76 
NATURE 
[SEPTEMBER 28, 1916. 
were criticised by Miss Rosa Lee, of the English 
Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. It appeared as 
if there was a contraction of growth of scale relative 
to the growth of the body, and the Norwegian inves- 
tigators sought to explain this by postulating elimina- 
tion of the fish exhibiting the more rapidly growin 
scales. In the publication now noticed Prof. Meck 
shows that there is not exact correlation between 
growth of body and of scale; the latter grows at first 
less rapidly than, then at the same rate as, and finally 
more rapidly than does the body. Curves of growth 
are probably exponentials and show this imperfect pro- 
portionality. Selection does indeed take place; there is 
a tendency (in the case of the herring) for fish of the 
same phase of sexual maturity to shoal together, so 
that those which are (sexually) younger tend to join 
with shoals of their own phase, and vice versa. In 
the same publication Mr. B. Storrow applies the prin- 
ciple to the growth-rate of other fishes. 
Pror. E. W. Sinnott contributes to the American 
Naturalist (1., No. 596) an essay on the ‘‘ Comparative 
Rapidity of Evolution in Various Plant Types.’’ He 
concludes that the most recently evolved members of 
the North Temperate flora are herbaceous in habit, that 
herbs tend to be grouped in fewer and larger genera 
and families than shrubs and trees, and that herbs, 
with their rapid multiplication of generations, must 
be ‘‘in most cases undergoing evolutionary develop- 
ment much more rapidly than are trees and shrubs.” 
The most ancient Angiosperms were probably woody, 
and ‘herbaceous vegetation has made its appearance 
in comparatively recent geological time." 
In his history of Ethiopian earthquakes (Boll, Soc. 
Sismol. Ital., vol. xix., pp. 293-350) Prof. L. Palazzo 
has added to our knowledge of the seismic regions of 
Africa. His catalogue, which closes with the year 
Ig12, contains 142 entries, all but seven since the 
beginning of the nineteenth century. He shows that 
the seismicity of Erythraa is higher than was sup- 
posed, and that the earthquakes sometimes attain a de- 
structive intensity, while those which occur near the 
coast are occasionally accompanied by sea-waves. As 
to their origin, some are purely volcanic, but the 
majority he classes under Mercalli’s heading of peri- 
metric or intervolcanic. 
Dr. A. Cavasino has recently published a valuable 
memoir on the after-shocks of the Italian earthquake 
of January 13, 1915 (Boll. Soc. Sismol. Ital., vol. xix., 
1915, pp. 219-91). These were recorded at the 
geodynamic observatory of Rocca di Papa, which is 
about forty miles from the epicentral area. The earth. 
quake occurred at 7.53 a.m., and, owing to the 
strength of the shock, all the seismographs in the 
observatory were suddenly thrown out of action. 
Within three-quarters of an hour the more sensitive 
instruments were repaired, including the Agamennone 
microseismometrograph, the records of which are here 
considered. The loss of the earlier records of after-shocks 
is of little consequence, for, at Rome, the seismogram 
of the principal earthquake obliterated those of the 
after-shocks, and, moreover, the ground during the 
first hour was in such a state of continual agitation 
that individual shocks could not be distinguished. 
The number of after-shocks registered during the first 
twenty hours was 302, and during the first six months 
1280. Dr. Cavasino considers that the distribution in 
time of these after-shocks does not follow Omori’s 
well-known law deduced from the after-shocks of the 
great Japanese earthquakes. 
Tue Geologists’ Association (Proc., vol. xxvii., 1916, 
p. 1) publishes a beautifully illustrated paper. by 
Prof. Garwood on ‘‘The Faunal Succession of the 
NO. 2448, VoL. 98] 
- tents. 
| Lower Carboniferous Rocks of Westmorland and North: 
Lancashire,’ which serves, with its maps, as a guide 
to a very attractive district, including the high moors 
of Shap and the picturesque fault-blocks of the Arn- 
side shore. In the same volume,(p. 79) Mr. P. G. H. 
Boswell describes the constitution of the North Sea 
drift as found across eastern England. His 
mechanical analyses usefully distinguish this drift 
from the later Glacial- brick-earths; but why does he 
use such expressions as $ and 1/100 of a _ milli- 
metre? The remarkable variety and beauty of the 
mineral fragments in this mixed material are pointed” 
out by one who clearly loves his subject. 
Tue ‘Rainfall of India” for 1914, which is the 
twenty-fourth year of issue, is collected from the re- 
turns published by the various Provincial Governments, 
and is issued in one volume by the Meteorological 
Department of the Government of India under the 
superintendence of Dr. G. C. Simpson, officiating 
Director-General of Observatories. The volume gives 
the monthly and annual rainfall, as well as the average 
rainfall for about 3000 stations in India, from the 
records taken daily at 8 a.m. The number of rainy 
days is given, and although the rainfall is measured to 
hundredths of an inch, a ‘“‘rainy day”’ is taken as 
that on which a tenth of an inch or upwards has 
fallen, and the normal number of rainy days given in 
some cases is also calculated on the same assumption. 
The value of a ‘rainy day” being ten times as 
great in India as in England is regrettable, and 
some adjustment may be found possible when a 
change is made to meet the registration by the new 
units of measurement now generally adopted in this 
country and elsewhere. The normals used for the 
comparison are those revised to 1910 for the whole 
of India, and are mostly for at least thirty or forty 
years. 
Tue Bureau of Standards of the Department of 
Commerce of Washington issues a Scientific Paper, 
No. 286, on ‘*The Determination of Aluminium as 
Oxide.”” The author, Mr. William Blum, finds that, to 
avoid loss of alumina, a hot 2 per cent. ‘solution 
of ammonium chloride should be used for washing 
the precipitate, as this facilitates coagulation. Methyl 
red is used as an indicator of the optimum condition of 
alkalinity, since it shows a sharp colour change at the 
desired point. The quantitative reasons for its selec- 
tion are interestingly stated. The elimination of 
other substances from the precipitate is considered. 
A copy of the paper will be sent free on application 
to the Bureau of Standards. 
THe new American journal, Aviation and Aero- 
nautical Engineering, contains much of interest, and 
should prove a successful enterprise, both in the States 
and elsewhere. The second number is specially worthy 
of note on account of the scientific nature of the con- 
There is an excellent article on ‘‘ Aviation and 
Aerography,’”’ in which the importance of meteoro- 
logical research as a help to aviation is strongly 
emphasised. A short note entitled ‘‘An English 
Photograph of Great Interest’’ shows a very keen 
appreciation of the merits of the Royal Aircraft Fac- 
tory machines, and of their inherent stability. An 
article on ‘‘Steel Construction of Aeroplanes” con- 
tains an account of a method of construction which 
must eventually supersede wood for the larger 
machines. Perhaps the most interesting item from a 
scientific point of view is the second part of ‘‘ A Course 
in Aerodynamics and Aeroplane Design,” written from 
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The © 
authors treat of the elements of aerodynamical theory, 
and. if future articles of the series are as clearly 
