SEPTEMBER 21, 1916] 
as an ichthyologist, focussed his attention on Heli- 
‘coprion and allied forms, Edestus and others. Since 
then the interest in them has not waned, and the 
literature of the subject grows apace. 
' THREE valuable essays appear in the Proceedings of 
the Birmingham Natural History and Philosophical 
Society, vol. xiv., part 1. The first of these is by Mr. 
Leonard J. Wills, on ‘‘The Structure of the Lower 
Jaw of Triassic Labyrinthodonts.’’ The author’s 
investigations were based upon fragments of 
Labyrinthodont mandibles found in the Lower 
Keuper Sandstone of Bromsgrove, Worcester- 
shire. The author comes to the conclusion that 
the Stegocephalian mandible helps to bridge over one 
of the gaps between the fishes and the reptiles. The 
jaw of the latter can be derived from the Stegocephalian 
mandible by a fusion or suppression of some of the 
elements, such as was probably taking place, even in 
Permian and Triassic times, in the case of the coronoid 
bones. The second concerns the geology of the eastern 
boundary fault of the South Staffordshire coalfield. 
‘The author, Mr. W. H. Foxall, describes the coal-beds, 
the Red beds, the Bunter Pebble beds, and the Glacial 
drift. The third, illustrated by numerous photographs 
and diagrams, is contributed by Prof. W. S. Boulton, 
who deals at length with the problems presented by 
an Esker near Kingswinford, South Staffordshire. The 
events recorded, the author believes, happened towards 
the close of “the Ice age, when the ice had ceased to 
advance; when, indeed, it was melting faster than it 
could be replenished from the northern Highlands, and 
the ice-front, in consequence, was slowly retreating 
northward.” 
SomE authoritative statement is required to dis- 
courage the popular belief that the heavy rains experi- 
enced this summer are connected with the bombard- 
ment in France and Flanders. In the Meteorological 
Office Circular, No. 3 (August 21) there is a note on 
the subject. Experiments to test this hypothesis have 
been made in Europe, America, Alaska, and Aus- 
tralia, but without result, and there is no evidence of 
any such influence. Furthermore, the energy of the 
heavy bombardment now proceeding, even if applied 
entirely to the removal of the heat required to produce 
rain, which it is not, would be inadequate ‘for the 
purpose. Nor must the spells of brilliantly fine 
weather be forgotten. These occurred while the bom- 
bardment was proceeding. 
In an article in the Geographical Review for August, 
1916 (vol. ii., No. 2), on the pirate coasts of the 
Mediterranean, Miss E. C. Semple points to the 
parallel between the hunting grounds of the German 
and Austrian submarines and those of the ancient and 
medizval corsairs. Mediterranean piracy has re- 
erudesced whenever maritime political control is re- 
laxed, and certain localities determined by geographical 
conditions are the natural hunting-ground of the sea- 
robbers. The configuration of the basin has always 
compressed traffic into certain narrow routes. From 
these routes traffic is unable to deviate, as it can in 
the open ocean. The nodal points on the routes—that 
is, where land restricts traffic to a more or less narrow 
strait—have been especially “favourable to pirates. 
Not only are they more sure of much prey at these 
points, but they stand a better chance of escape to 
their lurking places along the indented coasts. The 
paper is an excellent survey of the physical conditions 
’ of the Mediterranean that on one hand favoured legiti- 
mate seamanship, and on the other that debased form 
which manifests itself as piracy. 
NO. 2447, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
39 
THE report for 1915 of the director of the Liverpool 
Observatory, Bidston, shows that the ordinary work 
of the observatory has been carried out during the 
past year, while progress has been made in at least 
One direction. Besides the Milne seismograph, a new 
instrument, designed by Mr. J. J. Shaw, has been 
erected to record the tilt produced by the oscillations 
of the tidal load in the neighbourhood, and is working 
with good results. The number of earthquakes regis- 
tered during the year is 195. A small record was 
obtained of the Carlisle earthquake of October 2, the 
oscillations of which lasted for a quarter of an hour. 
ATTENTION may be directed to the Monthly Record 
of Meteorological Observations, published by the 
Meteorological Service of Canada, of which we have 
received the number for March. It contains in a con- 
venient form the complete meteorological data of some 
thirty stations in Canada, and also from Newfound- 
land and Bermuda. The publication contains two 
maps, one illustrating the total precipitation for the 
month, and the other the departure from the average 
temperature for the month. In addition to the stations 
providing detailed records, there are a large number 
for which only the monthly means and. the extremes 
are given. There is, of course, a lack of data from 
the north of Canada. The monthly record contains 
no discussion of the data. 
Tue value of fique, the fibre of Furcraea gigantea, 
in Colombia is emphasised in a short article in Kew 
Bulletin No. 7 by Mr. M. T. Dawe, ‘Director: of 
Agriculture in Colombia. It is used for the soles of 
the native shoes or alpargatas, sacks, girths, ropes, 
matting, and even for roofing the houses. For the 
latter purpose the green leaves are used, and the 
article is illustrated by a photograph showing a cot- 
tage thatched with the leaves of fique. Hand-prepared 
fibre is sold in the Bogota market at 6d. per lb., but 
by using modern machinery a profit of 19l. per ton 
might be expected if the fibre sold at its present whole- 
sale price of 160 dollars per ton. On export with a 
selling price of 251.-30l. per ton a profit of 5].—-r1ol. per 
ton’ should be realised. 
WirH a view to the ultimate production of a port- 
able dry storage cell, M. Charles Féry has, with the 
help of his pupil, M. E. Fournier, examined quantita- 
tively the chemical changes which take place in the 
ordinary storage cell. His results will be found in 
the January number of the Journal de Physique. He 
finds that neither the simple theory of sulphation of 
both positive and negative plates first put forward by 
Gladstone and Tribe, nor the later theories involving 
the production of an unstable higher sulphate at the 
positive plate are in agreement with the measure- 
ments. In the first place, the amount of sulphuric 
acid which disappears during the discharge of the cell 
is half that required by the double sulphation theory. 
In the second place, the change of weight of the posi- 
tive plate is much less than it should be according 
to that theory, and takes place in the opposite direc- 
tion. His final conclusion is that the reactions which 
take place during discharge of the cell may be repre- 
sented by the equation 
Pb+H,SO,+ Pb,O,=PbSO,+H,O+ 3PbO,, 
or possibly by 
Pb+H.SO,+ Pb.O,=PbSO,+H,O + 2PbO,, 
The former involves the production of 15 grams of 
peroxide per ampere hour, the latter 10-4. In actual 
i practice 12 to 14 grams are produced. 
