2S6 



NA TURE 



[January i6, 1908 



ill" str/iiis. In September the new leaves begin to sprout 

 for the \viiiter growth. 



Prof. M. C. Potter records in a leaflet his observa- 

 tions on a barley disease prevalent in the north-eastern 

 counties last year, producing undeveloped grains known 

 locally as " deaf ears." E.xainination of diseased flowers 

 showed that development had followed a normal course 

 until pollination had taken place, but at this stage arrest 

 of development in the ovary was caused by the attack of 

 the fungus Hclminthosporiiim gramineuin. 



In the Verhandhingen des Vereins zur Bejorderung dcs 

 Gewerbfleisses, Berlin, is published the substance of a 

 lecture delivered by Dr. F. Frank before the society on 

 caoutchouc, dealing mainly with its exploitation from 

 natural sources and on plantations, also with the methods 

 of its preparation and the regeneration of old rubber. 

 Reference is made to the development in Mexico of a 

 trade in gtinyitlc, the substance obtained from the shrub 

 Parthenium argcntatum, that is worked up in local 

 factories. Special information is furnished with regard to 

 plantations and methods of treating the crude latex of 

 different rubber trees in German colonies in Africa and 

 New Guinea. 



In connection with the problem of natural regeneration 

 of forests in tropical and subtropical climates, an article 

 contributed by Mr. .\. W. Lushington to the Indian 

 Forester (October, 1907) on sucker reproduction in certain 

 forest reserves and jungle scrub in the Kistna district of 

 Madras points to the importance of this mode of regenera- 

 tion. The grouping of shrubs of Bauhinia tomciitosa and 

 Ormocarpum suggested that they were not produced from 

 seedlings, and subsequent examination showed that sucker 

 reproduction w^as the potent factor, not only in the spread 

 of the shrubs, but also of the trees. A note by Mr. Daya 

 Ram in the same number refers to the sporadic flowering 

 of Strobilanthus Wallichii and Strobilanthus alattis in 1906 

 in the United Provinces. Previous flowerings were re- 

 corded in 1894 and 1882, giving twelve years as the normal 

 life-cycle of these species. 



From the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, we have received 

 the final part (No. 10) of the Kew Bulletin for 1907, and 

 appendix v. to the same volume, containing a list of 

 literary contributions by members of the staff during the 

 years 1896 to 1906. In the case of systematic papers, it 

 has been thought 'useful to add to the title the names 

 of new species. In the Bulletin, Dr. O. Stapf furnishes 

 an account of the gums ammoniac of Morocco and the 

 Cyrenaica. The latter, which is the gum ainmoniac de- 

 scribed by Dioscorides, is referred to Ferula marmarica. 

 The Morocco product has been identified as a variety of 

 Ferula communis. The gum ammoniacum of European 

 markets to-day is yielded by the Persian plant Dorema 

 ammoniacum, which has ousted the African drug. Mr. 

 W. Dallimore contributes an article on gardens of interest 

 near Newport, Mon., making special reference to tree 

 cultivation. In another article attention is directed to 

 Zapupe fibre, the product of an undetermined species of 

 -Agave that is proposed as an alternative to the sisal 

 .\gave in tropical countries such as the West Indies. 



The report of the early proceedings at the West Indian 

 -Agricultural Congress, held in Jamaica in January, 1907, 

 together with the papers that would have been read but 

 for the earthquake, has been published in the West 

 Indian Bnllctin (vol. viii., parts i. and ii.)- A review of 

 the year's work in connection with the more important 

 agricultural industries was presented by Sir Daniel 



no. 1994. VOL. 77] 



-Morris in his presidential address. On the subject of sugar 

 canes, Mr. J. R. Bovell and iMr. F. A. Stockdale dis- 

 cuss new seedling varieties and the methods of obtaining 

 hybrids. Artificial cross-fertilisation offers so many 

 difficulties that other methods, such as planting alternate 

 rows of two selected varieties throughout a plot, have 

 been adopted. Cacao, pine-apples, limes, and cotton pro- 

 vided the subjects for several papers. With regard to 

 varieties of rubber, it is noticeable that Castilloa has re- 

 ceived more attention than Hevea. Mr. B. H. Jones, 

 writing about the collection of rubber in the forests of 

 British Guiana, makes special reference to three in- 

 digenous species of Sapium. 



.\ RETURN of the frost occurred during the past n-eek 

 over the whole of England, and in many places the 

 thermometer fell as low as in the severe frost in the early 

 part of the month. At Greenwich the thermometer in 

 the screen registered I9°'i on the morning of Saturday, 

 January 11, while on the grass the temperature was ii°-i, 

 and on Sunday the shade reading was i7°-9, which is in 

 agreement with the [owest temperature in the earlier frost, 

 whilst the exposed thermometer fell to S°-S, which is more 

 than a degree lower than during the previous frost. 

 -Among the lowest temperatures reported to the Meteor- 

 ological Office on Sunday, January 12, were : — 18° in the 

 screen at Bath and Oxford, 19° at Nottingham, 20° at 

 Dover, and 22° at Dungeness. 



In the Bulletin of the Italian Geographical Society 

 (1907, pp. 738-745) Prof. L- Palazzo, director of the 

 Italian Meteorological Service, under the title " I brontldi 

 del Bacino Bolsenese," gives an interesting account of the 

 mysterious phenomenon generally known as " im'si- 

 poeffers," or in English as barisal guns, from its occur- 

 rence in the delta of the Brahmaputra. The paper is 

 compiled from reports supplied by persons living on the 

 shores of the lake of Bolsena (Latium) and adjacent parts, 

 and deals with the sonorous character of the phenomenon, 

 its frequency, and the accompanying meteorological condi- 

 tions. The sounds generally appear to come from the shores 

 of the Tyrrhenian Sea, about twenty-four miles distant 

 from the lake ; the description of them agrees entirely 

 with reports from other parts, and with the accounts 

 published by Van den Broeck, Giinther, and others. The 

 paper contributes much information on the subject, but 

 throws no additional light upon the physical cause of the 

 phenomenon, whether the origin be aerial or subterranean 

 (see N.\TURE, vol. lii., p- 650, and vol. liii., p. 4). 



In the Proceedings of the -American Antiquarian Society, 

 vol- xviii.. Prof- -A. L. Rotch makes a timely publication 

 of Franklin's descriptions of the first balloon ascents. 

 These interesting documents consist of five copy-press 

 letters written to Sir J. Banks, P.R.S., in 1783, when 

 Franklin was Minister to the French Court. One of them 

 probably has never before been published ; the others are 

 little known, although printed, with some alterations, in 

 the editions of Franklin's works by Bigelow in 188S and 

 Smyth in 1906. The first ascent was made from the 

 Champ de Mars on August 27, 1883 ; the balloon was 

 filled with hydrogen, and was capable of lifting a weight 

 of 30 lb. ; about 50,000 people assembled to see the experi- 

 ment. The second ascent was a hot-air balloon from 

 X'crsaiUcs, apparently in September ; it carried a sheep 

 and some poultry. The first and second manned balloons 

 ascended on November 20 and December i, 1783, filled 

 with hot air kept up by burning straw and by " in- 

 flatnmable air" respectively; both experiments were 

 successful. Referring; to the first manned ascent, Franklin 



