November 26, 1908] 



NA TURE 



105 



Inheritance in biology forms the subject of an address 

 delivered bv Mr. Angel Gallardo before the Instituto de 

 Knsenanza General at Buenos Aires. Of this address, 

 which has been published in the Biblioteca of that institu- 

 tion, we are indebted to the author for a copy. In the 

 same cover is bound up a reprint of a paper by Mr. 

 Gabriel, published In the Comptes rendtis of the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences under the title " Sur I'Epruve statis- 

 tique de la Loi de Mendel." 



The Transvaal Museum, according to the report for 

 1906—7, is making strenuous efforts to obtain a repre- 

 sentative collection of the animals of South Africa, both 

 for exhibition and for study purposes. Already the ex- 

 hibited series of antelopes is complete, with the exception 

 of three species, although a few old specimens require 

 replacing by better examples. The aim of the authorities 

 goes, however, much beyond this, and efforts are to be 

 made, with the aid of trained collectors, to institute 

 a biological survey of the country, in the hope that new 

 species and races may in the future be described locally 

 instead of in Europe or .America. 



To the Afbandlinger of the Bergens Museum Aarbog 

 for igo8 Mr. J. A. Grieg contributes the first part of an 

 .irticle on the Pleistocene fauna of Norway, dealing in 

 this instance with the red deer, of which a number of 

 antlers are figured. The author regards thes*^ Pleistocene 

 red deer as practically identical with the existing Nor- 

 wegian race, and this in turn as inseparable from the 

 Scottish animal. In regard to the latter point, he writes 

 as follows : — " The existing Norwegian red deer accords in 

 most respects with the Scottish deer. .As already pointed 

 out, it cannot have travelled from Scotland to Norway by 

 way of a land-bridge ; and the resemblance between the 

 two forms must accordingly be attributed to the similar 

 physical conditions obtaining in their respective habitats, 

 both of which possess a mild and moist climate on the 

 coast." 



The results of a study of the weights of developing 

 eggs, bv Messrs. Ritter and Bailey, are recorded in vol. 

 vi., No. I, of the Zoological Publications of the University 

 of California. The eggs of the Californian mud-fish 

 (I-'imJulus parvipinnis) formed the subject of experiment, 

 •ind it was found that during development they lost per- 



[itiblv in weight. This diminution appears to " have 

 n due to carbon dioxide and organic salts represent- 

 ing the albuminoid loss, which had passed out through 

 the egg-membrane and been washed away in the sea- 

 water." It is suggested that weighings of large holo- 

 blastic eggs of amphibians might be advantageously com- 

 pared with the weights of meroblastic eggs of allied 

 species. 



Fro.m a long series of papers in the Proceedings of the 

 Indiana -Academy of Science for 1907 we select for brief 

 notice one by Mr. D. M. Mottier on the history and 

 control of sex. After a long survey of the various views 

 which have been suggested to explain the development of 

 -' \ in the germs of animals and plants, the author rejects 

 a^ untenable the theories that either nutrition or environ- 

 ment is the inducing cause of the differentiation. On the 

 other hand, he appears to regard with more favour the 

 hypothesis as to sex being pre-determined in the germ- 

 cells, and consequently a matter of heredity. Accord- 

 ing to this view, certain parts of the hereditary substance 

 of chromatin contain only male and others only female 

 characters or determinants. If the determination of sex 

 lie a problem of hereditv, and hcrcditarv phenomena are 



NO. 20,^9, VOL. 79] 



connected with a physical basis, a theory of the foregoing 

 nature is regarded by the author as worthy of fuller 

 investigation. 



To the seventh number of the Bulletin International de 

 I'Academie des Sciences de Cracovie for 1908, Mr. M. 

 Siedleclci communicates a preliminary note on the struc- 

 ture, habits, and development of the so-called flying-frog 

 {Rliacophorus rciiiwardti) of Java. The sexes differ, it 

 appears, in size, the female being one-third larger and 

 twice as broad as her partner, while she is further dis- 

 tinguished by the smaller development of her voice-organs 

 and somewhat less brilliant colouring. By means of 

 sucking-organs, which are different in structure from those 

 of Hyla, these" frogs are able to ascend and cling to 

 vertical tree-stems. The author confirms Wallace's state- 

 ment as to the webbing of the toes serving the purpose 

 of a parachute during a fall from a height. On such 

 occasions the toes are extended and the limbs held close 

 to the sides of the body, so as to increase its superficies, 

 with the result that what would otherwise be a vertical 

 descent is converted into a spiral course. 



The vitality of trawl-caught fishes, with special reference 

 to their potential survival in aquariums connected with 

 biological investigations, forms the subject of a paper by 

 Dr. A. T. Masterman, issued as No. 42 of Publications 

 de Circonstance by the Permanent International Committee 

 for the Exploration of the Ocean. A second publication 

 by the same body is the second volume (dealing with the 

 year 1905) of a statistical bulletin of the marine fisheries 

 of the various countries of northern Europe. The values 

 of the commoner kinds of fish taken in each country 

 during the year in question are set out in one set of 

 detailed tables, printed in English and German on alternate 

 pages, and the quantities in a second set. The largest 

 item in the British Isles is 1,343, 080J., yielded by the 

 Scots herring-fishery, next to which comes the English 

 catch of haddock, with a value of 1,329,537?. 



\ STUDY of cell structure in Porphyra, contributed by 

 Miss S. M. Wislouch to the Bulletin du Jardin Impirial 

 Botanique de St. Petersbourg (vol. viii., part iv.), deals 

 with the structure of the nucleus and the chromatophore 

 with its prominent embedded pyrenoid. An account is 

 also furnished by Mr. G. A. Nadson of bacteria identified 

 in samples of mud taken from the bottom of Lake Ladoga. 



The connection between forests and rainfall is argued 

 from a somewhat original standpoint in an article con- 

 tributed to the Indian Forester (October). Transpiration 

 of water from a forest is computed to be six hundred 

 times the amount evaporated from a water surface of the 

 same area. Calculating the proportion of land to water 

 on the surface of the globe as i to 3, and reckoning that 

 forest occupies one-quarter of the land, the moisture given 

 off by forests is many times greater than that evaporated 

 by the whole water surface. Hence it is reasoned that 

 diminution of forest areas must lead to diminished rain- 

 fall, or, regarded conversely, the moisture which may be 

 condensed to rain is primarily dependent upon the e.xtent 

 of forests. 



The chief feature in the lime fruit industry of Dominica, 

 as stated in the report for 1907-8 on the botanic station 

 and agricultural school, has been the large increase in the 

 export of citrate of lime. Vigorous efforts are being made 

 to improve cocoa cultivation on the island by demon- 

 strating the use of manures on experimental plots and the 

 value of grafted plants. The data recorded for the experi- 

 mental trials of manures provide facts regarding the 

 general action of certain ingredients besides proving the 



