474 



NATURE 



[March 20, 1902 



front rank of the great anthropolot;ical museums of the world. 

 This record by Dr. Dorsey is enough to make us feel ashamed 

 of ourselves in this country, as it is only a sample of what is 

 being done in other American museums and institutions. 



The most interesting article to the general reader in the 

 current number of the fSullelins ct Minioires de la Socii'lt' 

 iV Anthropologic (v. ser. tome 2) is one by M. C. Lejeune on the 

 representation of sex in religion, art and education. A paper 

 on the normal and varietal myology of the fox appears out of 

 place in an anthropological journal. Various reproductions are 

 given by M. E. Riviere of the mural paintings of animals from 

 the cave of La Mouthe, similar to those to which we have 

 recently directed attention (p. 299). It will be remembered 

 that M. Riviere was the first to discover these paintings. A 

 paper by M. G. Cauderlier on the causes of the depopulation of 

 France gave rise to an interesting discussion. 



In the Bulletin issued by the Botanical Department at 

 Trinidad and edited by Mr. Hart, under the heading of 

 " Root Irritation," reference is made to the difficulty of planting 

 out young mangosteens, cloves, or Palmyra palms. If the seeds 

 have been started in pots, when transferred to the open ground 

 the young plants have a strong tendency to die off. It is 

 suggested that this may be due to the tender nature of the roots 

 or root hairs, which seem to suffer if they are disarranged or 

 carelessly handled in the process of transplanting. In the case 

 of the mangosteen this question has a most important bearing, 

 for the life of the seed is so fugitive that it becomes necessary 

 to start the seed in pots if plants are to be forwarded to a 

 distance ; then besides the necessity for keeping the plant in 

 good growing condition on the journey, there is the added 

 danger of losing it when it is transplanted. Another extract 

 from the same paper refers to the slow and irregular germination 

 of balata seeds {Mimusops globosa), which may take any period 

 from three months to two years. These seeds have a hard 

 exterior which takes up water slowly, so that germination would 

 probably be accelerated by piercing the seeds Oefore s5wing. 



A SM.\i.i. pamphlet issued by the Indiana Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station deals with two plant pests, the horse nettle and the 

 buffalo bur, both specimens of Solanum. The former, Solanum 

 Caroliniense, has travelled north from the county after which it 

 has been named. Propagation is effected by underground shoots 

 and also by seed. While it is easy to prevent the plant seeding, 

 shoot propagation is not so easily checked. Ploughing cuts up 

 the shoots, and then each portion may develop independently. 

 Constant hoeing, however, provides a remedy, as by continual 

 cutting the propagative power is finally exhausted ; or the plant 

 may be smothered by sowing rape or barley or other quick, 

 growing crops. The buffalo bur, Solanum rostratiim, has a 

 spiny stem and fruit. It is a typical xerophyle from the south- 

 west, from the counties of Texas and Nebraska. It seems to 

 have been carried eastward as an impurity with other seeds. 

 Being an annual it is more easily strangled, although it has an 

 illicit habit of throwing up short fruiting branches if it is cut 

 near the surface of the ground. 



Among several interesting biological articles in the Silziings- 

 bcrichte of the Boheifiian Scientific Society for 1901, one by Dr. 

 J. V. Rohon on the anatomy and histology of the Devonian 

 dermal plates and spines described as Psammosteus is of spt-cial 

 importance. It was pointed out by Agassiz and Pander that the 

 histological structure of these spines seemed to indicate allinity 

 « ith the sharks ; and Reis concluded that both Psammosteus 

 and Pteraspis were degenerate selachians. This view is not 

 accepted by the author, who regards both these groups of 

 armour-clad Devonian fishes as specialised types, indicating two 

 neatly related families. In Dr. Smith Woodward's " Catulcgue 



NO. 1690, VOL. 65] 



of Fossil Fishes in the British Museum " the systematic position 

 of Psammosteus was left undeterinined, although some coun- 

 tenance was given to the theory of its selachian affinity. To the 

 same serial Mr. J. Palacky contributes an article on the distri- 

 bution of edentates and another on that of bats. 



In the Aarbog of the Bergen Museum for 1901, Mr. O. 

 Nordgaard gives the results ofhiS investigations as to the food of 

 the coal-fish {Gaiius virens) at different portions of its existence. 

 From the stomachs of young individuals the author took no less 

 than thirty distinct kinds of organisms. From this it appears 

 that during the first year of its existence this cod subsists chiefly 

 upon plankton. Generally this fare is sufficient, but if it fail 

 the fish resorts to sea-weeds, where it feeds upon various minute 

 crustaceans, young molluses and even hydroid polyps. From the 

 stomach of one individual were taken no less than 6250 copepod 

 crustaceans — representing the average fauna of about 20 cubic 

 yards of water. The stomachs of older coal-fish contained herrings, 

 sprats, the salmonoid Mallotus, sand-eels, the cephalopod 

 Ommatostrephes, and various crustaceans, among them Boreo- 

 phausia. It is further proved that coal-fish prey on their own 

 offspring as well as on those of the cod. In the northern fjords of 

 Norway, where very large catches of coal-fish are sometimes 

 made (34,000 head in the autumn of 1898), the great shoals 

 appear to be brought together by their pursuit of herrings and 

 Ommatostrephes. In December and January, however, a great 

 influx of spawning coal-fish reaches the western coast of 

 Norway. 



We have received a copy of the extremely interesting and sug- 

 gestive presidential address on "The Nature of Disease," de- 

 livered by Sir T. N. Fitzgerald before Section M of the Austral- 

 asian Association at Ilobart in January last. After referring to the 

 importance of sanitation, the president of the section dwelt on 

 the evidence in favour of the hereditary nature of neurotic affec- 

 tions, and — in contrast to this — the comparative rarity with 

 which deformities and malformations are inherited. In this 

 connection he deprecated the common prejudice against the 

 marriage of cousins, which he regarded in many respects as 

 specially suitable. Physical diseases, other than syphilis, are 

 also regarded as non-hereditary; and the theory of the trans- 

 missibility of many of them by infection is strongly supported. 

 Consequently, the author of the address is greatly in favour of 

 the isolation and notification of phthisis. In treating of the 

 intrinsic causes of disease, emphasis was laid on the part 

 played by bacilli, and some interesting observations are added 

 in reference to the readiness with which the bacillary hypothesis 

 was received by the medical profession almost as soon .as it was 

 propounded. In reference to the harm caused by alcoholism, the 

 following sentences are ivorthy of quotation : — -"The bicycle, I 

 venture to say, has done more to elevate the people in the 

 matter of temperance than a week of lectures have been able to 

 effect. It is in this direction, then, in my opinion, that philan- 

 thropists should work. I have lived too long not to recognise 

 ' the dullness of the lives of the masses,' and how productive of 

 evil this lack of variety must be." 



The fifth volume of the new edition of Thompson's 

 " Gardener's Assistant," edited by Mr. William Watson, has 

 been published by the Greshani Publishing Company. When 

 the sixth (and last) volume has appeared, the complete work 

 will be reviewed. 



There is only one opinion among men of science as to the 

 necessity for spreading abroad the gospel of scientific truth and 

 righteousness taught by Huxley. A sixpenny edition of a 

 selection of his " Lectures and Essays," just published by 

 .Messrs. Macmillan and Co. in conjunction with the Ration- 

 alistic Press Association, should do much to cultivate this 



