254 



NATURE 



[July 13, 1905 



Another mounted specimen of the great auk has just 

 been sold to a Continental museum by Messrs. Rowland 

 Ward for 400!. There are, it is said, practically seventy 

 known specimens, most of which are in State museums. 



Experimental work for the purpose of protecting the 

 sugar-growing industry in the Sandwich Islands has been 

 undertaken by the new owners of the group with character- 

 istic energy, and we have before us the first issue of Entom- 

 ological Bulletins published at Honolulu on behalf of the 

 Experiment Station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' 

 .Association. The present part is the first instalment of a 

 series to be devoted to the homopterous insects commonly 

 known as leaf-heppers (jumping relatives of the ordinary 

 aphides, or plant lice) and their enemies, and treats of 

 the minute parasites known as Dryinidse, by which these 

 pests are themselves attacked. Attempts have been made 

 to introduce foreign dryinids into Hawaii in order that 

 they should assist in keeping down the leaf-heppers, but 

 at present with only partial success, owing to the fact 

 that some of the introduced kinds do not prey on these 

 insects. Any leaf-hepper attacked by a dryinid may be 

 reckoned as good as dead, for even the contents of its 

 head and eyes are mercilessly sucked dry by its uninvited 

 "guest." The truth of the old rhyme about "little fleas 

 and lesser fleas " is, however, forcibly emphasised in the 

 case of these parasites, which are in turn attacked by 

 what our American friends are pleased to call hyper- 

 parasites. " How hardly the dryinid parasites," writes 

 Mr. R. C. L. Perkins, the author of the paper and director 

 of the e.xperiment station, " are at times pressed by their 

 various hyperparasites, we often observed. To cite one 

 instance, from about fifty cocoons of several species of 

 parasites obtained near Cairns, one solitary male alone 

 emerged, all the rest being hyperparasitised, and similar 

 observations were made in several localities." 



Dr. Willis's annual report of the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens, Peradeniya, Ceylon, for 1904 is chiefly devoted 

 to the work connected with investigations in economic 

 botany. As a new departure, the formation of a cotton 

 experiment station in the dry region of north-central 

 Ceylon, supplied with water from irrigation tanks, is of 

 primary importance. The difficulty of clearing the land 

 was enhanced by scarcity of coolie labour, but the soil 

 is excellent, and the situation seems to be well suited to 

 the production of Sea Island cotton ; rubber is also being 

 experimentally cultivated in this region. In connection 

 with rubber, the checking of the canker disease observed 

 on two Hevea plantations and the high values obtained for 

 some samples of Castilloa rubber are of interest. 



Mr. E. p. Stebbing contributes a note to the Indian 

 Forester (May) on the satisfactory results which have been 

 obtained by soaking bamboos in crude Burma petroleum 

 in order to keep off the boring beetles, species of Dino- 

 derus known as shot-borers. The article by Mr. G. H. 

 Myers, a member of the Bureau of Forestry, on " Forestry 

 Education in the United States," is noteworthy as in- 

 dicating the aspirations which stimulate this and similar 

 departments. The importance of practical training and 

 of a knowledge of American requirements is emphasised. 



An hereditary abnormality in the human hand and foot 

 and its relation to Mendelism form the subject of an 

 article published in the papers of the Peabody Museum 

 of American Archaeology and Ethnology (vol. iii.. No. 3). 

 The abnormality in question came under the notice of the 

 author. Dr. W. C. Farabee, some years ago in Penn- 

 sylvania, and consists in the suppression of one phalange, 



jjo. 1863, ^'O''-' 72] 



or joint, in each of the fingers and toes, with the excep- 

 tion of the thumb and great toe, which were abnormally 

 shortened. The whole hand was extremely short and 

 " podgy," and this feature w'as associated with shortness 

 of bodily stature. Thirty-seven persons, all related, were 

 affected with the malformation, which was inherited in 

 accordance with Mendel's law for five generations. 

 Although a tradition that every other child in the family 

 had short fingers did not prove to be exactly true, yet 

 almost precisely half the number of offspring displayed the 

 abnormality. In one instance a regular alternation of 

 normal and abnormal individuals continued until the eighth 

 child. The total number of offspring descended from the 

 original abnormal individuals is 69, of whom 33 are normal 

 and 36 abnormal, distributed as follows : — in second gener- 

 ation, 4 normals and 4 abnormals ; in third, 5 and 7 ; 

 in fourth, 7 and 9 ; and in fifth, 17 and 16. The case 

 affords strong confirmation of the general truth of the 

 Mendeiian doctrine. 



The general report of the Geological Survey of India 

 drawn up by the director, Mr. T. H. Holland, F.R.S., 

 shows that during the past year much valuable work has 

 been done, and that results of scientific interest as well as 

 of immediate economic importance have been obtained. 

 Among advances of unusual scientific interest is the dis- 

 covery of a new series of the remarkable family of elaeolite- 

 syenites near Kishengarh, in Rajputana. In economic 

 work the department has kept in touch with the numerous 

 developments of private enterprise in the mining of coal, 

 gold, manganese ore and salt, and has demonstrated the 

 existence of iron ores of industrial value. .'\n interesting 

 discovery is that India possesses a possibly valuable asset 

 in the deposits of laterite, which cover considerable areas 

 in the peninsula and in Burma, as it is shown that 

 laterite often exhibits the essential characters of bauxite. 

 The subject is dealt with exhaustively in the Records of 

 the Geological Survey of India (vol. xxxii., part ii.) by 

 Mr. Holland, who gives analyses of the best samples which 

 have so far been tested. These laterites or bauxites were 

 collected in the Madras Presidency, in the Central 

 Provinces, in Central India, in Bengal, and in Bombay, 

 and the percentages of alumina reach as high as 67S8. 

 In the same issue of the Records Mr. Holland publishes 

 returns of the Indian imports and exports of mineral 

 products in 1904. The export of 154,880 tons of manganese 

 ore is a remarkable feature, and the rapid increase in the 

 export of Indian mineral oil is also noteworthy. 



We have received from the Peruvian Government copies 

 of Bulletins Nos. 22 and 23 issued by the Corps of Mining 

 Engineers. The former is a monograph on the mineral 

 resources of the province of Otuzco, by Mr. F. Malaga 

 Santolaya. The province contains rich deposits of gold 

 and silver ores and coal of good quality, as well as ores 

 of copper, lead, manganese, and antimony. The second 

 bulletin is a report of a commission on the Cerro de 

 Pasco mines, signed by the chairman, Mr. C. E. Velarde. 

 It contains a useful summary of the Peruvian mining 

 law and a detailed description of the Cerro de Pasco 

 deposit, originally worked as a silver mine, but now with 

 increasing depth yielding chiefly copper ore. 



The Sociological Society has issued a pamphlet contain- 

 ing an address by Dr. James Bryce on the aims and pro- 

 gramme of the society, together with the first annual 

 report of the council and a list of members. The report 

 outlines the circumstances attending the inauguration of 

 the society, and enumerates th^ aims which it has in view. 

 A brief account of each of the meetings held during the 



