AvcustT 10, 1899] 
AN account of an investigation of a fungus which has done 
serious damage to the cacao industry in Trinidad is given in the 
Kew Bulletin (Nos. 145-146). Mr. J. H. Hart, Super- 
intendent of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, sent to Kew 
material for examination, and the report upon it states :— 
“* Microscopic examination revealed the presence of two distinct 
fungous parasites, one being the well-known Phytophthora 
omnivora, De Bary, a species closely allied to Phytophthora 
infestans, De Bary, the cause of the potato disease ; the other a 
Nectria, which proves to be new to science, and will be known 
as Nectria Bainiz, the name suggested by Mr. Hart in com- 
pliment to Mr. Bain, who first called attention to the disease. 
The Phytophthora was present on all the pods sent, and may be 
considered as the cause of the present epidemic in Trinidad. 
The same, or a closely allied species, appears to be the cause of 
the cacao-pod disease in Ceylon. The Mectvia appeared on 
two pods, and this again possesses many points in common 
with the JVecévéa, which has caused such destruction to cacao 
trees in Ceylon by attacking the bark of the trunk and branches, 
as described by Mr. J. B. Carruthers. At present no mention 
is made of other than the pod-disease in Trinidad, but the fact 
of a parasitic Nectrta being present necessitates the prompt 
execution of measures calculated to prevent the parasite from 
extending its ravages.” Mr. G. Massee describes each of the 
species, and states the measures which should be taken to combat 
the disease. 
REPORTS on experiments on the manuring of oits, hay, and 
potatoes, and on the feeding of sheep, conducted in 1898 on 
farms in the centre and south-west of Scotland, are contained in 
the sixth annual report just issued by the agricultural depart- 
ment of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College. 
The director of the experiments is Prof. R. Patrick Wright, and 
under his guidance a large amount of serviceable information, 
similar in character to that obtained at the Agricultural Experi- 
ment Stations in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere, has 
been made known. By a scheme framed by the Scotch Educa- 
NATURE 
tion Department, the Agricultural Department of the College | 
referred to has been merged into the newly-formed West of | 
Scotland Agricultural College ; so the present report is the last 
of its series, though it is hoped that under the new college a | 
considerable development of the scope and usefulness of the 
work of agricultural education and research will be rendered 
possible. 
Vor. I. No. 12, of the Records of the Botanical Survey of 
India is occupied by Mr. V. F. Brotherus’ Contributions to the 
Bryological Flora of Southern India. A number of new species 
of moss are described. 
THE first part of the second volume of the British Museum 
Catalogue of the African Plants collected by Dr. Friedrich 
Welwitsch, dealing chiefly with the monocotyledons of the 
collection, by Dr. A. B. Rendle, has been published. 
Messrs. SWAN SONNENSCHEIN AND Co. have published a 
second impression of ‘An Introduction to the Study of 
Zoology ” by Mr. B. Lindsay. The volume is intended for 
readers beginning the study of zoology, and its chief distinc- 
tive characteristic is said to rest ‘‘in its attempt to present the 
system of classification by grades in a form suited to the 
necessities of elementary and popular teaching.” 
THE number of the Biologisches Centralblatt for July 15 
contains a very useful summary, by Prof. Moebius, of recent ad- 
vances in our knowledge of the mode of impregnation in Gym- 
nosperms and other flowering plants, derived from the remarkable 
observations of Webber, Ikeno, Hirasi, Nawaschin, Guignard, 
and Lotsy. The paper is illustrated by several figures. 
NO. 1554, VOL. 60] 
353 
To the practical engineer Molesworth’s ‘‘ Pocket-book of 
Useful Formule and Memoranda” is invaluable. The fact that 
the twenty-fourth edition, revised and enlarged, has just been 
published, indicates the extent to which the book has met with 
approbation. An entirely new electrical section has been 
added, and will increase the usefulness of what has long been a 
very serviceable manual. 
Contributions from the Botanical Lasoratory of the University 
of Philadelphia, Vol. ii. No. 1, is full of interesting papers. 
Dr. Lucy L. W. Wilson has some observations on the life- 
history of Cozopholzs americana, a remarkable American para- 
sitic plant belonging to the Orobanchez. Elizabeth A. Simons 
gives the results of a series of experiments on the rate of circum- 
nutation of the growing stem of som2 flowering plants, which 
she finds to be considerably more rapid than the rate stated by 
Darwin. Mr. R. E. B. McKenney describes observations on 
the development of some embryo-sacs, chiefly Scz//a and Hy- 
acinthus, The present publication affords one among many 
illustrations of the extent to which scientific research is being 
carried out by ladiesin the United States. Out of nine papers 
in this number, five are by women. 
THE first number of the Yorkshire Ramblers Club Journal is 
a very creditable production. Original contributions, reviews, 
illustrations, and reprints of articles which have appeared else- 
where are included, dealing with various phases of activity of 
the Club. Noteworthy among the subjects dealt with are the 
mountains and snow fields of Norway, and the caves and pot- 
holes of Yorkshire. A large number of the caves in the 
carboniferous limestone still remain unexplored ; and the Club is 
busily engaged in this almost inexhaustible field of ‘‘ under- 
ground mountaineering” and research. The manner in which 
the work of exploration has been carried on and the results 
achieved have already conferred distinction upon the Club, no 
less than on the members who are its pioneers. We shall look 
to future numbers of the Jowrnal for particulars of new 
explorations. 
SEVERAL publications containing the results of meteorolog- 
ical observations have lately come to hand. From Prof. J. M. 
Pernter we have received vols. 32, 33-35 of the Jahrbiicher of 
the K.K. Central-Anstalt fiir Meteorologie und Erdmagnet- 
ismus, Vienna, containing tabulated results of daily meteor- 
ological observations made in Austria during 1895, 1896 and 
1898.—The Jahrbuch of meteorological observations made 
during 1897 at the observatory attached to the Aagdeburgésche 
Zeitung, edited by Herr R. Weidenhagen, has, in addition to 
the usual tables, a number of curves showing graphically some 
of the results. —The Ergebnisse of hourly observations made at 
Bremen in 1898, edited by Prof. Paul Bergholz, have been pub- 
lished. —Sir Cuthbert E. Peek has issued his annual statement 
of meteorological observations made at his observatory, Lyme 
Regis, during 1898. A special tower has been erected for the 
anemometers, and upon it are placed a Dines’ pressure-tube 
recording anemometer and a Robinson anemometer, so that the 
two instruments can now be compared under very favourable 
conditions. 
SEVERAL new editions of scientific works have lately been 
received. The publication, by Mr. Murray, of the third edition 
of Mr. Edward Whymper’s guide to ‘‘The Valley of Zermatt 
and the Matterhorn ” and the fourth edition of ‘‘ Chamonix 
and the Range of Mont Blanc ” -is well-timed. All visitors to 
Switzerland should provide themselves with one or both of these 
interesting and serviceable handbooks.—A second edition of 
Prof, Henry Louis’s “ Handbook of Gold Milling” has been 
published by Messrs. Macmillan and Co. The book originally 
appeared in 1893, since which date great advances have been 
