470 



NA TURE 



[March 15, 1906 



It has been decided to found an International Associ- 

 ation of Colonial Agronomy to promote the scientific study 

 of the problems of colonial and tropical agriculture and of 

 the commercial utilisation of natural products. The head- 

 quarters of the organisation will be in Paris. The project 

 took shape at the last meeting of the French Association of 

 Colonial Agriculture and Colonisation, when a provisional 

 committee was appointed to organise the International 

 Association, with M. de Lanessan as president and the 

 following vice-presidents : — Great Britain is represented by- 

 Prof. Wyndham Dunstan, F.R.S. ; Germany, by Prof. 

 Warburg; Brazil, by M. de Piza, Brazilian Minister in 

 Paris; Italy, by Count Sabini ; Mexico, by M. de Mier ; 

 Holland, by Prof. Greshoff ; Portugal, by Prof. Batalha 

 Reis ; while France is represented by M. Myre de Vilers, 

 president of the French Geographical Society, Profs. Giard, 

 Miintz, Prillieux and Roux, and MM. Henrique, Tisserand, 

 M. Dybowski, of the French Colonial Office, and Prof. 

 Heim. The first meeting of this committee of initiation 

 will be held this month in Paris. 



On Tuesday next, March 20, Dr. J. E. Marr, F.R.S., 

 will deliver the first of three lectures at the Royal Institu- 

 tion on "The Influence of Geology on Scenery." These 

 are the Tyndall lectures ; and on Thursday, March 29, Prof. 

 Bertram Hopkinson will begin a course of three lectures on 

 "Internal Combustion Engines," with experimental illus- 

 trations. The Friday evening discourse on March 23 will 

 be delivered by Lord Roberts, on "Imperial Defence"; 

 on March 30 by Prof. Zeeman, on " Recent Progress in 

 Magneto Optics"; and on April 6 by Mr. W. B. Hardy, 

 on " The Physical Basis of Life." 



From the Egyptian Survey Department we have received 

 a copy of a " Catalogue of the Geological Museum, Cairo," 

 compiled by Dr. W. F. Hume. 



In part vi. of vol. xix. of the Proceedings of the 

 Geologists' Association Mr. M. A. C. Hinton describes 

 the horn-core of a ruminant from the Norwich Crag of 

 Bramerton as representing a new species of gazelle, under 

 the name of Gazella davicsi. 



The eyes of deep-sea animals form the subject of an 

 instructive article, by Dr. O. Rabes, of Magdeburg, in the 

 February number of Himmel und Erde. Special attention 

 is directed to the strange larval fish recently obtained 

 during the Valdivia expedition in the Antarctic, and also 

 in deep water in the Indian Ocean, and described under 

 the name of Stylophthalmus paradoxus. In this creature, 

 the systematic position of which is uncertain, the eyes are 

 mounted, crab-fashion, on stalks, the length of which 

 apparently varies according to age. 



The modern practice of supplying hives of bees with new 

 queens at comparatively short intervals renders it essential 

 that a sufficient stock of queen-bees should always be 

 available at a moderate cost to the hive-owner. In America 

 it appears that there are establishments specially devoted 

 to the rearing of queens for sale ; but as the price charged 

 is considerable, the entomological section of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture has issued a Bulletin (No. 55) in which 

 the author, Dr. E. F. Phillips, gives full instructions to 

 enable the hive-owner to breed his own queens. 



The mode in which the American prongbuck, or " ante- 

 lope," protects its young forms the subject of a beauti- 

 fully illustrated article, by Mr. H. H. Cross, in the 

 March number of the Century Illustrated Magazine. 

 According to the author, the female prongbuck, when 

 NO. 1898, VOL. J 3] 



about to give birth to offspring, proceeds to the middle of 

 one of the numerous patches of cactus occurring in the 

 haunts of these animals, and there, by means of a series 

 of bounds in the descent from which the cactuses are cut 

 to pieces by her sharp hoofs, clears a space in the centre. 

 Here the young are born, and remain for some time, secure 

 from wolves, which are unable to penetrate the cactus- 

 fence. Danger is, however, experienced from eagles, and 

 to protect their young from these birds the antelope are 

 stated to display great courage. 



The February issue of the Quarterly Journal of Micro- 

 scopical Science, which completes the forty-ninth volume, 

 contains five articles, all devoted to invertebrates, and all 

 of a highly technical nature. The most generally interest- 

 ing, perhaps, is one by Mr. D. H. Tennent on a cercarian 

 parasite, Bucephalus hainieanus, 'infesting oysters in 

 America, more especially those growing in brackish water. 

 Mr. W. Woodland continues his investigations into the 

 mode of formation of spicules, dealing in this instance 

 with those of the Cucumariae, and the " plate-and-anchor " 

 type characteristic of Synapta. The maturation of un- 

 fertilised eggs of sawflies is discussed by Mr. L. Doncaster, 

 while Prof. J. E. Duerden endeavours to explain the rdle 

 of mucus in his favourite corals, and Mr. W. S. Perrin 

 records observations on the structure and life-history of 

 Pleistophora periplanetae, a sporozoan parasite of the cock- 

 roach. 



Miss Harriet Richardson has prepared a " Monograph 

 on the Isopods of North America," recently published as 

 Bulletin No. 54 of the United States National Museum 

 (pp. liii + 727). This work contains careful analytical keys 

 of the families, genera, and species, and a short descriptive 

 account of each species illustrated by text figures of their 

 essential systematic features. The author has evidently 

 spared neither pains nor labour to make her monograph 

 complete, with the result that it must be regarded as an 

 essential part of the outfit of every zoologist who takes 

 an interest in the systematic study of this group of animals. 



Tuberculosis in cattle, by Mr. John M. Scott, is the 

 subject dealt with in Bulletin No. 55 of the New Mexico 

 College of Agriculture. Tuberculosis is defined, the extent 

 of the disease, symptoms, and modes of infection are de- 

 scribed, and the use of tuberculin is detailed. The Bulletin 

 is illustrated with five capital plates. 



A short part continuing the work of the late Mr. G. S. 

 Jenman on the descriptions of West Indian and Guiana 

 ferns has been published. This and future parts will be 

 based on Mr. Jenman 's manuscript, and it is anticipated 

 that the work can be carried to completion. In this part 

 the genus Lomaria, containing eight indigenous species, is 

 described. 



A department of forestry has been instituted in connec- 

 tion with the South African College, Cape Town. Pro- 

 vision is being made for ten resident students at Tokai, 

 where the arboretum, a forest museum, and other advan- 

 tages will furnish excellent facilities for the practical work. 

 The curriculum will consist of a preliminary scientific 

 course in the first year, followed by a two years' forestry 

 course. 



A bulletin, No. 52, on the agalhi plant, issued by the 

 Department of Agriculture, Madras, deals with the culti- 

 vation of this plant, Sesbania grandiflora, as a support for 

 the betel-vine, the leaves of which form one of the in- 

 gredients of the masticatory pdn-sopdri. The agathi plants 

 are topped to prevent them growing too high; the branches 



