July 7, 19 10] 



NATURE 



i: 



sidorable body of their tribal mythology and folklore. This 

 report, issued by the University of Pennsylvania, and 

 forming part i., vol. ii., of their Anthropological Publica- 

 tions, is valuable from a linguistic point of view. The 

 beliefs and mythology of the tribe exhibit curious re- 

 semblances and variances when compared with those of 

 the neighbouring tribes, the explanation of which awaits 

 ti.ither investigation. 



To the June number of the American Naturalist Dr. 

 R. L. Moodie -contributes a note on the alimentary canal 

 of a branchiosaurian salamander from the Carboniferous 

 sh.iles of Mazon Creelv, Illinois, for which the new generic 

 and specific name Etinucrerpeton parvum is proposed. 

 The specimens, for there are two, are preserved in nodules, 

 and were it not that soon after death the oesophagus be- 

 came loosened and displaced, the viscera would recall those 

 of a freshly dissected modern salamander. The author has 

 compared the viscera with those of several genera of 

 modern salamanders, and finds that they come nearest to 

 those of an immature example of Diemyctylus torosus 

 from Orcas Island, Puget Sound, the next nearest being 

 Desmognathus, Spelerpes. and Hemidac'tylus. It is sug- 

 gested that the adults of the three latter retain an ancestral 

 condition of the intestine which is transient in Diemyctylus, 

 and the author finds in the resemblance of the viscera of 

 the fossil to the recent forms confirmation of his theory 

 that modern salamanders are directly descended from the 

 Branchiosauria. 



In the same (June) issue of the American Naturalist 

 Dr. J. Stafford gives a further account of his investiga- 

 tions on the early developmental history of the Canadian 

 oyster, of which the first part was published in the journal 

 cited for January, 1909. The author systematically 

 employed plankton-nets in collecting the larvae, which he 

 claims to have been the first to recognise definitely in 

 Canadian waters. He has also identified stages in develop- 

 ment hitherto unobserved, including the young stages of 

 the spat. He has defined the spatting period and the period 

 during which the larva is free-swimming, while the 

 developmental history has been foflowed up to adult stages. 

 His results will, it is believed, be of importance in con- 

 nection with commercial oyster-culture. 



In a report on the giant moth-borer (Castnia licus), pub- 

 lished at Georgetown, Demerara, Mr. J. J. Quelch directs 

 attention in the strongest manner to the damage threatened 

 to sugar-cane plantations, which form the staple industry 

 of the colony, by the attacks of this insect. In spite of 

 remedial measures, Enmore Plantation, where this insect 

 inflicted so much damage in 1904 and 1905, is still suffer- 

 ing great loss, while Non Pareil Plantation is equally, if 

 not more severely, affected. Some idea of the nature of 

 the damage may be gleaned from the fact that the adult 

 caterpillars are 3 inches in length and nearly i inch in 

 thickness, and that their growth is abnormally rapid. 

 Concerted action on the part of plantation-owners is 

 essential if the plague is to be stayed. 



A LIST of the grasses of Alaska, prepared by Prof. F. 

 Lamson-Scribner and Mr. E. D. Merrill, occupies vol. xiii., 

 part iii., of the Contributions from the United States 

 National Herbarium. Most of the material examined 

 comes from the coast region, as very few botanists have 

 ventured into the practically unknown regions of the 

 iliterior, so that the present list may be regarded as a 

 working basis for future collections. It is very remark- 

 able that not a single species of the series Panicaceae has 

 been collected, while all the tribes except Bambuseae 

 of the other series Poaceas are represented. Poa furnishes 

 a number of species, while Calamagrostis, Bromus, and 

 NO. 2123, VOL. 84] 



.'\gropyron are well represented. The authors have pro- 

 vided analytical keys to the genera and species, as well as 

 a short description for each item. 



The authentic list of new garden plants of the year 1909 

 has been issued as Appendix iii. to the current volume of 

 the Kew BtiUetin. The Orchidaceae provides, as usual, 

 more species and varieties than any other family, amongst 

 them being Cirrhopelalum longissimum, a fine plant intro- 

 duced from Siam ; Dendrobium Sanderae, D. acuminatum, 

 both from the Philippines ; and Megaclinium purpureo- 

 rachis, from the Congo. China supplies a fair quota of 

 plants, notably Primula Forrestii, P. Littoniana, P. 

 Bulleyana, and Rhododendron Souliei, besides sharing with 

 Japan in the supply of species of Juglans. The genus 

 Salix receives additions from Asia, while Mexico furnishes 

 several species of Mammillaria. The Kew introductions 

 include an Encephalartos, Baikiaea insignis, a leguminous 

 evergreen tree, and Strophanihus Preussii, a climbing shrub, 

 all from tropical Africa ; also Euphorbia Ledienii, from 

 South Africa. Six new species of the fern genus Nephro- 

 lepis and Adiantum grossum are noteworthy. 



The International Commission on Glaciers has just 

 issued the fourteenth report upon " Les Variations 

 p^riodiques des Glaciers," by Prof. E. Briickner and M. E. 

 Muret {Extrait des Annales de Glaciologie, t. iv., March, 

 1910, pp. 161-76. Berlin : Borntraeger, 1910). This 

 useful report, covering the year 1908, shows that the 

 majority of glaciers under observation still continue to 

 shrink, though the changes, as a rule, are not important. 

 In the Swiss Alps fifty-three glaciers are probably or 

 certainly decreasing, while fourteen are in the opposite 

 condition. In the eastern Alps only one glacier shows 

 some advance ; in the others the general retreat continues. 

 This it does, so far as observed, in the Italian and French 

 Alps, but in the Pyrenees there is generally an increase, 

 though not large. Of Norwegian glaciers thirty-five have 

 been observed, and the table published ranges in most cases 

 from 1904 to 1908 inclusive. In the latter year ten glaciers 

 were growing and twenty-two shrinking. The author, Mr. 

 P. A. 0yen, directs attention to the fact that in the • 

 central highlands the oscillation of the glaciers nearly corre- 

 sponds with that of the climate, but in the western coast 

 range it is rather retarded. In Sweden some advance is 

 perceptible. The North American glaciers are oscillating, 

 more especially in Alaska, and from Asia little precise 

 information has been received. Evidently the ground 

 which glaciers began to lose nearly half a century ago has 

 not yet been recovered. 



The June number of the Journal of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society contains papers read before the society 

 by Dr. T. G. Longstaff on glacier exploration in the 

 eastern Karakorum, and by Prof. J. W. Gregory on the 

 geographical factors that control the development of 

 Australia. Dr. Longstaff achieved four important feats : 

 the discovery of the Saltoro Pass ; the fixing of the water- 

 shed in the eastern Karakorum ; the discovery of the 

 Siachen Glacier, the greatest glacier in Asia ; the discovery 

 of the peak " Teram Kangri," with an altitude of at 

 least 27,500 feet, and possibly the highest tnountain in the 

 world. Prof. Gregory emphasises the isolation of 

 -Australia, the contrast between the marginal and the 

 interior zones, and discusses the problem of the water- 

 supply, the growth of population, and the question of the 

 possibilitv of white colonisation in tropical countries such 

 as North Australia. 



In one of the useful scientific papers contained in the 

 report of the Prussian Meteorological Institute for 1909 

 Prof. Hellmann compares the results of the exposure of 



