December 12, 1907] 



NA TURE 



135 



time been regarded as extinct. The specimens were 

 obtained from Guadaloupe Island, off the coast of Lower 

 California, and before they were shot the collector was 

 fortunate enough to obtain several photographs of them 

 as they lay on the beach, which consists of huge boulders 

 of volcanic rock, some black and some white, with inter- 

 vening stretches of sand. Enlargements of these photo- 

 graphs have been presented by Mr. Rothschild to the British 

 Museum (Natural History). The Californian elephant- 

 seal is somewhat smaller than the typical elephant-seal of 

 Heard Island, the Crozets, and other islands in the 

 southern ocean, but can scarcely be regarded as more than 

 a local race. With the exception of a specimen destroyed 

 !n the late San Francisco fire, adult male examples of this 

 animal have hitherto been unrepresented in museums. Two 

 of .Mr. Rothschild's specimens are being mounted for the 

 nuseum at Tring by Rowland Ward, Ltd. 



.Among the papers in vol. Ixxxviii., part ii., of Zcilschrifl 

 fiir wisscnschaflUche Zoologie is one by Dr. M. Nowikoff, 

 of Heidelberg, on the dorsal sense-organs of chitons, with 

 remarks on the structure of the shell in those molluscs. 

 Certain tropical chitons, it will be remembered, possess 

 eyes on the dorsal surface of the shell, but all, it appears, 

 have a canal-system within the shell itself which is like- 

 wise sensory in function. Both the eyes and the canal- 

 system are described in detail by the author, who also 

 directs attention to the peculiarities presented by the 

 fibrous layer connecting the eyes with the epidermis. The 

 dorsal eyes are of two types, one characteristic of the 

 subfamilies Toniciinae and Liolophurinee, and the other 

 restricted to certain species of chiton itself. It is remark- 

 able that in certain species, especially Tonicia chiloensis, 

 the dorsal eyes are attacked, and apparently destroyed, by 

 an alga, which develops within the substance of the shell. 



The Health Committee of Liverpool has issued a report 

 (published by C. Tinling and Co., Ltd.) on investigations 

 undertaken by Mr. R. Newstead, of the School of Tropical 

 Medicine, Liverpool University, on the habits, life-history, 

 and breeding-places of the house-fiy, as observed in the 

 city. The chief breeding-places were found to be in pits 

 for the store of stable manure, fermenting heaps of hop 

 refuse, and ash-pits containing fermenting vegetable 

 matter, the infection being equally as great in closed as 

 in open receptacles. Although the ordinary disinfectants 

 appear to be of no avail in checking the development, 

 barndoor fowls are of great value in reducing the numbers 

 of grubs and pupse. The period of development (which 

 in ordinary circumstances may last from three to five 

 weeks) is reduced by the heat of fermentation to a mini- 

 mum of ten days, and this accounts for the fact that in 

 ash-pits emptied weekly in summer no flies are produced. 

 The emptying of these and other receptacles for refuse 

 at intervals of seven days in summer is therefore recom- 

 mended ; while, in connection with other remedial 

 measures, attention is directed to the importance of early 

 removal of fermentable matter from streets and other public 

 places. 



The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries has issued an 

 order, the short title of which is the " American Goose- 

 berry Mildew (Prohibition of Importation of Bushes) Order 

 of 1907," under which the landing in Great Britain of 

 any gooseberry bush or currant bush brought from any 

 place out of Great Britain is strictly prohibited. The order 

 also provides that if, on any examination, an inspector 

 finds any bush which is affected with .'\merican gooseberry 

 mildew, he is forthwith to communicate the fact to the 

 Board, and serve on the occupier of the premises on which 



NO. 19^9, VOL. 'Jj'\ 



the bush is found a notice prohibiting, until the notice is 

 withdrawn by a like notice, the removal of any goose- 

 berry or currant bush from those premises. 



.Among the papers in the September issue of the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Philadelphia Academy, reference may be 

 made to one by Dr. H. A. Pilsbry on the barnacles of 

 the genus Megalasma — a genus established on the evidence 

 of a specimen dredged during the cruise of H.M.S. 

 Challenger in the Philippine archipelago. In the author's 

 opinion the genus should, however, be taken to include 

 one sectional group of the numerous species hitherto in- 

 cluded in the nearly allied Poecilasma. 



External parasites infesting domesticated animals in 

 India form the subject of a special investigation by the 

 entomological division of the Department of Agriculture. 

 The first results of the investigation, dealing with ticks, 

 are published in Bulletin No. 6 of the department in ques- 

 tion. .According to the author, Mr. C. Warburton, over 

 the greater part of India the ticks infesting domesticated 

 animals belong for the most part to four species only. 

 Two other species may, however, occur sporadically in 

 some numbers, but the occurrence of any other type is so 

 rare as to be of no economic importance. Means of 

 identifying the six species are given in the paper. 



The current number of the Annals of Tropical Medicine 

 and Parasitology contains articles on a variety of matters 

 bearing directly or indirectly on the subjects named in 

 the title. An important memoir by Mr. J. E. Salvin- 

 Moore and Dr. A. Breinl breaks new ground, and will 

 excite much interest, perhaps also some controversy, 

 amongst the many investigators of this important class 

 of parasites. Valuable contributions upon African parasitic 

 protozoa, and upon Spirochacta duttoni, the parasite of 

 African tick fever, are furnished by the late Dr. J. L. 

 Dutton, Dr. J. L. Todd, Dr. E. N. Tobey, and by Dr. A. 

 Breinl respectively. It looks at first curious to see included 

 in this journal two almost purely zoological memoirs on 

 Cyclopidse from the Gold Coast, by Dr. W. M. Graham 

 and Dr. G. S. Brady, but Cyclops comes into indirect 

 relation to tropical medicine by acting as a host for the 

 guinea-worm. Dr. C. W. Branch writes on yaws. The 

 contents of the journal bear testimony to the broad scien- 

 tific spirit in which the Liverpool School of Tropical 

 Medicine carries on its work. 



Prof. E. de Janczewski has rendered a service to the 

 botanical community by the publication in vol. xxxv., 

 part iii., of the Memoires de la Societd de Physique et 

 d'Histoire naturelle de Geneve of a valuable monograph 

 on the genus Ribes, embellished by some excellent illus- 

 trations. It is particularly interesting to fi^d that the 

 author has examined numerous living specimens, and has 

 cultivated many of the species. Six subgenera are 

 demarcated, of which two are characterised by the pro- 

 duction of dioecious flowers. In the subgenus PariUa the 

 flowers bear sterile organs, but in the species of the sub- 

 genus Berisia the staminate flowers have no distinct ovary, 

 nor do the pistillate flowers produce pollen. The chief 

 centres of the genus are found in North -America and in 

 China, except for the species of the subgenus Parilla, that 

 are almost confined to South America. Eighteen hybrids 

 are described, most of them representing crosses between 

 species in the same subgenus. 



Four parts, numbered i6 to 19, of the " Materials for 

 a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula," have been published 

 as an extra number of vol. Ixxiv. of the Journal of the 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal. Three numbers appeared in 



