~ a ~~ on eye 
_ January 27, 1923] 
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a aah fo a a ee dis- 
_ covery of a m weaving shop in ynas 
tomb of Mehenkwetre at Thebes has caused a 
revival of interest in the subject of ancient Egyptian 
looms. Two articles in Ancient Egypt (Part iii., 
~ sad are devoted to branches of this subject. Mr. 
Wi deals with heddle-j and Mr. A. C. Mace 
with loom weights in . Some interesting 
pictures from other tombs dealing with processes of 
‘ "ay a render it easy to follow the lucid descriptions 
a text. 
__ BRASS-CASTING IN THE CENTRAL CAMEROON.—The 
methods of the artists who produced the remarkable 
ies of brass-casting at Benin are illustrated in a 
by Mr. L. W. G. Malcolm, published in the 
anuary issue of Man. Mr. Malcolm found the art 
Ses sary to a in oped a ~ 
_ principal towns being Bamum an . Asarule 
_ the iaettecial now eel is of i iaend aici, In the 
north it appears that tin was formerly brought from 
igeria, and it has been suggested that 
copper may have come from the Katanga area of the 
. In all cases the ing is done by the circ 
ue process. The articles produced by the Eghap 
tribe are generally Ly hie . personal ornaments, 
ue animal and bird forms, perfume flasks and 
. Several interesting examples of tobacco pipes 
used “ed the Eghap head-men are illustrated by Mr. 
Triassic REPTILES AND STEGOCEPHALIANS FROM 
Texas.—Publication No. 321 of the Carnegie Institu- 
tion of Washington is devoted to ‘‘ New Reptiles and 
_ Stegocephalians from the Upper-Triassic of Western 
Texas,"’ by E. C. Case. After sketching the geology 
of the borders of the Staked Plains in Texas and New 
_ Mexico, where these fossils occur, the author proceeds 
_ to the description of Buetineria perfecta, a new genus 
and species of Stegocephalia, that has its nearest 
relations in Metoposaurus. There follows a full 
ey see of Desmatosuchus spurensis and the sub- 
order tosuchia, which were originally described 
_ by Case in 1920, accompanied by a restoration of 
_D. spurensis. Of new parasuchians there are Promy- 
striosuchus ehlersi, a fully mature phytosaur of the 
_ Mystriosuchid up, of small size and distinct in 
its characters from any L ggrerd described, and 
Leptosuchus crosbiensis and L. imperfecta. Descrip- 
_ tions of isolated bones of parasuchians and the 
remains of a small dinosaur, with notice of some 
_ coprolites and a small fragment of a jaw containing a 
singularly shaped tooth reminiscent of the teeth of 
_ Diadectes, terminate this important monograph, 
which is well got up, as all the publications of the 
Institution are, and most excellently and abundantly 
_ illustrated. 
: PHENOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON PLANTS.—Dr. 
E. Vanderlinden has published (Recueil de 1’Institut 
botanique Léo Errera, t. x.) further results of his 
observations on the relation between the time of 
ing and various climatic conditions. He has 
now observed a series of woody plants during the 
years 1896-1920, and of herbaceous plants from 
1910 to 1920. The results are tabulated and also 
plotted in relation to external factors, such as 
maximum and minimum tem ture, soil tempera- 
ture, and hours of sunlight. . Vanderlinden finds 
_ that advancement or retardation of the flowering 
ag in favourable or unfavourable seasons is much 
" in the case of herbaceous than in those of woody 
No. 2778, VOL. 111] 
NATURE 
129 

Research Items. 
plants. This difference he attributes to the fact that 
in the latter the reserve materials accumulated to 
supply the new flowers occur in the aerial parts 
of the plant and are more exposed to the influ- 
ence of atmospheric variations. Both woody and 
herbaceous plants show a periodicity in the distance 
between the two extreme dates of flowering. These 
are considerable in April but decrease onwards, 
reaching a minimum towards the end of June, and 
then show a progressive increase. That is to say, 
the flowering periods of the last half of May and the 
whole of June are less affected by climatic variations. 
The chief factor in inducing this periodicity is the 
less prevalence of inhibiting tem tures during the 
summer months as compared with the spring. The 
observations were made at Uccle in Belgium. 
THE CONDITION OF THE EARTH'S INTERIOR.—The 
criticism by Mr. W. F. Jones of Prof. T. C. Chamberlin’s 
views as to the planetesimal origin of the earth has 
been mentioned in a letter published in Nature 
(August 19, 1922, p. 249), and itis only fair to state that 
Prot. Chamberlin has published a reasoned reply to 
Mr. Jones in the American Journal of Science, vol. 204, 
Pp. 253, October 1922). He maintains that the 
evidence as to the propagation of earthquake-waves, 
which originate “‘ within the shell not very far below 
the surface,"’ is entirely opposed to any theory of the 
existence of a molten interior in the earth at the 
present day, while the conception that such an 
interior might have arisen by condensation of solid 
particles in the past is incompatible with the planet- 
esimal hypothesis. He has probably not yet had 
time to consider J. Joly’s startling suggestion that 
changes within the ean may give rise to bursts of 
radioactivity, and that these may bring about the 
complete melting of a previously solid earth. 
Chamberlin remarks that the proofs given by Coleman 
and others of the batholitic nature of the granite that 
invades the outer and ancient sedimentary crust are 
destructive of the idea of an underlying crust of light 
material, such as might have gathered round a molten 
globe. To many thisargument will not appear entirely 
sound. The occurrence of batholites forming in- 
trusive gneisses over very wide and separated areas 
seems to imply the existence of a crustal layer of 
granitic composition from which they have ascended 
as remelted representatives. 
WEATHER IN THE PHILIPPINES.—Hourly meteoro- 
logical observations made at the Central Observatory 
of Manila during the calendar year 1919, prepared 
under the supervision of Rev. José Algué, S.]J., 
Director of the Weather Bureau, have recently been 
received. Hourly readings are given of barometer, 
temperature, humidity, and wind velocity. During 
the year nine typhoons visited the Philippine Islands, 
and in all there were twenty-five depressions or 
typhoons throughout the Far it. These were all 
observed from June to December, no typhoons 
occurring from January to May. The Manila rainfall 
broke all records since the formation of the Observa- 
tory in 1865, both as to the monthly and annual 
amount. In August the total fall was 78-09 in. ; 
the previous maximum fall in any month was 57°88 in. 
in & tember 1867. In the whole year the total 
rainfall at Manila was 154°39 in., almost double 
the normal annual fall; the greatest previous record 
in any year was 117°27 in. in 1867. The lower parts 
of the city of Manila and of several provinces of the 
westérn part of central Luzon were flooded from the 
