‘) 
APRIL 15, 1915] 
NATURE 
183 

an eager desire to introduce the species. Messrs. 
Lace and Smith also describe three Rhododendrons 
from Indo-Burma, two of which were previously but 
very imperfectly known; all three species are figured. 
Tue Kew Bulletin, No. 2, 1915, contains several 
papers dealing with systematic botany and matters 
of general botanical interest.- Diospyros ebenaster, 
a widely cultivated tree in the tropics, often considered 
to be a native of the Philippine islands, is almost 
certainly indigenous in the West Indies, whence it 
has been introduced to other countries at a very 
early date. Mr. Sprague enumerates the sections of 
the South African species of Loranthus, the outcome 
of his work on the genus for the ‘“‘ Flora Capensis,” 
and there are descriptions of twenty new plants, ten 
from Africa and ten from Australia, India, Malaya, 
etc. Of more general interest is a paper on the ger- 
mination of coco-nuts, with reference particularly to 
the age of the trees from which seed nuts should be 
taken. There appears to be no reason, especially in 
the light of recent experiments in the island of Nevis, 
why nuts from good trees in their third year of bear- 
ing should not be used despite the prevalent beliefs 
usually held on the subject that to use such nuts 
is to court disaster. The doubts entertained 
recall the words of Sir ‘Thomas Browne: ‘‘So these 
Traditions how low and ridiculous soever, will find 
suspition in some, doubt in others, and serve as tests 
or trials of Melancholy and superstitious tempers for 
ever.” 
Tuere are few better Transactions than those of 
the Norfolls and Norwich Naturalists’ Society, and 
their high place in science is well maintained by their 
latest publication, vol. ix., part v., 1913-14. The work 
in this goodly yolume of some 200 pages is admirable : 
and we think that the members of the society receive 
a full return, or more than full, for their subscrip- 
tions. We would also congratulate the hon. secre- 
tary, Dr. Sydney Long, on the care which he has 
given to the editing of the volume. The president 
of the society, Miss Alice Geldart, in her address to 
the annual meeting, announced that the society has 
published the ‘‘Flora of Norfolk,” edited by Mr. 
W. A. Nicholson. The subject of her address was 
the lives of some of the earlier Norfolk botanists; 
and it is a model of careful and sympathetic bio- 
graphy. Next comes Mr. Wormald’s paper, well 
illustrated, on the courtship of ducks; then the valu- 
able reports on that sanctuary of birds and of wild 
plants, Blakeney Point. Other monographs, of no 
less value, are contributed by Dr. Brenchley, Mr. 
Burrell and Mr. W. G. Clarke, and Mr. Riviére; and 
there is a wealth of shorter papers. Altogether, the 
volume deserves the highest praise as the publication 
of a county scientific society. 
Mr. E. Mancinr contributes an account of the 
Italian earthquake of January 13 to the Revue 
générale des Sciences, etc. (March 15, pp. 146-48). 
Most of the details contained in it have already ap- 
peared in our columns (vol. xciv., p. 565; vol. xcv., 
pp. 76-7). Mr. Mancini remarks that the exact posi- 
tion of the epicentre is still undetermined, but that, 
NG: 82372, VOL. 95] 

| according to Dr. Agamennone, there may have been 
two separate foci in action at, or nearly at, the same 
time (see Nature, vol. xciv., p. 565). He estimates 
the total number of lives lost at more than 25,000. 
The number of persons saved at Avezzano was 2300 
out of 13,000, so that the death-rate in that town 
must be reduced to 82 per cent. 
A BIOGRAPHICAL notice of the late Prof. Adolfo Ven- 
turi appears in a recent number of the Rendiconti 
della R. Accademia dei Lincei (vol. xxiv., 1915, pp- 
277-83). Born at Florence on September 22, 
he studied mathematics in the University of Pisa, 
obtaining his diploma in 1875. Shortly afterwards, 
he became mathematical teacher in the lyceum of 
Como, and in 1888 was appointed to the chair of 
geodesy in the University of Palermo. His work 
while at Como dealt mainly with the motion of the 
earth about its centre of gravity and the perturba- 
tions of comets and minor planets. At Palermo, he 
naturally turned his attention to geodetic problems, 
and afterwards to terrestrial refraction. Prof. Ricco 
in 1896 had begun a gravimetric survey of eastern 
Sicily, and this was extended by Venturi to the 
western half of the island. After a brief illness, Prof. 
Venturi died at Palermo on December 28, 1914. 
; 
1552, 
Messrs. Epwarp StaNnrorpD, Ltp., have issued 
Nos. 11 and 12 of their series of war maps. No. 11 
shows the eastern theatre of operations, and includes 
| Hungary, Galicia, Bukowina, Poland, and parts of 
the neighbouring areas. The map is on a scale of 
eighteen miles to the inch, and shows contours 
coloured on the layer system, which demonstrate 
clearly the Carpathian heights between the northern 
plain in Poland and the plain of Hungary. Railways, 
roads, rivers, and numerous towns and villages tend 
to facilitate reference in connection with the official 
communiqués. This very useful publication is 
33 X45 in. in size, and the price ranges from 7s. 6d. 
to 17s. 6d., according to style of mounting. No. 12 
is devoted to.the Dardanelles area of conflict; the 
sheet includes seven separate maps. There are plans 
of Constantinople, Smyrna, and Skutari; large-scale 
maps of the Dardanelles from Kum Kaleh to Galli- 
poli, and of the Bosphorus; a map of the Sea of Mar- 
mora and its entrances, and a map of Turkey-in- 
Europe and the western portion of Asia Minor. The 
two latter maps show contour at intervals of rooo ft., 
and indicate relief by colour shading. 
Sctentiric Paper No. 239 from the Bureau of 
Standards contains a description of a vibration electro- 
meter by Mr. H. L. Curtis, of the bureau. The needle 
of the instrument consists of a light aluminium vane, 
2 cm. square, supported with its plane vertical by a 
bifilar suspension, which extends both above and below 
the vane. Two fixed plates, 1x2 cm., are placed on 
each side of the vane, with their planes also vertical. 
The distances of the plates from the vane can be 
varied from o-5 to to mm. To obtain complete con- 
trol of the damping the whole instrument is enclosed 
in a bell jar which can be exhausted. The vane is 
connected to a battery giving 240 volts, and the alter- 
nating electromotive force to be detected is applied to 
