4i8 



NA TURE 



[March 5, 1908 



be re"-;irclccl as exceptional, and such as the laboratory may 

 undertake. In the second place, no restriction should 

 apply, the committee reports, to " reference " testing 

 wherever, in cases of dispute, the parties concerned agree 

 to refer their differences to the authoritative decision of 

 the laboratory, or where the laboratory is called in by a 

 Court of law or of arbitration. Lastly, in view of the 

 character of the laboratory as a public institution, the 

 laboratory is to be free to accept any work which any 

 Government department may desire to commit to it. 

 Subject to these observations, the committee does not 

 consider that any alteration is required in the scope of the 

 work of the National Physical Laboratory as defined by 

 the committee of 1898. In a note added to the report Sir 

 .Andrew Noble and Sir J. Wolfe-Barry express the opinion 

 that the restriction recommended in respect of " contractual 

 testing " should come to an end after a definite time — say 

 ten years. 



In the report of the Maidstone Museum, Library, and 

 Art Gallerv for 1907, attention is directed to the unpre- 

 cedentedly large number of visitors during the year. It is 

 satisfactory to notice that special attention is being con- 

 centrated on the local collection in the Kent county room, 

 for which a special subscription list has been opened. 



We have received from Messrs. Cassell and Co., Ltd., 

 the first part of a revised and enlarged edition of Mr. R. 

 Kearton's " British Birds' Nests." It is to be completed 

 in sixteen fortnightly parts at the price of one shilling 

 each. When the beauty and number of the illustrations — 

 inclusive of coloured plates of eggs — are taken into con- 

 sideration, the new issue is a marvel of cheapness, and 

 should command a large sale. 



It is announced in the January issue of the 'Emu that 

 active steps are being taken by the Australian Ornith- 

 ologists' Union to make more effective the laws for the 

 protection of egrets and birds-of-paradise, groups which 

 are specially persecuted for the sake of their plumage. 

 The union is likewise encouraging lighthouse keepers to 

 record observations with regard to the birds that strike 

 against the lighthouses on the Australasian coasts on 

 migration. 



According to Jlr. T. Southwell's notes in the February 

 Zoologist, the -Arctic whaling voyage of last year, so far 

 as the prime object of pursuit is concerned, was a 

 disastrous failure. The seven vessels which left Dundee 

 captured, in fact, only three right-whales among them, one 

 being little more than a " sucker," which yielded only 

 half a hundredweight of whalebone. This juvenile was 

 taken in Davis Strait, while the two larger whales were 

 captured in Greenland waters. The two latter yielded 

 T,2 cwt. of " bone," the price of which is now about 

 2400!. per ton. It is noteworthy that during the last two 

 seasons most of the few whales taken were from Green- 

 land waters, where the species was supposed to be prac- 

 tically exterminated. 



Tin; biting flifs of India form the subject of Bulletin 

 No. 7 of the .Agricultural Research Institute at Pusa. 

 The account, which is drawn up by Mr. H. M. Lefroy, 

 the Government entomologist, is intended to pave the way 

 for a full investigation into the natural history of these 

 insects, and has been published to a great extent with the 

 view of stimulating the collection of specimens all over 

 the country. If such collection be carried out systematic- 

 ally, there is little doubt that a number of new species 

 will be brought to light, especially among groups like the 



NO 2001, VOL. yy'] 



sand-flies, represented by species of minute size. The 

 Bulletin contains two coloured plates of horse-flies and 

 cattle-flies, with, in some instances, their larviE and eggs 

 as an aid to the identification of species. 



We have received copies of four papers recently issued 

 by the Entomological Bureau of the U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture. The first of these, by Dr. W. E. Hinds, is 

 devoted to further investigations with regard to the capa- 

 bility of natural agencies for holding in check the ravages 

 of the pernicious cotton-boll weevil. On the whole, a 

 hopeful view of the matter is entertained. The factors in 

 question are conditions of temperature and moisture, pre- 

 daceous and parasitic foes, and food-supply. While it may 

 be impossible to increase the effectiveness of these agencies, 

 there is reason to believe that others may be caused to 

 lessen materially the weevil's power of mischief. A second 

 paper treats of the ravages of the caterpillars of the 

 catalpa hawk-moth (Ceratotnia catalpae) on catalpa trees, 

 which are sometimes completely stripped of their foliage. 

 The two remaining papers deal respectively with the lesser 

 apple-worm and wax-moths in connection with bee-keeping. 

 In the case of the latter it is shown that the idea that 

 the larvEe of wax-moths arc beneficial to bee-keepers is 

 erroneous. 



.\ REPORT on marliing and transplantation experiments 

 with plaice in Danish waters, by Mr. .A. C. Johansen, has 

 recently been issued by the Danish Commission for the 

 Study of the Sea (_Medd. Kommiss. for Havunderscpgeher. 

 Ser. Fiskeri, Bd. ii.. No. 5). The report contains an 

 account of experiments made by the Danish Government 

 in connection with the international fishery investigations. 

 It is shown that the rate of growth of plaice varies in 

 different districts, a result which confirms the conclusions 

 which have been arrived at by English fishery investi- 

 gators. Considerable light is also thrown by the experi- 

 ments on the migration of plaice in Danish waters. Much 

 importance is attached by Johansen to the facts that in the 

 experiments in the Horns Reef area the value of the re- 

 covered specimens surpasses the value of all the liberated 

 ones, and that in the Kattegat experiments the size at 

 which the value of all the recovered specimens is equal 

 to the value of all the liberated ones is higher than the 

 present Danish size limit for Kattegat plaice {ca. 25-6 cm.) 

 From the latter result it is suggested that a size limit for 

 plaice in the Kattegat somewhat higher than that now 

 enforced by Denmark might be considered by the inter- 

 national authorities with advantage. 



Mr. S. Yam.\nouchi contributes to the Botanical Gazette 

 (January) an account of sporogenesis in the fern genus 

 Nephrodium, dealing with nuclear changes in Nephrodium 

 molle. The author comes to the conclusion that in the 

 normal life-history of the genus there is a reduction of 

 chromosomes in sporogenesis, and that the first nucleus 

 which contains the reduced number of sixty-four or sixty- 

 six chromosomes is the spore ; further, that the first 

 division of the spore is heterotypic, but the reduction is 

 only completed in the second homotypic division. 



The economic value of the sunflower plant as a source 

 of oil yielded by the seeds not infrequently forms the 

 subject of inquiry. From the account of the plant that is 

 provided by Mr. D. Hooper in the Agricultural Ledger 

 (No. I, 1907), issued by the Government of India, it is 

 evident that as a crop it offers little inducement to planters 

 except in southern Russia — possibly also in China — where 

 there is a local consumption of the kernels roasted or 

 salted, and the oil is in request for culinary or edible 



