September 28, 1905] 



NA TURE 



539 



no longer be cited in |jroof of human antiquity greater 

 than can be assumed on other grounds. Eolithic forms 

 iiiay be due to human agency, but independent proof of 

 I he contemporary existence of man in the area in question 

 is henceforth indispensable. 



The latest issue (vol. viii., part i.) of the Transaclions 

 I'l the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society contains a 

 number of interesting papers, mostly dealing with the 

 natural history and antiquities of the county. The papers 

 on local biology include one on the water-beetles of the 

 " Broads " by Mr. F. B. Browne, another on the 

 hydrachnids of the same district by Mr. C. D. Soar, notes 

 on the Yarmouth herring-fishery of last year by Mr. 

 T. J. Wigg, lists of Norfolk lichens and liverworts by 

 the Rev. E. N. Bloomfield, and an account of the rotifers 

 of the county by the Rev. R. Freeman. 



We have received from Dr. E. M. Goeldi, director of 

 the museum at Pari, a budget of separate copies of papers 

 by himself, published, with the exception of one, in the 

 CoDiplcs rcndiis of the sixth zoological congress held at 

 Berne last summer. The one exception is from the Ibis 

 for April, and deals with the habits of a Brazilian tyrant- 

 bird (Myiopatis semifusca) ; this species, in place of being 

 insectivorous, feeding on the fruits of a parasitic plant 

 and disseminating the seeds, thus causing harm to arbori- 

 lulture. The other papers relate to rare animals from 

 .Amazonia, the yellow-fever mosquito (Stegomyia fasciata), 

 and the habits of ants of the genus Atta. 



We have received two new parts of the reports of the 

 scientific results of the voyage of the Belgica, 1897-9, 

 issued at Antwerp, in one of which Prof. H. Leboucq 

 discusses the development of the flippers of Antarctic seals 

 from the point of view of the evolution of the pinnipeds 

 in general, while in the second Mesdames Bommer and 

 Rousseau describe the funguses collected during the cruise, 

 all of which, with the exception of a single Antarctic 

 specimen, were obtained from Tierra del Fuego. Judging 

 from the collection, the fungus-fauna of the latter area 

 .-ippears to be a rich one of which but little is at present 

 known. Prof. I^eboucq's article is the first of a series on 

 the " organogenie " of the seals. In the case of both 

 memoirs we may direct attention to the difficulty they 

 present to recorders of biological literature, or, for that 

 matter, to anyone who desires to quote from them. They 

 are respectively headed " Zoologie " and "Botanique," 

 but, despite the fact that they are not the first issues of 

 those two series, each is separately paged, and neither 

 boars any volume number. Consequently the whole title 

 has to be quoted for reference purposes. 



.According to the report for the year ending in May 

 last, the Rhodesia Scientific Association, now in the 

 seventh year of its existence, continues to make satis- 

 factory progress, both as regards the length of its roll 

 of members and in the work accomplished. With the 

 report we have received a copy of the fourth volume 

 (1903-4) of the association's Proceedings, which contains 

 a number of papers dealing with the biology and antiquities 

 of the country, together with one on its soils. The 

 latter do not appear to be so promising as might have 

 been hoped, most of them possessing only a moderate 

 degree of fertility, and none exhibiting that redundant 

 growing capacity we are accustomed to associate with 

 virgin lands. Perhaps the most generally interesting 

 paper is one on a new gladiolus which grows in the spray 

 of the Victoria Falls, and has therefore been called the 

 "Maid of the Mist." Four bulbs were sent to England, 

 NO. 1874, VOL. 72] 



where by aid of constant syringing they were induced to 

 bloom in a hothouse, when it was found that the petals 

 are so arranged as to form a kind of penthouse for the 

 protection of the central organs from the constant shower- 

 bath existing in the " rain-forest." 



An important issue of the Palaeoutologia Iiidica (Mem. 

 Geol. Survey of India) is devoted to the description of 

 some recently discovered vegetable and vertebrate remains 

 from the permo-Carboniferous strata of the Vihi Valley, 

 fifteen miles to the south-east of the city of Srinagar, 

 Kashmir. The remains in question were discovered by 

 Noetling in beds apparently underlying the marine Ruling 

 series (Permian) of the Kashmir Valley ; and as they 

 include a member of the " glossopteris flora " of the Lower 

 Gondwana system of peninsular India, their discovery 

 serves to confirm the reference of these deposits to the 

 Upper Paleozoic. The plant remains, which are described 

 by Mr. A. C. Seward, include only one generically deter- 

 minable type, namely, Gangamopteris, from the base of 

 the lower Gondwanas of the peninsula. The vertebrates, 

 for the identification of which Dr. A. S. Woodward is 

 responsible, include a couple of species of the paUeoniscid 

 ganoid genus Amblypterus, nearly allied to Lower Permian 

 from Rhenish. Prussia, and fragments of a labyrinthodont 

 amphibian apparently referable to Archegosaurus, a genus 

 known elsewhere only from the last mentioned and 

 equivalent formations. No reference is made to the 

 labyrinthodont from the Lower Gondwanas -of the peninsula 

 described as Gondwanosaurus, but originally referred to 

 Archegosaurus. 



In the third part of his contribution to the study of the 

 mischievous insects commonly known as leaf-hoppers and 

 their enemies, published at Honolulu as part iii. of the 

 first Bulletin of the Experiment Station of the Hawaiian 

 Sugar-Planters' Association, Mr. R. C. L. Perkins furnishes 

 some very interesting information with regard to the life- 

 history of the parasitic Stylopidas (Strepsiptera). It appears 

 that although the majority of those degraded beetles infest 

 bees and wasps, a certain number of species are parasitic 

 on leaf-hoppers and other Homoptera, and it is the latter 

 that form the subject of the communication before us. 

 Although death usually follows some time alter being 

 " stylopised," many leaf-hoppers are able to procreate their 

 kind after being badly affected by the parasites, especially 

 if by females. The male stylopids, on account of the 

 larger size of the puparia, are, however, much more 

 speedily fatal to the leaf-hoppers, the hole left in the bodies 

 of the latter by the escaping insect being relatively large. 

 Moreover, a fungus immediately makes its appearance, with 

 fatal effect, in the tube ; and in artificially infecting leaf- 

 hoppers with stylopids it is considered of the highest 

 importance that the fungus should also be introduced. 



The report on economic zoology contributed by Prof. 

 Theobald, of Wye Agricultural College, to the college 

 journal for the year 1904-5 deals chiefly with the insect 

 pests of field and garden crops, and on this important 

 subject gives a great deal of useful information. 

 During the year Prof. Theobald dealt with about 1200 

 communications, and his report contains descriptions of 

 the most troublesome pests brought to his notice. Among 

 the pests of fruit trees, the apple aphides Aphis pomi, 

 A. sorbi, and .4. fitchii were much the most destructive. 

 Prof. Theobald points out that these forms have been 

 wrongly described as a single species, A. niali, by previous 

 English writers. The aphides do great damage to young 

 shoots, leaves, and blossoms, but it is apparently hopeless 

 to attempt to get rid of them by spraying in the usual 



