(3cTO)iER 5, 1905] 



NA TURE 



505 



Among the contents f ' the latest parts of the Morpho- 

 Ipi^isches jahrbuch (vol. xxxiii., part iv., and vol. xxxiv., 

 part i.) may be menticni'd an article by Mr. E. Gbppert 

 on the brachial artery of the Australian spiny anteater 

 (Echidna), with special reference to the arterial system in 

 the fore-limb of mammals in general, and a second, by Dr. 

 O. Grosser, on the existence of a distinct segmental 

 arrangement in the superficial vascular system of the human 

 chest. In the second of the two volumes Dr. E. Klister 

 describes the so-called tastfeder (sensory feathers) found at 

 the base of the beak in owls and other birds, which arc 

 shown to be provided with sensory corpuscles, and are 

 correlated by the author with the " feelers " or vibrissa 

 of mammals. 



.All the articles in the two concluding parts (iii. and iv.) 

 of vol. Ixxix. of the Zeitschrift fur -wissenschaftUche 

 Zoologie deal with the anatomy and development of in- 

 vertebrates. The minute structure of the eye receives the 

 attention of two writers, Mr. H. Merton discussing the 

 retina in nautilus and other dibranchiate cephalopods, 

 while Mr. M. NowikolY describes the eye and frontal 

 organs of the branchiopod crustaceans. The spermatozoa 

 of the common intestinal round-worm (Ascaris) receive 

 attention at the hands of Mr. L. Scheben, of Marburg, 

 Mr. K. Thon treats of the excretory organs of the 

 hydrachnid family Limnocharidje, while Mr. Stoffenbrink 

 records the effects of special nutrition on the histological 

 constituents of the fresh-water planarians. Finally, Mr. 

 A. Zwack discusses the minute structure and mode of 

 formation of the " ephippium " of the fresh-water flea 

 (Daphnia), while Dr. E. Martini devotes himself to observ- 

 ations on the amoeba-like .Arcella. 



The latest number of V Anthropologic (vol. xvi., Xo. 3) 

 contains a useful article on Paumotu fishing implements. 

 The British Museum is singularly poor in specimens from 

 these islands, and the " .Album " of Edge-Partington and 

 Heape only figures two or three fish-hooks. In the present 

 article a dozen hooks are figured and described ; the con- 

 struction of the canoes and method of sewing the planks 

 are also illustrated. . An article on the musical instruments 

 in French Congo is diminished in value by errors in the 

 illustrations ; the bamioiir on p. 289 is reproduced from 

 a sketch, and the artist has omitted the pins to which the 

 strings are attached, making it appear that there is no 

 means of altering the tension of the cords. 



The Department of Agriculture in Jamaica has been 

 at considerable trouble to effect the improvement of home- 

 grown tobacco, and if the experiments carried out at 

 Hope Gardens may be taken as a criterion, there is a 

 promising future for Sumatra wrapper-tobacco grown in 

 the open and for Havana leaf, both shade-grown for 

 wrapper and outside-grown for filling. 



The South Orkney Islands, lying about 600 miles south- 

 east of Cape Horn, were visited by members of the 

 Scottish National Antarctic Expedition voyaging in the 

 ship Scotia in February, 1903. The collections of mosses 

 and lichens obtained by Mr. R. N. R. Brown, the botanist 

 of the expedition, are described in vol. xxiii., part i., of 

 the Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society 

 of Edinburgh. Mr. C. H. Wright has identified six mosses 

 which are all Antarctic, except one previously known only 

 from Tristan da Cunha. Dr. O. V. Darbishire has worked 

 out the lichens and distinguishes twelve species, including 

 one, Placodiiini frttlictilosntu, new to science. 



The explanation that plants have developed thorns to 

 keep off the depredations of herbivorous animals does not 

 lend itself to experimental investigation, as (he develop- 

 NO. 1875, VOL. 72] 



mcr.t would be an exceedingly slow process. But the 

 argument that thorns are merely .xerophytic structures is 

 more easily put to the test, and Dr. L. Cockayne describes 

 in the New Phytologist (April) his experiments with the 

 New Zealand shrub Discaria Toumatou, known popularly 

 as Wild Irishman, which in ordinary circumstances is 

 abundantly furnished with long pungent spines. The 

 experiments consisted in removing plants, at the stage 

 when spines were beginning to be formed, to a moist 

 chamber, where they were grown, and there maintained the 

 leafy spineless habit characteristic of seedlings. 



The investigations of Prof. G. Haberlandt on the sense- 

 organs of plants, which are of great scientific interest, 

 form a suitable subject for popular e.xposition, and an 

 account by Mr. G. C. Nuttall appears in the Monthly 

 Review (September). The main result of Prof. Haber- 

 landt 's work was to show that where plants' are sensitive 

 to touch, at these points special adaptations of hairs or 

 cells are found. The sensitiveness of tendrils and of the 

 specialised leaves of Drosera and Diona;a is a matter of 

 common knowledge, but the irritability of the stamens 

 of such plants as Opuntia, the prickly pear, and Abutilon 

 is less generally known. At certain spots the stamens 

 of these plants are provided with papilke which enable 

 them to perceive contact stimuli. The concluding argu- 

 ment which is presented to the reader that plants are 

 capable of experiencing sensations is by no means con- 

 vincing. 



The German Meteorological Institute, of which the late 

 Prof. V. Bezold was director, has published a second edition 

 of its very useful " Instructions for Taking and Reducing 

 Meteorological Observations." A great part of the work 

 (as the title indicates) has been re-written and re-arranged 

 to bring it up to date as regards the improvements in 

 methods and instruments that have taken place in recent 

 years. The work is divided into two volumes, dealing (i) 

 with the requirements of stations of the second and third 

 orders, and (2) with special observations and instruments ; 

 the latter part contains valuable explanations of the prin- 

 ciples and adjustments of Richard's much used self-record- 

 ing apparatus, of anemometers, sunshine recorders, and the 

 nephoscope, all of which it is most essential that observers 

 should thoroughly understand, but which are not always 

 to be found in existing instructions. The aim of the work 

 is to instruct observers in all parts of the operations re- 

 quired of them, from the choice of a suitable locality for a 

 station, the erection of the instruments, and the method 

 of taking observations, to the deduction of mean results, 

 the most essential portions being printed in larger type. 

 The work will certainly fulfil the intention of its author, 

 viz. to render lighter the labours of observers and to ensure 

 accuracy in their observations and calculations. 



In the Memorie of the Royal Institute of Lombardy 

 (vol. XX.) Dr. Alessandri gives an account of the Regina 

 Margherita Observatory at the summit of Monte Rosa, on 

 the peak known as the " Signalkuppe," 4559 metres above 

 sea-level. The station is under the control of the Central 

 Meteorological Office at Rome, and it is intended (if 

 possible) that observations should be made each year 

 between July 15 and September 15. The difficulties 

 encountered in the first year (1904) were so great that Dr. 

 Alessandri states that the expedition can only be considered 

 as a preliminary attempt, with the view of overcoming 

 them in future years. The conveyance of instruments and 

 materials from .Alagna had partly to be done by mules and 

 partlv by men, at a cost of 62 centesimi for each kilogram 



