May 24, 1906] 



NA TURE 



of the Natural History Museum, has returned from his 

 Egy|ili.'in trip. We understand that he has obtained some 

 imporlaiit specimens from the Fayum deposit, but that 

 he was unable to visit the zeuglodon-beds of the Mokattum 

 range. 



The <;reater portion of the .April issue of the Museums 

 Journal is taken up by an illustrated article by Colonel 

 Plunkett, director of the Dublin Museum, on the methods 

 employed at that institution in circulating objects of art, 

 or reproductions therefrom, among schools and other local 

 establishments. A special endeavour has been made to 

 reduce so far as possible the labour and expense con- 

 nected with handling, packing, receiving, and dispatching 

 the circulation sets, and although the scheme has only 

 been in operation for a couple of years, it appears to be a 

 conspicuous success. 



.\n important paper by Mr. F. \V. Thyng appears in the 

 Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 

 (vol. xxxii., No. 11) on the squamosal bone of the skull 

 in four-footed vertebrates. After maintaining, in opposition 

 to the views of Gadow, Broom, and others, that the mam- 

 malian incus corresponds to the reptilian quadrate, the 

 author proceeds to demonstrate that, of the two bones 

 lying between the parietal and the quadrato-jugal in the 

 labyrinthodont skull, the lower one, as not overlying the 

 otic capsule, represents the squamosal of mammals, while 

 the upper one should be called the supratemporal. According 

 to the generally accepted scheme of cranial osteology, these 

 names are transposed. The author's re-determination is 

 largely based on the evidence afforded by the larval skull 

 of the limbless amphibians, or csecilians, which appear to 

 come the nearest of all living groups to the labvrinlho- 

 donls. 



The articles in the combined second and third parts of 

 vol. Ixxxi. of the Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologic 

 are only three in number, but each is of unusual length. 

 In the first Mr. Hans Dunker discusses the homology of 

 the cirri and the elytra in the " sea-mouse " (Aphrodite) ; 

 the second is a continuation of Dr. L. Bohmig's studies of 

 the planarian worins of the Tricladida group ; while the 

 third, by Mr. C. von Janicki, of Basle, is devoted to certain 

 new or little-known cestode parasites infesting marsupials, 

 bats, insectivores, rodents, and edentates. In the case of 

 the last paper, especial interest, from a geographical point 

 of view, attaches to the discovery in a Brazilian opossum 

 of a new species of tape-worm belonging to the genus 

 Linstowia, which was established by Zschokke in 1898 for 

 the species L. semoni infesting one of the Australian 

 bandicoots, but incliided another species found in the 

 Echidna or spiny anteater of the same region. The new 

 evidence is of the highest importance in confirming the 

 opinion as to the close affinity of the South American to 

 the .■\ustralasian marsupials, and also as to the relatively 

 late date at which the two groups were sundered. Whether 

 the common habitat of the ancestral type was, as has been 

 suggested, in south-eastern .Asia or in a sunken southern 

 land remains to be determined. 



Some cultural notes by Mr. H. Drion on hardy bam- 

 boos, continued from the previous number, are published 

 in the April number of Le Bambou. Prof. E. de W'ilde- 

 nian contributes a note on the bainboo-hat industry in 

 Java, that gives employment to a large number of natives. 

 The hats are made double and in various qualities depend- 

 ing upon the degree of fineness of the woven strips. Their 

 cost varies from four pence to eighteen pence ; the chief 

 defect is their tendency to become discoloured. 

 NO. 1 90S, VOL. 74] 



The Para rubber tree and its cultivation, also the culti- 

 vation of other American rubber trees, have attracted a 

 great deal of attention lately, but Fictis elastica, the source 

 of india-rubber, is seldom mentioned, and its cultivation 

 is by no means fully understood. A small brochure written 

 bv Mr. C. Bald contains much information on the subject 

 that will be useful to rubber planters in the north of India 

 and elsewhere. Wild plants generally begin life as 

 epiphytes, but the writer describes how seedlings can be 

 readily germinated and transplanted, or a branch may be 

 specially prepared for layering, whereas artificial attempts 

 at epiphytic germination have mostly failed. 



The third number of the Kew Bulletin for this year 

 contains a series of identifications of new plants by workers 

 in the herbarium. Dr. Stapf contributes a decade of 

 .African plants and a selection from various countries, in- 

 cluding four species of Icacinea; from Borneo. Ainong the 

 new orchids named by Mr. Rolfe are a Catasetum from 

 Colombia and a Pteroglossaspis that is interesting as the 

 first American record of a genus hitherto known only from 

 Africa. Mr. G. Massee concludes an account of animal 

 and plant parasites destructive to beets and mangolds by 

 pointing out the risk of growing two root crops in 

 succession. 



In the Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture, 

 Jamaica, vol. iv., part iii., an article by Mr. H. Q. Levy 

 is published on the cultivation and marketing of oranges 

 and grape fruit. Mr. Levy treats the subject from the 

 point of view of the small grower, and gives advice on 

 the laying out of the plantation, suitable catch crops, and 

 the diseases of citrus fruits ; the varieties of orange re- 

 commended are the seedless Petersfield navel and the 

 seeded Pineapple. The hints on grading and packing the 

 fruit are pertinent and practical. The part also contains 

 a list compiled by Mr. Wm. Harris of the seasons and 

 prices in Kingston for fruits, vegetables, and other products. 



Mr. E. p. Stebbing writes a short note in the Indian 

 Forester (March) on Termes gestroi, a termite that attacks 

 Para rubber trees. This parasite has been reported 

 previously from Borneo, Singapore, and the Straits Settle- 

 ments, and now from the Mergui plantations in Burma. 

 Little appears to be known of the habits of these white 

 ants e.xcept that they hollow out their galleries in the 

 crown of the root, where they collect and store the latex, 

 and that they have increased greatly owing to the favour- 

 able conditions they find in the plantations of this exotic 

 tree. Further information with regard to their life-history 

 is required before satisfactory methods of treatment can 

 be suggested. 



.Although an exhaustive investigation into the methods 

 of cultivating and manufacturing natural indigo in India 

 was carried out by Mr. Rawson a few years ago, and 

 valuable suggestions were made by him for effecting 

 improvements, the importance of the subject warranted 

 further experiments that have been undertaken by Mr. 

 C. Bergtheil, the agricultural bacteriologist to the Govern- 

 ment of India. In the recent report of the Indigo Re- 

 search Station at Sirsiah the superiority of the Natal 

 plant, Indigofcra arrecta, as improved by cultivation in 

 Java, over the ordinary Bengal plant, Indigofcra 

 sutnatrana, is clearly established, except under certain con- 

 ditions. Mr. Bergtheil also emphasises the importance of 

 seed selection. In the manufacturing processes the chief 

 point inculcated is the necessity for maintaining the steep- 

 ing vats at a temperature of 90° F. 



