August 21, 19 13] 



NATURE 



64; 



of Natural history, an account of recent bio- 

 logical and embryological studies on Formicidae, 

 based on investigations into the habits and 

 life-history of the American cornfield ant (Lasius 

 niger americanus). Although this is believed 

 to be the most abundant insect in the United States, 

 such an investigation had never previously been under- 

 taken, so that a number of new facts in its ecology 

 have been brought to light. 



Although the majority of the birds represented by 

 fossil bones in the Pleistocene of the Oregon desert 

 belong to species still existing, it is not a little re- 

 markable that they include two extinct species of 

 swan, one of which — Olor matthewi — is described for 

 the first time in a paper on the fauna of the tract by 

 Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, in the Bulletin of the American 

 Museum of Natural History, vol. xxxii., art. vi. Note- 

 worthy, too, as indicative of climatic changes, is the 

 occurrence of remains of the snow-goose. In connec- 

 tion with the determination of fossil bird-bones, Dr. 

 Shufeldt points out that in many cases allowance must 

 be made for great differences in length due to differ- 

 ences in age and sex of the birds to which thev 

 belonged, and other conditions. Neglect of this may 

 lead to very erroneous determinations. 



.At the conclusion of an article on the food of insects 

 in Naturwissenschaftliche Wochenschrift of July 13 

 and 20, Dr. Hans Petersen points out that the chloro- 

 phyll found in the intestine of caterpillars becomes 

 modified into a red substance — " vanessa red'" — which 

 is used in the epithelium, and, after pupation, as 

 a pigment in the wings and other parts. Part of the 

 red matter remaining unabsorbed in the intestine is 

 finally voided. He also comments on the remarkable 

 fact that the larva; of clothes-moths subsist on abso- 

 lutely drv keratin — the main constituent of wool — 

 which all other animals seem completely unable to 

 digest and assimilate. In regard to the consumption 

 of wax by the larvae of the wax-moth, it is considered 

 that although this substance is essential to their exist- 

 ence, it is largely supplemented by remnants of pollen, 

 honey, &c. 



Apparently more or less harmless in its reputed 

 native country, the Argentine ant (Iridomyrmex 

 liuinilis) is a serious enemy to vegetation and crops in 

 the numerous lands — including the warmer parts of 

 the United States, Madeira, and Portugal — into which 

 it has been introduced. So injurious indeed is this 

 insect in Louisiana and some of the neighbouring 

 States that its ravages, according to a special report 

 by Messrs. W. Newell and T. C. Barber, published as 

 Bulletin No. 122 of the U.S. Bureau of Entomology, 

 are fully as bad as those of the caterpillars of the 

 gipsy-moth, the boll-weevil, and the San Jose scale- 

 insect. With the view of checking this mischievous ant, 

 full details of its life-history have been worked out 

 and recorded in the bulletin, together with sugges- 

 tions as to remedial measures. In the orange orchards, 

 where these ants have done incredible damage, the 

 most successful plan has been to induce the colonies 

 to congregate during winter in boxes filled with decay- 

 NO. 2286, VOL. 91] 



ing vegetable matter, where they are subsequently 

 destroyed by means of carbon bisulphide. 



Dr. P. van Harreveld, who some years ago (Rec. 

 d. Trav. hot. Nierlandais, vol. iii.) pointed out various 

 imperfections in the forms of klinostat hitherto used in 

 experiments on geotropism, heliotropism, and other 

 phenomena of movement in plants, has now published 

 in the same journal (vol. ix.) an account of a new- 

 form of this instrument devised by him. This " Uni- 

 versal Klinostat " is of somewhat complicated con- 

 struction, which is illustrated by eighteen figures 

 showing the various parts in detail, and the author 

 claims that his form of this important instrument 

 successfully eliminates all the sources of error arising 

 from the use of the forms of klinostat that have been 

 in use up to the present time; for details reference 

 must be made to the author's paper. 



We have received a copy of Prof. Guignard's memo- 

 rial notice on the life and scientific work of the late 

 Dr. Edouard Bornet, who died on December 18, 1911, 

 at the age of seventy-three years. The list of Bornet 's 

 publications extends to nearly sixty titles, but he will 

 be best remembered for his work on the algae, and 

 particularly for the two well-known volumes "Etudes 

 phycologiques " and " Notes algologiques," which he 

 produced in collaboration with Thuret between 1876 

 and 1880. The magnificent plates which illustrate 

 these two works have never been surpassed for beauty 

 and fidelity to nature in the entire range of botanical 

 literature. In Prof. Guignard's admirably written and 

 sympathetic sketch of Bornet 's labours, we are taken 

 back to what now appear extremely remote times and 

 shown what an important part Bornet played as a 

 pioneer in establishing the sexuality of the crypto- 

 gams and the dual nature of the lichens. 



In a paper of considerable interest to geologists as 

 well as to botanists. Dr. J. B. Scholz (Engler's Bot. 

 Jahrb., vol. xlvi.) discusses the "steppe problem" of 

 the north German plain. There is at the 

 present day a strong contrast between the mild 

 equable climate of north-west Europe and the 

 dry continental climate of the steppes of south 

 Russia and west Siberia, but that the steppes 

 had formerly a greater westward extension during at 

 least one drier climatic phase in late Glacial times was 

 shown by Nehring from the distribution of the loess 

 with its characteristic steppe fauna, implying a corre- 

 sponding steppe flora and climate. Scholz now brings 

 forward various botanical evidences against the prob- 

 ability of a long steppe period in west Prussia, with 

 interesting notes on the distribution of the character- 

 istic steppe grass, Stipa pennata, and accompanying 

 plants, pointing to the conclusion that these plants 

 have entered north Germany along the valleys of the 

 Vistula, Oder, and Elbe, all of which have the general 

 direction south-east to north-west. 



In a paper published by the Survey Department of 

 the Egyptian Ministry of Finance, Dr. John Ball dis- 

 cusses the occurrence of the phosphate deposits found 

 in the localities bordering on the Reu Sea coast and 

 in the Nile districts. In the Sataja district alone 



