September 14, 1905] 



NA TURE 



493 



of explorations in oceanography, collecting specimens, and 

 supplying teaching and scientific institutions with material 

 for the study of marine organisms. A suitably fitted vessel 

 of about 90 tons will be dispatched next summer for the 

 Bahamas. In connection with this announcement, we may 

 refer to a communication from Prof. M. E. Henriksen, of 

 Ohio University, published in Biologisches Ceiitralblatt of 

 August 15, with reference to a proposal for the establish- 

 ment of a biological station in Greenland, which, it is 

 urged, would be sure to yield results of great scientific 

 importance. " Back to nature " is the cry of the writer, 

 who insists that biological progress now depends upon the 

 observation of the relationship of organisms to their 

 environment rather than on microscopic work in the 

 laboratory. 



Ever since the 'fifties, when the late Dr. H. Falconer 

 wrote a note on the subject, strenuous efforts have been 

 made to discover the origin of the so-called " bee-hole 

 borings " which ruin the heart-wood of so much Burmese 

 teak timber. Mr. E. P. Stebbing, who has been fortunate 

 enough to discover the insect causing this serious damage, 

 has recorded, albeit in a somewhat prolix manner, his 

 investigations which led up to the discovery in a pamphlet 

 published by the Calcutta Government Press under the 

 title of " The ' Bee-hole ' Borer of Teak in Burma." The 

 offender turns out to be the larva of a large moth, which, 

 after living for some time in the bark, when about to 

 pupate bores large channels right into the heart-wood of 

 saplings. As the sapling grows into a tree the borings 

 remain in the heart, and thus completely ruin the timber 

 for many purposes. Suggestions are made with regard 

 to remedial measures. 



Three out of the four biological papers in the issue of 

 the Journal of tlic Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic 

 Society for July are by H. N. Ridley, director of the 

 .Singapore Botanical Gardens, and relate to botanical sub- 

 jects. In the first the author discusses the Gesneracese of 

 the Malay Peninsula, and in the second the aroids of 

 Borneo, while in the third he continues his descriptions 

 of new and little known Malay plants. In the one zoo- 

 logical paper Mr. P. Cameron publishes a third contribu- 

 tion to our knowledge of the Hymenoptera of Sarawak. 

 Among short notes, Mr. H. C. Robinson, of the Selangor 

 Museum, records from the district where he is stationed 

 that rare mammal the pen-tailed tree-shrew {Ptilocercus 

 lowei), hitherto known only from Borneo. 



The flowering of bamboos, which a short time ago 

 formed the subject of correspondence in Nature, is dis- 

 cussed in a short article by Prof. F. A. Forel in the 

 Gazette de Lausanne (August i). In the spring a general 

 flowering of the plants of Bambusa gracilis, a garden 

 variety, took place at Morges, Canton Vaud, and flowering 

 was observed at Nyon, Territet, Versoix, and Bex. The 

 writer raises the questions whether the flowering is due 

 to inherent causes or dependent upon climatic conditions, 

 whether the seed produced is fertile, and whether all the 

 plants die after flowering, and he requests that observations 

 on these and similar points may be forwarded to him at 

 the University of Lausanne. 



We have received the tenth volume of Dr. Otto Baschin's 

 " Bibliotheca Geographica, " dealing with the year igoi. 

 The volume shows no specially new features, a certain 

 advantage in publications of the kind, and it maintains 

 the fulness and accuracy of its predecessors. 



In view of recent proposals to " utilise " Lake Titicaca, 

 a paper on the basin of that lake, contributed by Mr. 

 A. F. Bandelier to the August number of the Bulletin of 

 NO. 1872, VOL, 72] 



the American Geographical Society, is of more than usual 

 interest. Mr. J. Russell Smith publishes a paper on the 

 economic importance of the plateaux in tropic America in 

 the same number, which also contains a well illustrated 

 mountaineering paper on the .Alaskan Range by Mr. Alfred 

 H. Brooks. 



An elaborate memoir on the commercial significance of 

 the Suez Canal, by the late Herr Martin Voss, appears 

 in the Ahhandlungen of the Vienna Geographical Society. 

 Herr Voss's paper contains tiiuch statistical and other 

 information in small compass, and should be extremely 

 useful, especially if studied in relation to Ungard's work 

 on the same subject, recently published in Vienna. Herr 

 W. Schjerning contributes to the same publication a paper 

 on the equidistant projections used in cartography. 



A DESCRIPTION of a new apparatus for demonstrating the 

 elementary principles of mathematical geography is given 

 by Dr. Hermann v. Graber in Pctermann's Mitteihmgen. 

 The fundamental idea is the application of the orthogonal 

 projection to the ordinary wire model or "tellurium,"' 

 hence the name " orthogonal-tellurium." Besides being 

 available for teaching purposes, the instrument affords the 

 means of making angular measurements with sufficient 

 accuracy to be of use for rough work in the field. 



The scorification assay for gold telluride ores has long 

 been believed to give low results by reason of volatilisation, 

 and it is now seldom used for ores of that class, the assay 

 by crucible being supposed to be more trustworthy. The 

 results of a careful investigation of the subject by Mr. 

 \V. F. Hillebrand and Mr. E. T. Allen, published in 

 Bulletin No. 253 of the United States Geological Survey, 

 show that the doubts entertained as to the accuracy of the 

 dry method are not well founded. There is no reason 

 to question the substantial accuracy of the crucible method. 

 Indeed, it is clearly established that the fire assay by 

 crucible for gold telluride ores gives results which are 

 quite equal to those obtained by the wet way, provided 

 due corrections are made for slag and cupel losses. The 

 gold loss in the slag is very small, but the cupel losses 

 are considerable, the cupellation loss of gold by volatilisa- 

 tion being small as compared with that by absorption. 



The Cripple Creek gold deposits in Colorado were dis- 

 covered in 1891, and up to 1904 yielded 124,415,022 dollars 

 of gold and 646,193 ounces of silver. The district was 

 surveyed for the United States Geological Survey in 1894 

 by Messrs. W. Cross and R. A. F. Penrose, and at the 

 request and at the cost of the State of Colorado it has 

 now been re-surveyed by Messrs. W. Lindgren and F. L. 

 Ransome, and a summary of the facts of immediate import- 

 ance has been published (Bulletin No. 254). There are 

 some 300 mines in the district, and every accessible one 

 was examined. The deepest shaft is the Lillie, which is 

 more than 1500 feet deep; and the productive district is 

 covered by the area of a circle 35 miles in diameter. An 

 interesting feature of the ore-deposits is the occurrence of 

 gas which in some cases issues in large volumes. Analysis 

 shows it to consist of nitrogen, with about 20 per cent, 

 of carbon dioxide and a small quantity of o.xygen. 



At the St. Louis Exhibition last year an investigation 

 of the coals and lignites of the United States was carried 

 out under the direction of the director of the United States 

 Geological Survey, the sum of 6000!. having been voted 

 by Congress for the purpose. Testing machinery was 

 generously contributed by various manufacturers, and much 

 valuable work was done with the plant, such an elaborate 

 series of coal analyses having never before been made in 



