December 3, 1908] 



NA rURE 



141 



the anthropological and zoological collections are to be 

 placed in charge of a superintendent directly responsible 

 to the trustees. An alternative proposal to link up all the 

 sections under the administrative control of a single 

 director, who would likewise be inspector-general for 

 museums in India, was decisively rejected. 



We have to acknowledge the receipt of copies of vol. 

 XXX. of Bericht des Westpreussischen Boianiscli-zoologischcn 

 Vereins, and of the Schriften dcr Naturforschenden Gesell- 

 schaft in Danzig, for 1908, the latter being now regarded 

 as a supplement to the former. In the Bericht special 

 interest attaches to an account, by Dr. P. Speoiser, of the 

 distribution of the reindeer-gadfly (Therioplectcs taraii- 

 dinus) in the course of a paper on the fauna of the Barent 

 district. The species ranges all over Siberia, northern 

 Russia, and Scandinavia, but also occurs in a few isolated 

 localities in north Germany, namely, in eastern Prussia 

 near Konigsberg, in western Prussia in the Tucheler 

 Hcide, as well as in Pomerania, Brandenburg, and Meck- 

 lenburg. There are also reports as to its occurrence in 

 .\u5tria and elsewhere. Its existence in these isolated 

 localities may be tal^en as an indication that the insect 

 has survived in such spots from the date when the rein- 

 deer inhabited a much larger area on the Continent than it 

 does at present. 



The October number of the Journal of the Marine Bio- 

 logical Association (vol. viii., No. 3) contains the results 

 of a series of experiments which have been recently con- 

 ducted with regard to the food of mackerel and the move- 

 ments of these fishes, with the view of assisting the 

 western fishery. It appears that from April until June 

 inclusive — the main fishery-time in the western districts — 

 when mackerel collect in large shoals, they feed almost 

 exclusively on plankton, and also that the plankton from 

 the contents of the stomachs of the fish is identical with 

 that taken in tow-nets in the neighbourhood of the shoals. 

 During two years it was found that in April zooplankton 

 was in excess of phytoplankton, and that during such 

 times mackerel were more numerous than during the other 

 months. Hence the abundance or paucity of zooplankton 

 appears to be correlated with the greater or less abundance 

 of fish, this being confirmed by the result of five years' 

 experience. As regards the periodical migration of 

 mackerel, it has been already suggested by previous 

 autliors that these are not so extensive as has commonly 

 been supposed to be the case, and this is confirmed by the 

 results of the recent observations. In accord with the 

 observations of Cligny, it appears that mackerel return 

 year after year at the close of the shoaling season to 

 certain restricted areas not far distant from the spawning- 

 grounds, and that at present only a few of these areas 

 are known to fishermen. Further, these bottom-shoaling 

 fish seem likewise to feed largely upon plankton. 

 .Additional observations are required before the bearing of 

 these facts on the fishery can be fully realised. 



Bearing in mind that some of the Central .'\merican 

 species of Sapium may be found to yield latex containing 

 a valuable percentage of rubber, ^Ir. H. Pittier has placed 

 on record in the Contributions from the United States 

 National Herbarium (vol. xii., part iv.) the identifications 

 of nine species of the genus collected in Mexico and Central 

 .America. Of these, six species from Costa Rica are new 

 to science. It is noted that proterandry is general, if not 

 universal, so that the early flowers are staminate, while 

 the latter are hermaphrodite, and it is doubtful whether 

 any species of Sapium are ever dioecious. 



NO. 2040, VOL. 79] 



The superintendent of the botanic station at St. Vincent 

 announces in his report for 1907-8 an increase in the export 

 of cotton, and a slightly larger crop during the year, but 

 ventures the opinion that the limit of production has been 

 approached ; if this be so, a yield of 175 tons represents 

 the amount of Sea Island cotton that may be expected 

 from the island. The output of cacao, that has increased 

 annually since the effects of the hurricanes, now approxi- 

 mates to the amount of 100 tons. Among the trees that 

 flowered in the gardens, mention is made of Flatymiscium 

 plalystachyum, on account of the fragrance resembling 

 violets diffused by the flowers. 



A su.MM.iRV provided by Mr. G. Evans of the varieties 

 of wheat grown in the Central Provinces of India and' 

 Berar has been published by the Department of Agriculture 

 in that territory. In the northern divisions wheat occupies 

 about one-third of the cropped area ; in other parts cotton 

 furnishes the chief staple. The varieties are classified' 

 under the four groups of hard and soft red and hard and 

 soft white or yellow. A soft white variety is largely grown 

 for export, as it produces a pure white flour ; a hard 

 yellow wheat from Nagpur is also exported, principally 

 to southern Europe, for making macaroni and semolina. 

 The author adopts five subspecies of Triticuin sativum, 

 under which he classifies the fifty varieties enumerated. 



We have received from the Bureau of Entomology of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture a series of 

 bulletins setting forth the beneficial results obtained by 

 spraying with Bordeaux mixture and lead arsenate for 

 codling moth and for the grape-root worm (Fidia viticida, 

 Walsh). .Another bulletin gives a brief description of the 

 national collection of scale insects (Coccidae), while others 

 deal respectively with the apple-tree tent caterpillar 

 {Malacosoma amcricana. Fab.), which can be controlled 

 by arsenical washes, and the apple maggot (Rhagoletis 

 pomonclla, Walsh), which cannot. 



English students of American methods of agriculture 

 will find much to interest them in a Bulletin (No. 12) 

 recently issued by the Purdue University .Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, describing the methods of beef pro- 

 duction adopted in Indiana. The information on which 

 the bulletin is based was obtained by a method not un- 

 common in the States — a circular was sent round contain- 

 ing a full and carefully drawn up list of questions that 

 farmers were requested to answer. The method has sundry 

 disadvantages, but it enables a broad outline to be got 

 out which will give the student all he needs. 



An interesting question in connection with the age of 

 the prehistoric excavations made in search of flints at 

 Brandon, in Suffolk, known as Grime's Graves, has now 

 been set at rest by Mr. W. .A. Sturge in the November 

 number of Man. These pits were examined in 1870 by 

 Canon Greenwell, who described the results in the Journal 

 of the Ethnological Society (N.S., vol. ii., p. 419). 

 .Among the objects found and deposited in the British 

 Museum is an axe of polished stone. In some recent dis> 

 cussions on the age of these excavations it has been urged 

 that they date from pre-Neolithic times ; but to establish 

 these conclusions the evidence of Canon Greenwell 's axe 

 must in some way or other be got rid of. Hence an 

 attempt has been made to throw doubt on the authenticity 

 of this implement, and it has been suggested that it was 

 surreptitiously introduced during the excavation by one of 

 the workmen. Canon Greenwell fortunately retains a dis- 

 tinct recollection of the circumstances of the find, and 

 gives a graphic account of the incident. Before it was 

 discovered he had noticed markings on the chalk walls of 



