May 15, 1902 | 
INVA THO: 
67 
(temperature at starting not stated). 
at Trappes (Paris) and Pavlovsk (St. Petersburg), but the 
results are not yet known. Mr. Rotchsent up a kite from Blue 
Hill Observatory, U.S. The lowest temperature, corresponding 
to the time of the European ascents, was — 16°O ata height of 
1242 metres. During the period in question there was an area of 
low barometric pressure over western Europe, which extended 
from Spain to Scandinavia, while over the eastern part of the 
continent there was an area of high pressure ;.the ascents from 
Vienna were made under the influence of the latter atmospheric 
conditions. 
RESEARCHES carried on by Prof. F. E. Weiss on a Carboni- 
ferous plant-remain found at Halifax, and named Nenophyton 
vadicu‘osum by Mr. Thomas Hick, show that the specimen may 
with little hesitation be regarded as the ‘‘ root” of Lefzaophloios 
Juliginosus—a view which supports the contention of the late 
Ascents were also made | 
| 
to its power of withstanding unfavourable conditions. In the 
same journal, Mr. H. Kuwano describes a new Japanese 
Balanoglossus. 
THE presidential address delivered by Dr. Erwin F. Smith 
before the Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology is 
published in full in a recent number of Seéevce. Taking ‘‘Plant 
Pathology” as the subject of his discourse, comparisons are 
instituted between the conditions under which the pathologist 
worked twenty years ago and the improved modern-day methods. 
At that time pure cultures were almost unknown, and precise 
fixing and staining methods had not been devised. Then fol- 
lows a considerable list of important researches from the time 
of De Bary down to the present day. Finally, looking forward, 
| Dr. Smith suggests that the pathologist of the future will require 
Prof. W. C. Williamson that the plant was of stigmarian | 
character. (Manchester Memoirs, vol. xlvi., 1902, No 9.) 
THE Annuaire of the Royal Academy of Belgium for 1902 
contains a biography, with portrait, of the late Biron de Selys 
Longchamps, who died at Liege in 1909. It appears that the 
family of Selys has been intimately connected with Liege since 
the seventeenth century. Fuil justice is done in the memoir to 
his work on the natural history of his own country, as well as to 
that on ornithology, ichthyology, and other branches of bio- | 
logy in general. 
THE movements of gregarines are discussed by Mr. H. 
Crawley in the first part of the Proceedings of the Philadelphia 
Academy for 1902. The theory that these tiny organisms possess 
a kind of passive locomotion by means of the gelatinous threads 
they exude from the hinder part of the body is rejected—for one 
reason because such a mode of motion is unparalleled in the 
animal kingdom. Instead of this, the author believes that 
locomotion is effected by transverse muscular movements in the 
body, although the exact nature of the action and its results 
can only be surmised. 
In the Proceedings of the U.S. Museum (vol. xxiv.), Mr. 
Jordan, assisted in one case by Mr. M. Sindo and in another 
by Mr. J. O. Snyder, continues his valuable illustrated review 
of the fishes of Japan. Four parts are now before us, the first 
dealing with the surf-fishes (Embiotocidze), the second with the 
angler-fishes, the third with the ‘‘trachinoids,” and the fourth 
with the salmonoids, With regard to the lack of sharply defined 
specific or subspecific characters between the numerous forms of 
the latter, the authors are inclined to adopt the view that this is 
in part at least due to the modern origin of the group. 
Pror. H. F. Osporn, in the April number of the 4ynericaz 
Naturalist, urges the importance of ““homoplasmy ” as a law 
of latent or potential homology, taking for his text the inde- 
pendent origin of certain cusps in the cheek-teeth of the 
Primates which are clearly homologous. Assuming that all 
teeth started from the tritubercular type, we are forced to the 
conclusion that there is some principle in the constitution of 
these teeth which unifies up to a certain point the subsequent 
variation and evolution. 
AN explanation of the survival of the brachiopod genus 
Lingula from Cambrian times is offered by Mr. N. Yatsu in 
Annotationes Zoologicae Japonensis (vol. iv. part ii.). A part of 
the Japanese coast where this brachiopod flourishes was a few 
Seasons ago coated with a deposit of muddy sediment from a 
flooded brook. All the burrowing molluscs were immediately 
killed, but the Lingula were unharmed. Asitisalso known that 
Lingula will live in an aquarium after the water has become 
unfitted for other organisms, it is inferred that its survival is due 
NO. 1698, voL. 66] 
to consult or, better still, train himself as a chemist and physi- 
cist. A preparation of eight years is considered to be none too 
long to fit the future pathologist for his life’s work. 
WE have received a copy of a syllabus of a special course in 
natural history for training college and King’s students, issued, 
under the supervision of Prof. J. A. Thomson, by Marischal 
College, University of Aberdeen, for their summer session. 
The book, which is beautifully illustrated, appears in every 
way admirably adapted to the purpose for which it is intended. 
It commences with an examination of a series of types of 
British vertebrates, followed by a selection of invertebrates. 
Then comes a discussion of the principles of classification, with 
brief definitions of varieties, species, genera, &:. The structure 
| of the cockroach is then exemplified, after which we have a 
brief table of the animal kingdom with appropriate illustrations. 
Another lesson deals with living animals, this being followed 
by a discussion on adaptation to surroundings and mode of life. 
The pupil is then introduced to the leading features in the 
structure of limbs, after which development claims his atten- 
tion. Finally, there are illustrated studies of various types of 
common animals from four different points of view. 
THE first number of the fortnightly Agricultural News (16 
pages, one penny) was published by the Imperial Department 
of Agriculture for the West Indies on April 25, and has been 
very well received by the colonials. Its contents are of a most 
varied character, appealing to all classes of cultivators in the 
islands, dealing, not only with the staple industry, sugar, but 
also with bats, beetles, tarpon fishing, grape cultivation, market 
reports, notices of books, &c. It is proposed to make a special 
feature of reports on the work which is being carried on at 
chemical laboratories, botanic institutions, agricultural shows, 
&c., and of the promotion of agricultural education in the colleges 
and schools of the West Indies. In future the West Jndian 
Bulletin will be the quarterly journal of the Department for 
scientific and technical readers, while the Agrécaultural News 
will bethe publication for the masses and theclasses. Although 
the Department has only been in existence a little more than three 
years, it is evidently already widely appreciated, for its publica- 
tions have now an extensive circulation in all parts of the tropics, 
the income from the sales disclosing a steady increase. 
Dr. HERBERT J. WEBBER has published a complete account 
of his investigations on the germination of the pollen grain and 
the series of events leading to fertilisation in two species of 
Zamia (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant 
Industry, Bu//..2, 1901). The paper is a valuable addition to 
our knowledge of a most important race of plants, and the 
author’s treatment is critical as well as descriptive. He shows 
that the male prothallium consists at first of two (or possibly 
three) cells, of which the terminal one divides into a stalk and 
“central ’ cell (the latter = antheridial cell of other authors). 
From the central cell the two antherozoids are formed, and the 
entire mass is used in their formation. The blepharoplasts, 
