12 NATURE 
result from the junction of two main streams flow- 
ing to the south of Sardinia and the north of 
Corsica respectively. 
Many disputed questions are discussed by the 
authors of the papers in this report, and we await 
with interest the results of the biological investi- 
gations. There is no doubt that the fishes and 
other groups of animals inhabiting the Mediter- 
ranean area are still imperfectly known; while 
the investigation of the pelagic microscopic life of 
these seas is one which is full of interest. A good 
deal of such work has, of course, already been 
done, but the results of investigators thoroughly 
familiar with deep-sea work of this kind in the 
northern seas are sure to be interesting, and the 
comparisons which we may expect they will at- 
tempt ought to throw new light on many questions 
of general biological interest. Pllc 
[SEPTEMBER 4, 1913 
ies : 
in existence, and a very wide personal experience 
in the forests of all parts of the country. Up- 
wards of one-third of these nfnety-four species 
are of later date than Bentham’s “Flora Australi- 
ensis,”’ or were not given specific rank by 
Bentham. From a rough calculation the number 
of valid species of Eucalyptus will not be fewer 
than 150; some generally dispersed, though the 
western species are mostly different from the 
eastern, and many of them bear more conspicuous 
flowers than the eastern. Others are very rare 
and near extinction, notably the very large- 
flowered, shrubby E. macrocarpa. It is to be 
hoped that Mr. Maiden’s health and official duties 
will permit him to bring this valuable monograph 
to a relatively early conclusion, as it is only in the 
complete form that it can be fully useful. 
W. Bortinc HEMSLEY. 
THE GUM TREES OF AUSTRALIA.} 
R. T. H. MAIDEN, the director of the 
I Botanic Gardens, Sydney, N.S.W., pub- 
lished the first part of his great work on the 
characteristic Australian genus Eucalyptus in 1903, 
and it has now reached the seventeenth part. 
There is no other country of the same extent as 
Australia in which one genus of trees largely pre- 
dominates throughout and, at the same time, has 
few extensions beyond. It has been estimated 
that three-fourths of the forest vegetation of 
Australia consists of gum trees and bushes, yet 
the genus is not represented in, the native flora 
of New Zealand, New Caledonia, Lord Howe 
Island, and other contiguous countries, including, 
I believe, New Guinea, though E. alba is a native 
of Timor. 
But, like Baeckia and Melaleuca, other myrta- 
ceous genera, Eucalyptus has a considerable north- 
ward extension in eastern Asia, limited, however, 
to one species the present distribution of which is 
peculiar. Mr. Maiden has succeeded in showing 
that this species, E. naudiniana, abundant in Neu 
Pommern (New Britain), is the same as that 
discovered in Mindanao, Philippines, by the 
United States Exploring Expedition (1838-42), and 
described under the name multiflora—a name pre- 
viously occupied. These two localities are separ- 
ated by about 13° of latitude and 25° of longi- 
tude, or, approximately, 1500 miles, and hitherto 
E. naudiniana has not been recorded from any 
intermediate locality. Its presence in the Philip- 
pines is an interesting fact in phytogeography, 
and the question arises, Is it a straggler of a 
southern migration, or is it, and similar outliers, 
a northward extension of a type of southern 
origin? But this is not the place to discuss the 
point. 
So far Mr. Maiden has described and figured 
ninety-four species of Eucalyptus, and given all 
details available of their distribution, based on 
practically all the important herbarium material 
1 "A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus” By J. H. Maiden, 
Government Botanist of New South Wales, Parts xii-xvii. Plates 50-76, 
with descriptive letterpress. - (Published by Authority of the Government of 
the State of New Sonth Wales, rg10-13.) Price 25. 6a. each part. 
NO. 2288, VOL. 92] 
NOTES. 
We are informed by Dr. H. Mohn that he has 
resigned the professorship of meteorology in the Uni- 
versity of Christiania and the directorship of the 
Meteorological Institute of Norway. Mr. Aksel S. 
Steen has been appointed to succeed him in these 
positions. 
Ar the time of going to press with our issue of last 
week, the race by Mr. H. G. Hawker in an all-British 
waterplane for the 5oool. prize offered by The Daily 
Mail was in progress. The distance to be covered was 
1540 miles, and of this 1043 had been accomplished on 
Wednesday when, according to the aviator, his foot 
slipping off the rudder bar, he lost control of the 
machine, which fell into the water of Lough Shinny, 
Ireland, and was wrecked. Mr. Hawker and his com- 
panion, Mr. Kauper, were rescued, the first-named un- 
injured, but the latter with a broken arm and 
other injuries. Although the task set him to accom~ 
plish was not fulfilled, the aviator must be con- 
gratulated upon having made a very satisfactory series 
of flights. The machine, fitted with a Green engine, 
was built by the Sopwith Aviation Company, and was 
a biplane with a span between the wing tips of 50 ft., 
and a length of 31 ft. 6 in. It had two main floats, 
with single hydroplane step, each weighing 170 Ib., 
and also a small torpedo float under the tail. The 
total weight-of the machine and passengers was esti- 
mated at 2400 Ib. 
Tue next International Conference on Cancer (the 
fourth) is to be held at Copenhagen in 1916. 
AccoRDING to the New York Medical Journal, an 
International Exposition of Safety and Sanitation will 
take place in New York in December next. It will 
include exhibits devoted to safety, health, sanitation, 
the prevention of accidents, the welfare of the public 
and the individual, and the advancement of the science 
of industry. Exhibits from foreign countries will, by 
a special Act of Congress, be admitted free of duty. 5 
A REPORT from Vienna states that a ship has been 
purchased for an Austrian expedition to the South 
Polar regions, and that funds are being collected in 
