August 9, 1906 J 



NA TURE 



369 



ot a one-dimensional as well as that of a three-dimensional 

 ijas, and he is led to the distinction of two kinds of 

 entropy, which he calls coarse and fine entropy {entropic 

 grossiere, entropie fine). Account is taken of rapid dis- 

 turbances in which the gas has not time to assume a state 

 of statistical equilibrium at every instant of the transform- 

 ation. An allied subject is treated by Dr. W. Peddie in 

 the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, xxvi., 

 3, in a paper on vibrating systems which are not subject 

 to the Boltzmann-Maxwell law. Here again systems 

 in one-dimension are considered, a kind of generalised 

 llooke's law of force being assumed in the test-case under 

 discussion. The inference is drawn that equipartition of 

 energy is not a general property of dynamical systems. 

 It would not be unreasonable to infer that the Boltzmann- 

 Maxwell distribution is characteristic of certain delinable 

 systems, and therefore is applicable to the explanation of 

 definite phenomena only. 



The meteorological reporter to the Government of India 

 liiis issued a memorandum (dated June 9) on the abnormal 

 features of the weather of the past half-year, with a fore- 

 cast of the probable character of the south-west monsoon 

 rains of 1906. Similar forecasts were first made by H. F. 

 Blanford, and were based on the limited information of 

 snowfall reports and the general character of the weather 

 in India immediately preceding the rains. Sir J. Eliot 

 realised that Indian conditions alone were insufficient, and 

 in 1894 introduced information from other sources. This 

 work is another instance of the useful application of 

 statistics in attempting to trace the meteorological relations 

 of widely distant regions to which we recently referred. 

 Dr. Walker remarks that "it is certain that the influence 

 of abnormal features over any large region spreads in 

 every direction, and will after some months affect the con- 

 ditions at very great distances " ; he also instances the dis- 

 covery by Sir Norman and Dr. Lockyer that the oscilla- 

 tions of annual pressure in South America are closely 

 related to those of the Indian Ocean, but inverse in 

 character. Dr. Walker has added considerably to the data 

 I'mployed, and gives very full particulars of the consider- 

 .itions upon which his forecast is framed, the most 

 important features being the heavy and late snowfall, 

 associated with excessive rain both at Zanzibar and 

 Seychelles. On the whole, he thinks that there is reason 

 to expect that the total rainfall will not be appreciably 

 smaller in amount than that of last year, which was 

 considerably below the normal value. 



Heredity and evolution occupy an important position in 

 the July issue of Biologisches Centralblatt, Mr. H. de 

 Vries communicating an article entitled " Altere und neue 

 Selektionsmethode," while Dr. J. Gross discusses the re- 

 lation between heredity and variation, more especially in 

 connection with the Mendelian theory. The former is 

 largely devoted to the methods of plant-culture adopted by 

 Nilsson and by Rimpau. In the course of the latter the 

 author directs attention to the fact that while albinism 

 among mammals is frequently "recessive," in the case 

 of hybrids between species of which one parent is 

 normally white (such as the Polar bear and the .'\rctic 

 fox) and the other dark-coloured the offspring are fre- 

 quently intermediate in point of colouring between their 

 parents. The movements of the spermatozoa of the 

 parasitic nematode worms of the genus Ascaris form the 

 subject of an article by Dr. H. Marcus, while Dr. F. 

 Samuely brings to a close his account of recent researches 

 into the chemistry of albumi-n and iheir bearing on 

 physiology. 



NO. IQI9, VOL. 74] 



Captain W. S. Patton, I. M.S., records the occurrence of 

 a parasite in the white corpuscles of the blood of Indian 

 palm squirrels (Funambulm: penuantii) (Sc. Mem. Gov. 

 of India, No. 24, 1906). The parasite, which in all prob- 

 ability belongs to the Ha^mogregarinido;, occurs as a long 

 vermiform body, measuring 10 fi in length, lying in the 

 substance of the large mononuclear leucocytes. The 

 majority exhibit slow vermicular movements altering their 

 position in .the cells, sometimes lying close to the nucleus, 

 sometimes at right-angles to the nucleus. The nucleus 

 may be compressed or split by the parasite. In some 

 cases free vermicules were seen in the plastna. The 

 parasites were found in the peripheral blood, spleen, and 

 liver. In the louse (an undescribed species of Haemato- 

 pinus) infesting the animals vermicules were met with. 



In the last number of the Journal of Anatomy and 

 Physiology (vol. xl., part iv.) Ur. Gaskell gives a final 

 paper on his views of the origin of vertebrates, which he 

 believes are derived from arthropods. In the present 

 paper, a study of ammoccetes, the origin of the notochord 

 is discussed, and the suggestion is made that it has 

 originated as an accessory digestive tube. The remaining 

 articles are mostly anatomical in character. 



.'\ccORDiNG to the July issue of its Journal, the Marine 

 Biological Association of the United Kingdom is extending 

 the investigations which have already been instituted with 

 regard to the distribution of the Channel fauna in the 

 neighbourhood of Plymouth to deeper waters, and it is 

 hoped during the present year to enlarge still further the 

 area of survey. Special attention has been directed to 

 improving the methods of rearing organisms in the labor- 

 atory, in regard to which a report is shortly promised. 

 .\n investigation has also been commenced with regard to 

 the nature of the food of mackerel and pilchard and other 

 migratory fishes frequenting the mouth of the Channel in 

 relation to seasonal changes. 



In his report for 1905, Dr. Benham, the curator, states 

 that the Otago University Museum has been enriched by 

 a valuable collection of eggs of New Zealand birds pre- 

 sented by Dr. Fulton, and also by the gift of a large series 

 of ethnological objects from Mr. and Mrs. James Mills. 

 The latter, which are chiefly weapons, are mostly Poly- 

 nesian, and were collected some five-and-twenty years ago. 



" The Living and Fossil Species of Comptonia " is the 

 title of one of the two articles in the July number of the 

 American Naturalist. According to the author, Mr. E. W. 

 Berry, the genus is represented at the present day only 

 by a single species, which is a low shrub ranging from 

 Nova Scotia to Manitoba, and southwards to Carolina and 

 Tennessee, but the number of extinct forms which have 

 been described is upwards of three score, with an almost 

 cosmopolitan Tertiary distribution. In the second article 

 Mr. C. S. Meads discusses the adaptive modifications of the 

 occipital condyles in mammalian skulls. The basal con- 

 nection between the two condyles in spiny anteaters is 

 regarded as a direct reptilian inheritance. It is pointed 

 out that there is a very marked difference between the 

 carnivorous and ungulate type of condyles, the latter being 

 much elongated inferiorly, so as to admit of great angula- 

 tion of the head in relation to the vertebral column, and 

 thereby, in the case of ruminants, presenting an armed 

 front to the foe. 



The Tertiary lake-basin of Florissant, Colorado, receives 

 a large share of attention in the third number of vol. iii. 

 of the University of Colorado Studies, Mr. J. Hender- 



