








































Marcu 17, 1923] 
_ AFRICAN SIGN WritING.—Mr. C. W. Hobley in the 
ournal of the East Africa and Uganda Natural 
istory Society, No. 18, March 1923, has given some 
examples of sign writing collected in East Africa. It 
includes reproductions of the large fauna of the 
country, giraffe, elephants, and the like, and their 
Spoor, supposed to indicate to the friends of the artist 
the presence of game in the vicinity. Others seem 
‘to be marks of locality and property. The custom of 
using signs still survives among the natives. In 
Togoland, if a man calls on a friend and finds him 
absent, he will pull a little grass from the roof of his hut 
and attach it to a stick outside the door to announce 
to the owner that a visitor has called. Wemba hunters 
make marks on their arms to record the number of 
the bigger animals they have killed, and in some parts 
of Kavirondo the birth of each child is marked by a 
Cicatrisation on the abdomen, possibly with some 
magical object. The facts collected by Mr. Hobley 
and the illustrations he has provided are interesting 
in connexion with the origin of writing. 
THE CATHOLIC CHRISTIANS OF EASTERN BENGAL.— 
ittle has hitherto been known of the remarkable com- 
munity known as the Firingis or “‘ Franks’ of Eastern 
Bengal. The late Dr. James Wise gave some account 
yf them in the very rare volume entitled ‘‘ Notes on 
e Races, Castes, and Trades of Eastern Bengal,’’ of 
which only twelve copies were privately printed in 
London in 1883, and even libraries like those of the 
British Museum, the University of Cambridge, and 
the Royal Anthropological Institute do not possess a 
copy. Some of the information was, however, copied 
by Sir H. Bisley in his ‘‘ Castes and Tribes of Bengal.” 
Some fresh details of this curious people have now 
been collected by Mr. H. E. Stapleton, special officer 
of the University of Dacca, and published in vol. xvii., 
1922, of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 
They are believed to be descended from the Portu- 
guese pirates who infested the Delta of the Ganges in 
he sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They un- 
doubtedly include many converts from the local races, 
hey speak nothing but Bengali, are indistinguishable 
from Bengalis in dress and means of livelihood, and 
until recently they made no claim to Portuguese 
descent. They now number about 8500, but of these, 
2000, under the French Fathers, are converted natives 
nd have no claim to the name Firingi. 
Propuctiviry or Hit PasrurEs.—An inquiry 
conducted into the productivity of hill pastures in 
cmoor, Wales, and Northern England (‘‘ University 
of Oxford Institute for Research in Agricultural 
Economics: The Productivity of Hill Farming,” 
by J. Pryse Howell, London, Oxford University 
Press, 1922. Is. net) has shown the value of artificial 
manuring of pasture and of more intensive cultiva- 
tion in increasing the production of mutton, wool, 
and beef per acre. uch improvement in this 
irection is possible on the lower-lying ground, but 
it is less practicable on farms with an extensive range 
of high sheep-walks. The improvement of the latter 
will always be difficult owing to the considerable 
cost involved, but the committee of inquiry make 
certain recommendations which could well be carried 
out. Much depreciation of flocks occurs, especially 
in Wales, from the practice of allowing the rams to 
oam at will over the unenclosed sheep-walks, and 
it is recommended that a more efficient system of 
control of rams be instituted and enforced. The 
management of the ‘“‘Commons” with grazing rights 
is very unsatisfactory, and joint action by the com- 
moners is essential if matters are to be improved. 
NO. 2785, VOL. 111] 
NATURE 
gra 

Research Items. 
Bracken, heather, and gorse are too often allowed to 
grow unchecked, thus reducing the feeding value of 
the land, and the systematic burning of heather and 
gorse, and the eradication of bracken, would prove 
most advantageous. The mortality among the flocks 
from various diseases is very heavy, and causes great 
monetary loss, and the committee emphasise the fact 
that a systematic inquiry into the diseases affecting 
sheep is a matter of the most urgent importance. 
Rusts ry Sourn Arrica.—The great economic 
importance of rusts, owing to the considerable loss 
in crops that they cause, renders it essential to 
determine the life history of as many types as possible 
in order to discover the second host where unknown. 
Infection experiments have shown that the common 
rust on Vigna angustifolia produces spermagonia and 
zcidia on this species from October to January, and 
then infects the Besem gras (Tristachya rehmani) by 
means of excidiospores (M. Pole-Evans, Union of 
S. Africa, Science Bull., Nos. 1 and 2 of 1923). Uredo- 
spores and teleutospores are produced on the second 
host, the winter being passed in the latter stage, and 
with the fresh growth of the Vigna in spring, infection 
occurs by sporidia developed from the resting 
teleutospores. This rust on sweet pea and Besem 
gras is a new species of Puccinia which has not yet 
been described and named. A similar life cycle has 
been established for the mealie rust (Puccinia maydis), 
of which the spermagonia and ecidia occur from 
October to December on Ovxalis corniculata. This 
connexion was originally established by Dr. Pole- 
‘Evans, and has now been confirmed by these infection 
experiments. Other species of Oxalis tested proved 
to be quite immune, 
CoLouR INHERITANCE IN SEEDS AND FLOWERS.— 
In a paper showing the inheritance of certain brown 
and red pigments in the seeds of soy bean and rice 
varieties, Mr. I. Nagai (Journ. Coll. Agric., Imp. 
Univ., Tokyo, vol. 8, No. 1) has also made experiments 
on the physiology of the pigments involved. They 
are in two groups, the anthocyanins and the reddish- 
brown phlobaphenes. The whole subject of the 
genetic physiology of these pigments is discussed, 
and the limitations in our knowledge of the relations 
between genes, chromogens, and enzymes in colour 
production are pointed out. In the same Journal, 
Dr. S. Ikeno describes the genetics of flower colour 
in Portulaca grandifiora. The condition of colour 
inheritance resembles that in various other genera, 
the factor C producing an orange colour, C+G 
yellow, C+R red, while magenta, which is probably 
the original colour, is produced by C, R, and a blueing 
factor B acting together. R and B generally show 
complete linkage, but occasional crossing over pro- 
duces red-flowered plants. Reverse mutations were 
also obtained, from white to magenta or red, as well 
as bud mutations, which were already known. Drs. 
K. Miyake and Y. Imai (tbid. vol. vi. No. 4) similarly 
analyse the flower colours of Digitalis purpurea. 
The purple colour is due to the presence of two 
factors C and P. When P is absent the flower is 
white with red spots, while in the absence of C it 
is white with yellow spots. 
THE STRENGTH OF THE PLANT CuTICLE.—Botanists 
have recognised the importance of this question 
since the investigations conducted at the Imperial 
College of Science under the direction of Prof. V. H. 
Blackman have led to the conclusion that some 
parasitic fungi pierce the cuticle of the uninjured 
plant purely by pressure. They will therefore find 
