40 



NA TURE 



May II, 1905 



Japanese waters, and of one of these no specimens have 

 come under his notice. From a study extending over 

 several years, he has been enabled to add 34 additional 

 species to the fauna, thus bringing the number up to 38. 

 Of the 34, no less than 24 appear to be new forms, all 

 of which are provisionally referred to previously known 

 generic types, although there are grounds for considering 

 that some of those included in Thalassema might advan- 

 tageously be assigned to a new genus. 



Some excellent photographs of Australian bird-life arc 

 reproduced in the March number of the \iclov\an 

 Naturalist, among which may be specially meniioned a 

 group of young diamond-birds (Pardalotes) and a nestling 

 bronze-cuckoo in the act of ejecting the rightful occupant 

 of the nest in which it was hatched. " When discovered, 

 the nest contained two young birds. The cuckoo, blind, 

 featherless, and apparently not more than a day old, 

 struggling till it got beneath its victim, gradually lifted it 

 to the edge of the nest, resting at intervals, all the while 

 balancing the resisting nestling in the hollow between the 

 wings immediately at the back of the neck. Slowly and 

 relentlessly it pushed the unfortunate wren over the side. 

 . . . The young wren was replaced in the nest half a 

 dozen times, but always with a like result until the 

 cuckoo was thoroughly exhausted." 



Two interesting Antarctic organisms obtained during 

 the Scotia Expedition are described in the Proceedings of 

 the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, vol. xvi., No. 2. 

 In the first article, by Dr. J. Rennie, are discussed a 

 number of isolated tentacles of a zoophyte belonging to 

 the group Siphonophora. The specimens are barely 

 sufificient for definite identification, but appear to indicate 

 a type allied to the Mediterranean Apolemia, which attains 

 a lengfh of two or three yards. Mr. T. V. Hodgson, in 

 the second communication, describes a five-limbed sea- 

 spider (Pycnogonida) distinct from Pentanymphon aiitarc- 

 iicufn recently described on the evidence of a Discovery 

 specimen. With the assistance of Dr. Caiman, of the 

 British Museum, the author has been enabled to identify 

 the Scotia pycnogonid with Decalopoda australis, an almost 

 forgotten generic type described so long ago as 1837. The 

 occurrence of two five-limbed pycnogonids in the Antarctic 

 is, in view of the absence of this type from all other seas, 

 very remarkable. 



Mr. F. Fletcher, Deputy Director of Agriculture, Bom- 

 bay Presidency, is the author of a small volume, published 

 at Bombay, entitled " Notes on some Egyptian Insect 

 Pests." In the autumn of igoi the author, it appears, 

 was engaged to teach agricultural entomology to the 

 students at the Khedivial Agricultural School, Giza, and 

 found himself seriously hampered in his task by the fact 

 that practically nothing was known with regard to the 

 insects which are harmful to the Egyptian agriculturist. 

 Accordingly, during a two years' sojourn in the country, 

 Mr. Fletcher set himself to study such insects whenever 

 opportunity occurred, and the present " booklet " is the 

 result. It contains an introduction showing the position of 

 insects in the animal kingdom, followed by a short sum- 

 mary of the life-history and structure of insects in general, 

 after which comes an account of the species forming the 

 proper subject of the "notes." The publication seems 

 admirably adapted to the needs of those for whom it is 

 intended. 



The catalogue forming appendix ii. to the Kew Bulletin 

 of books and pamphlets added to the library of the Botanic 

 Gardens during the past year has been received ; as usual, 

 NO. 1854, VOL. 72 j 



the printing is confined to one side of the paper only, in 

 order that, if desired, the separate titles may be cut out. 



The collection of phenological records by teachers and 

 pupils of schools in Nova Scotia has been proceeding for 

 some years, and the number of schools sending in lists has 

 been increasing. The data supplied by about 300 selected 

 schedules in 1903 have been utilised for the compilation 

 of phenochrons or average dates for different regions of the 

 province, and these have been tabulated in vol. x., 

 part xvi., of the Transactions of the Royal Society of 

 Canada. 



SiNXE the year iqoo, a gooseberry mildew, Sphaerothecct 

 niors-uvae, which appears to have been introduced from 

 the United States, has been observed in Ireland and Russia. 

 Mr. E. S. Salmon, who reported the first appearance in 

 Ireland, and has since notified the spread of the disease, 

 announces in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society 

 (vol. xxix.) its continued increase in these countries. The 

 yellow varieties seem to suffer most. Spraying checks the 

 fungus, but the only effectual remedy is to burn all the 

 diseased bushes. Mr. Salmon contributes also to Amiales 

 Mycologici an account of a disease observed on plants of 

 Euonymus japonicus in the south of England and else- 

 where caused by an oidium or conidial stage of one of the 

 Erysiphacea^. 



Herr Paul Grosser has recently visited and described 

 the site of the Tarawera eruption of 188b, in the north 

 island of New Zealand (" Vulkanologische Streifziige ini 

 Maoriland," V erhandlun gen des naturhistorischen Vereins 

 der preuss. Rheinlande, 1904, pp. 37-58). He lays stress 

 on the linear grouping of the eruptive centres, the ash- 

 cones of which are almost as contiguous as pearls on a 

 string. A fine photograph is given of a crater exploded 

 through rhyolite on Ruawahia, with basaltic ashes cover- 

 ing the country above. Incidentally, Herr Grosser ex- 

 amined the ground affected by the Port Nicholson earth- 

 quake of 1855, which is described in the later editions of 

 Lyell's " Principles of Geology "; and he adds the interest- 

 ing detail that the elevation of the floor of a lagoon by 

 two metres enabled it to be successfully drained into the 

 sea, a work previously attempted, but abandoned. 



The shoal-water deposits of the Bermuda banks are 

 described by Mr. H. B. Bigelow {Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 

 and Sciences, xl., No. 15). The oceanic character of 

 Bermuda, due to its great distance from the neighbour- 

 ing continent, prevents its receiving much foreign detritus, 

 and its submarine deposits are almost wholly local. The 

 great bulk of these is calcareous, with some spicules of 

 siliceous organisms. True coral sand is absent ; indeed, 

 there is a great rarity of coral fragments, for although 

 corals flourish on the reefs, they do so in a subordinate 

 manner. The Bermuda plateau is of interest in illustrating 

 the growth of a limestone island where reef-building corals 

 are of slight importance. The organisms chiefly active in 

 the formation of the shell-sands are corallines, molluscs, 

 tube-building worms, millepores, and foraminifera. AlgEe 

 probably form the greatest mass of the sand. White 

 marls are described as due to the slow trituration of wind- 

 borne material. There are also limited areas of blue mud. 

 This seems to be of terrigenous origin, being the fine 

 detritus washed down by rain from the calcareous hills, 

 with vegetable matter. 



To the March number of the American Naturalist Dr- 

 A. Hollick contributes a paper on the occurrence and 

 origin of amber in the eastern United States. .Mthough 

 amber has for many years been known to occur in several 



