March 13, 1913] 



NATURE 



39 



;es at greater length the experiments of Whitney 

 and A. F. Shull, who have sought to determine what 

 ai ■ the intrinsic and extrinsic factors which bring 

 into existence male-producing and female-producing 

 parthenogenetic females. It is concluded that while 

 in many Rotifers, as Lauterborn has shown, there is 

 a fairly regular cycle, in Hydatina external conditions, 



i iallv the chemical condition of the water, have 

 much greater effect, perhaps because Hydatina lives 

 in small pools which are more readily affected bv 

 environmental factors. Little is said about cyto- 

 logical observations, and the work of Lenssen, which 

 is probably only in apparent contradiction of the later 

 observations of Whitney, is not mentioned. Other- 

 wise it appears to be a very complete and compact 

 summary of our present knowledge of the subject. 



Prof. G. Klep.s has forwarded a reprint of his 

 recent important paper (Verhandl. J. nat.-med. Ver., 

 Heidelberg, 1912) on the morphology and phytogeny 

 of the Peridineae, a group of Protista which has in 

 1 1 ent years received a vast amount of attention on 

 account of the important part which these organisms 

 play in the phytoplankton of both salt and fresh 

 water. In this paper the author describes a number 

 of new genera which are of remarkable interest as 

 connecting up the typical Peridineae with the Flagel- 

 group Crvptomonadina, and showing also that 

 on the other hand the Peridineae have apparently 

 given rise to Alga-like forms characterised by gradual 

 loss of motility, and the development of resting colo- 

 nies showing vegetative cell-division. He also dis- 

 3 the possible affinities between the Pcridineas 

 and certain groups of Algae (Diatomea?, &c), and of 

 Protozoa (Infusoria ciliata and Radiolaria), and repre- 

 sents his views in a diagrammatic " family tree." 



The last number of the Bulletin of the Seismological 

 Society of America contains two short accounts 

 by Mr. G. A. Clark and Mr. A. G. McAdie of the 

 eruption of the Katmai volcano in Alaska last June 

 (vol. ii., pp. 226-229, 236-242). The volcano is a 

 rather insignificant peak, less than 5000 ft. in height, 

 and, before last June, was supposed to be extinct. 

 The eruption began on June 6 at about 4 p.m., and 

 was seen by several observers on the island of Kodiak, 

 at a distance of seventy-five miles. A heavy fall of 

 ashes took place during June 6 and two following 

 days, but ceased about three days later. The town 

 of Katmai, which was explored on June 14, was found 

 to be buried in ashes to a depth of three or four feet, 

 and on Kodiak island the thickness of the layer of 

 ashes was more than a foot. Further eruptions 

 occurred during each of the next four months, those 

 of August 19 and October 25 being of some violence. 



The useful report on the state of the ice in the 

 Arctic seas during 1912, published by the Danish 

 Meteorological Institute, is of more than usual in- 

 terest in view of the abnormal conditions which 

 obtained in the North Atlantic in that year. It in- 

 cludes, as before, monthly summaries prepared from 

 all reports received, and charts showing the condition 

 of the ice during each of the months April-August. 

 NO. 2263, VOL. 91] 



liic winter of 1911-12 was on the whole mild in the 

 region of Bering Strait and in Greenland, but cold 

 in the European Arctic seas; in the White Sea there 

 was much ice until the first half of June, and the 

 Kara Sea seems to have been unapproachable all 

 through the summer. In Barents Sea the edge of 

 the ice throughout the summer was more 

 and southerly than usual. The coast of Iceland was 

 quite free during the year, but the edge of the ice 

 was not far off the northern shore. Vessels were able 

 to put into Angmagsalik (East Greenland) about the 

 third week in July, owing to there being no great 

 drift southward of the vast masses of ice further 

 north ; a possible result may be a heavy drift this 

 year. The conditions along the west coast of Green- 

 land were about normal. Only few reports from 

 Bering Sea and Strait were received, and none from 

 the Beaufort Sea. On this account the institute 

 makes an impressive appeal for more cooperation in 

 its important work; during the year in question the 

 available information was almost entirely received 

 from Norwegian and Danish sources. The proposed 

 publication by the Meteorological Office in its Weekly 

 II eather Report of observations respecting the state 

 of the ice off the east coast of North America during 

 this season, received by wireless messages from the 

 whaler Scotia, which has been chartered bv the Board 

 of Trade in conjunction with the North Atlantic steam- 

 ship lines, will be an important step in the direction 

 of the appeal of the Danish Meteorological Institute. 

 From the Rendiconti of the Royal Lombardv Insti- 

 tution we learn that the prize for airships, which was 

 founded by the late Dr. Cagnola long before the days 

 of aerial navigation, has again been unawarded, as 

 has, indeed, been the case during practically the whole 

 period of development of modern airships and dirig- 

 ibles. The report of the referees on the work sub 

 mitted by the solitary competitor, coupled with the 

 absence of other competitors, seems to indicate that 

 Italian aeronauts, as well as others competent to 

 submit Italian, French, or Latin accounts of their 

 successful experiments, are deterred from making any 

 serious effort to compete for the prize, and this for 

 some reason or other which is doubtless well known 

 to them. The object which Dr. Cagnola had in view 

 has been attained quite independently of his benefac- 

 tion, and it is surely unfortunate that the latter has 

 lly failed to further this end. 



Postage stamps do not often afford material for 

 ! scientific discussion, but an interesting point is men- 

 tioned by Mr. Sam S. Buckley in his book on the 

 [ marginal varieties of the Edwardian stamps of Great 

 j Britain (published by Oswald Marsh, London), in 

 ' connection with a change that was initiated in the 

 autumn of 1911 in the mode of perforating the new- 

 English issues. Until then the horizontal and vertical 

 perforations were at the same distance apart, namelv 

 14 in 2 centimetres. It was found, however, that the 

 stamps would not tear well along the horizontal lines, 

 and the explanation was that in machine-made paper 

 the fibres have a tendency to lie in certain directions, 

 thus making the resistance to tearing unequal in 



