458 
NATURE 
[DECEMBER 18, 1913 
quality, and is coarse and deficient in texture, flavour, 
and aroma, hence only available for Indian consump- 
tion, and bringing a low price. Improvements in 
quality of tobacco may be obtained (1) by the dis- 
covery of new cultivation methods ensuring a larger 
yield and a better quality of leaf; (2) by the intro- 
duction of improved methods of curing; (3) by the 
growth of superior kinds. The present paper deals 
with the third aspect of the question, the immediate 
problem being the production of a good cigarette 
tobacco, and details are given of the extensive experi- 
ments which have been made in the attempt to build 
up, by hybridisation, new kinds of tobacco suited to 
Indian conditions of growth, and possessing the 
qualities necessary to obtain a better price. The 
author has made a thorough investigation of inherit- 
ance in tobacco, with special reference to the morpho- 
logical characters which are of economic importance, 
namely those concerning the habit of the plant and the 
leaf, but points out that it will probably take some 
years to obtain a complete knowledge of the subject, 
which has proved far more complicated than was at 
first supposed. The paper is illustrated by numerous 
plates. 
Tue valuable series of reports issued in connection 
with the Clare Island Survey is now approaching 
completion. We have just received a copy of the 
latest issue, No. 64 of the series. This deals with 
the Foraminifera, and the authors—E. Heron-Allen 
and A. Earland—are to be complimented on the ex- 
haustive character of their report, which is illustrated 
on a most liberal scale. Besides being the longest 
report vet issued in connection with the survey, it is 
the largest single contribution to the literature of 
the British Rhizopoda since the publication of Wil- 
liamson’s monograph in 1858, and pending the issue 
of the new monograph on which the authors are now 
engaged, the Clare Island report should prove a useful 
handbook to workers in this order. No fewer than 
299 species and varieties are recorded from thirty- 
seven shore sands and dredgings made in the Clare 
Island area, a surprising number in view of the 
general uniformity of depth and bottom conditions 
reported. Fourteen species and varieties new to 
science are figured and described in the report, which 
also records thirty-two other forms for the first time 
in Great Britain in the recent condition. Many of 
them are already known in Britain as fossils. Among 
other outstanding features of the report we notice 
with pleasure an exhaustive and up-to-date biblio- 
graphy and an analysis of the important genus Dis- 
corbina, which is illustrated by a diagram of the 
affinities of the principal species. The publication of 
similar analyses as regards other genera would be of 
permanent advantage to the science. 
Tue United States Department of Agriculture has 
sent us the first number of the Journal of Agricultural 
Research, a periodical which will partly supersede the 
bulletins and circulars hitherto issued by the various 
bureaus and offices of the Department. The new 
journal—a” large octavo—is well printed and _ illus- 
trated, affording a worthy channel for the publication 
of valuable researches. The first number contains 
NO. 2303, VOL. 92] 
| 
three papers. Mr. W. T. Swingle describes Citrus 
ichangensis, a new species from south-western China, 
which bears a fruit known as the ‘‘Ichang lemon”; 
it is believed that the plant is hardy and might be 
advantageously introduced into North America. Mr. 
B. H. Ransom describes in detail Taenia ovis (Cob- 
bold), hitherto known only in the cysticercus stage 
from sheep. The adult tapeworm, now discovered 
in the dog, is compared with T. marginata, and other 
allied forms. The concluding paper, by F. M. Web- 
ster and T. H. Parks, deals with Agromyza pusilla, 
Meigen, the maggot of which mines in the leaves of 
clovers and many other plants, both in Europe and 
America, 
In the monthly chart of the Indian Ocean issued 
by the Meteorological Office for December some very 
interesting notes are given relating to the aurora in 
both hemispheres, selected from reports contained in 
ships’ logs and other sources. Among the latter some 
valuable observations by Dr. C. Chree are especially 
noteworthy. Among these he mentions that in the 
north the latitude of maximum frequency is believed 
to vary from 55° in long. 60° W., to fully 75° in 
long. 90° E.; aurora is seen at least five times as 
often in the north of Scotland as in the south 
of England. There seems to be a fairly well-marked 
eleven year period, closely connected with the sun-spot 
period. The phenomenon is generally considered to be 
caused by electric currents in the atmosphere, but — 
opinions differ widely as to the origin of these cur- 
rents. 
quoted. 
In the Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical 
Society (xvii., 3, 1913) Prof. A. C. Dixon applies 
integration by parts to several well-known trigono- 
metric expansions in powers of the sine of an angle, 
and he is thus able to write down the remainders 
after any number of terms. 
In reading a review in the Bulletin of the American 
Mathematical Society (xix., 10) of Dr. Gerhard Kowa- 
lewski’s recent Calculus, we find quoted some interest- 
ing French verses from which, by counting the letters 
of the words, the ratio of the circumference to the 
diameter may be written down to thirty decimals. 
They are as follows :— 
‘Que j’aime a faire apprendre un nombre utile aux 
sages ! 
Immortel Archiméde artiste ingénieur 
Qui de ton jugement peut priser la valeur! 
Pour moi ton probléme eut de pareils avantages.” 
It is much easier to remember these verses than the 
numbers, derived from counting the letters, namely— 
3°141592053589793238462643383279. 
A SEPARATE copy has reached us of Prof. Millikan’s 
paper on the elementary electric charge and the 
Avogadro constant which appeared in The Physical 
Review for August. It deals with an improved series 
of observations of the atomic charge of electricity 
by the method of falling oil drops. The improvements 
consist in a better optical system for observing the 
rates of fall of the drops, an arrangement for working 
in air at different pressures not exceeding atmospheric, 
a better method of eliminating convection in the air, 
Some of the best-known recent theories are 
