x 
Fesruary 8, 1917] 
somewhat heavy. The ice has already afforded the 
pastime of skating, but it has not as yet become 
general, as in the more severe winters of 1890-91 and 
1894-95; . 
THE council of the Association of Chambers of 
Commerce is, we learn from the Times, considering 
draft Bills designed to carry out reforms in our 
systems of weights and measures and of coinage, and 
should the council approve of them they will be sub- 
mitted to the Chambers of Commerce throughout the 
country. If there proves to be general agreement the 
association’s Bills will be introduced into Parliament. 
It is probable that a Bill for establishing a decimal 
coinage will have first attention, the Bill for intro- 
ducing metric weights and measures not being pressed 
until the country has grown accustomed to a decimal 
coinage. It is suggested that the simplest means of 
making the change would be the adoption of the 
present florin, which is the tenth part of a sovereign, 
as the unit. The existing farthing would be replaced 
by a ‘“‘cent,” equal to the hundredth part of a florin, 
instead of a ninety-sixth part as now. In this con- 
nection it is worthy of note that Sir Edward Holden, 
at the meeting on January 26 of the London 
City and Midland Bank, of which he is chairman, 
expressed himself strongly in favour of the 
adoption by this country of the metric system. 
One of the hindrances to the extension of our foreign 
trade, he said, is the fact that we do not present our 
catalogues in foreign countries so advantageously as 
do other countries. If we are seeking to extend our 
trade to those countries where German influence has 
hitherto predominated we must at once begin to adopt 
the systems which are most easily comprehended by 
purchasers. The metric and decimal systems have 
been adopted by all European countries except Russia, 
and: in that country they were, before the war, fast 
coming to the front. ‘These systems are also used 
in South America and Japan. In fact, there are few 
countries which do not use them at the present time. 
Ow1nc to the special importance at the present time 
of establishing commercial connections on a firm basis 
between the Allied countries, the Russo-British Cham- 
ber of Commerce at Petrograd requests all British 
firms wishing to trade with Russia now or after the 
war to send their catalogues and price-lists (not fewer 
than ten copies) to the chamber, 4 Gorochovaia, Petro- 
grad, Russia. The catalogues will be placed in the 
special library of the chamber, and will be distributed 
to Russian merchants interested in. the development 
of their trade connections with England. 
A cAvE known as the Tecchia d’Equi, in the district 
known as Lusigiana and situated between Spezia and 
Carrara, has long been explored for the prehistoric 
remains which it contained. Of these, an account is 
given by Dr. Carlo de Stefani in the Atti dei Lincei, 
xxv. (2), 3. Excavations were first made in this cave 
in 1909 by Mr. Podenzana, curator of the Spezia civic 
museum, and they have now been continued by the 
author with the aid of a small grant from the Italian 
Association for the Advancement of Science. Human 
remains have been found, but only in a very incom- 
plete state, and these have been referred to about thirty 
subjects, mostly women and children. On the other 
hand, the grotto and Tecchia were principally inhabited 
by Ursus spelaeus, and, moreover, the fauna was essen- 
tially alpine in. character. The Tecchia was a real 
‘“‘abri sous roche”’ in the Triassic limestones at the 
foot of a wild region of the Apuan Alps. and at an 
altitude of 352 metres. In it was an opening leading 
into a spacious cave in which the remains in ques- 
tion have been found. Even in historic times the 
Tecchia has served as a human: habitation. 
NO. 2467, VoL. 98] 
NATURE 
453 
NEOLITHIC implements have often been found in 
places remote from the source of origin of the rocks 
of which they are formed, and it appears definitely 
agreed that the giadeitic and nephritic minerals used 
in those implements found in many regions of Italy 
are of Alpine origin. In a note in the Rendiconti 
del R. Istituto Lombardo (xlix., 15) Rosa Bariola 
publishes interesting photomicrographs of rock sec- 
tions made from implements found near Cagliari, in 
Sardinia. Three specimens were observed, one of 
giadeitite from Sant’ Apparassi, near Cagliari, one a 
fragment of an axe from Lesbo, consisting of nephri- 
tite, and the third of a form of chlorite from Settimo, 
all these localities being a little to the east of Cag- 
liari. There is good reason for thinking that. no 
rocks of the same character occur in Sardinia, and it is 
uncertain whether such are found in Corsica. 
At. facts in regard to the life-history of that most 
remarkable bird, the Hoatzin (Opisthocomus crista- 
tus), are most welcome. Hence we are glad to know 
that Father C. B. Dawson is making a careful study 
of this bird in its native haunts. The results so far 
obtained he gives us in his ‘“‘Hand-list of the Birds 
of British Guiana,’’ which has just reached us. 
Herein he remarks that the mother feeds the young 
as young pigeons are fed. That is to say, the method 
‘is the same, the young abstracting their food by 
| thrusting the head down the mother’s throat. 
| Magazine for January. 
| to the British 
_“Contribution to the Ornithology of the 
But he 
makes no mention of the nature of the food thus 
obtained. This he will probably tell us later, as he 
remarks in this account that the food-plants of the 
adult are now being investigated. It would also seem 
that this bird is polygamous. Still further notes on 
the same theme, and covering different aspects of the 
life-history, are furnished by Mr. G. K. Cherrie in nis 
Orinoco 
Region,”’ published in the Science Bulletin, vol. ii., 
No. 6, of the Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of 
the Arts and Sciences. From this source we gather 
that the young Hoatzin is almost naked at birth and 
of a shiny jet-black colour, tinged with olive. Within 
a day or two the eyes are opened, and from that 
time forward it can only be approached with the 
most extreme caution, as it drops from the nest into 
the water on the slightest alarm. He also gives 
some valuable facts in regard to its nest-building 
and the extended period over which the breeding is 
carried. 
A NEW species of digging-wasp, captured in the 
Forest of Dean so far back as 1897, is described by 
Mr. R. C. Perkins in the Entomologists’ Monthly 
Though long puzzled by his 
capture, Mr. Perkins only recently set himself seri- 
ously to the task of its identification. On bringing it 
Museum he found that Mr. K. G 
| Blair had also taken this insect in 1912 at Stanmore, 
Middlesex. His examples, a male and female, were 
bred from cocoons taken from a dead thistle-stem in 
the previous year, but though he preserved his speci- 
mens he did not attempt to identify them. The de- 
scription of the insect is given now by Mr. Perkins, 
who names it Pompilus cardui. 
In his presidential address before Section C of the 
South African Association for the Advancement of 
Science Mr. I. B. Pole Evans, chief of the division 
of botany in the Department of Agriculture, Pretoria, 
gave an interesting sketch of the rise, growth, ana 
development of mycology in South Africa. The earlier 
part of the address iis occupied with an account of the 
contributions of various botanists and travellers from 
Persoon, “the father of the science of mycology,” 
who collected in 1755, to the present day. A por- 
