September 14, 191 1] 



NATURE 



37i 



Africa, reaching England in the Upper Eocene. " With 

 the close of the Eocene the first adaptive radiation of the 

 Primates was complete, and they had achieved an almost 

 world-wide distribution. At the end of the period the 

 North American contingent was extinct, the South 

 American group was isolated, the Asiatic and African forms 

 were scattered on islands and on the African continent, 

 and the European contingent was located in central and 

 southern Europe . . . and it is among these that the next 

 act in the great primate drama took place." To follow 

 the views of the author on this point would take too much 

 space, but it may be mentioned that he adopts the opinion 

 as to the Asiatic origin of the man-like apes and man, 

 considering the Fayum forms described by Schlosser as 

 being probably referable to the Cercopithecidae. In con- 

 clusion, it may be observed that the views of Mr. Loomis 

 differ essentially from those of Dr. Standing (Trans. Zool. 

 Soc, 1908), who believes American monkeys and lemurs 

 to have been differentiated in an equatorial continent con- 

 necting Africa with South America. 



Vol. vi., No. 15, of the University of California Publi- 

 cations in Zoology contains a contribution (pp. 353-468, 

 pis. 33-48), by Edna Earl Watson, on the unsegmented 

 cestode Gyrocotyle, which is parasitic in the spiral valve 

 of certain chimaeroid fishes. The history, occurrence, and 

 gross anatomy of the genus are considered, the distinctive 

 characters of the four known species are pointed out, and 

 the morphology and histology of the systems of organs 

 described. The intermediate host and life-cycle of Gyro- 

 cotyle are still unknown. Interesting observations are pre- 

 sented on the functional orientation of this parasite. The 

 acetabulum is directed anteriorly, and its exploratory func- 

 tion is strongly in evidence ; it never acts as an organ of 

 fixation. The rosette is posterior, and functions strictly 

 as an organ of attachment. Near the acetabulum is a 

 pair each of sensory pits and papillae abundantly inner- 

 vated from the neighbouring portion of the central nervous 

 system, which the author regards as corresponding to the 

 " brain " of a turbellarian. The rosette portion of the 

 nervous system, developed in connection with the powerful 

 posterior organ of attachment, is comparable with the 

 posterior ring commissure in the posterior sucker of a 

 heterocotylean trematode. The rosette of Gyrocotyle is a 

 true scolex, in structure and function, and corresponds to 

 that organ in the segmented tape-worms. On the basis 

 of this and other evidence, the scolex of a cestode is re- 

 garded as a posteriorly situated organ of attachment, the 

 " neck " or growing region as the ante-penultimate region, 

 corresponding to the growing zone in annelids, and the 

 proglottis as the intermediate region of the body. Accord- 

 ing to this view, the anterior end in the tape-worms has 

 disappeared. 



Pari i. of vol. ii. of the entomological series of Indian 

 Forest Memoirs, by Mr. E. P. Stebbing, contains a de- 

 tailed account of the pests of the Deodar, and some 

 sketches of the insects that have been observed to prey 

 upon some of these pests, which should be extremely useful 

 to forest officers of every grade. The number of pests, 

 mostly from the Deodar forests of the N.W. Himalaya, 

 which the author discusses, include fourteen species of 

 beetles, six species of lepidopterous caterpillars, and two 

 saw-fly caterpillars, the majority of which are specifically 

 identified, those that are not named being sufficiently 

 described and figured for recognition by the forest con- 

 servator. Among the injurious beetles, three species of 

 Scolytus, which are regarded as destructive above all 

 others in the area specified, are said to be quite peculiar 

 to the Deodar. Of insects that attack some of the 

 NO. 2185, VOL. 87] 



commoner of the pests, four parasitic Hymenoptera and 

 three predaceous beetles are mentioned, and are duly 

 extolled according to the modern optimistic fashion. The 

 plan of the memoir is good. Each species, so far as the 

 present state of knowledge allows, is described and figured 

 in the several stages of its existence, in the more 

 important phases of its activity, and in its local and con- 

 stitutional effects upon the tree. Damages also are 

 adjudged, and treatment is suggested. 



In addition to giving an account of the work and pro- 

 gress of the society for the year 1910-11, the seventy-eighth 

 annual report of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society 

 contains a short but excellent life, by Mr. F. H. Davey, 

 of the later C. W. Peach, accompanied by a portrait. 

 Peach, who did so much for the geology and natural history 

 of Cornwall, as well as for other parts of the United 

 Kingdom, was born in 1800 and died in 1886. Occupying 

 an ordinary post in the coast guard service, and entirely 

 self-educated, he is credited with having made during the 

 first half of the nineteenth century probably more additions 

 to the Cornish marine fauna than any naturalist except 

 W. P. Cocks. 



Pursuing Prof. Brandt's argument that the distribution 

 of plankton is correlated with the activity of denitrifying 

 bacteria, Mr. B. Issatschenko reports in the Bulletin du 

 Jardin Imperial Botanique, St. Petersburg (vol. xi., 

 part iii.), the results of cultivating bacteria from samples 

 of water taken from the Black Sea. Two new species of 

 Bacterium were thus obtained, the one an active denitrify- 

 ing organism, the other only capable of decomposing 

 nitrites. Similarly, Dr. Parlandt describes the action of 

 three denitrifying species cultivated in water from the 

 Baltic Sea. 



A brief summary of the leading facts connected with 

 graft hybrids is contributed by Mr. R. P. Gregory to The 

 Gardener's Chronicle (September 2 and 9). Although the 

 subject is discussed by Charles Darwin in " Animals and 

 Plants under Domestication," the nature of these vegetative 

 hybrids has remained obscure, and systematic attempts to 

 produce other specimens failed until Prof. H. Winkler 

 managed to raise composite forms from grafts of tomato 

 and black nightshade. A striking feature of the hybrids 

 thus obtained was the development, side by side on the 

 stem, of the stiff hairs and divided leaves of the tomato 

 with the smooth exterior and simple leaves of the night- 

 shade, a phenomenon to which Winkler gave the name of 

 " chimera " ; the explanation is found in the juxtaposition 

 of meristematic tissues derived from each plant. Generally 

 it has been observed that tissue development proceeds in 

 parallel lines, i.e. periclinally ; thus in Crataego-mespilus 

 Asnierii — as illustrated — the epidermis is that of the medlar, 

 while the internal tissue is that of Crataegus, and Cytisus 

 Adami presents the appearance of Laburnum vulgare 

 clothed in an epidermis of Cytisus purpureus. 



Mr. E. F. Smith directs attention to the striking re- 

 semblances between " crown-gall," an affection of plants, 

 and malignant animal tumours, especially sarcoma. It is 

 inoculable on to healthy plants, reproducing the disease. 

 In the " tumours," both primary and those obtained by 

 artificial inoculation, a bacterial organism (Bacterium 

 tumcfaciens) is present, which can be isolated and culti- 

 vated, and the pure cultures reproduce the disease on 

 inoculation (Circular No. 85, 191 1, Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture). 



In The Museums Journal (vol. x., No. 12, June) Mr. 

 E. E. Lowe, of Leicester, continues a description of models 

 to show the' optical properties of rock-forming mineralf. 



