August io, igi i] 



NATURE 



191 



Asiatic Society of Bengal (vol. vii., No. 3). Compared 

 with potatoes, yams contain a larger proportion of fat and 

 a smaller proportion of carbohydrates. The alkaloid 

 dioscorine was detected in the tubers of several species, 

 notably Dioscorea daemona ■ it appears that cultivation 

 tends to reduce the amount of alkaloid. 



Under the title of " Album g<§ne>al des Cryptogames," 

 a new and elaborate iconograph arranged by Dr. H. 

 Coupin is being published by the Librairie g^nerale de 

 ['Enseignement, Paris. It is announced that the work 

 will deal with alga?, fungi and lichens, and that every 

 genus and most of the species will be illustrated. A 

 beginning is made with the lowest organisms, and the first 

 volume, containing fifteen plates, illustrates eighty-three 

 species under thirty-seven genera representing the family 

 Chrysomonadinese and part of the family Dinoflagellatae ; 

 under the genus Gymnodinium seven species are illustrated 

 in thirteen figures. The text is limited to a brief descrip- 

 tion of the figures, habitat, generic synonyms, and a 

 reference under each species to the literature where fuller 

 information can be found. The price of each part is 

 2.50 francs, but no estimate of the number of parts is 

 offered. 



An article on the formation of anthocyatiin in plants, 

 communicated by Miss M. Wheldale to The Journal of 

 Genetics (vol. i., No. 2), provides a carefully reasoned dis- 

 cussion of the chemical processes involved with the view 

 of substantiating a proposed hypothesis explanatory of the 

 mechanism underlying the phenomenon of soluble pigment 

 formation. The arguments are based upon data derived 

 from observations upon the general distribution of pig- 

 ment, its formation, the conditions which lead to its 

 appearance, and the enzymes detected at the time of its 

 production. According to the hypothesis formulated, the 

 soluble pigments of flowering plants, collectively termed 

 anthocyatiin, are oxidation products of colourless chromo- 

 gens of an aromatic nature which occur in combination 

 with sugar as glucosides ; the process of formation of 

 glucoside and water from chromogen and sugar is 

 reversible ; the chromogen can only be oxidised to antho- 

 cyanin after liberation from the glucoside, and the process 

 is controlled by one or more oxidising enzymes. 



From the report recently to hand on the work of the 

 Edinburgh and East of Scotland Agricultural College, it 

 appears that all the classes are overcrowded, and the lack 

 of accommodation is now causing serious inconvenience. 

 The fact that the number of students last season exceeded 

 all previous records shows that useful work is being done, 

 and is taken as an indication that, with better accommo- 

 dation and with a college farm, even better work could be 

 turned out. Bulletins are also issued by Mr. Bruce on 

 potatoes and on grass land, demonstrating the kind of 

 return that may be expected from applications of artificial 

 manures. 



An interesting bulletin issued by the Nyasaland Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture shows the great progress that has been 

 made in the development of the cotton industry. The total 

 export of cotton from the Protectorate is valued as 

 follows : — 



1903 



1004-5 

 1 q 07-8 

 10,08-9 

 1910-1 1 



3 

 5.914 



'3.999 

 28,355 

 52,853 (eleven months only). 



According to Mr. McCall, the director, there is still the 

 possibility of much further growth. Some of the problems 

 NO. 2l8o, VOL. 87] 



connected with the extension of the crop are discussed in 

 the bulletin. 



In making provisional estimates of the yields of crops, 

 it is customary in the United States and in Canada to 

 express the condition in terms of a hypothetical " normal " 

 or " standard " crop. Mr. H. D. Vigor discusses the 

 method in a recent issue of the Journal of the Royal 

 Statistical Society, and shows that it has no sound statisti- 

 cal basis, since the standard for measurement is largely 

 constructed in the imagination of the individual reporter. 

 The various difficulties that arise when statisticians attempt 

 to make deductions from the results are dealt with, and it 

 is shown that a sounder method would be to express the 

 probable yield as a percentage of the average yield during 

 some convenient preceding period. 



We have received from Mr. J. B. Rorer, mycologist to 

 the Board of Agriculture, Trinidad, his report for the year 

 ended March, 191 1, in which it is stated that the cause of 

 two troublesome cacao diseases, the canker and black rot, 

 has been successfully traced. It appears that both diseases 

 are caused by one and the same fungus, Phytophthora 

 faberi. A bacterial disease of bananas and plaintains is 

 also described by him, and the organisms have been 

 isolated ; they are similar to B. solanacearum, and are 

 provisionally being called B. musae. Much attention is 

 given to the mycological problems of the West Indies in 

 The Agricultural News, the official organ of the West 

 Indian Agricultural Department. Descriptions are given in 

 several of the recent issues of miscellaneous fungi found 

 during the past few months, some of which have not yet 

 been identified. 



One of the most promising methods of effecting improve- 

 ments in agriculture is to bring to the notice of experts 

 and of farmers those practices that are found useful else- 

 where. It does not follow that a plan must necessarily 

 succeed in anv one place because it has been found 

 beneficial in another, but a discussion of the factors cannot 

 fail to be fruitful. The Bulletin de la Society d' Encourage- 

 ment pour I'industrie rationale periodically publishes very 

 interesting accounts of the agriculture of particular countries 

 or districts, several of which have been referred to in 

 these columns. In the current volume a good description 

 of Canadian agriculture has appeared, and also of the 

 agriculture of the Saint Brieuc district of Brittany. The 

 method is one that might usefully be adopted more widely, 

 and has in the past been used with great advantage in this 

 country. 



Public opinion in Australia is awakening to the harm 

 done — to put it on. no higher level — by the ruthless 

 extermination of birds which modern millinery seems to 

 demand, and to which heedless sportsmen contribute in 

 no small degree. The matter is now being taken up by 

 The Journal of Agriculture of South Australia, and in 

 recent issues coloured pictures of protected birds and their 

 eggs are given, with brief notes on description, habitat, 

 food, &c. "The killing of our wading birds each year," 

 it is stated, " not only renders South Australia ever more 

 prone to plagues of grasshoppers, but is most certainly a 

 prime cause of the decline of our fish resources. ... In 

 a day one ibis was found responsible for the destruction of 

 2410 grasshoppers, or so-called locusts. Yet each season 

 this lovely and useful bird, together with numbers of 

 cranes, spoonbills, and egrets fall victims. ... It is the 

 decimation of such birds which leads to the ever-increasing 

 multitudes of crustaceans that destroy fish-spawn and 

 young fish hatching out." We wish our contemporary 

 success in its crusade. 



