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interest at the present time, when the place of games 
in education is so much discussed, and when the Eng- 
lish habit. of “‘ playing the game”’ is showing its value, 
Apart from the scientific value, antiquarians and his- 
torians will find much that is interesting. 
Dr. Hamiyn-Harris and Mr. Frank Smith contri- 
bute some valuable notes to the Memoirs of the 
pneeoeaas Museum, vol. y., on ‘‘ Fish Poisoning and 
oisons Employed among the Aborigines of Queens- 
land.” Considering the widespread practice of fish 
poisoning, the authors hold that it is not unjustifiable 
to assume an independent origin among the Australian 
aborigines, and the evolution of an empirical know- 
ledge of efficient piscicides. Having regard to the very 
considerable number of plants used for this purpose, 
the varied properties of the poisons obtained from 
them, and the skill and knowledge displayed in their 
preparation, the intelligence and: reasoning powers of 
the preparers would seem to be of a higher standard 
than that generally attributed to them. 
Tue Rey. S. Graham Birks contributes a lengthy 
paper on Megalichthys to the Transactions of the 
Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, 
and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, vol. iv., part 2. The fossils 
described belong in part to the Hancock Museum, 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and in part to the Manchester 
Museum, some of which have not been previously de- 
_ scribed. The result of this investigation, it is con- 
tended, seems to show that the position of Megalich- 
thys in the family Osteolepidz is by no means secure. 
There are, indeed, indications that the classification 
of the Rhipidistia is in an unsatisfactory state. Ac- 
cording to the author, although Megalichthys is not 
itself the ancestral type of the Stegocephalian Am- 
phibia, there can be little doubt that the study of this 
genus leads inévitably towards the conclusion that its 
affinities: are with the ancestral type, and that - the 
Stegocephalia were evolved from a similar fish, and 
probably from ‘a nearly related form. A number of 
very) beautiful photographs add much to the value of 
this work. Foal : 
Messrs. HERON-ALLEN AND EarLanpD have issued a 
report (Trans, Linn. Soc., London, Zool.,. vol. xi., 
part 13, 1916), illustrated with five excellent plates, on 
the Foraminifera collected during the cruise of Prof. 
Herdman’s steam-yacht Runa off the west of Scotland 
in1913. The material examined consisted of shore-sand 
and dredgings from comparatively shallow waters— 
sixty fathoms being the greatest depth. A list is given 
of the twenty-five stations at which the material. was 
obtained, the more noteworthy species from each being 
indicated, and following this is a systematic. account of 
the 324 species and varieties identified in the gather- 
ings. A new species, Halophrdgmium runianum, and 
a new variety of Lagena pulchella are described; 
twenty-seven species are recorded for the first time 
from British waters, and a considerable number make 
their appearance for the second time only in a British 
list. The richest material was a lump of mud of 
about 33 lb. weight, dredged from twelve fathoms in 
Loch Sunart, which yielded 203 species and varieties 
of Foraminifera. The memoir forms an important 
contribution to our knowledge of the Foraminifera of 
the British area. 
THE report on the survey operations in New Zealand 
for the year 1915-16, has been received. Despite the 
difficulties it had to contend with in shortage of sur- 
veyors and of funds, the department records that the 
acreage of the settlement survey is considerably in 
excess of the previous year, while the cost per acre 
has been decreased. On the other hand, little triangu- 
lation was done, and shortage of paper seems to have 
NO. 2452, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
| 
155 
delayed the publication of several maps. A feature of 
the report is the inclusion of a map of Anzac and the 
Suvla Bay area on a scale of one inch to a mile, with 
the heights and trenches shown. Some notes on the 
operations accompany the map. It is fitting that the 
Survey Department should make this record of the 
gallant endeavours of the New Zealanders and Austra- 
lians in Gallipoli. 
In connection with the navigability of Hudson Bay 
and its’ value as an outlet for Canadian grain, a useful 
list of arrivals and departures of ships at and from 
Moose Factory has been compiled by Mr. J. B. Tyrrell 
(Papers and Records of the Ontario Historical Society, 
vol. xiv.). The record shows that from 1751 to 1880 
not a single year passed without at least one ship 
arriving at Moose Factory, generally in August or 
September, but occasionally in July or October. The 
ships left again in August or September. Furthermore, 
Mr. Tyrrell points out that for eighty years previous 
to 1751, and for thirty-five years after 1880, ships 
sailed from Britain to Moose Factory bringing sup- 
plies, and returned with furs. When it is remembered 
that these ships were generally old sailing vessels, and 
that as a rule no attempt was made to send more 
than the one ship a year, the record is evidence that 
Hudson Strait and Bay could easily be navigated by 
steamers for some three months at least every summer. 
Two papers by Dr. L. V, King on the ‘* Linear 
Hot Wire Anemometer "’ have been reprinted from the 
Journal of the Franklin Institute, January, 1916. In 
these papers the mathematical theory of the instru- 
ment .and.the uses to which it may be put are dis- 
cussed by the author. The instrument consists essen- 
tially of a fine platinum wire carrying an electric 
current. The temperature of the wire depends on its 
resistance and the strength of the current, and also 
on the rate at which it is cooling, since the wire, 
being very fine, has little capacity for heat, and the 
energy supplied by the current must just balance the 
loss by radiation and.convection. The loss by con- 
vection is naturally dependent on the velocity of the 
air current in which the wire is placed, and it is 
claimed that by suitable measurements of the current 
and the resistance the velocity of the air to which the 
wire is exposed can be measured with an accuracy of 
less than 1 per cent. There are obviously many cases 
where such-an instrument can be usefully employed, 
notably in mapping out the stream lines in two-dimen- 
sional motion, where the wire can be placed perpen- 
dicularly to the plane of motion. Wires of about 
1/400 in. diameter are used, so that very little inter- 
ference with the flow of air is caused. 
Mr. Murray’s new. list of announcements includes 
the following forthcoming books of science in addition 
to those to which attention has been directed already in 
our columns :—‘‘ The War and the Nation: a Study in 
Constructive Politics,’ by W. C. D. Whetham—the 
book will deal with such topics as land, coal and rail- 
ways, science and industry, and with those funda- 
mental racial problems made acute by the great loss 
of life caused by the present war; “ Volcanic Studies in 
Many Lands,” by the late Dr. Tempest Anderson, 
second series—the volume is intended as a memorial 
to the author by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, 
and will contain the results of further visits to the 
Lipari Islands, Vesuvius (after the outburst in 1906), 
and to Etna, together with photographs taken after 
the great eruptions of the Soufriére and Mont Pelée; 
“Horses,” by R. Pocock, with a preface by Prof. J. 
Cossar Ewart; and “British Agriculture: . The 
Nation’s Opportunity, being the Minority Report of 
the Departmental Committee on the Employment of 
