3°4 



NA TURE 



[January 25, 1906 



In addition to several papers relating to the human sub- 

 ject, the January issue (vol. xl., part ii.) of the Journal of 

 Inatomy and Physiology contains contributions on the 

 anatomy and development of the lower mammals. Among 

 these is one by Dr. T. H. Bryce on the development of 

 the thymus gland in the lung-fish, Lepidosiren paradoxa, 

 in the course of which the author arrives at the important 

 conclusion that, at least up to an advanced larval con- 

 dition, this organ has absolutely nothing to do with the 

 development of leucocytes. Apparently the leucocytes take 

 origin in a tract along the hind kidney, and, at any rate, 

 there is evidence of their existence before the thymus cells 

 have lost their epithelial characters. In another paper 

 Trof. Symington discusses the bearing of the structure of 

 fcetal whale-flippers on the development of additional digits 

 and joints in the hand and foot of vertebrates generally. 

 In cetaceans the suppression of nails or claws has led to 

 the development of a cartilaginous rod at the end of each 

 digit which is apparently a reversion to the primitive 

 mammalian condition. " Such a condition would obviously 

 facilitate the development of additional cartilaginous 

 elements to adapt the limb to ils newly acquired function 

 as a balancing and steering organ." Hence the occurrence 

 of " hyperphalangism " is easily accounted for. while 

 indications of incipient " hyperdactylism " are afforded by 

 rudiments in some cases of the development of a sixth 

 digit. 



In the annual report of the Botanical Department, 

 Trinidad, for the year 1904-5, the superintendent, Mr. 

 J. H. Hart, directs attention to the advantages of budded 

 over seedling oranges in maintaining the qualities of any 

 selected strain. Trinidad oranges have been successfully 

 transported to England from time to time, and last year 

 a consignment of mangos was sent over that carried well, 

 and was said to compare favourably with the best Indian 

 fruit. Among shade trees for cacao, Gliricidia maculata, 

 the "Madura" oi Central America, has been in consider- 

 able demand, and Honduras mahogany has also been 

 planted. The cotton experiment plots suffered severely from 

 the " boll rot." 



Mr. D. McAlpine records in Annates Mycologici (vol. 

 iii.. No. 4, 1905) the discovery of a peculiar set of rusts 

 on species of Acacia in Australia that he places in a new 

 genus, Uromycladium. The characteristic of the genus is 

 a branched carpophore producing at the ends of each 

 branchlet one to three separate teleutospores, or in place 

 of one of the teleutospores a colourless vesicle or cyst. 

 Mr. McAlpine regards the genus as a link between 

 Uromyces, which has a single teleutospore, and Ravenelia, 

 a peculiar genus in which the stalk is compound and a 

 number of spores are joined together at the top, with 

 vesicles below. Of the seven spei ies enumerated, uredo- 

 spores and spermogonia are known for some, but no 

 secidia have as yet been found. 



The Times <<l January 12 . :ontains a comprehensive 

 summary of the rainfall of 1905, by Dr. H. R. Mill. The 

 work is valuable from a double point of view — from the 

 vast amount of material relating to the rainfall of the 

 British Islands that Dr. .Mill has at his disposal, and from 

 the almost incredible shortness of time in which he has 

 been able to compile his statement, in advance of the usual 

 annual rainfall volume, which takes at least six months 

 to produce. The author points out that during an average 

 year no spot with a fall of less than 20 inches appears on 

 the rainfall map of Great Britain; last year there were 

 about 7500 square miles, while the area with rainfall 

 NO. 1891, VOL. J $] 



exceeding 40 inches measured some 29,000 square miles, or 

 less than a quarter of the country. In an average year 

 more than a third of the area of the country has a greater 

 fall than 40 inches. A table based on a thirty years' 

 average which accompanies the paper shows that none of 

 the fifty-one stations quoted for England and Wales reached 

 the normal amount, that only one did so in Ireland, and 

 about half the stations in Scotland. From these figures 

 Dr. Mill estimates that the general rainfall for England 

 and Wales was onlv S3 per cent, oi the average; for 

 Ireland, 80 per cent. ; for Scotland, 96 per cent. In other 

 words, for every inhabitant of the British Isles there was 

 last year 224,000 gallons less rain than in an average year. 

 Further, that the year 1905 has justified the three years' 

 cycle of one wet year followed by two dry years; the 

 probability of 1906 proving a wet year has not been con- 

 tradicted by the weather of the first half of January. 



Mi;, van der Grinten, whose projection of the whole 

 globe in a circular map, published last year, attracted con- 

 siderable attention, deals with another cast — that of the 

 "apple-slice" shape — in Petermann's Mitteilungen (p. 237, 

 1905). 



Dr. Gerhard Schott contributes a paper on the relief 

 of the bed of the Southern Ocean, and the distribution 

 of bottom temperatures, to Petermann's Mitteilungen 

 (No. 11, 1905). The soundings and temperature bbsen 

 ations of recent expeditions are made use of, and the author 

 has compiled an admirable bathymetrical chart showing 

 the state of our knowledge of the region in 1905. 



The Zeitschrift der Gesellschafi fur Erdkunde (No. 9, 

 1905) contains a paper on the geographical conditions 

 determining the distribution of moorlands, by Dr. F. 

 Solger. The chief factors taken into consideration are 

 rainfall, surface topography, and elevation, and the rela- 

 tions of these three factors in different types of moorlands 

 are discussed. 



The publishers of I'Elleiricista have issued a useful 

 little book, by Dr. G. Agamennone, under the title of 

 " La Registrazione dei Terremoti." The words " in 

 Italia " should have been added to the title, as the book 

 -illy devoted to Italian work, and hardly refers 

 to that which has been done elsewhere, especially in Japan, 

 where the ideas embodied in the Italian instruments were, 

 with few exceptions, anticipated in the publications of the 

 Seismological Society of Japan. The omission is justified 

 by the plea of the author that any attempt at adequate 

 recognition of the work done in other countries would have 

 swollen the book to an undesirable size ; as it is, we have 

 a well got up and clearly written account of the seismo- 

 scopes and seismographs used in Italy, which are singularly 

 efficient if somewhat more cumbrous than the English or 

 Japanese patterns. 



The Rendiconto of the Bologna Academy (vols, v.-vi.), 

 covering the period 1900-2, has just been sent out. It 

 contains a series of illustrated papers by Dr. Francesco 

 Crevatin on the terminations of nervous systems ; also 

 papers by Prof. Augusto Righi on the magnetic field of 

 a 1110 vine charge and on the acoustic properties oi con- 

 densers, by the late Prof. Emilio Villari on the heating 

 effects of electric discharges and on Rdntgenised air, by 

 Prof. Ferdinando Paolo Ruffini on the three cusped hypo- 

 cycloid, and others. 



We have received the annual report of the ( ircolo 

 Matematico di Palermo, which shows an increase in its 

 membership roll from 27 in March, 1SS4, and 103 in 



