RD be - hen ela eS = a 
APRIL II, 1912] 
NATURE 
145 
; ie . | 
In the Journal of Genetics, vol. ii., No. 1 (February), 
Mr. A. W. Hill deals with the history of Primula 
obconica under cultivation, and concludes that the 
amelioration and development in form and colour of 
the flowers, &c., which have taken place during the 
past thirty years, must be attributed to selective pro- 
cesses, also that there is not sufficient evidence in 
favour of the view that hybridisation with other species 
has taken place. It is of the greatest importance 
that the history of other species which are made the 
object of extensive breeding experiments should be 
thoroughly cleared up, as in this paper, which is illus- 
trated by two beautiful coloured plates. 
Tue difficult problem of the morphological nature of 
the endosperm of angiospermic plants forms the sub- 
ject of a paper by Prof. Coulter in the Botanical 
Gazette, vol. lii., No. 5. From a critical review 
of the literature, the author concludes that endosperm 
formation is not dependent upon the presence of a 
male nucleus, nor even upon fusion of the two polar 
~ nuclei of the embryo-sac, hence these fusions may be 
regarded as supplementary rather than determinative. 
Further, the formation of endosperm does not even 
depend upon having been preceded by a reduction 
division. The author is therefore led to the view 
that the fusions associated with endosperm formation 
do not represent a definite process, but are miscel- 
laneous in number and order; and that the product of 
such fusions as do occur is merely an undifferentiated 
tissue, which practically continues the tissue of the 
gametophyte, that is, it is simply growth and not 
organisation. 
THE concentric growths of chalcedonic silica 
known as beekite appear as disease-spots in fossil 
shells, and have spread in some cases until the 
organic remains are replaced by lumpy masses of 
silica. Mr. James Strachan brings his considerable 
experience as a chemist to bear on the origin of 
beekite in a paper read before the Belfast Naturalists’ 
Field Club on March 27. He concludes that the 
chalcedony is precipitated by osmotic action in the 
colloid matter of the shells, where it replaces calcium 
carbonate. The rings around the central disc of chal- 
cedony represent the periodic movement of the 
chemical action. Mr. Strachan points out that this 
mode of origin has been suggested by Prof. Sollas 
for banded flints. It will be noticed that, if animal 
matter is requisite for the precipitation, the formation 
of beekite is referred to an early stage in the history 
of the rocks in which it occurs. 
THE views of Lugeon and others as to Alpine 
mountain-structure have been so widely accepted that 
Mr. Bailey Willis probably does good service by a 
criticism based on personal observations. In a “ Re- 
port on an investigation of the geological structure of 
the Alps” (Smithsonian Miscell. Coll., vol. Ivi., 
No. 31, 1912), he urges the efficacy of thrust-planes 
as against recumbent overfolds, and shows how the 
exotic masses of strata known as klippen may be 
explained by the intersection of two thrust-planes of 
opposite slope. He believes that the earlier thrusting 
in the Alps came from the north-west, and was fol- 
NO. 2215, VOL. 89] 
lowed by erosion carried on until a mature type of 
surface had been produced. The far more recent 
thrusting from the south-east is regarded as Pliocene, 
since the scarp weathered out in the Bernese Oberland 
on the Alpine mass that. was moved forward remains 
still fresh and young. This short paper clearly gives 
matter for large discussion. The spelling of some of 
the place-names seems to want revision. 
AN important memoir on the climate of the Italian 
capital has been issued by the Italian Meteorological 
Office. Rome is one of the few places for which 
meteorological observations extending over more than 
roo years are available. In this volume Dr. F. 
Eredia has gathered together and summarised the 
available data. For all the principal elements 
monthly means or totals are given for each year 
from the commencement of the record up to the end 
of 1910, the whole forming a historical record of 
great importance. The observations of precipitation 
go back to the year 1782 in unbroken sequence. The 
temperature record also begins in 1782, but there is a 
gap in the series from 1792 to 1811. Monthly normal 
values have been computed for all elements, and for 
pressure temperature, humidity, and wind velocity 
the diurnal variation has been determined from the 
records of autographic instruments. The observations 
are not strictly homogeneous throughout. There 
have been changes of site, instruments, and methods 
of observing, but in preparing the results for publica- 
tion every effort has been made to minimise the 
effects of such disturbing causes. 
Tue Danish Meteorological Institute has distri- 
buted (as in previous years) an excerpt from its 
nautical meteorological year-book, containing useful 
information relating to the state of the ice in the 
Arctic seas in 1911; the monthly summaries for 
April-August are illustrated by maps. The details 
seem to us to show that the conditions were, on the 
whole, somewhat more severe than usual. At the 
entrance to the White Sea there was much pack-ice 
in April and May, and Archangel was closed until 
near the end of the latter month. Novaia Zemlia was 
not ice-free until comparatively late, and in Barents 
Sea the ice was more closely packed than usual; the 
west coast of Spitsbergen became clear in August, 
but round the north-east coast navigation was im- 
practicable during the year. On the east coast of 
Greenland there was. more ice than usual during the 
summer, but at Angmagsalilk the sea was open un- 
usually early. In Baffin Bay it was difficult to 
penetrate the ice throughout the summer. So few 
reports were received from Bering and Beaufort Seas 
that it was difficult to form a general ‘opinion; in 
May and June, however, the conditions seem to have 
been normal. 
In the Zeitschrift des Vereines deutscher Ingenieure 
Dr. Th. von Karman, of Gottingen, shows that the 
ordinary theory of the flexure of beams cannot be 
applied to cylindrical tubes of small thickness owing 
to the considerable changes which take place in the 
form of the cross section when the tubes are bent. 
The author gives formule which take this effect into 
