August 17, 191 1] 



NATURE 



hybridism advanced by the author. According to one of 

 these laws, crosses from reciprocal hybrids show a return 

 to the characters of one of the original species, and these 

 are the only crosses in which hybrid characters are not 

 maintained. Another law states that when crosses are 



from a hybrid and one of the original parents, if a 

 hybrid carrying the male character is crossed with the 

 female parent, or vice versa, the hybrid characters are 



lined ; in the other alternatives there is a return to 

 acters of the parent. 



Ii seems reasonable to affirm that primitive or natural 

 woodlands still exist in parts of Scotland, although the 

 question does not admit of definite proof. Interesting 

 evidence, based upon an examination of selected observa- 

 tional areas, is submitted by Mr. C. P. Gordon in the 

 Transactions v of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society 

 (vol. xxiv., part ii.). He discusses three types of 

 " Urwald," i.e. birch, Scots pine, and oak. On the 

 ground of inaccessibility and condition of the trees, the 

 birch woodlands on the shores of Loch Ossian and Loch 

 I tggan, ranging to an elevation of 2000 feet, are con- 

 sider. d to be primitive. Antiquity is claimed for the Scots 

 pine forming Locheil Old Forest in Inverness-shire ; 

 although the trees have flattened crowns, the quality of 

 the wood is excellent, and surpasses that of any imported 

 Scots pine timber. Again, the shape and development of 

 Ics on Lochwood Moss in Dumfriesshire suggest that 

 this forest is primitive ; epiphytic growth of the common 

 polypody and Usnea is here a striking feature. The article 

 also contains notes on the ground floras observed. 



The example set by the United States in retaining a 

 large tract of country as a sanctuary for wild life has been 

 followed by several other countries, including Canada and 

 Switzerland. Mr. J. S. M. Ward appeals in The Builder 

 for August 4 that something similar should be done in 

 England. The growth of towns and of small holdings, and 

 the gradual conversion of England into a " Black Country," 

 are causing the disappearance of the real wild country. 

 Efforts should be made to save sanctuaries near our 

 tit towns, a matter which might be taken in hand as 

 an extension of the town-planning movement. Forestry 

 should be encouraged wherever possible ; much land in 

 private hands might become sanctuary to all practical 

 purposes. Two or three sanctuaries already exist; Epping, 

 though an accidental one, has been a great success in this 

 direction, and so has the Brent Valley Bird Sanctuary of 

 the Selborne Society. Mention should also be made of the 

 work done by the National Trust and by the Commons and 

 Footpaths Preservation Society. Many of the most beauti- 

 ful -pots in England have been saved by their joint efforts, 

 and there are signs that these bodies intend to extend their 

 work in the direction of the provision of sanctuaries. 



The number of new seedling sugar-canes available for 

 planters is greater at the present time than ever before, 

 and experiments are undertaken by the West Indian 

 Department of Agriculture to serve as a guide to planters 

 in selecting the most promising sorts for cultivation. In 

 order to render the investigations applicable to a wide 

 range of conditions, the location of the different experi- 

 ment stations is chosen with the view of making each 

 station, so far as possible, representative of the cane- 

 growing district round about it, so that, as a whole, the 

 stations supply a complete survey of the conditions under 

 which sugar-cane is grown in the particular island. The 

 report of the experiments conducted in the Leeward Islands 

 for 1909-10 is now issued as Pamphlet 67 of the West 

 Indian Department. 



NO. 2l8l, VOL. 87] 



The Agricultural Journal of the Union of South Africa 

 contains each month papers of scientific and of technical 

 interest by officers of the Department. A report is pub- 

 lished in No. 3 of the new volume showing that cotton 

 can be successfully raised in the Cape Province. The 

 cultivation is attracting a good deal of local attention, and 

 the crop is satisfactory in quality ; there seems the promise 

 that cotton-growing may become a profitable industry. 

 In No. 4 Dr. Theiler gives an interesting and complete 

 summary of recent work on ticks and the part they play 

 in the propagation of diseases in cattle ; the particular 

 diseases dealt with are biliary fever in horses, caused by 

 Piroplasma equi ; redwater in cattle, caused by P. 

 bigeminum ; gall sickness, or anaplasmosis, due to 

 Anaplasma marginale ; fevers, caused by Piroplasma 

 mutatis, by Spirochetes, and the East Coast fever caused 

 by P. theileria ; and heart water. 



The annual report for 1909-10 of the Department of 

 Agriculture, British East Africa, shows an encouraging 

 growth of production and a steady influx of settlers with 

 capital. The climate is very varied, and ranges from 

 temperate to tropical within somewhat narrow distances ; 

 in consequence, a considerable variety of crops can be 

 produced. Beans, coffee, maize, and millet have increased 

 enormously in area, and in spite of the growing local 

 demand there is a large balance for export. Rubber has 

 likewise increased in amount, and a still further increase 

 is foreshadowed in the future, as the plantations have not 

 yet reached the tappable stage. Sem Sem is also a valu- 

 able and increasing crop. On the other hand, copra and 

 wax have fallen off in value; but the decline in copra is 

 not regarded seriously, because the cocoanut is now put 

 to more economical uses. There is a large and growing 

 export of hides, chiefly ox and goat, while ostrich farm- 

 ing, which has recently been introduced, promises to 

 become an important industry. 



MM. Claude, Ferrie, and Driencourt give in the Revue 

 generale des Sciences for July 30 an account of the experi- 

 ments made for the determination of longitudes by means 

 of wireless telegraphy between Paris and Brest, a distance 

 of about 600 kilometres, and afterwards between Paris and 

 Bizerta, which are separated by about 1550 kilometres. 

 Diagrams of the instruments and connections are given. 

 In the experiments between Paris and Brest in July, 1910, 

 comparisons by radio-telegraphic and telephonic signals 

 gave the same degree of precision, the mean error being 

 Tess than o-ois. In the experiments with Bizerta at the 

 end of 1910 suitable radio-telegraphic signals actuated by 

 a clock at the Paris Observatory were received, so that 

 coincidences could be accurately observed, and the differ- 

 ences between the mean comparisons of the same series 

 were of the order of 00 is. 



In the Revue generale des Sciences for July 30 M. Lalle- 

 mand, the director of the Levelling Service of France, dis- 

 cusses the most suitable form for an international air-map, 

 and proposes a system of marks to enable the aviator to 

 determine his position. The Permanent Committee for 

 Aerial Navigation of the Ministry of Public Works has 

 adopted 1 : 200,000 as the most suitable scale, each sheet 

 containing i° of latitude by 1° of longitude ; longitudes are 

 to be reckoned from o° to 360° in an easterly direction from 

 the antimeridian of Greenwich ; for the ordinary number- 

 ing of the parallels of latitude a continuous numbering from 

 the South to the North Pole is proposed with the view of 

 avoiding the change of sign on passing the equator. For 

 local marks a rectangle containing a dot indicating the 

 ( position of the place in the map sheet, and the number of 



