618 
NATORE 
[ApriIL 28, 1904 
tains. We shall await with interest Dr. Wallace’s proofs 
that ‘‘ Hasan ’”’ actually visited the home of the birds-of- 
paradise. 
Two zoologists have apparently been working synchron- 
ously and independently of one another on the same sub- 
ject—the anatomy and development of Amphilina foliacea, 
the tape-worm infesting the sterlet—and the results of their 
investigations appear in the current issue of the Zeitschrift 
fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie (vol. Ixxvi. part iii.). both 
writers, Dr. L. Cohn and Dr. W. Hein, take up the subject 
as left by Salensky, and both are of opinion that his con- 
clusions require emendation. Two papers on the histology 
and morphology of insects likewise appear in the same 
issue. In the one Mr. W. Plotnikow, of St. Petersburg, 
discusses the integument and certain peculiar structures 
found therein, while in the second Mr. N. Holmgren, of 
Stockholm, commences a series of articles dealing with the 
morphology of the head, commencing with that of the 
Chironomus larva, as displayed by the periodical moults. . 
WE have received the March and April numbers (Nos. 3 
and 4, vol. ii.) of the Journal of the Royal Army Medical 
Corps. The Journal is now edited by Colonel David Bruce, 
F.R.S., R.A.M.C., and maintains the high standard of the 
earlier parts. Among other articles of interest may be men- 
tioned ‘* para-typhoid infections,’’ by Lieut.-Colonel Firth, 
R.A.M.C., cases of dum-dum fever by various writers, an 
illustrated description of the new Royal Army Medical 
College by the commandant, various clinical and editorial 
articles, and corps news, &c. 
THE report of the director (Lieut.-Colonel Semple, 
R.A.M.C.) of the Pasteur Institute of India (Kasauli) for 
the third year, ending August, 1903, has recently been 
issued. The inoculations for bites of rabid animals 
numbered 584, of which 6 were failures, a percentage of 
1-02. In addition to the inoculations, experiments are in 
progress in order to obtain an anti-rabic serum, and the 
preparation of anthrax vaccine and of antivenene for snake 
bites has been undertaken. Various bacteriological ex- 
aminations have also been carried out, the report showing 
that a great deal of valuable work has been accomplished. 
Attention is directed to the climatic difficulties that have 
to be surmounted, especially the liability to septic infection 
of the material used for the anti-rabic inoculations. 
A sMaLt collection of Mycetozoa gathered in the 
Botanical Gardens, Tokyo, is described by Mr. A. Lister, 
F.R.S., and Miss Lister in the Journal of Botany for April. 
Several of the species are found in Great Britain and Europe, 
but one, Erionema aureum, which has affinities with the 
genus Physarum, has only been recorded once previously, 
and then from the Buitenzorg Gardens in Java. 
EXPERIMENTS conducted by Mr. M. Kanda, and recorded 
in the Journal of the College of Science, Tokyo, on the 
influence of very weak solutions of certain poisonous salts 
applied to water- and pot-cultures of flowering plants agree 
with the effects produced by similar salts on cryptogamic 
plants. A percentage appreciably less than the minimum 
poisonous solution in several cases stimulated the plant to 
accelerate its growth and increase in weight. The effect 
was most marked when a 5x10-* gram molecule solution 
of zinc sulphate was added to the water-cultures. 
In an account of the fibre plants which grow wild or are 
cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands, Mr. L. G. Blackman, 
NO. 1800, VOL. 69] 
of the Bernice Museum, in Honolulu, attests the value of 
the indigenous plant, Touchardia latifolia, which furnishes 
the fibre known as olond. The plant is not common, and 
thrives best in woods at a moderate altitude. The fibre 
has been requisitioned for climbing ropes on account of its 
great tenacity. At present the cultivation of fibre yielding 
plants in these islands is practically limited to sisal hemp, 
but the writer suggests that the climate is suitable for grow- 
ing Sansevieria zeylanica, which furnishes bow-string hemp, 
and Furcraea gigantea, the source of pita fibre. 
WRITING in the Botanical Gazette upon the morphology 
of the common American water-weed, Elodea canadensis, 
Mr. R. B. Wylie gives an account of the development of 
the floral parts, and describes the details of pollination 
and fertilisation. The staminate flowers are at first sub- 
merged, but owing to the accumulation of bubbles of gas 
in the closed flowers, they break off and rise to the surface- 
The pollen grains are kept afloat by the air which is held 
round the spines. In the pistillate flower the ovary is 
situated at the base of a long floral tube; the stigmas curve 
out well over the floral envelopes, and since they are not 
readily wetted, they cause a depression in the surface film 
of the water into which the pollen grains are drawn, and 
so come into contact with the stigmas. 
Tue whole of the fourth number of vol. iv. of the West 
Indian Bulletin is devoted to information relating to Sea 
Island cotton in the United States and the West Indies- 
As the West Indian islands are considered to be specially 
suited for the cultivation of the Sea Island variety, the very 
finest and most expensive product on the market, the object 
of the Agricultural Department is to encourage its general 
introduction to the exclusion of the commoner and cheaper 
sorts. It is important, therefore, that the colonial culti- 
vators should be in possession of the most trustworthy in- 
formation to guide them in the re-introduction of the cotton 
industry. With this object in view Sir Daniel Morris, 
accompanied by Mr. J. R. Bovell, visited the Sea Island 
cotton regions of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida 
some months ago, and obtained, at first hand, a mass of 
facts bearing upon every phase of the business, from the 
nature of the most suitable soil to the final disposal of the 
cotton on the market. In addition to the report on the 
visit to the States, the number contains valuable notes on 
the various pests which injure the cotton plant in the West 
Indies, on the ginneries already established in the islands, 
on the cost of production, on the prices realised on the home 
markets, and so on. 
A DESCRIPTION of the topography and geology of the 
Baharia Oasis, in the Libyan desert, has been prepared by 
Dr. John Ball and Mr. H. J. L. Beadnell (Survey Department, 
Public Works Ministry, Cairo, 1903). This oasis is a large 
natural excavation in the great Libyan plateau, and is 
entirely surrounded by escarpments of Upper Cretaceous 
limestones and sandstones, with thin cappings of Nummu- 
litic limestone (Eocene). The grey limestone and white 
challx of the Danian form the prominent upper scarps, while 
the oldest strata are represented by the Nubian sandstone, 
partly Cenomanian and partly Senonian. The greatest 
length of the oasis is 94 kilometres, and its greatest width 
about 42 kilometres. Within the excavated area there are 
nany isolated hills, some capped by white limestone, others 
by (? Oligocene) dolerite and ferruginous quartzites. The 
lowest part of the oasis is 113 metres above sea-level, and 
the floor consists of sandstones and clays strewn with rock 
fragments. There the springs occur and also the villages. 
