













































APRIL 21, 1923] 
Bont HARPOONS DISCOVERED IN YORKSHIRE.—In 
1922 Mr. A. Leslie Armstrong described in Man two 
_ bone harpoons said to have been found at Hornsea, 
West Yorkshire. At the Hull meeting of the British 
Association the harpoons were again exhibited, and 
Mr. Sheppard, curator of the Hull Museum, ques- 
tioned their authenticity on various grounds. The 
Matter having been brought to the notice of the 
Council of the Royal Anthropological Institute, a 
committee, consisting of Sir C. H. Read, Dr. A. 
Smith Woodward, and Prof. Percy F. Kendall, was 
appointed to investigate the matter. The report of 
the committee is published in the April issue of Man. 
The members report that there is no evidence in the 
objects themselves that is conclusively against their 
genuineness: that the similarity of the barbs in the 
two examples, though found 4 miles apart, points to 
the conclusion that they are the work of the same 
individual. ‘‘ It is worthy of remark that at the time 
the earlier find was made there was no available 
example of a Maglemose harpoon.”’ ‘‘ Mr. Sheppard 
appears to have had strong grounds for doubting 
the authenticity of the harpoons, but the evidence 
SF which his judgment is based is no longer verifi- 
able.” 
Bay Cuinic Sratistics.—No. X. of the ‘‘ Studies 
‘in National Deterioration ’’ (Cambridge University 
Press, 15s.), forming a subsection of the series of 
Drapers’ Company Research Memoirs, is a thorough 
analysis of data provided by a baby-clinic in a large 
Manufacturing town, carried out by Miss M. N. 
arn and Prof. Karl Pearson. The authors have 
made very full use of the method of correlation and 
Teach various conclusions of interest and practical 
importance. Two of these may be noted. The first 
is that there is a considerable if not very large (0°37- 
0°43) correlation between the health of an infant at 
irth and at the end of the first year, a result com- 
patible with general biological considerations, incom- 
patible with the catch word ‘all babies are born 
healthy.’’ The second is that although the use of a 
baby “ comforter ”’ is associated with ill health over 
the full period of observation, the correlation is almost 
doubled when the health of babies under 14 days 
old is correlated with use of a comforter. The most 
plausible interpretation is that the delicate babies 
are preferentially supplied with comforters rather 
han that the comforter itself is an important cause. of 
ill health. Those readers who are not versed in the 
Botany 1n Inp1a.—The report for 1921-22 of 
Lieut.-Col. A. T. Gage, the director of the Botanical 
Survey of India, directs special attention to the 
eyeance of Parts I. and II. of the ‘‘ Botany of 
B and Orissa,’ by Mr. H. H. Haines. These two 
parts contain the description of 76 families, from 
the Ranunculacee to Cornacee. Part IV. of the 
“Flora of the Presidency of Madras,”’ by Mr. J. S. 
Gamble, has also appeared, containing the families 
Rubiacez to Ebenacee. The most interesting eco- 
nomic development in progress appears to be the 
promotion of cinchona planting in Southern Burma 
under the superintendence of Mr. P. T. Russell. 
Cinchona seedlings were planted out in May 1921, on 
a site near the Heinze river at an elevation of 1700 
feet. Unfortunately this situation proved to be 
apparently “‘the point of impact of the very arrow 
_head of the monsoon ”’ ; during June, July and August 
more than 240 inches of rain fell and more than half 
_the seedlings succumbed. The survivors have since 
NO. 2790, VOL. 111] 
NATURE 
547 

. Research Items. 
been growing very well, but it is proposed to recom- 
mence operations farther south in the Tenasserim 
Division of Burma, where the rainfall is both less in 
amount and more evenly distributed over the year. 
The cultivation of Ipecacuanha has apparently com- 
menced very successfully on an experimental scale in 
Southern Burma, the temperature being more equable 
in this climate than in the Eastern Himalayas where 
this plant is grown. 
GENETICS AND THE History oF WHEAT.—The 
Maine Agricultural Experiment Station continues to 
be prolific in genetic results, the chief contribution 
being from Drs. Karl Sax and John W. Gowen. In 
an important paper on sterility in wheat hybrids 
(Genetics, vol. 7, p. 513), Dr. Sax continues his work, 
in which it is shown that the three groups of wheat 
species, namely, the Einkorn, Emmer, and Vulgare 
groups, have respectively 7, 14, and 21 chromosomes 
as their haploid numbers. He has now investigated 
the chromosome behaviour in various hybrids be- 
tween these different groups and finds conditions very 
similar to those obtained by Rosenberg, Gates, and 
others in similar hybrids. In crosses between members 
of the first two groups there are, for example, 7 bivalent 
and 7 single chromosomes, the latter separating at 
random when the former split. The origin of the tetra- 
ploidand hexaploid conditions in wheat is also discussed. 
Prof. Percival has shown that all three of the groups of 
wheat can be traced back to prehistoric times, Einkorn 
being grown in Central Europe in Neolithic times, 
Emmer and Vulgare also being prehistoric in Europe, 
and the former dating back to 5400 B.c. in Egypt. 
All the groups are therefore of sufficient age for a 
considerable evolution to have taken place within 
them. The higher numbers of chromosomes appear 
to have arisen by duplication of the original set of 
7 pairs. This would mean also duplicating the heredi- 
tary factors present. Now in wheat, 14 different 
characters are known to be dependent on one factor, 
4 depend on two factors, while only the red grain 
colour is represented by three independent factors. 
Hence it would appear that in the polyploid wheats 
most of these factors had arisen as mutations after 
the origin of the tetraploid and hexaploid conditions. 
Prof. Percival considers that the Vulgare (hexaploid) 
group arose as a hybrid between Triticum aegilops 
and a member of the Emmer (tetraploid) group. The 
study of the chromosomes is clearly of the greatest 
importance in tracing the history of our cultivated 
crops. The species of Avena (oats) show a similar 
series of chromosome numbers. Polyploid wheat 
hybrids produce small or wrinkled seeds. The endo- 
sperm in a cross between tetraploid and hexaploid 
forms may contain 14 x 2+21(=49) chromosomes or 
21x 2+14(=56) chromosomes according to which is 
the male parent, as the female parent contributes two 
nuclei, These unbalanced conditions result in ab- 
normal development of endosperm. 
INFECTION AND CYTOLOGICAL STUDIES OF PLASMO- 
PARA.—In the Journal of the College of Agriculture, 
Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, Vol. XI., 
Part 3, Makoto Nishimura gives a description of the 
methods of infection and of fertilisation of Plasmopara 
Halstedii Farlow, parasitic upon Helianthus annuus 
and other Composites in America. Although pub- 
lished in Japan this work was carried out at Columbia 
University under the guidance of Prof. R. A. Harper. 
The most striking feature of the infection experiments 
is the demonstration of zoospore infection through 
the roots, the zoospores apparently penetrating the 
middle lamelle in the absorptive region of the root. 
