^oo 



NA TURE 



[January 30, i< 



In his book a chapter on the laws of river flow is in- 

 cluded, in which he expresses the opinions supported by 

 Mr. Lomas. Dr. Smith's views were arrived at after 

 many years of close observation of streams, ranging from 

 rivulets to the Mississippi, on the banks of which he 

 resides. As was said in the review of his book, his results 

 merit careful consideration as an important contribution 

 to the Inquiry. 



Mr. R. 1. LvNXli writes commenting on the review of 

 " The Garden Beautiful " which was published (p. 217) 

 in our issue of January 9. He takes exception to the 

 remark : — " We cannot agree with the suggestion on 

 p. 76 that trees growing in isolated positions on lawns 

 have their roots robbed by the grasses ! in anything like 

 the measure that obtains when the trees are growing 

 together in a plantation." Mr. Lynch reminds us of the 

 experiments carried out at the Woburn Experimental Fruit 

 Farm, and of the serious results that were found to follow 

 when grass grows over the roots of a young tree. These 

 experiments were personally inspected by our reviewer, 

 who wrote with full knowledge of the results obtained. 

 Mr. Lynch appears rather to have misunderstood the 

 meaning of the sentence in the review. It was not in- 

 tended to deny the deterring influence of the sward ; the 

 statement is that a tree growing on a lawn suffers less 

 robbery at the roots from grasses than is suffered by a 

 tree growing in a plantation, and therefore exposed to the 

 competition caused by the encroachment of roots from 

 adjacent trees, which in course of time must interlace. 

 The question raised is, in fact, one of degree, and degree 

 only. 



In the course of an article on the " Atlantic flora " of 

 Scandinavia in Naturen for January, Mr. E. Jorgensen 

 gives a figure, taken from a living specimen of the Lofoten 

 variety of the fjord-horse, which affords a much better 

 idea ofthis pony than does the one from a badly mounted 

 skin in the Bergen Museum published last year by Dr. 

 Stejneger in Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 



To the January number of the Journal of Anatomy and 

 Physiology Dr. D. Forsyth contributes the first part of 

 an important paper on the anatomy of the thyroid and 

 parathyroid glands in mammals and birds, embodying the 

 results of the examination of these organs in a large 

 number of species. Since the conclusions are reserved for 

 the continuation, a fuller notice of the paper may likewise 

 be deferred. In the same issue Dr. W. L. H. Duckworth 

 continues his account of the brain of native Australians, 

 while Dr. Ramsay publishes additional observations on the 

 dentition of the same race. 



Bulletin No. 56 of the University of Arizona E.xperi- 

 ment Station is devoted to scale-insects infesting palms 

 and the best means of exterminating these pests. One of 

 the most troublesome, which much resembles the jujube- 

 scale (Parlatoria zisyphus) commonly infesting oranges 

 from the Mediterranean countries, and appears to belong 

 to the same genus, was introduced on palms from North 

 Africa. Unfortunately, it has been described independently 

 by three different naturalists, in Italy, America, and New 

 Zealand, under as many distinct names, of which Parla- 

 toria hlanchardi is entitled to stand. 



To Dr. W. L. Abbott, who has previously done such 

 good service to America by collecting in the Malay 

 countries, the U.S. National Museum is indebted for a 

 series of specimens of mammals from western Borneo, a 

 notice of which is given by Mr. M. W. Lyon in No. 1577 

 of 'the Proceedings of that institution. The collection is 

 NO. 1996, VOL 77] 



noteworthy for the large number of skins of the proboscis- 

 monkey. The animal referred to under the disguise of 

 Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus appears to be the orang-utan. 

 Other recent issues of the same publication include an 

 account of the North American parasitic copepod 

 crustaceans of the family Caligidee (No. 1573), by Mr. 

 C. B. Wilson, and a list of the land-shells of the family 

 PyramidellidEe, with descriptions of new species, from the 

 Oregon district (No. 1574), by Messrs. Dall and Bartsch. 



A NOTABLE contribution to the botany of Texas is pub- 

 lished in the eighteenth annual report of the Missouri 

 Botanical Garden under the title of " Planta; Lind- 

 heimerianae, Part iii." Mr. F. Lindheimer was one of ^ 



the early German pioneers in Texas, and from 1833 to I 



1851 made botanical collections that were to be named 

 by Dr. G. Engelmann, of St. Louis, and Dr. Gray, and 

 distributed among subscribers. Four fascicles were col- 

 lected and distributed, and in the first two parts of 

 " Plantae Lindheimerianas " determinations were given for 

 the orders as far as Compositse (Bentham-Hooker's 

 sequence). The present part, prepared by Mr. J. W. 

 Blankinship, contains a biography, the determinations 

 for the remainders of the early fascicles, and for 

 another series that may be regarded as fascicle v. Also 

 the author has compiled a revised index of names for all 

 Ihe collections. 



Fertilisation in the genus Cypripedium forms the sub- 

 ject of a paper by Miss L. Pace published in the Botanical 

 Gazette (November, IQ07). The species spectabile and 

 parviflora were examined, and the development of the 

 embryo sac furnished' results of peculiar interest. The 

 original mother cell divides to form two daughter cells, 

 one micropylar, the other chalazal. The nucleus of the 

 micropylar cell rarely divides, but the nucleus of the 

 chalazal cells divides, giving rise to two nuclei, so that 

 three megaspore nuclei are usually produced. The 

 chalazal cell becomes the embryo sac, in which two mega- 

 spore nuclei are used ; another nuclear division completes 

 development in the embryo sac, that contains then one 

 egg cell, two synergids, and a polar nucleus. Fertilisa- 

 tion of the ovum is normal, and so-called double fertilisa- 

 tion is effected by the fusion of one synergid, the polar 

 nucleus, and a male nucleus. 



Botanists, more especially those who favour the view 

 that the derivation of the angiosperms should be traced 

 through the gymnosperms, will be much interested in the 

 theory with regard to the embryo sac advanced by Dr. O. 

 Porsch in a small brochure published at Jena by Mr. 

 Gustav Fischer. The original and essential points in the 

 argument lie in the interpretation of the antipodal cells 

 as an arc.hegonial complex, and in homologising the polar 

 nuclei with ventral canal cells. This postulates an arche- 

 gonium consisting of an ovum and two neck cells, and 

 a vestigial ventral canal cell nucleus at each end of the 

 embryo sac. Dr. Porsch bases his arguments on a sequence 

 starting from the condition of numerous archegonia found 

 in Sequoia through types of the Cupressace^ and 

 Ephedra, where the archegonia are reduced in number and 

 complexity, to a hypothetical case of two archegonia, at 

 first juxtaposed, but subsequently located at the poles of 

 the embryo sac. 



In the latest addition (No. 15) to the series of Bulletins 

 issued by the University of Illinois, Mr. L. P. Brecken- 

 ridge discusses the burning of Illinois coal without smoke. 

 The fundamental principles that apply to smokeless furnace 

 construction and working are enumerated, and, by means 

 of units in actual operation, several ways are indicated 

 in which these principles have been satisfactorily applied. 



