206 



NA TURE 



[December 28, 1905 



It has been recognised that in the case of the winter- 

 greens, species of Pyrola, 'the seedlings possess some un- 

 discovered peculiarity. In 1882 Kamienski described for 

 the allied genus Monotropa the formation of a thread-like 

 body out of which the flowering shoot arose. Ten v. mis 

 later Prof. J. Velenovsky announced that from the seed 

 of Monesis, or Pyrola uniflora, there develops a primary 

 body, a procaulom, from which the leafy shoot develops 

 endogenously. Recently he has published an account of 

 the seedlings of Pyrola secunda in the Bulletin inter- 

 national de /' Icadimie des Sciences de BohSme, October, 

 in which he confirms his previous conjectures. 



Farmers in New Zealand are well instructed by the 

 Department of Agriculture as to the wisdom of extermin- 

 ating weeds, so that a discussion "I the weed habit in 

 plants by l>r. I.. Cockayne, published in the Canterbury 

 Agricultural and Pastoral Association's Journal, October, 

 has its special interest. On cultivated lands the weeds 

 are mostly aliens, but a number of indigenous weeds are 

 spreading over pasture lands in different parts ; they in- 

 c hide manuka scrub, Leptospermum, cotton wood, Cassinia 

 leptophylla, plantains, and species of Acacna that are dis- 

 tributed by means of their hooked burrs. The indigenous 

 grass Danthonia semiannularis is a rare instance of an 

 aggressive plant that possesses economic value. 



As a point of some importance in connection with the 

 stage at which grasses should be cut for fodder, Mr. H. 11. 

 Cousins gives in the Jamaica Bulletin (October) the results 

 of chemical analyses made at different times. In the case 

 of hay grass, Sporobolus indicus, cut after two weeks' 

 growth, the albuminoids amounted to 10 per cent, of the dry 

 weight, whereas after four weeks they barely reached 6 per 

 cent. ; a marked difference was also found in the hay of 

 guinea grass, Panicum maximum, cut before flowering or 

 during the fruiting stage. In the same number, in the 

 course of a report on cocoa cultivation, Mr. Cradwick 

 questions whether " fiddler " larva? can attack undamaged 

 and healthy trees ; on this matter there appears to be a 

 difference of opinion. 



In St. Lucia, according to the annual report for the 

 year 1904-5 of the botanic and experiment stations, cacao 

 planters are beginning to learn from the successful results 

 shown on the experimental plots that a greatly improved 

 yield can be obtained by systematic manuring and intense 

 cultivation. Among products of secondary importance, the 

 dwarf or Chinese banana, Musa Cavendishii, is receiving 

 a trial, and the cultivation of vanilla is recommended. 

 Mr. Hudson, the agricultural instructor, writing on the 

 subject of supports for vanilla plants, selects the Liberian 

 and a wild coffee plant, or the annatto, Bixa orcllana, as 

 the most suitable. 



The annual report for the year 1904-5 of the Board of 

 Agriculture in Jamaica contains an account of numerous 

 experimental plantations at Hope Experiment Station for 

 testing varieties of bananas, plantains, cassava, tannias, 

 citrus fruits, pineapples, and sweet potatoes. Of these 

 crops cassava is of special importance, as it could 

 be cultivated profitably on much land that is now lying 

 waste, if central factories were erected for the purpose 

 of manufacturing starch. In addition to the experimental 

 plots, where sixty varieties of cane are on trial, the sugar 

 industry is likely to benefit greatly by the central labor- 

 atory which is to be constructed. This will contain a 

 room fitted up for analytical work, a fermentation labor- 

 atory, and an experimental distillery. 



It is becoming more and more evident that, even in 

 minor earthquakes, the focus may be much more complex 

 than the simple fissure or cavity accepted by earlier 

 seismologists. Dr. C. Davison has familiarised us with 

 twin foci in the small earthquakes of the British Isles, and 

 now we have an account, by Dr. S. Arcidiacono, of 

 Catania, in the Bolletino delta Socicta Sisnwlogica Italiana, 

 of the Sicilian earthquake of June 14, 1904, which, though 

 nowhere more than a feeble shock, showed no less than 

 four separate centres of maximum intensity. 



A pamphlet issued by Pre. Raffaello Stiatteri, from the 

 geodynamic observatory of Quarto Castello, near Florence, 

 deals with the determination of the distance of the epicentre 

 of an earthquake from the duration of the preliminary 

 tremors. He finds from his own observations that, for 

 epicentres not more than 2000 km. distant, the distance 

 in kilometres is 5.63 times the duration of the tremors, ex- 

 pressed in seconds. Prof. Omori, working in Japan, 

 deduced a similar formula, but his factor was 6-54 for the 

 same limit of distance. This is attributed, with what 

 seems sound reason, to a difference between the constitu- 

 tion of the earth's crust under central Europe and that 

 under the sea east of Japan ; but the possibility is indicated 

 that the difference may be partly attributable to Prof. 

 Omori 's instruments being less adapted for picking up 

 the earliest tremors than those built and used by the Abb6 

 Stiatteri since 1902. 



At Detroit, Michigan, large deposits of salt underlie 

 the limestone and sandstone at a depth of 1500 feet. Bore- 

 holes have been put down through which brine has been 

 pumped; but up to a year ago all attempts to sink shafts 

 to mine the salt have proved failures owing to the sulphur 

 and gases encountered. On February 20 a new shaft was 

 begun, and has been successfully carried to the salt. 

 Illustrations given in the Engineering and Mining Journal 

 show that a crib was employed made of 12 by 12-inch 

 timbers bolted together and made absolutely water-tight. 

 This was forced from the top downwards to the salt, Port- 

 land cement being used between the crib and the rock. 

 Two powerful ventilating fans were used for driving out the 

 gases ; but even then men could only remain in the shaft 

 for a very short time without losing consciousness. 



The last issue of the Transactions of the Nova Scotian 

 Institute of Science (vol. xi., part i.), although somewhat 

 belated in publication, records a year's useful scientific 

 work. The most important paper contributed is that by 

 Prof. J. E. Woodman on the geology of the Moose River 

 gold district in Halifax county. It formed part of an 

 investigation into the pre-Carboniferous history of the gold- 

 bearing series. The gold occurs in sedimentary deposits 

 and in veins. In the former it is held chiefly in slates, 

 almost all being in the form of sulphides. In the quartz 

 veins, however, a large proportion is free within the zone 

 of oxidation, and a small amount below it. Detailed de- 

 scriptions of the veins are given, and the paper is accom- 

 panied by eighteen admirable maps and illustrations. 

 Other papers deal with sections and analyses of Nova 

 Scotian coals, by Dr. E. Gilpin ; contributions to the study 

 of hydroxylamine and its salts, by Mr. W. 11. Ross; and 

 details of about forty fungi determined by Mr. R. R. 

 Gates from the vicinity of Middleton, in Annapolis county. 



The Engineering Standards Committee has issued, in the 

 form of a pamphlet of sixty pages, a report on progress 

 of work from January, 1901, to July, 1905. Originally 

 formed with the object of standardising steel sections, its 

 scope has since been greatly enlarged. The subjects dealt 



NO. 1887, VOL. 7$} 



