66o 



NATURE 



[February 13, 19 13 



of streams of rock talus with the interstices filled by 

 ice, so that the whole mass can move like a glacier. 

 They therefore resemble the stone rivers of the Falk- 

 land Islands, in which the flow was due to interstitial 

 mud. 



Bulletin 431 contains a series of short papers and 

 preliminary reports dealing with mineral fuels, includ- 

 ing petroleum, natural gas in North Dakota, and 

 the coals and lignites of Alabama and various western 

 States. J. W. G. 



RECENT ^\ORK ON INVERTEBRATES. 

 ■\JO. 3 of vol iv. of "Memoirs of the Department of 

 -■•^ Agriculture of India " is devoted to the life-history 

 and habits of the big brown Indian cricket (Brachy- 

 trypes achatinus), the various stages of development 

 being illustrated by a coloured, plate. According to the 

 author, Mr. C. C. Ghosh, these insects, which measure 

 nearly two inches in length, and are burrowing and 

 nocturnal in habit, have recently been the cause of 

 considerable injury to various crops, such as jute, 

 rice, and tea. 



The parasites of the hymenopterous family Dryinidae 

 form the subject of Bulletin No. 11 of the Entomo- 

 logical Reports of the E.xperiment Station of the 

 Hawaiian Sugar-planters' Association. After a re- 

 view of the classification of the group. Dr. R. C. L. 

 Perkins, the entomologist to the association, describes 

 a numbtr of new species from various parts of the 

 tropics. 



lo the fourth part of vol. cx.\i. of the Sitzber. K. 

 Akad. Wiss. (Math.-Naturwiss. Klasse) several 

 specialists contribute further accounts of the organisms 

 collected during Dr. Werner's recent zoological ex- 

 pedition to the Egyptian Sudan and northern Uganda, 

 Prof. F. Klapdiek describing the Neuroptera, Dr. F. 

 Ris the LibellulEE, the Rev. E. VVasmann the Ter- 

 mites, Dr. Werner the genus Embidaria, and Prof. 

 O. Fuhrmann the cestodes of birds. 



Students of distribution, as well as specialists in 

 this particular group, will be interested in Mr. M. 

 Connolly's list of the South African land and fresh- 

 water molluscs in the South African Museum, pub- 

 lished in vol. xi., part 3, of the Annals of that institu- 

 tion. The total number of species recorded is 596, of 

 which no fewer than forty-one are included in the 

 characteristically Ethiopian genus Achatina. 



In part 4 of the same volume Messrs. Goddard and 

 Malan commence a descriptive account of South 

 African leeches (Hirudinea), so far as they are at 

 present known. Although all the families of the 

 group are represented in South Africa, land-leeches 

 have not hitherto been detected, this being due, no 

 doubt, to the unsuitability of the zoologically e.xplored 

 portions of the country to their existence. 



The nets of trawlers returning to Hull from the 

 North Sea and the neighbourhood of Iceland have 

 yielded to the search of Mr. John Thompson a rich 

 harvest of the hydroid zoophytes of those waters. 

 These have been studied by Mr. James Ritchies, the 

 results of whose investigations are published in 

 vol. xviii.. No. 4, of the Proceedings of the Royal 

 Physical Society of Edinburgh. .\ considerable in- 

 crease in our knowledge of certain species has been 

 made, and one form is described as new. 



In The Enfomologist's MonfhJv Magazine for 

 November Mr. Claude Morley discusses" a certain 

 mysterious sibilant humming in the air said to be not 

 uncommonly heard during the summer in this country. 

 That the sound is due lo inserts there can be no 

 reasonable doubt, and Mr. Morley considers himself 

 justified in attributing it to two species of Chironomids, 

 Chironnmw: dorsnlis and Tmtypus -,'arius. both of 

 NO. 2259, VOL. 90] 



which normally fly at a high elevation. The ground 

 for this identification is that during a bout of the 

 humming gusts of wind arose which drove specimens 

 of these insects within reach. That Chironomids are 

 capable of producing sounds has been previously 

 recorded in America. 



To the Sitztingsherichtc der Kgl. Bohin. Gcs. Wiss. 

 for 191 1 Dr. E. Schera communicates the first two 

 parts of a study of Turbellarians, mainly based on 

 specimens collected in various parts of Bohemia. Such 

 a critical study, it is claimed, was urgently needed, 

 since many of the genera and species have been named 

 on insufficient materials, and synonyms are conse- 

 quently rife, and even now certain forms cannot, for 

 the same cause, be properly described. In the first 

 part of his memoir the author describes certain new 

 genera and species, while in the second he mono- 

 graphs the group Olisthanellini. 



To Records of the Indian Museum, vol. vii., part 4, 

 Messrs. F. H. Gravely and S. P. Agharkar communi- 

 cate notes on the habits of the Indian fresh-water 

 jellyfish (Limnocnida iitdica), the discovery of which 

 was recorded in N.ature, vol. Ixxxvii., p. 144, igii. 

 The species occurs in western Indian in the Yenna 

 and Koyna, tributaries of the Krishna, and it is 

 believed also in the Krishna itself near Dhom. It- 

 has been observed in April and May, and is well 

 known to the natives, by whom it is called chakra- 

 phul (wheel-flower), deep pools forming its favourite 

 haunts. From the lack of any evidence of the occur- 

 rence of special resting eggs, it is inferred that there 

 must be a fixed hydroid generation. R. L. 



MIGRATIONS BETWEEN AUSTRALIA 

 AND AMERICA. 



A PAPER by Mr. Hans Hallier on former land- 

 bridges, and plant and human migrations between 

 Australia and America, appears in MededeeJingen 

 van's Rijks Herbarium, Leyden, for 1912, No. 13. 

 At the outset the author refers to earlier conclusions, 

 based on botanical evidence, that Indonesia, Aus- 

 tralia, and Polynesia at one time formed a great 

 .Australian peninsula, most of which subsequently 

 sank, either wholly or in part, leaving the mountains 

 of Tasmania, New Zealand, New Caledonia, the 

 Louisiades, New Guinea, the Moluccas, Celebes, the 

 Philippines, Formosa, &c., to serve as centres of plant- 

 dispersal between China and Polynesia, these being 

 separated by deep sea from the mountains of eastern 

 Australia. In earlier times the peninsula was con- 

 nected by land with America, the northern boundary 

 of this bridge extending from southern Japan through 

 the Sandwich and Revilla-Gigedo Islands to Lower 

 California, while the southern limit seems to have 

 passed by way of the Society and Paumotu Islands 

 from Tasmania through the Auckland, Campbell, 

 Antipodes, and Chatham groups, and thence through 

 Easter Island, Sala-y-Gomez, and Juan Fernandez to 

 the south of Chile. To summarise the evidence of 

 community of origin of the flora of this area, and 

 of the relationships of language-roots, is here impos- 

 sible, but reference mav be made to certain .American 

 designs, considered by Wiener to represent lamas, 

 but, according to the author, intended for 

 kangaroos. .After stating that, from linguistic 

 evidence, southern Asia should be regarded as the 

 dispersal-centre for tlie life of Indonesia and Poly- 

 nesia, and referring to the community of type be- 

 tween ancient Egyptian, .American, and south Asiatic 

 art. the author expresses the opinion that Egvptian 

 and American culture travelled from a south Asiatic 

 source bv two routes, one to Africa, and the other 

 bv wav of Indonesia and Polvnesia to .America. 



