September 15, 1910] 



NATURE 



341 



merits, the women have relatively broader heads, faces, 

 and noses than the men ; in other words, they are more 

 Primitive than the local men or the women of Siberia, 

 with whom a useful comparison is made. We now possess 

 some materials for disentangling the complex racial 

 elements in the population of the archipelago. As is 

 usual with the work of this school of anthropology, the 

 memoir is provided with elaborate statistical summaries 

 and excellent photographic illustrations. 



Is our article on " Malaria Prophylaxis in India " 

 (August 25), we remarked upon the somewhat dis- 

 couraging fact that no instance of a drainage scheme with 

 successful result was put before the recent Malaria Con- 

 ference at Simla. Since then, however, we have received 

 the report of an interesting lecture on the prevention of 

 malaria by Dr. Malcolm Watson, of the Federated Malay 

 States (Selangor). As is well known. Dr. Watson has 

 long been conducting, with the assistance of the Govern- 

 ment and Dr. Travers, the senior medical ofificer, an 

 extensive campaign against malaria, principally by the 

 method of drainage, and his lecture gives a brief but very 

 interesting account of the work done. In two large 

 stations, Klang and Port Swettenham, the disease has been 

 almost entirely banished by drainage alone, with a saving 

 of more than 400 lives per annum. Ks the case mortality of 

 malaria is only about i per cent., this saving of mortality 

 means an enormous saving in morbidity, which doubtless 

 the inhabitants are able to appreciate. A similar improve- 

 ment has been made in all the flat rural areas in the State, 

 especially in many of the rubber plantations. Here the 

 disease is carried by Myzorhyuchus umbrosus^ which does 

 not breed easily in any running water; so that mere open 

 surface drains suflfice to banish the insect, especially when 

 accompanied by removal of jungle. In the hilly land, 

 however, Nyssorliynchiis ivillniori appears to be the carrier 

 — an insect which breeds readily in rapidly running 

 streams — with the result that the ordinary drainage 



fthods will probably be useless, closed pipe drains and 

 other methods being required. Dr. Watson's energetic and 

 long-continued campaign demonstrates not only the utility 

 of drainage, which he maintains is the fundamental method 

 against malaria, but also the fact that it must be intelli- 

 gently carried out. It is probably neglect of this latter 

 principle which has caused most of the reputed failures. 

 Many other points are referred to in the lecture. For 

 example, rice fields are found to be almost free from 

 malaria, owing to the fact that, for some unexplained 

 rr,-ison, the malaria-bearing species of Anopheline cannot 

 thrive in iheir waters. l)r. Watson strongly emphasises 

 the necessity for research on this point, and urges that a 

 time may come when we may be able to deal with malaria 

 at much less expense than by any method known at 

 present — " we will be able to play with species of 

 Anophelines, say to some ' go ' and to others ' come,' and 

 abolish malaria with great case, perhaps hardly at any 

 expense." We understand that a book by Dr. Malcolm 

 Watson on " The Prevention of Malaria in the Federated 

 Malay States " will shortly be published by Major Ross, 

 with the aid of subscriptions from a number of rubber 

 plantations collected for the purpose by Sir Frank 

 Swettenham, the distinguished founder of the Federated 

 Malay States. It seems a pity that Dr. Malcolm Watson 

 was not invited to attend the malaria conference at Simla. 



The Proceedings of- the Royal Physical Society of Edin- 

 burgh (vol. xviii., No. 2, July) contain an interesting note 

 by Prof. Graham Kerr on the presence of a posterior vena 

 cava in Polypterus. The author points out that this vein, 

 which forms so characteristic a feature of the higher 

 NO. 2133, VOL. 84] 



vertebrates, is made up of two elements, being formed 

 anteriorly by the primitive hepatic vein and posteriorly by 

 the hinder portion of the posterior cardinal (inter-renal). 

 The manner in which this has come about is indicated by 

 the condition of the lung-fishes, Lepidosiren and Proto- 

 pterus, in which the posterior extremity of the liver has 

 become fused with the anterior extremity of the right 

 kidney, and a venous anastomis has been established 

 between these two organs, the large hepatic vein forming 

 a direct channel for the passage of blood from the right 

 kidney to the heart. It is interesting to find in the ganoid 

 Polypterus that, while the primitive hepatic vein is 

 developed into a large posterior vena cava which joins 

 the fused posterior cardinals posteriorly, the anterior ends 

 of the posterior cardinals still persist in a well-developed 

 condition, though much larger on the right side than on 

 the left. Polypterus in this respect combines the condition 

 met with in higher vertebrates with that which is 

 characteristic of fishes generally. 



According to the report for 1909 and the first half of 

 the current year, further particulars with regard to the 

 movements of turbot and plaice have resulted from the 

 investigations undertaken by the officials of the 

 Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee. A turbot, for 

 instance, liberated at Skate Roads in .i^ugust, 1907,, was 

 retaken nearly two years later about fifty miles from 

 Aberdeen, while a plaice returned to the sea at the former 

 locality in July, 1907, was recaptured, in the following 

 December near the Bell Rock. E.xperiments in artificially 

 breeding lobsters have proved unsuccessful. 



No. 2 of the tenth volume of the Museums Journal is 

 chiefly devoted to a report of the conference held at York 

 in July last, when the president. Dr. T. .Anderson, devoted 

 his address to volcanoes and their treatment in museums. 

 Photographs are regarded as the best means of illustrating 

 volcanic phenomena in public exhibition, as models and 

 sl-cetches alike nearly always show an exaggeration of the 

 vertical scale, while the first-named of these are costly. 



In the May issue of the Proceedings of the Philadelphia 

 .Academy Mr. T. Barbour relates the history of the dis- 

 covery of the Chinese alligator, and the gradual acquisi- 

 tion of fuller knowledge of the species. It is stated that 

 only a dozen specimens are known in collections, only one 

 of which, and that recently acquired, is in America. The 

 species appear to have a very limited distribution in the 

 Yang-tse valley, most of the twelve specimens having been 

 obtained near Wuhu and Chinkiang, although records 

 exist to Poyang Lake and Nankin. 



Zebras and zebra-hybrids form the subject of an illus- 

 trated article by Dr. E. Trouessart in La Nature for 

 August 27, in which reference is made to the proposal to 

 regard the members of the Equus burchelU group as 

 specifically inseparable from the quagga. 



.\s an appendix to the description of a new species of 



Platysaurus, Mr. J. Hewitt furnishes, in the .Annals of 



the Transvaal Museum for November, a useful key to 

 the genera of South African lizards. 



It will be within the recollection of most botanists that 

 Messrs. James Backhouse, of York, promoted a scheme in 

 1899 for the supply of botanical material to colleges and 

 schools for demonstration and research, although recog- 

 nising that for some time, at any rate, the venture would 

 not be self-supporting. Subsequently the interests were 

 transferred to the British Botanical Association, of which 

 Dr. .-\. H. Burtt became the director. After ten years, 



