226 
the issue of the “‘Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes 
Orientales,” the completion of which was prevented 
by the death of the author in 1878. 
In The Kew Bulletin (1912, No. 3), J. H. Holland 
gives a useful review of the sources whence alcohol 
is obtained, these sources being treated under the 
heads of fruits, grain, roots, rhizomes, stems, leaves, 
inflorescences, wood, and peat. Interesting statistics 
are given with reference to the distillation of indus- 
trial alcohol from the potato in Germany and Poland, 
from the beet in France, and from maize and wood in 
the United States. There appears to be no bar, apart 
from fiscal and transport difficulties (which could 
readily be overcome), to the development of flourish- 
ing industries of this kind in our own country. The 
statements available at present regarding the produc- 
tion of alcohol on a commercial scale from peat are, 
unfortunately, meagre and contradictory; success has 
been reported from Sweden, failure from France. 
The Swedish experimenters claim that alcohol made 
from peat can be sold at less than one-half the pre- 
sent price of alcohol, and lower than the present 
price of petroleum. 
Pror. R. PEpPeERT, in a memoir issued by the 
Ministry of Agriculture in the Argentine Republic, 
deals with the world’s supply of citric acid, which 
comes chiefly from Sicily, and gives interesting 
details concerning the species and varieties of Citrus, 
chemical analyses of the fruits used in the industry, 
and the methods of extraction on the commercial 
scale. Mention is made of Wehmer’s discovery that 
citric acid can be made from artificial glucose by 
fermentation by various micro-organisms (Citro- 
myces pfefferianus, Penicillium lutem, Mucor pyri- 
formia), but it seems that this process yields only 2 
or 3 per cent. of citric acid instead of the 50 per cent. 
promised by the laboratory experiments. The author 
points out that the climate and soil in the fertile 
Tucuman province of Argentina are admirably suited 
for the growing of lemons, that the fruits grown 
locally are in no way inferior to those of the Mediter- 
ranean region in their yield of citric acid, and that 
with capital and enterprise a flourishing citrate indus- 
try may well be established in Argentina. 
Mr. P. Macnatr, whose useful ‘Introduction to 
the Study of Rocks”’ has been already noticed 
(Nature, April 13, 1911), now issues an ‘‘ Introduc- 
tion to the Study of Fossils and Guide to the 
Palzontological Collections in Kelvingrove Museum,”’ 
Glasgow, price 3d., with some forty illustrations. 
The Silurian eurypterids and fishes of Lesmahagow 
are well referred to, and Scottish fossils are properly 
emphasised throughout. The book will no doubt soon 
reach another edition, and certain misprints in generic 
names can then be rectified. 
Tue prehistoric human remains near Cuzco, in 
Peru, which occur low down in the face of a high 
gravel cliff, are dealt with in considerable detail 
in three papers by H. Bingham, T. Bowman, and 
G. F. Eaton in The American Journal of Science 
NO. 2218, VOL. 89] 
NATURE 
[May 2) arene 
(vol. xxxiii., pp. 297-333, April). The bones de- 
scribed appear to be contemporaneous with the 
bedded gravels, which are regarded as a glacial 
series, an approximate age being assigned to them 
of 20,000 to 40,000 years ago. The valley of 
Ayahuaycco quebrada, or ‘“‘dead man’s gulch,” in 
which they occur, has been used in modern times as 
a burial ground, and great caution is shown by the 
explorers in making the above suggestion. 
Symons’s Meteorological Magazine for April con- 
tains an account of the meteorological service of the 
Argentine Republic, by Sr. W. G. Davis (director), 
which is of much interest, owing to geographical 
position and large extent of country, as well as to 
the activity with which the science has been pursued. 
The service was established by Dr. B. A. Gould in 
1872, and the results of the observations made up to 
the time of his retirement in 1884 were printed in 
four large quarto volumes. The service was con- 
tinued on the same lines by the present director until 
the year 1900. The first daily weather chart was 
published in 1902, and forecasts are now issued for 
thirty-six hours in advance. The charts show the 
_ conditions existing from Para (Brazil) to the southern- 
most limits of the Republic, extending over 55° of 
latitude. In addition to the central office at Buenos 
Aires, there are two principal observatories at 
Cordova and Chacarita where special researches are 
carried on; and a fully equipped meteorological and 
magnetic station is maintained at South Orkney, in 
61° S. latitude. The work of the meteorological 
office includes a seismological service, which will 
shortly embrace a line of stations along practically 
the whole of the north-to-south extent of the Republic. 
A REPORT on the daily sunshine in Russia was pre- 
sented to the Imperial Academy of Science in January 
(Bulletin, February 15). The duration of sunshine 
in European Russia increases on the whole from 
north to south and from west to east, being, how- 
ever, somewhat longer on the coast than in the 
interior. In the yearly means the lowest maximum 
is recorded at St. Petersburg, where it occurs between 
noon and one o’clock, and attains to 11°9 hours (this 
figure being obtained from the means of thirty days 
in each month). The highest maximum in European 
Russia is 198 hours in Uralsk; in Bairam-Ali it is 
239 hours, and 236 hours in Chita. The monthly 
maximum occurs at Bairam-Ali in August, and 
amounts to 308 hours, i.e. during thirty-one hours 
of observation the sun is on an average obscured by 
clouds for only twelve minutes. In St. Petersburg 
the maximum is reached in July, and is 188 hours. 
Sunshine is more frequent in winter during the after- 
noon and in summer in the forenoon. Only in St. 
Petersburg is sunshine more prevalent after noon in 
all months, attaining 60 per cent. of the possible in 
December and 50°4 in October. In January sunshine 
is more frequent at all stations in the afternoon, and 
in May in the forenoon, except in St. Petersburg, but 
the difference between the morning and afternoon is 
much less in summer than in winter. The greatest 
difference occurs in Irkutsk, where the sunshine in 
