October 27, 19 10] 



NATURE 



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A SHORT article communicated to the Gardener's 

 Cliroiiiele (October 22) by Mr. H. S. Thompson on 

 botanising in County Kerry will interest the keen field 

 botanist. Mt. Carrantual, the highest peak in Ireland 

 (1041 metres), and a noted locality for Alpine plants, was 

 the chief centre of attraction. The discovery of ] uncus 

 trifidus near the summit practically establishes a new 

 record, and SiegUngia decumbens was also collected at an 

 elevation above 1000 metres. Lower down, the two closely 

 related species or varieties, Saxifraga decipiens and 

 5. Sternbergii, were found in company with S. stellaris. 

 Another find of great rarity was supplied by Sisyrinchium 

 angustifolium growing with Drosera, Lobelia Dortmaniia 

 and bog .\sphodeI by Lough Caragh. 



Three generic revisions are published in vol. xliv. of 

 Engler's Botanische Jahrbitcher : Dr. M. Burret discusses 

 the relationships and distribution of African species of 

 Grewia, Dr. \V. Moeser amplifies a former collation of the 

 genus Helichrysum in Africa, and Dr. Heinz .Stiefelhagen 

 contributes an account of the genus Scrophularia pre- 

 paratory to the compilation of a monograph. The last 

 survey of the genus Scrophularia was prepared by 

 Bentham for De Candolle's Prodromus, since which time 

 the species have almost doubled in number, mainly owing 

 to plants collected in Persia, China, and Tibet. The 

 author is of opinion that the genus is in an early stage 

 of development. He fails to find a natural group character 

 in the absence of a staminode, and bases his primary 

 divisions on the habit, i.e. whether the plants are 

 herbaceous or shrubby with well-developed leaves or xero- 

 phytic undershrubs with scanty leafage. 



A SKETCH of the flora and plant formations of the 

 Kerraadec Islands, contributed by Mr. R. B. Oliver to the 

 Transactions of the New Zealand Institute (vol. xlii.), is 

 the outcome of a visit for eleven months to Sunday Island 

 and flying visits on the way home to the three smaller 

 islands. Several species are added to the flora, bringing 

 up the total to 114 ferns and flowering plants. The 

 author makes a new species of a smooth-stemmed lofty 

 tree fern, Cyathea kermadecensis, separating it from 

 another endemic species, C. Milnei, that has a short, 

 rough stem. The forest formations are the most extensive , 

 and important. The dry forest shows three tiers of vegeta- 

 tion ; the topmost consists almost entirely of trees of 

 Metrosideros viUosa about 5o feet in height ; smaller trees 

 such as Rapanea kermadecensis, Myoporum lactum, the 

 palm Rhopalosiylis Baueri, and Cyathea Milnei form the 

 next tier, while Pteris comans supplies the ground vegeta- 

 tion in many districts. The other Cyathea, characteristic 

 of wet zones, in one locality forms a forest as lofty as 

 the Metrosideros. The author proposes to include the 

 Kermadecs, with Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands, in a 

 " subtropical islands' province " of the New Zealand 

 region. 



The Rassegna Contemporanea for September contains 

 two articles of scientific interest. One is the speech given 

 by Cannizzaro at the complimentary banquet at Rome on 

 the occasion of his receiving the Copley medal of the 

 Royal Society, a copy having been preserved along with 

 his copious scientific and political correspondence. A 

 photograph of part of the manuscript is also reproduced. 

 .\nother article, by Riccardo Dalla Volta, deals with the 

 International Agricultural Institute recently founded to 

 collect agricultural statistics on an international basis. 

 There is a useful field of w'ork in this direction. The 

 methods of collecting statistics and of crop reporting vary 

 considerably in different countries, and any organisation 

 that makes foi" greater uniformity is to be welcomed. 

 NO. 2139, VOL. 84] 



The .Agricultural Department of the Transvaal is con- 

 tinually suggesting new crops and new industries to- 

 farmers, and in a recent issue of its Journal (vol. viii.. 

 No. 32) one of its experts discusses the possibility of 

 raising ostriches. The best feathers are only produced 

 when the birds are sufficiently nourished, and a good 

 supply of food is therefore necessary. Lucerne is so 

 valuable a food that wherever it can be grown the birds 

 may be expected to thrive ; about 40 lb. of the green crop 

 or 10 lb. of the hay is taken by an ordinary ostrich weigh- 

 ing from 250 to 300 lb. If maize or other concentrated 

 food can be supplied less lucerne becomes necessary, and 

 a larger number of birds can be kept on a given area. 

 .\ number of districts are indicated where ostriches might 

 be expected to do well. 



In the meteorological chart of the North Atlantic Ocean 

 for November, published by the U.S. Weather Bureau, 

 Prof. W. L. Moore points out that this month marks the 

 beginning of the stormy season over the Transatlantic 

 routes. For the purpose of illustrating the general 

 behaviour of the storms, instructive sy-noptic weather 

 charts are drawn for each day from November 11-16, 

 1909, inclusive, showing a typical case. The storm in 

 question originated in high northern latitudes, and moved 

 in a more or less easterly direction from Newfoundland! 

 to the north-east of ' the Azores. The chart for 

 November 16 shows that the barometric depression had' 

 deepened and increased in size until the entire eastern- 

 part of the ocean was affected by the storm area. It also 

 shows that a second barometric depression, apparently an- 

 offshoot of the central system, had formed about 500 miles 

 north-westward of the Azores, which gave rise to severe- 

 weather along the northern shipping routes. Its approach 

 to the British Islands seems to have been checked by the 

 high-pressure system prevailing there. 



Snowfall in the Transvaal is a somewhat exceptional' 

 occurrence : so far as can be ascertained, there have been 

 only eleven years out of the last fifty-seven (1S53-1909) in 

 which it has been recorded. On two occasions, 1903 and" 

 1904, the falls were very slight, and none was experienced 

 during 1905-8 inclusive. The South African Journal of 

 Science for September contains an interesting article on 

 the subject by Mr. H. E. "Wood, of the Transvaal Meteor- 

 ological Service, with special reference to the heavy storm 

 of August 16-18, igog. Although a rather heavy fall 

 occurred at Johannesburg in May, 1892, the fact of the 

 town being covered to a depth of several inches on the 

 morning of August 17 was such an unusual event, especi- 

 ally for the younger generation, that the day was cele-. 

 brated as a general holiday. The maps of the distribution 

 of atmospheric pressure show that the snowfall was 

 associated with the rapid approach of a high-pressure 

 system towards a region over which low pressure had 

 previously existed. In the author's experience it has 

 always been found that any widespread rainfall over 

 eastern South Africa is connected with a rising barometer. 



Prof. .'\. Piutti has sent us an abstract of a paper by 

 him, read before the Royal Academy of Naples, on the 

 absorption of helium in salts and minerals. Prof. Piutti 

 has been able to detect helium in the gases extracted from 

 borax and other salts, which have been melted and then 

 suddenly chilled while a current of air . has been bubbling 

 through them. This experiment he regards as throwing 

 doubts on Prof. Strutt's conclusions on the measurement 

 of geological time from radio-active data. It is urged' 

 that helium may have been absorbed by the molten 

 material of the igneous minerals, either from the atmo- 



