June 14, 1906] 



NA TURE 



161 



Nevertheless, it is very necessary that we should record 

 the bionomics of arthropods of economic importance, even 

 though we have to leave to some future date the scientific 

 nomi-nclature, which in many cases is quite as diverse as 

 the sometimes derided popular one ! It is thus pleasing to 

 find in this work valuable information recorded without 

 wailing for even the definite generic status of the pest in 

 question. 



From p. 379 to p. 385 is detailed in a most able manner 

 the life-history and workings of a cerambycid beetle, 

 probably a Stromatium, which attacks the sandal-wood 

 tree. 



This " borer " is well known to be one of the most 

 assiduous pests in the sandal-wood area of North Coimba- 

 tore. and yet Mr. Stebbing tells us that he is as yet unable 

 to obtain any beetles and that he is not even sure of its 

 generic position. So much is recorded, however, that one 

 has only to find and name the beetle and fill in a few 

 details and the account is complete. The sandal-wood borer 

 will remain the same to the Indian forester, who is in- 

 debted to Mr. Stebbing for that work of special value, its 

 life-history, whatever technical name it appears under later 

 on. Other forest enemies are recorded in similar manner ; 

 sometimes the genus is doubtful, sometimes the species. 



The most interesting part of this work deals with the 

 bamboo beetle or shot-borer (J)inoderus minutiis, Fabricius). 

 This and allied species are often very destructive to 

 bamboos. 



It is shown that this species is the chief pest to bamboos 

 in Calcutta and in the hotter, damper parts of the country, 

 apparently taking the place of the pilifrons in Upper India. 



In the account of this pest we find recorded some real 

 practical work with regard to protecting bamboos from the 

 ravages of this insect. The conclusions arrived at show 

 that soaking the rods for five days in water, then drying 

 them and soaking them for forty-eight hours in common 

 Rangoon oil, is the best method of treatment. Other 

 interesting wood-borers are also dealt with, including a 

 goat-moth (Duomitus lettconoHts, Walker) found in 

 Calcutta, Sikhim, and Ceylon, which attacks the Cassia 

 trees just as our goat-moth attacks the ash and oak ; 

 and there is also a very full account of the Casuarina 

 bark-eating caterpillar (Arhela tetraonis, Moore), a wide- 

 spread pest in Casuarina plantations, where it often does 

 much damage. 



An unusual, yet useful, diversion we note in this re- 

 port is that at the end of e.-ich subject are mentioned the 

 " points in the life-history requiring further investigation." 



The plates are for the most part rather crude, but serve 

 their purpose. The photogravure of bamboos tunnelled into 

 by the bamboo-borer is, however, an exception. A great 

 foundation is being prepared in such a work as this ; it is 

 only a foundation, but, judging from what we have seen 

 of this and others, it is one upon which we need not be 

 afraid to continue building. Fred. V. THEOE.'iLD. 



THE SOUTH-EASTERN UNION OF SCIEN- 

 TIFIC SOCIETIES. 

 T^lIE eleventh annual congress of the South-Eastern 

 Union of Scientific Societies was held at Eastbourne 

 on June 6-9 at the invitation of the local natural history 

 society. On Wednesday evening, June 6, the retiring 

 president. Prof. Flinders Petrie, opened the proceedings 

 and gave up his chair to Dr. Francis Darwin, who delivered 

 the presidential address. The title of the latter was 

 " Periodicity," and in it Dr. Darwin pointed out that one 

 of the most striking features of living things is their 

 periodic or rhythmic character. Life itself may be de- 

 scribed as a rhythm made up of alternate destruction and 

 reconstruction. Protoplasm — " the physical basis of life " 

 -—is alternately falling to pieces by a degradation into 

 simpler compounds and rebuilding itself from the food 

 materials supplied. 



In the address simpler instances were mentioned, such 

 as are seen in the process of reproduction, for instance in 

 the case of a plant, which produces a seed that gives rise 

 to another plant, and so on. Again, allusion was made to 

 the seasonal appearance and disappearance of the leaves 

 of deciduous trees. Attention was turned to the time 



VO. 191 I, VOL. 74I 



limits between the earliest and latest unfolding of the leaves 

 in various trees and to the attempts which have been 

 made by phfenologists to explain these periodic phenomena 

 as being strictly regulated by temperature. 



In the end, however. Dr. Darwin was able to show that 

 the plant is really master of the situation, and not the 

 temperature, for among other things buds in ordinary 

 circumstances will not develop at the end of summer, and at 

 this time it is much milder than in the spring, when they 

 begin to unfold and grow into shoots. The plant is, in fact, 

 guided by internal rather than external conditions, for the 

 bud has to go through certain invisible changes (luring 

 its winter's rest before it is ready for its normal growth, 

 and these invisible changes are part of the plant's auto- 

 matic rhythmic capacity which enables it to be independent, 

 to a large extent, of external changes. The same argu- 

 ments were found to apply to the daily movements of 

 plants. Increase of temperature may cause flowers to open 

 in the morning, but it has no effect at night. Again, 

 leaves that show sleep movements by falling at evening 

 from a horizontal position to one which is, roughly speak- 

 ing, vertical, will, even if kept in the dark, return to their 

 original station in the morning. At nightfall the sleep 

 movements again occur, though as the plant becomes more 

 and more unhealthy owing to the absence of light they 

 are gradually lessened. Dr. Darwin described a very 

 interesting case of habit in a sleeping plant, namely, the 

 scarlet runner, which he recently demonstrated. Like 

 other plants, the one in question adapts itself to one-sided 

 illumination by placing its leaves obliquely so that they 

 are at right-angles to the line of illumination, and get 

 the full advantage of the light. If a scarlet runner which 

 has assumed this oblique position is allowed to go to sleep 

 at night as usual, and is then placed in a dark cupboard, it 

 will in the morning assume the diurnal position as already 

 mentioned in the case of other sleeping plants. Most 

 remarkably, however, it does not return to its normal 

 day position, that is, with horizontal leaves, but takes up 

 the oblique position already described. This looks like a 

 reminiscence of its former position, and is interesting 

 psychologically since it might almost be described as an 

 instance of a plant taking advantage of its individual 

 experience. 



Another experiment showing how a periodic movement 

 had been induced, and pointing to a kind (rt memory on the 

 part of a plant, was described by Dr. Darwin, w-ho finally 

 touched upon circumnutation, which he looked upon as 

 the raw material out of which movement in response to 

 stimuli has been developed. 



During the congress several papers were read which 

 showed, not only that the neighbourhood of Eastbourne is 

 very rich in plants, birds, and insects, but that there are 

 many keen naturalists in the county of Sussex. For 

 instance, Mr. J. H. A. Jenner dealt generally with nature 

 near Eastbourne, a communication by the late Dr. Whitney 

 and Miss Milner treated upon the flora of the Eastbourne 

 district, while Mr. Ruskin Butterfield compared the birds 

 of Sussex with the list for Great Britain, showing that 

 from the county in question there is a greater number of 

 birds recorded than from any other. 



On Thursday evening, June 7, Dr. Jonathan Hutchinson 

 gave a powerful discourse on the educational value of 

 museums. He emphasised the need for large and in- 

 expensive buildings, and showed the great importance of 

 museums now that it has been recognised that things, and 

 not words, must be studied if the memory is to be of any 

 real use. He dwelt on a graphic method of teaching history 

 adopted in Haslemere Educational Museum, which he 

 founded, and also alluded at length to the moral effect 

 of proper education. 



Two papers dealt with geology, namely, that on sea 

 erosion and coast defence, by Mr. E. A. Martin, and the 

 geology of the Upper Ravensbourne Vallev, with' notes on 

 the flora, by Mr. W. H. Griffin. The former contribution 

 summed up the present situation, and was particularly 

 suggestive, while the latter showed how much useful work 

 a naturalist can do who devotes his time ungrudgingly to a 

 particular district. 



At the reception given by the Mayor of Eastbourne, Mr. 

 Edward J. Bedford gave a most successful lecturette on 

 bird architecture. The photographic lantern-slides which 



