JUNE 17, 1915] 
NATURE 
435 

German females, all cultivated plants, were crossed 
with wild Danish males, and the 744 resulting seed- 
lings were investigated. Despite the fact that the 
wild males were presumably poor in lupulin, offspring 
variants having a higher lupulin percentage than the 
mother plant were produced. Improvement in this 
direction of higher lupulin content has thus been estab- 
lished, since the richest plants can be vegetatively 
propagated. 
A paper of some interest on ‘The Influence of 
Temperature and Certain Other Factors upon the 
Rate of Development of the Eggs of Fishes,’ by 
A. C. Johansen and A. Krogh, has been published 
by the International Council for the Study of the 
Sea, as Publication de Circonstance, No. 68. By 
means of a specially designed thermostat the authors 
have kept the eggs of plaice and of cod at a series 
of different temperatures, and have recorded the 
time taken until the larva has reached a certain 
definite length. The main conclusion arrived at 
agrees with that reached previously by Dannevig, 
who had worked with less refined methods, namely, 
that the increase in rate of development with the 
temperature is proportional to the increase in tem- 
perature, or the curve expressing the relation between 
temperature and rate is a straight line. The authors 
have also studied the influence of low oxygen 
pressure upon the development of the eggs of plaice. 
Carr. S. A. Wuite, the President of the Australian 
Ornithologists’ Union, is to be congratulated in 
having re-discovered a long-lost bird. This is the 
chestnut-breasted whiteface (Aphelocephala pectoralis), 
described originally from a single specimen by the 
late John Gould in 1871. Since then, all search for 
further specimens has proved unavailing, until Capt. 
White found it again, in small flocks, during an ex- 
pedition to the Everard and Musgrave Ranges. 
Judging from the plumage of immature birds which 
he secured, he believes that this species interbreeds 
with the black-banded whiteface, which is highly 
probable, since the two species were often found in 
company. Capt. White gives an interesting account 
of his travels in the Emu for April. A camel-train 
furnished his means of transport, but throughout no 
small inconvenience was suffered by all the members 
of the expedition, including the camels, by reason of 
the prolonged drought, which, save for occasional and 
isolated showers, has now lasted for nine years in 
this region. 
AN interesting article on the fur-bearing mammals 
of California, by Mr. H. C. Bryant, the game expert 
to the California Fish and Game Commission, appears 
in the April number of the new periodical, California 
Fish and Game. In a survey which dates back to 
1786 the author traces the history of the ruthless and 
wasteful destruction of fur-bearing animals which has 
gone on without check until the present day. As a 
result some of the most valuable animals have been 
exterminated, while others are on the verge of ex- 
tinction, a fate which can be averted only by instant 
and vigorous protective legislation. Among these is 
the sea-otter, which less than a hundred years ago 
NO. 2381, VOL. 95| 



was taken by the thousand; to-day no more than a 
few pairs are left. Some idea of the magnitude of 
the slaughter which is taking place may be gathered 
from the records of the total “‘catch”’ of last year in 
North America. This includes musk-rats 15,000,000, 
opossums 2,800,000, raccoons 2,400,000, skunks 
2,152,000, minks 630,000, and ‘‘civet cats” (Bassaris) 
500,000. To these must be added foxes, wolves, bears, 
otters, wolverines, pumas, wild cats, and martens, to 
the number of 1,500,000. Unhappily, the increased 
demand for furs is accompanied by a serious diminu- 
tion in the area inhabited by the victims, owing to 
drainage and the destruction of forests. It is de- 
voutly to be hoped that this appalling rate of destruc- 
tion may be checked, at least, by the efforts which 
are being made to breed silver foxes and skunks for 
the sake of their skins. A number of ‘ fur-farms’” 
are already in a flourishing state, but so far their 
output is not sufficient to diminish materially the toll 
levied on the wild animals. 
Tue acid secreted by the gram plant, Cicer 
arietinum, forms the subject of Bulletin No. 45 
of the Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, and 
has been investigated by Mr. D. L. Sahasrabuddhe. 
The secretion which is used as a medicine in Western 
India has been found to consist of a mixture of malic 
and oxalic acids in the proportion of 94 per cent. of 
the former and 6 per cent. of the latter, and the secre- 
tion appears to be produced by the glandular hairs 
which occur especially upon the pods. The acids are 
collected by drawing a damped cloth over the gram 
plants and then wringing it into an earthenware 
vessel, and during the ninth to the eighteenth week 
of the plant’s growth the yield of malic acid for an 
acre of gram was found to be 2686 gm., the cost 
of collection being about 14 rupees. 
Tue twisted fibres of the chir pine (Pinus longifolia, 
Roxb.) again forms the subject of an article in the 
Indian Forester. In the number for April (No. 4, 
vol. xli.) Mr. F. Canning deals with the matter as 
regards the east of Almora district. Twisting both 
left-handed and right-handed is found, and a very 
large proportion of trees are affected. At the base 
the twist is usually slight, and it becomes worse and 
worse higher up the stem, the maximum angle noted 
being 45° from the vertical. As to the distribution of 
affected trees, the relation to the geological condi- 
tions has not been observed, but aspect, fire, and 
proximity to villages do not appear to be correlated in 
any way with the occurrence of twist. Owing to the 
difficulty of detecting twisted trees in the young state, 
it may not be practicable to try to eliminate twisted 
fibre specimens in a sapling forest, though such trees 
are of very little value except for firewood. 
Tue Salton Sea in the Cahuilla Basin of California 
is described and illustrated by Mr. D. T. MacDougal 
in the American Journal of Science (vol. xxxix., p. 
231). The work published by the Carnegie Institu- 
tion was reviewed in Narure (vol. xciv., p. 434, 
December 17, 1914), and this shorter account will be 
convenient for many who have not access to the 
publications of the institution. 
