October 3, 191 2] 



NATURE 



139 



partners, in such a manner as to form a complete 

 coating. According to an article by Prof. J. F. Abbott 

 in the September number of The American Naturalist, 

 a .somewhat analogous, although more remarkable, 

 instance of abnormal "nursery arrangements" occurs 

 in the case of a North American hemipterous insect 

 (Rhamphocorixa balanodis) belonging to the family 

 Cori.xidje, which is related to the Notonectidae, as re- 

 presented by the w-ell-knovvn "water-boatman." In 

 1910 it was observed that many of the crayfish (Catn- 

 hariis immunis) near Colombia, Mo., were more or 

 less completely coated with the eggs of this insect, 

 each egg being imbedded in a small cup fixed 

 to the shell of the crayfish. Each crayfish carried 

 hundreds of eggs, and as each female Rhampho- 

 corixa lays comparatively few, several insects must 

 have cooperated in investing the crayfish. It is 

 suggested that the coating of eggs renders the cray- 

 fish less conspicuous than in its ordinary condition, 

 just as crabs carrying colonies of algas, sponges, or 

 sea-anemones probably profit in some manner by the 

 investiture. 

 \ We have received from Dr. Friedrich Konig, of 

 Krailling-Planegg, near Munich, a small pamphlet on 

 the reconstruction of extinct vertebrate animals, with 

 photographs of models which he has prepared in 

 accordance with the principles he explains. He em- 

 phasises especially the important aid afforded by the 

 new kinematograph films of wild animals in motion, 

 and points out how much less hypothetical are restora- 

 tions made with our present knowledge than those 

 which were attempted some years ago. His pamphlet 

 forms an interesting summary of the whole subject, 

 its problems and difficulties, with full references to 

 all the important literature. Among his own restora- 

 tions that of Diplodocus is particularly striking, for 

 he has tried to avoid the appearance of a sleek pach)- 

 derm bs' assuming the presence of a series of glands 

 beneath the skin, which give the dorsal region of the 

 body a segmented aspect. 



\ In the September number of The American Journal 

 of Science Prof. Roy L. Moodie publishes a detailed 

 description of the remains of Eobatrachus agilis from 

 the Upper Jurassic of Wyoming, U.S.A., and confirms 

 the opinion of the late Prof. O. C. Marsh that they 

 represent a true anourous amphibian. Prof. Moodie 

 finds that the bones are closely similar to those of a 

 modern toad, and he comments on the great interest 

 of the discovery of so highly specialised an animal in 

 rocks so ancient as those of the Jurassic period. He 

 overlooks the fact, however, that a vi-ell-preserved 

 skeleton of a frog, Palaeobatrachus gaudryi, is already 

 known from the Upper Jurassic of northern Spain 

 (L. M. Vidal, Mem. Real Acad. Ciencias de Barcelona, 

 vol. iv.. No. 18, 1902). 



The Rev. M. Saderra Mas6, the well-known 

 student of the Philippine earthquakes, finds that most 

 of the earthquakes in southern Luzon originate along 

 three great fractures, two of which lie to the east 

 and west of the island, and are roughly parallel to 

 the coast-lines, while the third, and most important, 

 traverses the Taal volcano (the seat of the disastrous 

 eruption of 191 1), and runs in a north-north-easterly 

 NO. 2240, VOL. 90] 



direction, passing some miles to the east of Manila. 

 The earthquakes which originate in the south-western 

 part of this line are characterised by relatively long 

 duration and rather slow undulations of large ampli- 

 tude, while those which proceed from the north- 

 eastern part of the fracture are more dangerous, 

 owing to the rapidity of their vibrations. It is in 

 the latter part of the fracture that the destructive 

 earthquakes of Manila have for the most part 

 originated. 



All the available space in Symons's Meteorological 

 Magazine for September is devoted by Dr. Mill to 

 an account and preliminary map of the distribution 

 of rain in East Anglia on August 26 and 27, which 

 was altogether unprecedented for a cyclonic storm in 

 that part of Great Britain. The relation of the track 

 of the depression to the rain area was similar to that 

 of the great Irish fall of August 24-26, 1905 (" British 

 Rainfall," pp. [iio]-[ii4]). On the morning of August 

 26 the Daily Weather Report issued by the Meteoro- 

 logical Office showed a depression off the North Fore- 

 land ; bv 6 p.m. it had moved northwards and deepened 

 off the most easterly part of the Norfolk coast, and 

 during the night turned to the right, across the North 

 Sea. The storm seems to have been central close to Nor- 

 wich, and the area of torrential rain lay in the north- 

 east of Norfolk. The more important facts relating 

 to the heavv rainfall are given in letters from several 

 of Dr. Mill's staff of observers. Among these Mr. 

 J. H. Willis, of Norwich, took the trouble to read 

 his gauge twelve times between 4 a.m. of August 26 

 and 4 a.m. of August 27 ; he recorded 6'32 in. in the 

 twelve hours to 4 p.m. of August 26, and a further 

 inch exactly in the following twelve hours. Only 

 004 in. fell between 4 and 9 a.m. on August 27, 

 making 7'36 in. in twenty-nine hours. Although the 

 twenty-four hours in question do not count as a " rain- 

 fall day" (twentj'-fours ending at 9 a.m.), and the 

 amount does not compare with other falls, it has not 

 been surpassed in the British Isles on more than two 

 or three occasions. The remarkable amount of S'og 

 in. was recorded at Brundall, five miles east of Nor- 

 wich, for the two days. Dr. Mill computes that the 

 county of Norfolk, with an area of 2044 square miles, 

 had a general rainfall of probably 4'88 in., which 

 would be equivalent to twice as much water as is 

 contained in Windermere, the largest of the English 

 lakes. 



The Journal of the Franklin Institute for Septem- 

 ber contains an account of some experiments on the 

 electrical precipitation of solid and liquid matter sus- 

 pended in gases by Mr. W. W. Strong, of the depart- 

 ment of industrial research of the L^niversity of Pitts- 

 burg. The suspended matter was obtained by blowing 

 lime dust or the smoke produced by burning soft coal 

 or the spray from a nozzle through which alcohol, 

 ether, or toluol was forced, into the space between an 

 earthed electrode and one connected to six different 

 types of high-tension apparatus. The experiments 

 show that the problem of precipitating smoke is iden- 

 tical with that of removing dust, and that the coronal 

 discharge is much more effective than the brush dis- 

 charge, especially with large velocities of the gas con- 

 taining the suspended particles. With this type of 



