58S 



NA TURE 



[Al'KIL 23, I96S 



grciit damage being caused to the Assam timber-supply 

 bv the species (Hoploceramhyx spinicornis) so liarmfu! to 

 the forests of Chutia Nagpur. 



The report for the year iqo6, prepared by Mr. J. H. 

 .Maiden, appertaining to the botanic gardens and Govern- 

 ment domains in Sydney, has been received. A list of 

 groups of plants specially interesting to students is pro- 

 vided, and the situations in which they may be found. 

 The successful novelties introduced to the gardens include 

 I'agus sylvaiica, var. hetcrophylla, Physostegia virgiiiiana, 

 Cassia occidentalis, known as Negro Coffee, the indigenous 

 species Angophora cordifolia and Chciranthcra linearis, 

 and some West Australian shrubs. 



Dr. C. Hosseus communicates to hnglcr's Botanische 

 Jahrhiicher (vol. xl., part iv.) an account of the vegetation 

 observed on Doi Sutap, a mountain situated in the Shan 

 States attached to Siam. Ascending from the rice fields, a 

 light wood of teak and Albizzia, carpeted with composites 

 and leguminous plants, was first reached. The " Hill 

 Eng " forest, composed of species of Dipterocarpus and 

 allied genera, on which numerous epiphytes grow, began at 

 an elevation of 1000 feet. After ascending 2000 feet higher 

 a forest of Finns khasyana was found, giving place to 

 bamboo vegetation at 4000 feet. In this zone the new 

 genus of the order RafiflesiacejE, Richthofenia siamensis,' 

 was discovered ; several new species were also found near 

 ;ind between the summits. 



It is usual to associate Montsorrat with the production 

 of limes, so that it occasions some surprise to read in the 

 annual report for 1906-7 of the botanical establishments 

 on that island that cotton promises to become the most 

 important industry. In the space of four years there has 

 been a significant increase in the amount and value of 

 the cotton exported. .'\t the same time, the distribution 

 list of the botanic station furnishes evidence of a consider- 

 able demand for limes, in addition to which cacao and 

 Castilloa rubber trees have been in request. An introduced 

 industry, in the shape of onions grown from Teneriffe 

 seed, shows a remarkable development within the year, 

 and it is stated that further expansion is only prevented 

 by the limited shipping facilities. 



.'\n article by Mr. A. Maumerne on Japanese dwarf 

 trees, their forms and cultivation, is published in the 

 Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society (vol. xxxii., 

 pari i.|. J'here are definite aesthetic canons regulating the 

 forms and outlines that are produced. Many of the 

 artistic effects are due to training of the branches, others 

 to special development of the roots. Conifers are the 

 favourite plants for working on, especially species of 

 Thuya and Pinus. Grafting is frequently practised with 

 species of Podocarpus and maples. In the same volume 

 will be found a useful article on horticultural law, by Mr. 

 H. M. Veitch, in which he discusses such points as rights 

 with regard to overhanging trees, fixtures, and trespassers. 

 .\n annotated list of Gesneraceae is contributed by Colonel 

 H. Beddome. 



Mkssrs. Const.^ble .ind Co. have just conuiienced the 

 publication of a new monthly magazine — Ttie Country 

 Home — the scope of which is sufficiently conveyed in the 

 title. Descriptions of artistic and famous country houses 

 are provided in the accounts of Stoke D'Abernon Manor 

 House and of several black-and-white timbered houses in 

 Cheshire and adjacent counties. There is a sprinkling of 

 natural history in various articles. Mr. F. Moore con- 

 Inhutes an excellent article on the making of lawns, and 

 NO. 2008, VOL. 77] 



one may expect useful hints on intensive cultivation in the 

 legend of the gardener and the cook, told by Miss I.. 

 Vates. Mr. J. W. Odell writes the monthly notes on the 

 garden and greenhouse. In extending a welcome to this 

 new venture, which is attractively got up and well printed, 

 it may be hinted that, possibly for the sake of variety, 

 several of the articles are too short to arouse much 

 interest. 



" A C.ATAi.oc.UE of the Library of Charles Darwin now 

 in the Botany School, Cambridge," has been compiled by 

 Mr. H. W. Rutherford, of the University library, and 

 published by the Cambridge University Press. Mr. Francis 

 Darwin has contributed an introduction, in which he gives- 

 interesting information, supplementary to the account con- 

 tained in the " Life and Letters," concerning his father's 

 methods of worli and treatment of books. The collection 

 of books now bequeathed to the University is not identical 

 with that at Down ; thus, the books Darwin wrote and 

 some few others from Down remain in the possession of 

 Mr. Francis Darwin. Darwin's pamphlets are not in- 

 cluded in the catalogue, though part of them are on the 

 shelves alongside his books. The introduction points out 

 that Darwin hardly ever had a book bound, and the 

 collection retains to a great degree its original ragged 

 appearance. The general characteristic of the library is 

 incompleteness, hardly any set of periodicals being perfect. 

 The chief interest of the Darwin books lies in the pencil 

 notes scribbled on their pages, or written on scraps of 

 paper and pinned to the last page. Books are also to be 

 found marked with a cypher, as described in " Life and 

 Letters." Mr. Francis Darwin provides many facts of 

 interest in connection with some of the more important 

 books included in the library. In a preface, Prof. Seward 

 expresses to Mr. Darwin the high appreciation of the 

 botany school and University for rendering the library 

 available to all students, 'i'hc price of the catalogue is 

 IS. net. 



In the Engineering Magazine for .\pril, Mr. Jacques 

 Boyer gives an illustrated description of the rescue 

 appliances used in the French collieries, special attention 

 being given to the Tissot respirator, which dates from 

 1907, and the Vanginot respirator, which has been in 

 service for several years in the Paris Fire Department, 

 and is coming into increasing use in the French collieries. 



BuLi-ETiN No. 250 of the Michigan State Agricultural 

 College contains a full description, with plans and illustra- 

 tions from photographs, of the new college farm buildings 

 recently erected at a cost of 15,000 dollars, of which 

 10,000 dollars was granted by the Michigan State Legis- 

 lature. The buildings are designed solely for ordinary 

 farm purposes, and not for special experiments, and the 

 bulletin is issued with the idea of furnishing farmers with 

 plans of buildings considered suitable for the local require- 

 ments. 



At the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on April 10, 

 Prof. Bertram Hopkinson read a paper on the effect of 

 mixture strength and scavenging upon thermal efficiency. 

 The method used for measuring the gas, described in the 

 author's previous paper on tlie mechanical efficiency of 

 a forty brake horse-power Crossley gas-engine, was 

 especially advantageous, for it gave the actual volume of 

 gas used in the series of forty or fifty explosions from 

 which the indicator diagrams were taken, and the materials 

 for a complete measurement could thus be obtained in a 

 few minutes. Diagrams with three or four different gas- 

 consumptions could be got within an hour, during which 



