6i6 



NATURE 



[August 14, 1913 



State Laboratory of Natural History, vol. ix., art. 7, 

 carp seem much more highly esteemed as food-fishes 

 in those parts of the United States where they have 

 been introduced than in this country. Their greatest 

 enemies are garpike, which attack the young, and a 

 fungus which infests the spawn, and against the 

 ravages of these two foes remedial measures are 

 suggested by Dr. S. A. Forbes in the article cited. 



The King has presented to the British Museum 

 (Natural History) a tiger shot by himself in the Nepal 

 larai during his Majesty's tour in India in the winter 

 of 1911-12. The specimen, which was mounted by' 

 Rowland Ward, Ltd., has been placed on exhibition 

 in a special case on the second floor of the building, 

 between the Banks statue and the upper mammal 

 gallery, opposite a portion of the Hume collection of 

 Indian big-game heads. The animal is set up in a 

 partially crouching attitude on artificial groundwork 

 amid real Indian jungle-grass. 



According to the sixth annual report (for 1912) of 

 the American Bison Society, the number of pure- 

 blooded bison in the United States and Canada in- 

 creased during the season 1911-12 from 2760 to 2907 

 head. At the instigation of the society the U.S. 

 Government has allocated a tract of 15,000 acres in 

 South Dakota and the adjacent States to form an 

 additional bison-preserve. As it includes part of the 

 winter feeding-grounds of the great herds of bison 

 that formerly ranged to the north and north-east, it 

 ought to be admirably suited for the purpose. 



In spite of several more or less well-attested in- 

 stances of such an occurrence, there is a very general 

 tendency to refuse to believe that female mules may 

 occasionally be fertile. A case recorded in The 

 Field of August 2, by Mr. G. J. Harvey, Government 

 Veterinary Surgeon at Nicosia, Cyprus, seems, how- 

 ever, to be beyond reasonable doubt. In this 

 instance the mule, which is stated to have given birth 

 to another foal a year previously, was seen by Mr. 

 Harvey in the act of suckling her foal, then two 

 months old. The parent, which stood 13^2 hands, is 

 stated to be the offspring of a she-ass by an unknown 

 sire, and certified to be an undoubted mule. 



The brown discoloration and unpleasant flavour 

 acquired by peaches shipped for long distances has 

 been attributed to so-called "ice-scald." That this 

 injury is not a temperature effect is shown by recent 

 experiments by Mr. G. R. Hill (Cornell University 

 Agricultural Experimental Station, Bulletin 330), and 

 evidence is adduced indicating the harmful effect to 

 be due to an accumulation of carbon dioxide within 

 the paper wrapper round the fruit during transit. 

 During the investigations it was found that growing 

 tissues, such as green peaches and germinating wheat, 

 respire more than twice as rapidly aerobically as 

 anaerobically, whilst ripe fruits respire as actively 

 anaerobically as aerobically. Ripe apples lose their 

 colour, texture, and flavour, and assume the qualities 

 of half-baked apples by being kept for a sufficient 

 length of time in oxygen-free gases. The softening 

 of peaches (hydrolysis of pectose) appears to be de- 

 creased greatly bv carbon dioxide and to a considerable 

 NO. 2285, VOL. 91] 



extent by hydrogen and nitrogen; under similar con- 

 ditions the fruit becomes brownish, and acquires a 

 very bad flavour. Good ventilation and refrigeration, 

 therefore, would appear to be the essential conditions 

 under which this fruit should be stored. 



A further report on the Isle of Wight bee disease 

 has been issued as Supplement No. 10 to the Journal 

 of the Board of Agriculture. Of the various sections 

 of the report the first is contributed by Drs. Fantham 

 and Porter, and deals with the life-history of the 

 parasite {Nosema apis), with parasite carriers, exam- 

 ination of pollen, honey, and wax, and of certain 

 insects found in hives ; the second section, by Dr. 

 Graham-Smith and Mr. Bullamore, describes results 

 of infection experiments with the parasite, the mode 

 of spread, and the means of treatment and prevention. 

 The bacteriology of the disease is reviewed by Dr. 

 Maiden, and a summary of the investigations forms 

 the last section. Up to the present no curative 

 measures have been found, but certain preventive 

 measures have yielded satisfactory results. No species 

 of bacteria constantly associated with the disease has 

 been found, and B. peslifonnis apis, which is fre- 

 quently in diseased stock, and was at one time thought 

 to be the causal agent, is not pathogenic in pure 

 culture. Bacteria, however, may play an important 

 secondary part in producing the symptoms when the 

 resisting powers have been lowered by the action of 

 Nosema, 



Mr. G. Ricchieri has contributed a lengthy sum- 

 mary of recent work on the nature of the earth's 

 interior to the " Miscellanea di Studi " (R. Accad. 

 Scien. Letter, di Milano). The conclusions of mathe- 

 maticians and hypotheses of mathematicians, seis- 

 mologists, and geologists are generally given in detail ; 

 but an account can scarcely be held complete which 

 refers for the Rev. O. Fisher's views to the article 

 on geology in the ninth edition of the " Encyclopaxlia 

 Britannica," and omits all reference to the work of 

 Dr. Milne and the deductions of Mr. R. D. Oldham. 



In a paper communicated to the R. Accademia dei 

 Lincei, Dr. G. Agamennone describes an interesting 

 spurious earthquake caused by the sudden fall in 

 Rome of a wall 60 metres long, 20 metres high, and 

 125 metres in mean thickness. The res.ilting shock 

 was sensible to man at a distance of 350 metres, and 

 it was recorded by a seismograph at the Collegio 

 Romano, about 700 metres from the fallen wall. The 

 maximum amplitude of the movement was only 

 0-005 mm., and this was attained two or three 

 seconds after the beginning ; the period of the vibra- 

 tions was about one-third of a second, whereas in 

 earthquakes of near origin the period is rarely less 

 than one second. 



The meteorological charts of the North Atlantic and 

 North Pacific Oceans, issued by the U.S. Weather 

 Bureau, for August, contain instructive articles by 

 Mr. W. E. Hurd on the formation and movements of 

 tropical cyclones. Several physical causes play a pro- 

 minent part in their formation, but heat and moisture 

 are necessary conditions. Mr. Hurd refers in detail 

 to the works of various investigators, including such 



