S8 



NATURE 



[July 20, 191 1 



features become more and more pronounced in the 

 ed types until they culminate in .-i form like 

 Tritylodon, which may be regarded as a reptile actually 

 in process of conversion into a mammal. By an increasi 

 in the length and strength of its limbs, accompanied by • 

 asing power of sustained locomotion, and likewise by 

 a special development of its dentition and jaws, one of the 

 primitive theriodonts acquired, inconsequence of this great ; 

 activity, a better kind of blood-circulation, warm blood, 

 and a mobile, hairy skin — in other words, became a 

 mammal. 



Prominent among the articles in Tropical Life (June) 

 is an account of two plantations of Ceara rubber in 

 German East Africa. In this colony the trees of Matiihol 

 Glaziovii mature so rapidly that tapping of a very light 

 nature is permitted already, in the third year. At this 

 stage the incision method of pricking necessitates careful 

 manipulation, and is said to produce about J lb. of rubber 

 per tree. In the first instance the trees were planted 

 about 10 feet apart ; but latterly a more open formation, 

 in which they are set 13 feet apart, has been adopted. 

 The chief pest is the white ant, which has to be combated 

 by discovering and destroying its communities. 



An article on the Coniferae, communicated by Dr. A. W. 

 Gothan to Naturwissenschaftliche Wochenschrift (June 18), 

 deals mainly with- the distribution of the various sub- 

 families in past epochs as compared with their distribution 

 at the present time, but the author takes the opportunity 

 of referring to changes in family relationships that have 

 been proposed as a result of paying more attention to 

 vegetative characters ; in this connection reference is made 

 to the proposition enunciated by Dr. F. Vierhapper, that 

 the Taxaceae, Taxoideae, and Cupressineae should be united 

 in one family, the Taxocupressacese, on account of 

 similarity in wood and leaf structures. The author also 

 directs attention to the interest attaching to the fossil 

 genus Baiera as a constituent of the group of Gingkophyta. 



The sweet potato, Ipomoea Batatas, is one of those 

 cultivated products of which the origin may be conjectured, 

 but cannot be positively determined, and the varieties are 

 so numerous and confused that identification and classifi- 

 cation present unusual difficulties. These complexities are 

 discussed in a bulletin issued as vol. iv., No. 1, of Contri- 

 butions from the Botanical Laboratory of the University 

 of Pennsylvania, where the author, Dr. B. H. A. Groth, 

 describes a novel analytical method of scheduling that 

 offers certain advantages, as in the incorporation of new 

 forms. Representing each character by a letter, and the 

 different variants of this character by numbers, each 

 variety is scheduled under a series of arbitrary marks ; thus 

 the index of the variety Georgia begins A1B2C1D1 . . ., 

 while A2B2C2D2 ... is the beginning of the index of the 

 variety Ticotea. 



We learn from The Agricultural News, No. 236, that 

 the Botanic Gardens of St. Vincent contain the only known 

 specimen of Spachea perforata, a large tree estimated to 

 be at least 100 years old. The leaves are lance-shaped, 

 while the flowers are borne in terminal racemes, each 

 flower containing small rosy petals and stamens, which 

 are all fertile; the fruits are small. It is further stated 

 that the flowers are distinct and attractive, and produced 

 in great profusion ; they are largely visited by bees. The 

 is not only of botanical interest, but is decorative as 

 ■ . II 



From the report on the operations of the Department of 

 Agriculture of the Madras Presidency, 1909-10, recently to 

 hand, it is possible to obtain a fair general idea of the 

 NO. 2177, VOL. 87] 



work a handful of Englishmen are doing among the natives 

 in improving systems of agriculture that have for centuries 

 remained unchanged. Much of the time of the stall is 

 occupied in teaching ; but the value of their work is 

 increasingly recognised, and numerous samples are now 

 sent in to the laboratories for report. Each year the report 

 shows that some fresh progress has been made and some 

 new economy discovered ; the value of drilling seed^, of 

 saving on the seed rate, and other matters are dealt with 

 here. 



The Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture, Jamaica, 

 vol. i., No. 4, contains an excellent account, by Mr. 

 Cousins, of the cultivation of the banana and the con- 

 ditions under which success has been attained. Restricted 

 as this plant was in the early days to virgin soils only, it 

 was thought to be a crop that must soon cease to count 

 in the islands. But the growers have learnt how to 

 irrigate bananas, and also how to grow them on heavier 

 types of soils, so that now there seems no obstacle to their 

 cultivation wherever they would be thought useful. There 

 are also some articles on local farm animals that will be 

 of much interest to the technical reader, and, as usual in 

 this publication, some excellent illustrations. Altogether 

 the bulletin is an excellent number, on which its editor 

 may be congratulated. 



It has long been recognised that a liberal supply of 

 protein is necessary for dairy stock, and the earlier German 

 investigations pointed to the conclusion that a cow in full 

 milk should receive 25 lb. of digestible protein daily per 

 1000 lb. live weight, and that the albuminoid ratio, i.e. 

 the ratio of digestible protein to non-nitrogenous food- 

 stuffs should be 1 : 5-4. But practical men soon began 

 to depart from these values, and investigations in America 

 justified their action, showing that less protein was neces- 

 sary. An investigation recently published by Messrs. Woll 

 and Humphrey, and published as Research Bulletin 

 No. 13 of the University of Wisconsin Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, while emphasising the need of an ample 

 protein allowance, brings out the fact that only large 

 milk-yielders can economically receive a large protein 

 diet. 



Colorado affords an interesting example of a country 

 formerly devoted to ranching, and now becoming more 

 closely settled, and consequently requiring a more general 

 system of farming. An agricultural college and experi- 

 ment station has for some time been engaged in studying 

 the numerous problems involved in the transition, and the 

 members of the staff issue frequent bulletins giving advice 

 to settlers. No subject is too trivial for study ; among a 

 batch recently to hand is one on the care of farm 

 machinery, and another showing how to build a wall or 

 a house of adobe, a local soil that may be made to set 

 like concrete. Exportable crops like fruit and potatoes 

 naturally come in for considerable attention, and directions 

 are also given for raising such crops as are needed for 

 home consumption. 



Mr. E. C. Andrews, of the Mines Department of New 

 Soul li Wales, has issued in the Journal of the Royal Society 

 of New South Wales (vol. xliv., 1911, pp. 420-480), an 

 interesting paper on thi structure of eastern Australia. He 

 adopts the view that Australia has not been subjected to any 

 recent folding, and that the main features of its present 

 relief are due to vertical earth movements. Australia has 

 been thus divided into a western " horst " and an area of 

 Eastern Highlands separated by the Great Plains. The 

 1 .mi Highlands ari a p neplane, which, according to 

 the author, were in Miocene times but little above sea-level. 



