AucusT 26, 1915] 

stripped canes, have been examined, and the results 
tabulated for a great number of individuals. The 
chemical characters have also been examined by Mr. 
C. Somers Taylor, agricultural chemist to the 
Government. It has been found that four definite 
groups can be obtained from chemical considerations 
that coincide with four of the groups into which the 
canes have been classed botanically, so that the 
botanical and chemical characters appear to be closely 
allied. Agricultural rather than minute botanical 
characters have been studied. The records obtained 
are not only of interest as being the first attempt in 
India to propagate sugar-cane by the method of pure- 
line cultures, but also because they will prove useful 
in studying the behaviour of these canes under 
different conditions of soil and climate, and will pro- 
vide information in the future on the subject of 
deterioration. 
Tue Agaveze of Guatemala form the subject of a 
well-illustrated paper by Dr. W. Trelease, the recog- 
nised authority on these fibre-producing plants, in the 
Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences, 
vol. xxiii., No. 3. Formerly two species of Agave 
and two Furcraas were ascribed to Guatemala. One 
of the former, however, Agave sartorii, is Mexican, 
while Furcraea selloa proves to be a native of 
Colombia. Dr. Trelease records no fewer than nine- 
teen species of Agave and five of Furcrea from 
Guatemala, all except the two previously recorded 
being new, and described and figured for the first 
time in the paper. A fact of some geographical 
interest is that the spicate subgenus of Agave, 
Littzza, does not appear to reach into Central 
America any more than it does into the West Indies. 
The species which have been collected mainly by Dr. 
Trelease are based almost entirely on leaf characters, 
but these are always found to afford satisfactory dis- 
tinguishing features in this genus. The habit of the 
various species and their leaf characters are well 
shown in the. thirty excellent plates. 
A USEFUL article on the European pines, their com- 
mercial importance and their relationship to British 
forestry, is published in Kew Bulletin No. 6, 10915. 
Ten species of Pinus are discussed, P. canariensts 
being included. P. laricio, P. pinaster, and P. 
sylvestris are the species of most value for planting 
in Great Britain. Under the maritime pine (P. 
pinaster) an account is given from the Consular Re- 
port of the remarkable success which has attended 
the planting of this species in the Landes of south- 
western France, and of the value both of the turpen- 
tine and the timber. 
THe remarkable parasitic genus Phelipea (Oro- 
banchacez), containing three species all with brilliant 
scarlet flowers, is described and figured in Kew 
Bulletin No. 6 by Dr. Stapf. P. foliata, the species 
figured, flowered at Kew both in 1914 and this year, 
and formed a striking object with its large flowers 
springing from among the silvery leaves of its host 
plant, Centaurea dealbata. The history of the genus 
Phelipea is somewhat involved, and the synonymy, 
which is in consequence *very complicated, has been 
satisfactorily elucidated in the present paper. 
NO. 2391, VOL. 95| 
Dr. | south-east of England. 
NATURE a1 

Stapf describes a new species, P. boissieri, distin- 
guished especially by its bifid calyx and bearded 
anthers. The genus is a native of Asia Minor, the 
Caucasus, and northern Syria. 
Tue July number of the Scottish Naturalist is 
entirely devoted to the report, by Miss Evelyn Baxter 
and Miss Leonora Rintoul, ‘‘On Scottish Ornithology 
in 1914,” but the interest of its contents will appeal 
to a wide circle of readers, and especially those con- 
cerned with the problems of migration. During the 
last few years, Fair Isle, lying midway between the 
Orkney and Shetland Islands, has become an observa- 
tion station of the first importance, not only because 
many additions to the list of our British birds have 
been made from records obtained from this small 
area, but also because of the facilities it affords, from 
its small and isolated area, for the analysis of the 
components of passing streams of migrants. The 
most important addition to the Scottish avifauna 
during 1914 was that of the Aquatic Warbler (Acro- 
cephalus aquaticus), which was obtained on Fair Isle 
on October 23rd. In their summary of migratory 
movements, the authors record ‘tan enormous 
immigration of woodcock to Fair Isle’? on March 26, 
followed on March 30 by a further influx. While all 
will feel grateful to the compilers of this most admir- 
able report, many will regret the assumed necessity 
for adopting the most up-to-date vagaries in nomen- 
clature, especially such as Coccothraustes cocco- 
thraustes coccothraustes | 
In the Annals of Tropical Medicine and Para- 
sitology for July (vol. ix., No. 3), Messrs. Warrington 
Yorke and B. Blacklock deal with the bionomics of 
the tsetse-fly, Glossina palpalis, which conveys human 
trypanosomiasis and sleeping sickness, and with the 
reservoir of the human trypanosome, in Sierra Leone, 
and Dr. Fantham gives an account of a spirilliform 
micro-organism, Spirochaeta bronchialis, which pro- 
duces bronchial affections in the Sudan and other 
parts of the world. It is distinct from the spiro- 
chaetes which are of frequent occurrence in the mouth. 
The articles are illustrated with numerous plates. 
WE have received the Review of Applied Ento- 
mology, series B, Medical and Veterinary, for July 
(vol. iii., series B, part 7). It contains a valuable 
summary of the current literature dealing with the 
part played by “insects” in the propagation of diseases 
in man and animals, such as plague, malaria, sleeping 
sickness, and Texas fever. . 
A summary of rainfall, mean temperature, and sun- 
shine for the second quarter, April, May, and June, 
1915, has been published as an appendix to the Weekly 
Weather Report by the Meteorological Office. Com- 
parison is made with the thirty years’ average, 1881 
to 1910, and the values are given for the several lustra 
during this period as well as for the individual years 
from 1911. The quarter was dry and sunny, with 
normal temperature. For the current year the rain- 
fall was 77 per cent. of the average over the eastern 
districts of the British Isles, the percentage ranging 
from 59 in the north-east of England to 102 in the 
Over the western districts, 
