29: 



A' A TURE 



[Januarv 7, 1Q09 



ancc of ni.il s, which will kill a considerable proportion of 

 the: larj^ely diminished number of young. Mr. Rodier has 

 favoured us with a new edition of his pamphlet, entitled 

 " The Rabbit Pest in .Australia," published in Melbourne. 



The effect of alkaloids on the early development of the 

 ecliinoderm ToxopiWitstcs varicgatiis forms the subject of 

 a paper by Mr. S. Morgulis published as No. 14 of Con- 

 tributions from the Bermuda Biological Station. Previous 

 experiments have shown that the addition to the water of 

 small quantities of pilocarpine hydrochloride results in the 

 increase of the size of the embryos in certain cchinoderms, 

 and it was thought that a further study of such abnormally 

 large embryos might contribute information on the problem 

 of growth. The new e.\periments did not yield the antici- 

 pated results, but the author nevertheless gives a summary 

 of his work, which may not be devoid of interest. 



Some interesting experiments on the action of radium 

 rays on developing plants are described by Prof. C. S. 

 Gagee in the December (1908) number of the American 

 Naturalist. The general result of these is to demonstrate 

 (hat radium rays act as a stimulus to plants. If this 

 stimulus ranges between a minimum and an optimum 

 point, an excitation function is the result, but when the 

 optimum point is passed there ensues a depression ot 

 function, terminating in complete inhibition of growth as 

 the strength or duration of the treatment is maintained 

 above the point in question. The results of experiments 

 on germinating lupln-soeds, Timothy grass, &c., are illus- 

 trated by means of photography as well as bv diagram- 

 matic curves. 



CoLO.\v-FORM.\TiON among rotifers, according to Mr. 

 F. M. Surface, to whom we are indebted for a separate 

 copy of a paper from vol. xi., No. 4, of the Biological 

 Bulletin, on the formation of new colonics in Mcgalotro- 

 choa alboflavicaiis, is not common. In certain species of 

 the family .Melicertida:^ the individuals do, however, become 

 aggregated into colonies, the young being hatched as free- 

 swimming units. In the case of the species described, 

 these young do not leave the colony singly, but come 

 together into a swimming ball which reacts positively to 

 light. Under certain conditions this ball subsequently 

 breaks up into free individuals, which again collect into a 

 permanent colony. In the formation of these colonics the 

 mucus-like secretion of a gland pl.ays an important part. 



After the death of the great embryologist Prof. K. E. 

 von Baer, then' was found among his papers an unpub- 

 lished biography of Cuvier, wdiich is of very" considerable 

 interest as being an account of a great naturalist by one 

 of his own contemporaries. The memoir was published, 

 under the editorship of Prof. LudwMg Stieda, of Konigs- 

 berg, in the Archiv fiir Anatomic for 1896, and of this a 

 French translation has appeared in the Annates des 

 Sciences naturelles, Zoologic, for 1908. This biography, 

 together with Eckermann's " Conversations avec Goethe 

 dans les derniferes Annies de sa \'ie," published at Magde- 

 bourg in 1848, forms the subject of an article by Dr. E. 

 Trouessart entitled " Cuvier et Gtoffroy Saint-Hilaire 

 d'.ipris les Naturalistes .Mlemands," of which the first 

 part appears in the December (1908) issue of La Revue des 

 Idrcs. The first-named of the two memoirs is somewhat 

 severely criticised, the claim put forward by von Baer 

 that Cuvier was in part a German by descent apparcntlv 

 exciting the ire of the French reviewer. A second article 

 in the serial cited is devoted to .a review, by Mr. luicnnc 

 Kab.aud. of do Wies's nuilalion theory. 

 XO. 2045, VOL. 79] 



Mr. C. J. Herrick has favoured us with separate copies 

 of two papers from vol. xiii., No. 2, of the Journal of 

 Comparative Neurology and Psychology, one on the phylo- 

 genetic differentiation of the organs of smell and taste, and 

 the other on the morphological subdivision of the brain. 

 Smell and taste, as he points out, are the only two senses 

 in vertebrates the receptive organs of which are adapted 

 to respond directly to peripheral chemical excitation ; and 

 he concludes that the agencies which acted to produce 

 these senses are to be sought primarily, not in the stimuli 

 calling forth the reflexes, but rather in the character of 

 the response evoked by the stimulus. In the second paper 

 it is pointed out that whereas the subdivision of the 

 human brain into regions, as made by the early anatomists 

 on the foundation of gross external form, has a certain 

 functional as well as morphological basis, when the 

 attempt was made to study the regions thus named from 

 a comparative point of view, the morphological defects of 

 the scheme became at once apparent. Several alternative 

 schemes have been .suggested, but as none of these, in the 

 opinion of the author, is satisfactory, he proposes a new 

 one for the entire nervous system, which is split up into 

 four primary divisions, viz. systema nervorum sympathi- 

 cum, s. n. cerebro-spinale, s. n. pcriphericum, and s. n. 

 centrale. For the divisions of the brain itself we must 

 refer our readers to the original paper. 



The second Bulletin of the Sleeping .Sickness Bureau, 

 edited by the director, Dr. A. G. Bagshawe, contains a 

 summary of the results of tlie work hitherto published by 

 investigators upon certain aspects of the sleeping-sickness 

 problem, supplemented by statements based upon the 

 editor's own experience in Africa, and by conclusions of a 

 practical nature deduced from the array of facts brought 

 together. The chief subjects dealt with in the present 

 number are diagnosis and symptoms of human trypano- 

 somiasis, transmission of Trypanosoma gambiense, in- 

 cubation period of human trypanosomiasis, toxin-formation 

 in trypanosome-infection, and recent work on treatment. 

 With reference to the vexed question of the transmission 

 of sleeping sickness, it is concluded that " in devising 

 measures for prevention we may disregard other species 

 and concentrate our attention and energies on Glossina 

 palpalis." This publication is especially valuable for those 

 who are investigating sleeping sickness far from centres 

 of civilisation ;md scientific libraries, and require in- 

 formation with regard to the results of other workers in 

 the same field. 



A SYNOPSIS of the Philippine species of Freycinetia 

 (Pandanacca:), prepared by Mr. E. D. Merrill and pub- 

 lished in the botanical scries of the Philippine Journal of 

 Science (No. 5), assigns twenty-four species to the islands, 

 a number considerably greater than is found in any other 

 region ; moreover, they arc all endemic. Of the species 

 of Philippine oaks, which are summarised by the same 

 author, most are endemic, but four species are common 

 to the Celebes or Borneo. It is noted that one, .a nrw 

 species, sheds its bark in thin flakes similarly to the 

 ordinary species of birch. 



Quoting from his experience of insect pests in Imlian 

 forests, Mr. E. P. Stebbing communicates to the Indian 

 Forester (November, 1908) cogent arguments regarding 

 the danger of pure forests, and points out the necessity 

 for taking into consideration the dangers of insect and 

 plant pests before drawing up forest working plans. 

 Special observations in the case of an attack by bark- 

 borers on deod.ar sliownl that the ravages were consider- 

 ably grraler where (lie deodar forn-cd pure forest than oi\ 



