NATURE 



[March 13. 1913 



the south-east of England, where the mean for the 

 period was 3 above the average. In the Midland 

 Counties and in the east of England the mean tem- 

 perature was 2-5° above the average. The heaviest 

 rainfall for the winter was 14-90 in. in the west of 

 Scotland, which was followed by 14-70 in. in the 

 south of Ireland, and 14-58 in. in the south-west of 

 England. The greatest excess of rain was 32 per 

 cent, above the average in the south-west of England, 

 and about 25 per cent, in excess in the Midland Coun- 

 ties, the south-east of England, and in the north and 

 south of Ireland. The sunshine for the winter was 

 sixty hours deficient in the east and west of Scotland, 

 but onlv about twenty hours deficient in the south- 

 east of England. The temperature for the winter of 

 1011-12 was about equally in excels to that of the 

 recent winter. The excess of the rainfall was every- 

 where greater except in the north of Scotland, where 

 in 1911-12 there was a deficiency. In the south-vest 

 of England the aggregate rainfall in the winter of 

 1911-12 was 16-36 in., which was 5-29 in. more than 

 the average. The duration of bright sunshine was 

 also everywhere deficient in the winter of 1911-12, 

 except in the north of Scotland. The characteristics 

 of the last two winters were very similar over nearly 

 the whole of the United Kingdom. 



The ninth International Zoological Congress will 

 be held at Monaco, under the presidency of H.S.H. 

 the Prince of Monaco, from Tuesday, March 25, to 

 Saturday, March 29. The congress this year appears 

 to be specially attractive, there being up to the pre- 

 sent time above 500 members who have enrolled. 

 Besides special communications which are to be made 

 in the seven sections of the congress, questions of 

 general interest will be discussed at the early meet- 

 ings. One point the zoologists are specially asked 

 to discuss, and in some way agree upon, is concerning 

 the use of generic and specific names, as to whether 

 in all cases zoological nomenclature should be given 

 absolutely to the original generic and specific name, 

 or whether exception should be made in certain time- 

 honoured generic and specific names which are 

 thoroughly familiar to every zoologist. No lengthy 

 excursions are arranged, but there will be receptions 

 held at the Oceanographical Museum, at the palace, 

 and in other places in the principality. Included in 

 the programme is a fete performance at the opera. 

 The fee for attendance is 25 francs, and application 

 should be made at an early date for particulars re- 

 garding hotel accommodation, &c, to the secretary, 

 whose address until March 15 is Prof. Joubin, Oceano- 

 graphical Institute, 195 Rue Saint-Jacques, Paris, 

 and afterwards the Oceanographical Museum, 

 Monaco. 



In the February issue of Man Messrs. M. Long- 

 worth Dames and T. A. Joyce describe a remarkable 

 steatite relief acquired by the British Museum from 

 the Swat Valley, on the north-west Indian frontier. 

 It represents in a most artistic way the famous story 

 of King Sivi, who saved a pigeon from a hawk, and 

 to compensate the pursuer cut off pieces of his own 

 flesh equal in weight to the bird. This is the only 

 known representation of the story, and the acquisition 

 NO. 2263, VOL. 91] 



of the relief is particularly interesting because, accord- 

 ing to the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, Hiouen Tsang. 

 Asoka built a stupa in the land of Udyana, the modern 

 Swat Valley, to commemorate this incident. The 

 discovery of the relief will now probably give a hint 

 as to the position of the stupa. The writers point out 

 that this story is also localised in the Indus Valley, 

 and, being imported into Europe, was possibly the 

 origin of the legend which formed the basis of " The 

 Merchant of Venice." 



Referring to Prof. R. T. Hewlett's article on the 

 pasteurisation of milk, published in our issue for 

 February 6 last (vol. xc, p. 6231, 'Paterfamilias" 

 sends an account of a method of preserving milk he 

 has found successful. The plan, which Prof. Hewlett 

 considers very good, was to put the milk in an 

 earthenware bottle with narrow neck, and to keep 

 the bottle in a boiling water bath for twenty or thirty 

 minutes, according to the size of the bottle. While 

 still in the bath, a rubber stopper with a thistle- 

 funnel stuffed with cotton-wool was inserted in the 

 neck and the bottle removed. As pointed out, how- 

 ever, in Prof. Hewlett's article, even with the pre- 

 cautions adopted by " Paterfamilias," in hot weather, 

 unless cooled after treatment, the milk is liable to 

 undergo very undesirable changes. 



We have been favoured with a cutting from The 

 Daily Malta Chronicle of February 17, in which Mr. 

 N. Tagliaferro, who has for some time been collect- 

 ing fossil bones from a rock-fissure at Corradino.' 

 records the discovery of a large series of remains of 

 giant land-tortoises. Most of these, it is stated, are 

 referable to Testudo robusta, and the smaller T. 

 spratti of Leith Adams. One of the specimens is, 

 however, asserted to indicate a tortoise nearly half as 

 large again as the biggest described example of the 

 former, and may, it is suggested, represent a third 

 species. These and other remains have been deposited 

 in the museum at Valletta, and will, no doubt, be 

 fully described in due course. 



It is announced in the Proceedings of the Phil- 

 adelphia Academy for December, 1912, that the work 

 of rendering the library and museum fireproof, which 

 was undertaken through the aid of the Common- 

 wealth of Pennsylvania, has at length been completed. 

 As the library of natural history works is stated to be 

 the largest in America, while the museum is particu- 

 larly rich in type specimens, the importance of the 

 achievement can scarcely be overrated. New quarters 

 have been prepared for the entomological department, 

 which are stated to meet all the requirements of 

 workers ; the department is devoting special attention 

 to the economic aspects of entomology and the etio- 

 logy of diseases due to insects. 



In the Naturwissenschaftliche Wochenschrift (xii., 

 5, February 2, pp. 63-69) Mr. H. Nachtsheim gives a 

 valuable summary of observations and experimental 

 work on the reproductive cycle of Rotifers. Most of 

 the work has been done on Hydatina soita, and the 

 greater part of his paper deals with this species. He 

 reviews the earlier work of Maupas and Nussbaum, 

 shortly summarises that of Punnett, and then dis- 



