottish 
Arboricultural Society, the description of the Atholl larch 
plantation by Mr. J. Booth is interesting both from the 
historical and scientific aspect, and the information con- 
cerning the Douglas fir plantation at Taymount refers to 
NO. 1793, VOL. 69] 
which 
a tree of great value is fairly well suited to our 
climate. The volume also contains a summary of the 
principal coniferous timbers which are imported into the 
country, written by Mr. A. D. Richardson, ‘‘ Notes for 
Planters,’’ by Mr. G. V. Macdonald, and other papers. 
A copy of the fourteenth annual report (1903) of the 
A very fine 
Agave Toneliana, and another 
Missouri Botanical Garden has been received. 
illustration is given of the 
even more interesting photograph figures Amorphophallus 
Rivieri in flower, which is represented growing from a corm 
in a saucer (Fig. 1). Mr. A. Rehder presents an exhaustive 
treatise of the genus Lonicera, supplemented with illustra- 
tions of new species. He adopts Linné’s subdivision into 
two subgenera, Periclymenum and Chamecerasus oF 
Fic. 1.—Saucer Gardening—A morphophallus Rivier?. 
Xylosteum, and sinks the subgenus Nintooa in the latter. 
Another interesting section of this subgenus is named 
Cceloxylosteum, because the free bracts occur concomitantly 
with a hollow pith in the branches. The increase in the 
number of species—the total exceeds 150—is due to the large 
number of specimens recently gathered in China and other 
parts of Central and East Asia. 
Pror. Boveri is always interesting when he writes on 
the cell, and the little volume—‘‘ Ergebnisse u. d. Konstt- 
tution der chromatischen Substanz des Zellkerns ’—just 
published by Gustav Fischer forms a useful presentation of 
the author’s views as to the permanence of the nuclear 
chromosomes. Those familiar with the literature wilt 
perhaps not find much that is new, but the clearness with 
