August 3, 191 1] 



NATURE 



151 



important being one on the new malacostraeous genus 

 Koonunga. In recognition of the value of his work. Mr. 

 Sayce was elected some years ago an associate of the 

 Linnean Society of London. 



In the July number of The Museums journal Mr. C. O. 

 Waterhouse directs attention to the urgent need for a very 

 great extension in the space allotted to the study series "I 

 insects in the natural history branch of the British 

 Museum — a subject which appears to have been in some 

 degree overlooked during the recent discussion with regard 

 to the disposal of the ground at the back of the building. 

 At present the collection is housed in rooms originally 

 described as workshops, where it is crowded to an almost 

 unimaginable extent. The writer pleads for two new- 

 galleries foi the entomological study series, and gives two 

 alternative plans for such extension. In the second of 

 these ii is suggested that the present main front of the 

 building should be continued to Queen's Gate, and the 

 continued galleries used for public exhibition, with a further 

 extension horn the present west tower, at first northward 

 and then westward, so as to form an open quadrangle 

 facing Queen's Gate, the entomological collections to 

 occupy the second floor of the latter part of the extension. 



Two incidents of prime importance are recorded in the 

 report of the U.S. National Museum at Washington for 

 il rear ending June 30, 1910, namely, the practical com- 

 pletion of the new buildings and the transference of a 

 large portion of the collections, and, secondly, the rei ep- 

 tion of the natural history collections made by the Roose- 

 velt expedition to East Africa in 1909. The latter are 

 estimated to comprise more than 11,000 specimens of 

 vertebrates and a large number of invertebrates, as well 

 as several thousand plants and a few ethnological objects. 

 It is claimed that the collection of East African mammals 

 is probably more valuable than any similar series in any 

 other museum. " Its importance lies not so much in the 

 number of new forms as in the fact that it affords an 

 adequate basis for a critical study of the mammal fauna 

 of East Africa, and the establishment or rejection of the 

 larg number of forms which have been described, especi- 

 ally in recent years, from insufficient material." 



In the July number of The Zoologist Prof. Mcintosh, 

 of the Gatty Marine Laboratory, St. Andrews, records the 

 results of a number of experiments made in Ireland and 

 Scotland for the purpose of ascertaining whether salmon 

 and trout are liable to injury by the turbines so frequently 

 used in Irish mills, many of which revolve at a very high 

 rat" of speed. So long ago as 1892 a number of similar 

 experiments were instituted by Sir Thomas Brady, who 

 was of opinion that very few fry survived an experieni • 

 with a turbine, believing that the great majority were 

 killed at once as the} went through, their bodies dropping 

 into the deep water as they were struck. The experiments 

 of Prof. Mcintosh give a much more favourable aspect of 

 the matter from the point of view of the fish. It is stated, 

 for instance, that " in all the experiments, which were 

 twenty in number, one feature was marked, viz. the com- 

 parative ease with which healthy trout in the turbine-pits 

 kept free from the vortex caused by the action of the 

 turbine. They appeared to go through the turbine only 

 when they pleased or by accident. Moreover, when 

 circumstances were favourable, they swam out of the 

 turbine-pit to the head-race, and thus . . . could have 

 passed up-stream to the nearest by-wash, if such existed." 



Directing attention to the varying descriptions of the 

 manner in which fruit dispersal is effected by species of 

 Geranium, Prof. W. Sorensen communicates the results 

 NO. 2 179, VOL. 87] 



of his own observations in the current Bulletin (No. 2 1 

 of L'Academie Royale des Sciences et des Lettres de Dane- 

 mark. The details commonly overlooked are the existence 

 of an aborted ovule, the detachment of the seed, the posi- 

 tion of the lines of dehiscence, and the devices by which in 

 certain species the seeds are retained temporarily in the 

 open pericarp. The spe-ci. • -, sibiricum and molle are 

 described as illustrative examples of the two methods of 

 pericarp shedding, and the peculiar features of dissectum 

 are noted. 



A consideration of vegetative changes and the agencies 

 inducing them, forming the subject of a presidential 

 address delivered before the Association of American Geo- 

 graphers by Prof. H. C. Cowles, is published in The 

 Botanical Gazette (March). Under physiographic agencies 

 the author discusses regional and topographic successions ; 

 biotic factor- are examined under the headings of humus, 

 shade, and human agency. As an example of occasional 

 plant plasticity, it is noted that the Douglas spruce may 

 be a xerophytic pioneer, and then persist through 

 successive stages of forest development, culminating in a 

 mesophytic formation ; throughout each stage it may be 

 dominant, and yet it shows no striking change in leaf 

 habit. 



Rice cultivation in Siam provides the subject of an 

 article contributed by Dr. C. C. Hosseus in the Tropen- 

 pflanzer (vol. xv.. No. 6). Many varieties of rice are 

 recognised by the Siamese, most of which fall under the 

 common species Oryza saliva. In addition, three other 

 species can be distinguished; O. praecox is a " wet " rice, 

 yielding a grain very similar in its qualities to that of 

 O. sativa, but is also cultivated on the mountain slopes ; 

 O. glutittosa, as its name implies, yields a glutinous 

 grain, that is cooked by the tribes of the interior in 

 bamboos, acquiring thereby a distinctive flavour ; the 

 fourth spei ies i- the " hill " rice. O. montana, less 

 nutritious than ordinary rice, but preferred by the Laos 

 tribes. 



Bee-keepers should find much to interest them in 

 No. 447 of the Farmers' Bulletin, published by the LT.S. 

 Department of Agriculture, under the title " Bees," and 

 written by Dr. E. F. Phillips, the official expert on bee- 

 culture. Full instructions are given for the installation, 

 equipment, and management of apiaries, with notes on 

 the production of honey and wax : in fact, the bee-keeper 

 will find information on all points connected with his trade 

 or hobby. 



Tin; oncologist of the Board of Agriculture, Trinidad. 

 Mr. J. B. Rorer, describes a bacterial disease of plantains 

 and bananas in the island (Phytopathology, i.. No. 2, 

 p. 451. The disease causes the leaves, progressively from 

 below upwards, first to become yellow, then to droop, and 

 finallv to break off, and eventually the terminal bud is 

 attacked, and the plant dies and rots down to the ground. 

 The vascular bundles are filled with bacteria, pure cultures 

 of which were obtained, and inoculations of them into 

 healthy plants reproduced the disease. 



The flowers of Chaucer form the subject of an article 

 by the Rev. H. N. Ellacombe now in course of publica- 

 tion in The Gardeners' Chronicle. In the issue of July 22 

 it is pointed out that although the box is an indigenous 

 tree, it never had an English name, " box " being an 

 Anglicised form of the Latin buxus. Chaucer mentions 

 cedar, but apparently never saw a specimen. The same 

 issue includes an illustrated account of the rock-garden 

 in course of construction for the Royal Horticultural 



