November 7, 1907] 



A^A TURE 



95 per cent, were destroyed. In the West Indies the 

 Bourbon cane has been given up on account of disease, 

 but very useful and disease-resisting hybrids have been 

 produced by crossing the valuable but easily attacked 

 Tjeribon cane with the resistant Indian Tschan cane. 



It will thus be seen that breeders have the power by 

 careful selection to combine disease-resisting powers with 

 relatively great fertility, and therein lies our hope for the 

 future success of agriculture. 



THE BED OF THE WESTERN PACIFIC 

 OCEAN. 

 T^HK results of surveys carried out by the surveying 

 vpssL-1 Edi and the cable-ship Stephan during 1903 

 and 1905 in the western and south-western parts of the 

 Pacific Ocean have been published in a paper by Drs. G. 

 Schott and P. Perlewitz, recently issued in the Archiv 

 der deiitschen Seewartc. An abstract by Dr. Schott 

 appears in the Annaleii lier Hydrographie (1907, p. 108). 

 Taken in conjunction with the work of the American vessel 

 Nero (already noticed in these columns) and of the German 

 vessel S..M.S. Planet (see Annalen der Hydrographie, 1907. 

 pp. 49 and 50, 193 and 194, and 196), these soundings 

 throu- a great deal of new light on the configuration 

 of the sea bottom in those regions, disclosing certain 

 characteristic features of great interest in their bearing 

 . on the history of the Pacific Ocean and its extension west- 

 ward at the expense of the .Asiatic continent, and also on 

 the general problem of the form of the surface of the 

 lithosphere. 



The typical form may be described thus. Along a line 

 running seaward from the coast of Asia the depth is 

 (beyond the continental shelf) about 3000 metres ; it 

 diminishes slowly and fairly uniformly at first, then rapidly, 

 until the surface is reached on a cross-line of islands. To 

 seaward of the islands the bottom falls first slowly and 

 then very steeply to a line of " deeps," in which depths of 

 7000 metres to 9000 metres are reached ; then follows a 

 fairly gradual rise to a " Horst " some 4000 metres below 

 the surface. These structures, so far as appears from 

 these observations, occur (i) in the Liu-Kiu Islands and 

 deep; (2) in the Tulur Islands and deep; and (3) in a line 

 following the Pelew Islands, Yap, Guam, and the eastern 

 Ladrones. The soundings of the Planet show that the 

 ** Tulur " deep (2) is continuous with a long, narrow 

 trough extending northward along the cast coast of the 

 Philippines, and it seems not unlikely that the " Liu- 

 Kiu " deep (i) is part of the same depression. The 

 " Guam " deep is identical with the " Caroline " deep 

 discovered by Friederichsen in 1901. 



The troughs forming the deeps are usually about ten 

 miles wide (the Guam deep is as much as twenty miles 

 across), and Drs. Schott aiid Perlewitz are of opinion that 

 they are the result of subsidence occurring on an enormous 

 scale along lines of fracture. It is probable that the dis- 

 turbances which produced these structures are compara- 

 tivelv recent ; geological relations suggest Tertiary times, 

 at least in the case of the Liu-Kiu deep, and there is 

 obviously nothing in the suggestion incompatible with the 

 I great antiquity of the Pacific basin as a whole. 



HYDROLOGY IN FGYPT. 

 " 'pHE Rains of the Nile Basin and the Nile Flood of 

 1906 " is the first of a new series of periodical 

 reports which are being published by the Survey Depart- 

 ment of Egypt. These departmental papers are intended 

 to comprise results of technical or scientific interest which 

 are obtained In the course of the work of the department. 



Captain H. G. Lyons, the director, says that although 

 the increase of rainfall stations in British Central Africa, 

 LTganda, and the Sudan has materially reduced the 

 difficulty of forecasting the flood, the absence of any 

 definite information as to the meteorological conditions of 

 .\byssinia, especially during the rainy season, June to 

 August, is a great drawback, and to overcome this some- 

 what he intended early in 1907 to send a qualified meteor- 

 ologist to .\ddis .\bbaba to studv the local conditions. 



The chapter on the normal distribution of rainfall traces 

 the heavy rains from Zomba and British Central Africa 

 and German East Africa in January and February to 

 Abyssinia and the Sudan in July and August. During 

 these two months these countries receive 60 per cent, of 

 their annual rainfall. In September the rain begins to 

 moderate in Abyssinia, and to retreat southwards. 



In discussing the rainfall for 1906, it is shown that 

 most places in the districts under observation had excess 

 rain at the period of normally heavy rains, whilst in their 

 respective dry seasons there was deficiency. In the Nile 

 Basin the rains were somewhat late in commencing. 



.\t the end of October, 1905, it seemed likely that 

 during 1906 the Nile would be low, for the summer rains 

 in .'\byssinia had been weak. In November, February, and 

 March some exceptional and heavy rains improved matters, 

 and gave a fairly good supply of water. 



At' Khartoum the flood commenced on May 27, sixteen 

 days late, and reached its maximum on September 14, ten 

 davs late. The volume of the flood estimated from the 

 discharge curve of the Aswan gauge during July, August, 

 September, and October was 0-87 of the mean of thirty- 

 eight years. 



During April, 1906, Mr. J. I. Craig made an investi- 

 g.ation to determine the amount of seepage through the 

 banks of the river. Using the records of flow at Aswan 

 and Sarras, and special observations of flow made at 

 Kareima, Mr. Craig came to the conclusion that at the 

 period of low water, and on that stretch of the river 

 between Khartoum and Sarras, a distance of 1480 kilo- 

 metres, water flowed through the banks into the river at 

 the rate of between 140 and 200 cubic metres per second. 

 During the flood water passes out of the river similarly, 

 for then the level of the water-table in the surrounding 

 countrv is lower than the surface of the river. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The Sites Syndicate has had under con- 

 sideration the most suitable position for the proposed build- 

 ings in connection with the school of agriculture. It is of 

 opinion that the most suitable position would be one on the 

 Downing site, to the south of the botany school and 

 parallel with it. The building on this site would be near 

 the departments of botany and geology, and would be 

 accessible from three roads, and it would be well lighted. 

 .■\t the present time the department of agriculture is housed 

 in the basement of the chemical laboratory, but in view of 

 the greatly increasing number of students in agriculture 

 proper provision of laboratories, lecture-room, and 

 museums is urgently needed. Towards the cost of an 

 agricultural school some 13,000/. has already been sub- 

 scribed by friends of agriculture and the University. A 

 suitable building would probably cost some 20,000!., and 

 it is further desirable that some provision should be made 

 for maintenance. 



Mr. A. E. Shipley has been nominated a manager of 

 the Frederick James Quick fund from January i, 1908, to 

 December 31, 1913. 



The following have been nominated examiners for the 

 Natural Sciences Tripos in 1908 : — Physics, Mr. J. .\. 

 McClelland and Mr. P. V. Bevan ; chemistry, Dr. Fenton 

 and Mr. K. J. P. Orton ; mineralogy, Mr. A. Hutchinson 

 and Mr. L. J. Spencer ; human anatomy, Mr. T. Manners- 

 Smith and Prof. R. Howdcn ; geology, Mr. E. J. Garwood 

 and Mr. VV. G. Fearnsides ; botany. Mr. F. W. Oliver 

 and Mr. F. F. Blackman ; soologv. Dr. Harmer and Mr. 

 R. C. Punnett ; physiology, Mr.^F. G. Hopkins and Dr. 

 M. S. Pembrev. 



Oxford. — The preamble of a statute establishing a pro- 

 fessorship of engineering science was passed by Congre- 

 gation on October 29 bv a majority of 152 to 20. 



The Burdett-Coutts scholarship in geology has been 

 awarded to R. L. Robinson, Magdalen College; C. H. 

 Dinham, Magdalen College, distinguished himself in the 

 examination. 



Lord .AvECfRY has been elected without opposition Lord 

 Rector of the Universitv of St. .Andrews. 



NO. 1984, VOX. yy} 



