September 21, 191 1] 



NATURE 



39i 



parsed. The empty nest was observed. If, as appears to 

 be the case, the cock ceases to boom immediately after the 

 young are hatched, it may be inferred that both parents 

 share in the task of feeding their offspring. Although the 

 bittern is doubtless a night-feeder, it appears to tend its 

 young at intervals throughout the day, as one at least of 

 the old birds was observed to visit the nest several times 

 a day. 



A few weeks ago reference was made in this journal 

 (August 10, p. 200) to the discovery of a breeding colony of 

 fulmar petrels at Berriedale Head, Caithness. In the Sep- 

 tember number of The Irish Naturalist Mr. R. J. Ussher 

 announces the existence of a colony of these birds on a 

 high, perpendicular cliff on the coast of Mayo, this being 

 the first instance of the breeding of the species in Ireland. 

 According to the local boatmen, these white " cawnoges " 

 made their appearance on the cliff, which is about 700 feet 

 high, four years ago, and have been steadily increasing in 

 numbers since that date. On July 10 Mr. Ussher scaled 

 the cliff, and, with the aid of binoculars, counted eighteen 

 sitting fulmars on a ledge about 400 feet above the water, 

 the specific identity of the bird being rendered certain by 

 individuals which flew close overhead. It is also stated 

 that a colony of about twenty fulmars was observed on a 

 cliff in Ulster in May, the birds, according to local report, 

 having made their appearance in 1010, and remained 

 through the breeding season. Mr. Ussher does not believe 

 that the fulmars have been attracted by the whaling 

 stations on the west coast of Ireland, but that their appear- 

 ance is part of the extension of the breeding area of the 

 species now in progress. Of this extension Mr. R. M. 

 Barrington gives a summary in a separate paper in the 

 same serial. 



In an article on the purpose and some principles of 

 systematic zoologv, published in The Popular Science 

 Monthly for September, Mr. Hubert Lyman enunciates the 

 following five propositions, which he regards as of prime 

 importance in regard to the present condition of the 

 science and the lines on which it is studied : — (1) Naming 

 and describing new species and correcting nomenclatural 

 errors, while valuable, and indeed essential, is frankly the 

 most elementary, and hence the lowest, form of zoology. 

 (2) To be of real worth and permanent value, the 

 systematic study of any group of animals must take into 

 account, so far as they are known, the pre- and post-natal 

 development, the geological history, and the geographical 

 distribution of the species which compose it. (3) While 

 genera and larger groups in our systems of classification 

 ought to be based on relationship, their delimitation is 

 often of necessity artificial, and is purely a matter of 

 expediency and convenience. (4) The value of a character 

 for distinguishing species or higher groups depends chiefly 

 on its constancy, and for indicating relationships within a 

 group on its significance ; in neither case is its con- 

 spicuousness anything more than a matter of convenience. 

 (5) In all systematic work, the line between facts of nature 

 and opinions of the worker should be sharply drawn ; the 

 value of the work,' often depends on the clearness of this 

 line. The article is certainly opportune, as there is a 

 decided tendency at the present day to regard systematic 

 work as the end and final aim of zoology instead of the 

 foundation. 



A note by Prof. A. C. Seward in The Geological 

 Magazine (July) describes a fossil bipinnate leaf, taken 

 from the Molteno beds at the base of the Stormberg series 

 in Cape Colony, that supplies the type of a new genus, 

 Stormbergia. The stalked pinnules furnish the chief dis- [ 

 NO. 2l86, VOL. 87] 



tinctive feature of what is regarded as a probable fern 

 frond ; in some respects it resembles Bernoullia helvetica, a 

 fossil tern of Rhastic age. 



It is obvious that the task of exhibiting alpine plants 

 on tables in April calls for considerable enterprise and 

 previous calculation. A prize offered by the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society of Ireland has inspired an article on the 

 subject, contributed by Mr. W. H. Paine to Irish Garden- 

 ing (September). The cultural directions refer to species 

 of Primula, Androsace, Viola, Aubrietia, Saxifraga, 

 Shortia, and Anemone. With regard to methods, while 

 the various plants have their special soil requirements, it 

 is recommended that the plants should be panned in 

 autumn to get established, then plunged in sand and 

 covered with a depth of leaves, sand, or bracken through 

 the winter. Preparations for bringing the plants into 

 exhibiting condition must be started several weeks before 

 the show takes place. 



With the object of estimating the aperture of stomata, 

 Dr. Francis Darwin, assisted by Miss D. F. M. Pertz, 

 has devised an ingenious apparatus that he calls a poro- 

 meter. It consists of a small campanulate glass vessel 

 attached to an air chamber. The glass vessel is fixed to 

 a leaf, and pressure in the chamber is reduced, whereby 

 air is drawn through the stomata. The rate of flow of 

 the air into the chamber is measured, and supplies a 

 comparative indicator of changes in the apertures of the 

 stomata. The porometer provides a continuous method ; 

 it indicates the movements of a group of living cells, and 

 possesses a great advantage over the horn hygroscope and 

 cobalt paper, inasmuch as the readings of the instrument 

 are independent of transpiration. The experiments 

 described in the Proceedings of the Royal Society (vol. 

 lxxxiv.) are designed to show how illumination and water 

 supply influences stomatal aperture. 



The main features of an address, delivered by Mr. R. R. 

 Gates before the National Academy of Sciences at St. 

 Louis, on the mode of chromosome reduction, is published 

 in The Botanical Gazette (May). With regard to general 

 facts, it is noted that there are two ordinary methods of 

 chromosome reduction in organisms, the one involving an 

 end-to-end arrangement, the other a side-by-side pairing ; 

 the difference is not of phylogenetic or hereditary value, 

 but is a matter of cell mechanics. Consequent upon the 

 important point first demonstrated by Strasburger, that 

 the chromosomes are in homologous pairs throughout the 

 tissues of the sporophyte, it is argued that the reduction 

 process consists in a segregation of the paired somatic 

 chromosomes in the heterotypic mitosis, and a split of 

 these chromosomes in the homotypic, and that the supposed 

 function of synapsis to bring about a pairing of the 

 chromosomes is not justified. 



A memorandum on the monsoon conditions prevailing 

 during June and July, with a forecast for August and 

 September, issued by the officiating director-general of 

 Indian observatories on July 30, states that an almost com- 

 plete break in the rains began between June 18 and 26. 

 On July 5 a fresh advance of the Arabian Sea current 

 occurred, and extended rapidly into the interior ; but by 

 July 15 the monsoon had again begun to weaken, and a 

 second break set in, which lasted until about July 27. The 

 total rainfall of this month fell short of the normal by 

 about 34 per cent., the defect being almost general. From 

 a consideration of the various extra-Indian conditions which 

 usually influence the behaviour of the monsoon, the infer- 

 ence is drawn that although the latter may be expected 

 to continue unsteady and weak, the drought is likely to 



