304 
NATURE 
‘se 
[NoveMBER 6, 1913 
The local distribution of the large number of species 
of birds found in this vast tract is shown in elaborate 
tables, which indicate not only the area visited by 
each, but likewise whether this includes steppe, wooded 
steppe, or alpine country. The paper should be of 
great value to students of zoological distribution. 
In this connection may be noticed a paper by Mr. 
T. Iredale in the Transactions of the New Zealand 
Institute for 1912 (vol. xlv.) on the bird-fauna of the 
Kermadec Islands, in which stress is laid on the 
affinity between the birds of New Zealand on one 
hand, and those of New Caledonia on the other. It 
is suggested that the Kermadec Islands should be 
regarded as one province of the Australian region, 
exhibiting marked Polynesian affinities, Norfolk and 
Lord Howe Islands as a second, and New Caledonia 
as a third. 
Turning to Australia, reference may be made to a 
coloured plate in the July number of The Emu, illus- 
trating the remarkable variation in shape, size, colour, 
and marking displayed by the eggs of the piping- 
crow, or Australian magpie (Gymnorhina teen 
which, it is claimed, exceeds that in any other bird. 
Nine specimens are figured, each from a different 
clutch, and each more or less unlike the rest, the 
variation in colour ranging from greenish-blue to 
reddish and sandy, and the markings from blackish 
spots to reddish scribblings. In an accompanying 
note Mr. A. F. B. Hall states that, unlike those of 
many sea-birds, all the eggs of any particular clutch 
are practically similar, and this similarity extends to 
all the clutches laid by each individual bird. This, 
it may be added, has an important bearing on the 
theory of ‘' wagtail-cuckoos,”’ ‘‘ reed-warbler-cuckoos,” 
&c. 
Footprints of the larger species of moas are, it 
appears, but very rarely found,'the two chief, if not 
only, recorded instances of their discovery having 
taken place at Turangui, Poverty Bay, in 1871, and 
on the Manawater River, Palmerston North, in 1894. 
At the latter locality four other footprints were ex- 
posed in rgrr by a flood, which washed away a bank 
15 ft. high, revealing at its base a bed of clay contain- 
ing four prints. These are described and figured by 
Mr. K. Wilson in the aforesaid volume of the Trans- 
actions of the New Zealand Institute. The tracks 
measure 18 in. across the foot, 12 in. from point of 
middle toe to heel, and 30 in. from heel to heel. 
Plaster casts have been taken. 
In the first number of vol. ii. of The Austral Avian 
Record Mr. J. B. Cleland directs attention to abnormal 
coloration in the palate and pharynx of certain Aus- 
tralian birds, the variation taking the form of black 
and grey tints in some groups, and of yellow or 
orange in others. No suggestion as to the reason for 
this departure from the normal flesh-colour is sug- 
gested. 
The autumn number (vol. v., No. 7) of Bird Notes 
and News is illustrated by a reproduction in 
black and white of an exquisite painting by Mr. H. 
Gronvold of the white heron, or egret, with the 
legend, ‘‘Where are my companions? Save me.” 
The issue includes a chronological sketch of the move- 
ment against the plumage trade, from its rise in 1869 
to the present day, with the text of the Government 
Plumage Bill. Reference is also made to the protec- 
tion of birds at lighthouses, the slaughter of swallows 
in France, and bird-catching in this country. 
In the October number of British Birds, Mr. H. F. 
Witherby records the results of a series of careful 
observations made by himself with the object of ascer- 
taining the cause of the baldness of the area round 
the base of the beak in adult rooks. The investiga- 
tion also included the moults undergone by the plum- 
NO. 2297, VOL. 92] 
the meeting was of great interest in itself, and in 
age generally. In rooks of the year the area which 
is bare in their parents is fully feathered; but Mr. 
Witherby records that a number of hair-like “filo 
plumes” grow amid the narial bristles, and that larger 
filoplumes, as well as down-like plumules, are hidden — 
among the contour-feathers of the chin and throat. — 
In the first—July and August—moult the feathers are 
renewed all over the head in the normal manner, 
although those on the area which eventually — 
becomes bare are of a somewhat abnormal type. In 
the following January, however, or somewhat later, 
the feathers of this area are gradually shed, and not 
treplaced—although most of the filoplumes and 
plumules persist—while the feather-papillz undergo an > 
abnormal development into curious pin-like growths 
over the now permanently bare area. R, Ee 
THE SYNTHESIS OF GLUCOSIDES BYe 
MEANS OF FERMENTS. 
A? the closing session of the eleventh International — 
Congress of Pharmacy, recently held at the 
Hague, Prof. Emile Bourquelot, of Paris, delivered a 
lecture on the synthesis of glucosides by means of 
ferments, in which he described the results of his 
recent researches on this subject. 
Hitherto it has not been proved that enzymes have © 
anything but an analytical action; Prof. Bourquelot, 
who has been working on the ferments for something 
like twenty years, has, however, obtained results 
which justify the conclusion that the decomposing 
action continues up to a certain point only, and that 
at this point a synthetic action begins. He gives as 
an example the action of emulsion on arbutin; one 
of the products of decomposition is hydroquinone, but 
the action ceases before the whole of the arbutin is 
decomposed. This he shows to be due to the presence 
of the products of decomposition, for when hydro- 
quinone is added to a solution of the enzyme and the 
glucoside, the decomposing action of the enzyme is 
greatly retarded. 
Having established this fact, Prof. Bourquelot 
allowed ferments to act upon methyl alcohol in the 
presence of glucose, and succeeded in forming methyl- 
glucoside 8. He next dealt with other alcohols, and 
succeeded in synthesising a series of glucosides, and 
determined the conditions under which synthesis could 
be effected. By combining different sugars with the 
same alcohol, a number of hitherto unknown gluco- 
sides was synthesised, and the synthesis of many 
others is possible. , 
PHYSICS AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. — 
"THE meetings of Section A of the British Associa- 
tion at Birmingham were of great interest to the 
general scientific public and of considerable value to. 
those more specially interested in the particular 
problems discussed and the papers read at the sec- 
tional meetings. English physicists, astronomers, and 
mathematicians attended the meeting in force. 
Among those who were present may be mentioned 
Lord Rayleigh, Sir J. J. Thomson, Sir Joseph 
Larmor, Prof. Rutherford, Prof. Bragg, Prof. 
Poynting, Prof. Hobson, Prof. H. H. Turner, Sir D. 
Gill, Dr. Glazebrook, Principal E. H. Griffiths, Prof. 
Lamb, Prof. Love, Prof. S. P. Thompson, and Mr. 
J. H. Jeans. A distinguished company of foreigners 
also attended, amongst whom were Madame Curie, 
Prof. H. A. Lorentz, Prof. E. Pringsheim, Prof. 
Arrhenius, Prof. R. W. Wood, and Dr. Bohr. With 
the president of the association a physicist, and Dr. 
H. F. Baker as sectional president, the personnel of 
