156 



NA rURE 



[Lecember 19, 1907 



of all the museums of Asia, its success, in the author's 

 opinion, being- very largely due to the policy of selecting 

 as directors men eminent, not only in science, but in 

 administrative ability. Reference may also be made to 

 an interesting article in the same issue on the origin of 

 slavery among ants, by Dr. \V. M. Wheeler. 



The training of foresters for India and the organisation 

 of the scientific work of the department form the subject 

 of a leading article in the Indian Forester (September), in 

 which the writer points out the necessity for a systematised 

 programme arranging for the compilation of forestry data 

 and research. An article on improvement fellings is con- 

 cerned with the problem of increasing the growing stock 

 of teak. Premising that many saplings are killed by 

 creepers and faster growing trees, the author, Mr. H. C. 

 Walker, adduces arguments and statistics in favour of 

 taking measures for saving young teak trees by a judicious 

 system of thinning. 



Among the experimental work referred to by Mr. W. 

 Fawcett, director of the Public Gardens and Plantations, 

 Jamaica, in his annual report for the year 1906-7, the 

 raising of selected seedling sugar canes and the cultivation 

 of Havana and Sumatra tobacco are of primary importance. 

 It is recorded that as a result of comparative experiments 

 a better yield of coffee has been obtained at the Hope 

 Gardens under shade than without shade, and preference 

 is given to the guango, Pithecolobium saman. The satis- 

 factory results attending the instruction of small land- 

 holders by travelling instructors are noteworthy ; by this 

 means, as also by the establishment of agricultural banks 

 and prize-holding schemes, the agricultural population is 

 developing an appreciation for improved methods of 

 cultivation. 



Much valuable information on insect pests attacking 

 crops is being disseminated by the Bureau of Entomology, 

 forming part of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. In Bulletin No. 68, part iii., Mr. A. L. 

 Quaintance deals with the trumpet leaf-miner of the apple, 

 Tischeria malifoUclla, a Tineid moth that is destructive 

 to species of Crataegus and Pyrus. The mines are 

 burrowed by the larvae in the palisade layers of the leaf. 

 Spraying with kerosene emulsion is recommended for 

 destroying the larvae and pupae. Mr. A. A. Girault de- 

 scribes the life-history of the lesser peach-borer in Bulletin 

 No. 68, part iv. The species, formerly referred to Sesia, 

 a genus of moths of the family Sphingidae, now receives 

 the name of Synanthedon piciipes. It occurs principally 

 on plum and peach trees, and must be distinguished from 

 the better-known peach-borer, Sanninoidea exitiosa. 



In his annual address to the Australasian Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, Dr. A. W. Howitt gives an 

 account of his reminiscences of Central Australian explora- 

 tion, and in particular of the search for the ill-fated 

 members of the Burke-Wills expedition. The causes of 

 the failure of this enterprise lay, he shows, in the 

 extravagant amount of supplies provided, for which 

 carriage was inadequate, in the impetuosity of the leader, 

 and in want of cooperation on the part of certain members 

 of his staff. 



The second number of the Journal of the revived Gypsy 

 Lore Society, with its headquarters at 6 Hope Place, 

 Liverpool, contains a reprint, revised by the author, Mr. 

 C. G. Leiand, of an article on the remarkable dialect 

 known as Shelta, spoken by wandering tinkers, and 

 apparently of Celtic origin. This a preliminary to a 

 NO 1990, VOL. 77I 



further study of this dialect. Mr. J. Sampson gives an 

 intoiesting account of his experiences with a gang of 

 German Gypsies at Blackpool. Mr. D. MacRitchie has 

 collected much curious information to prove that through- 

 out eastern Europe the Gypsies were formerly subjects of 

 certain great noblemen, not of Gypsy race, who were 

 appointed to that position by the rulers of those countries. 

 Mr. W. M. Gallichan furnishes a report on the Gypsies 

 of Andalusia, Mr. B. Gilliat-Smith on those of the Rhine 

 Province, and Dr. T. R. Gyorjevic on those of Bosnia. 

 A collection of interesting miscellaneous notes completes 

 an excellent number, which has as its frontispiece a por- 

 trait of that eminent Gypsy scholar. Dr. A. G. Paspati. 



The Reliquary, under the editorship of Dr. J. C. Cox, 

 in succession to the late Mr. J. Romilly Allen, continues 

 to be one of the most scholarly of our archaeological 

 publications. In the last quarterly number, issued in 

 October, one of the most interesting articles is that by 

 Mr. G. Le Blanc Smith on some dragonesque forms on, 

 and beneath, fonts. Numerous examples of such a form 

 of decoration are found in Sweden, but some in this 

 country are equally interesting. One favourite type is that 

 of the salamander, which is always represented as a lizard 

 with bifurcated tail, in which there is one coil or twist. 

 It has two legs set very far back on its body, a rather 

 humped back covered by a pair of wings, longish ears, 

 and a dragon-like head. In many cases the body of the 

 animal is covered with scales, and the wings are clothed 

 with feathers. The toes or claws are invariably three in 

 number. Its coimtenance bears a look of loathing or dis- 

 appointment, the symbol of its defeat as representing the 

 powers of evil by the baptismal rite. The best examples 

 of such figures are found on fonts at Norton and Youl- 

 greave, both in Derbyshire. The second type represents 

 dragons or grotesque monsters, humbled and abased, 

 grovelling under the font itself, of which they form the 

 base. Such are the fonts at Hereford Cathedral and at 

 Castle Froome, in Herefordshire. A curious develop- 

 ment is that at Ashford, where the animal is carved as 

 though it actually protruded through the shaft of the font — 

 the head at one side, the curly tail at the other. Mr. 

 Le Blanc Smith asks for aid in discovering similar re- 

 presentations of monsters in other parts of the country. 



A p.APER on the predetermination of train-resistance was 

 read by Mr. C. A. Carus-Wilson before the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers on December 10. Among the practical 

 conclusions arrived at are that the resistance of the air 

 with a train of bogie-coaches, running at sixty miles 

 per hour, amounts to about one-half the total tr.-ictive 

 effort required to haul the train. Experiments conducted 

 by the St. Louis Electric Railway Test Commission show 

 that a large reduction can be made in the front and rear 

 air-resistance by shaping the ends, and that by this means 

 a saving can be effected of 10 per cent, of the total tractive 

 effort with a long passenger train, and 30 per cent, with 

 a single coach. 



A Colonial Office report (Cd. 3794) has been issued 

 giving Major E. H. Hill's report on the Survey Depart- 

 ment of British East Africa. The work at present in 

 progress is the main triangulation of the country. Major 

 Hill says that an additional section of two officers and six 

 or eight surveyors is imperative to prepare topographic 

 maps before the trigonometrical beacons are destroyed. 

 He recommends that topographic maps should be issued 

 on the scale of i to 125,000. He discusses a proposal for 

 a school to train African natives for the survey work ; but 



