May 4, 1905] 



NA TURE 



17 



The largest grey seal ever killed weighed 560 lb., but 

 specimens scaling 740 lb. and 770 lb. are recorded from 

 the Fame Islands, on the Northumberland coast. 



" Die SOGENN.4NTEN RiECHSTAECHEN DER ClADOCEREN " is 



the title of a paper in vol. xii. of Plotier Forschiings- 

 berichte, in which the author, Mr. D. J. Scourfield, of 

 Leytonstone, discusses the function of the so-called olfactory 

 setae in this group of minute crustaceans. From the 

 stronger and more numerous development of these bristles 

 in the males, it is inferred that their sensory functions are 

 more acute in this sex than in the females. As regards 

 their probable function, the author is of opinion that while 

 they are largely concerned in the perception of taste, yet 

 that they may also serve in the recognition of other senses 

 which may be as far removed from taste as is the latter 

 from hearing. 



The Journal of Hygiene for .-Xpril (v.. No. 2) contains 

 a number of interesting and important papers. Dr. Petrie 

 discusses the relationship of the pseudo-diphtheria and 

 diphtheria bacilli, and Dr. Boycott the relative seasonal 

 prevalence of these two organisms. Dr. Petrie also de- 

 scribes trypanosomes observed in rabbits, moles, and certain 

 birds. Dr. Savage, as the result of experiments made to 

 ascertain the degree of sewage pollution of tidal waters, 

 considers that mud samples yield more trustworthy evidence 

 of the degree of contamination than either water or oyster 

 samples. Other papers are by Dr. Hamilton Wright on 

 preventive measures against beri-beri, Drs. Newsholme and 

 Stevenson, and Dr. Hayward on statistical methods applied 

 ■ to birth-rates and life tables, and Dr. Mackie on a handy 

 method of determining the amount of carbonic acid in air. 



Part i. of the reports of the commission appointed for 

 the investigation of Mediterranean fever under the super- 

 vision of the advisory committee of the Royal Society has 

 . just been issued. The first two reports, by Major 

 Horrocks, R.A.M.C., deal with the problem of the sapro- 

 phytic existence of the causative organism (the M. meli- 

 tensis) outside the human body. It is found that the 

 organism will retain its vitality in sterilised tap water for 

 thirty-seven days, in dry soil for forty-three days, and in 

 moist soil for seventy-two days. The same observer was 

 able to isolate the micrococcus from the urine, but not 

 from the ffeces, sweat or breath of patients. A series of 

 experiments was instituted which showed that the micro- 

 coccus is absorbed by, and gives rise to the disease in, 

 monkeys exposed to dust, or given food containing it. 

 Staff-Surgeon Gilmour, R.N., and Dr. Zammit detail ex- 

 periments on the isolation of the M. melitensis from the 

 blood, and Staff-Surgeon Shaw, R.N., writes on the same 

 subject and on experimental work in relation to animals. 



An interesting article on polished stone axes in history 

 until the nineteenth century, by Dr. Marcel Baudouin and 

 Lionel Bonnemfere, will be found in the Bulletin de la 

 Socictc d'Aulhropologie de Paris (56. s^r., tome v., p. 496). 

 Examples are given of their use at the present day as 

 charms against lightning, storm, and other evils, and also 

 they are credited with therapeutic efficacy. The BaiTv\os 

 of the Greeks was a polished stone implement ; from 

 classical times onwards these stones were supposed to have 

 fallen from heaven, and at the present day this belief is 

 current from western Europe to Malaysia. 



Various folk-tales and other items of folklore will be 

 found in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal ; in 

 vol. Ixx., part iii., p. 99, Mr. S. C. Mitra records a new 

 NO. 1853, VOL. 72] 



accumulation-droll or cumulative folk-tale from Bihar ; in 

 vol. Ixxi., part iii., p. 4, in the same Journal, Mr. H. P. 

 Shastri describes a form of tree worship at Naihati ; a 

 female deity is supposed to reside in a date palm, when 

 clods of earth are thrown at the tree as offerings to her, 

 she at once pacifies children crying at the home of the 

 devotee. Ten years later the author re-visited the spot, 

 and found that sweets were then offered as well, that 

 various other boons were prayed for, and a myth had 

 grown up about the tree. The marriage customs of the 

 Khonds are described by Mr. J. E. F. Pereira, from which 

 it appears that they are gradually Hinduising their 

 customs. 



The ideal forestry college forms the subject of an article 

 in the Indian Forester (February) ; the suggestions made 

 are based upon a selection of the advantages observed at 

 various institutions, all of which, it is hardly necessary to 

 state, lie outside the British Isles. College gardens and 

 forests are mentioned as the most important adjuncts to 

 laboratories and museums, and in these particulars the 

 forestry school at Tharandt, Saxony, is well provided. In 

 the matter of getting wider experience than can be obtained 

 in the college forests, the students of the St. Petersburg In- 

 stitute have the advantage of inspecting and completing 

 a final course in some of the great forest areas of Russia. 



Judging from the account by Mr. J. W. White published 

 in vol. xxii., part iv., of the Transactions and Proceedings 

 of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, the Balearic Islands 

 offer many attractions to the botanist who is contemplating 

 a holiday. Not only do the islands lie outside the general 

 track of tourists, but the flora is unusually rich, and a 

 considerable number of the plants are endemic or confined 

 to one of the neighbouring countries. Amongst the rarer 

 curiosities a fragile vetchling, Vicia bifoliata, Lepidiuin 

 Carrerasii, and a curious little shrubby Daphne velloeoides 

 were obtained in Minorca, and in Majorca Pimpinella 

 Bicknelli, which grows in splendid isolation, and a delicate 

 rock-sheltered labiate. Salvia Vigineuxii, were discovered. 



A RECORD of the progress of the Albatross Expedition to 

 the eastern Pacific is given in a letter from Prof. Alexander 

 Agassiz dated January 6 (Amer. Journ. Science, .'\pril). 

 The influence of the Humboldt current on the marine life 

 west of Callao was investigated. As far as 800 miles from 

 the mainland, it affected both the surface and bottom 

 fauna. Towards Easter Island, the surface fauna first 

 became less abundant, and at a distance of from 1200 to 

 1400 miles from South America the trawl hauls were 

 absolutely barren. The bottom of the greater part of the 

 line was covered with manganese nodules on which were 

 found attached a few siliceous sponges, an occasional 

 ophiuran, and a few brachiopods and worm-tubes. The 

 pelagic and intermediate fauna from Easter Island to 12° 

 south latitude, in the direction of the Galapagos, was very 

 poor, and indicated that the region was to the westward 

 of the great Humboldt current. Beyond this limit the 

 marine fauna was again rich and abundant, and great 

 changes were noted in the temperature of the water _ 

 between 50 and 300 fathoms. Soundings made eastward 

 of the Galapagos and Easter Island indicate a gradual 

 deepening of the ocean bed towards the Continent, as 

 observed during the Challenger Expedition. On Easter 

 Island some time was spent in examining the prehistoric 

 monuments and the great quarries from which colossal 

 images had been cut. Sculptured rocks were noted, and it 

 was remarked that some of the cyclopean stones used in 

 the ancient buildings exhibited excellent workmanship. 



