34« 



NATURE 



[June 



I have often endeavoured to make a player-piano 

 play Chopin's First Ballade, but I have never yet suc- 

 ceeded in overcoming the uncompromising self-asser- 

 tiveness of the mechanism. It seems to me a curious 

 fact that while a piano-pla}'er can often play Beethoven 

 acceptably, it fails hopelesslv with Chopin, especially 

 in works like the ballades and nocturnes. I have 

 succeeded in fretting presentable performances of the 

 sonatas, and 1 had almost said of the scherzos, but 

 the lack of flexibility of the instrument seems to make 

 it impossible in music where differences in colour are 

 so important as in the ballades and nocturnes. 



Although I have no doubt it will be possible to 

 devise a mechanical arrangement which will improve 

 the player in the direction I have mentioned, yet it 

 would seem impossible to make any mechanism suffi- 

 ciently sensitive to be able to produce effects such as 

 those which can be produced by the fingers, just as 

 it may be possible to produce an aeroplane which is 

 capable of marvellous evolutions, while it never attains 

 the instinctive facility of a bird. 



Christopher W. C. Wheatley. 



Thi- College, Epsom, May 23. 



papillocercus of Bobretzky as revised by U. Pierantoni 

 (Ann del Mus. Zool. Napoli (N.S.), vol. ii., No. 18, 

 1907). I- H. Orion 



The Laboratorv, Citadel Hill, Plymouth. 



On the Habitat of Protodrilus and the Occurrence of 

 the Archiannelid, Saccocirrus, on the South Coast 

 of England. 



One habitat of Protodrilus on the English coast has 

 already been mentioned in Nature of March 27 (p. 85). 

 This animal, however, has since been found in so 

 many similar localities in the Plymouth district that 

 there can be little doubt that it will be found on 

 other parts of the coast when looked for in suitable 

 situations. Protodrilus has indeed now been taken in 

 numbers in eleven different localities between Sal- 

 combe and Looe. 



In one of these situations there was found, along 

 with Protodrilus, a species of the interesting genus 

 Saccocirrus, which, as is well known, appears to link 

 up the Archiannelids with the Polychaetes. This 

 genus has not apparently been taken outside the 

 Mediterranean region except at Madeira, but, as in 

 the case of Protodrilus, it may very likely be found 

 on other parts of the coast when looked for in suitable 

 places. Hence the following description of the habitat 

 of these animals may induce some of the readers of 

 Nature to look for them on other parts of our coasts. 



In all cases Protodrilus — and in one case Saccocirrus 

 — has been found in gravel just below- the high-water 

 mark of neap tides where fresh water runs or perco- 

 lates into the sea, and in nearly all cases the animals 

 were taken at the lower level of a gravelly beach 

 where the gravel passes into a rocky foreshore. Given 

 these conditions in the Plymouth district, namely 

 fresh water running over or percolating through 

 gravel near the high-water mark of neap tides with 

 rocks at the lower levels, and one is practically certain to 

 find Protodrilus where the gravel meets the rocks, 

 and especially under stones embedded in gravel in the 

 pools at the junction of the gravel and the rocks. 



In appearance the species of Protodrilus found near 

 Plymouth, P. flavocapitatus, resembles a piece of silk 

 thread about half an inch long, looking brownish- 

 white to creamy-white on a dark background, and 

 having- a rosv-coloured portion just behind the head; 

 the bodv is often curved in a characteristically sinuous 

 manner, and may become rolled up into a close spiral 

 coil if the animal is alarmed. Saccocirrus is very 

 similar to Protodrilus in habits, but is larger, attain- 

 ing a length of nearly 2 in., and having- a correspond- 

 ingly thicker bodv, which is opaque-white in colour. 

 This species of Saccocirrus has not yet been deter- 

 mined, but it does not appear to be the same as the 



NO. 2275. VOL. 91] 



Sub-Red Crag Flint Implements and the Ipswich 

 Skeleton. 



The best reply to Mr. J. Reid Moir's criticism 

 (Nature, May 22, p. 296) on my paper in the Man- 

 chester memoirs discussing his sub-Crag flints will 

 be the paper itself when published. The second part 

 of his letter, dealing with the Ipswich skeleton, reveals 

 so complete a change of ground that it is necessary 

 to comment on it. In his original description (Pro- 

 ceedings of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia, 

 vol. i., part ii., p. 194) Mr. Moir laid very great stress 

 on the fact that the contracted skeleton was lying 

 partly embedded in glacial sand, and partly in decalci- 

 fied boulder clay. 



In a report (ibid., p. 196) by Mr. YV. Whitaker, 

 F.R.S., appears the following: — "The bony cavity or 

 the skull is filled with earth of the same kind as thai 

 beneath which the skeleton was found, a brown loam, 

 and the filling is so thorough that a cast of the cavity 

 has been made." 



Dr. Arthur Keith, in his description (ibid., p. 203) 

 of the Ipswich skeleton, remarks "that on reaching 

 the museum the bones were exposed by removing 

 from them the overlying boulder clay and leaving 

 them still in situ, on the underlying glacial sands," 

 and adds, "There is the further advantage that anyone 

 can now examine the exact relationship of the parts 

 to the strata in which they lie." 



Mr. J. Reid Moir now says " that in his opinion 

 the skeleton was either buried in the sand, or else 

 covered by blown sand to a considerable depth." In 

 either case the skeleton, when found, should have 

 Iain entirely in sand and the cranial cast in boulder 

 clay would have been impossible. Mr. Moir's present 

 view is hence Quite inconsistent with his original 

 description of the occurrence, and, as he cannot have 

 it both ways, he must choose which view he prefers to 

 stand by. W. H. Sotcliffe. 



Littleborough, May 27. 



Antennae for Wireless Telegraphy. 



I find that an iron bedstead with wire mattress on 

 the top (fourth) floor of this house answers quite well 

 as antenna? for the receipt of wireless signals. It is 

 only necessary to connect the receiving apparatus, 

 which includes a Brown relay, between the bedstead 

 and the water-pipe to receive the Admiralty signals 

 loudly, and others from various unidentified stations 

 faintly but quite audibly. 



I find also that with the bedstead antenna? it is 

 possible to get the time signals from the Eiffel Tower. 

 As might be expected, the signals are not very loud, 

 but are sufficiently audible to be recognised and read 

 easily. A. A. Campbell Swinton. 



40 Chester Square, S.W. 



Use of a Carbon Filament Lamp to Charge 

 Electroscopes. 



I find that a very convenient way of charging an 



ordinary gold-leaf electroscope is to rub the charging 

 rod with the glass bulb of a glowing carbon filament 

 lamp. The leaf system becomes negatively charged. 

 It is quite easy to charge a Braun electrostatic volt- 

 meter to several thousand volts in this way. 



There appears to be nothing mysterious in the 

 phenomenon. The glass of the lamp is kept hot and 



