AUGUST 15, I912] 
NATURE 
615 
‘experiences of the ‘‘water-elephant”’ of the Congo 
lakes derived from the explorer himself. Although 
many naturalists regard the ‘“‘water-elephant’’ as 
nothing more than the dwarf Congo elephant, Mr. 
Cuninghame accepts the view that it represents an 
altogether distinct type. A very similar account was 
received from Mr. Le Petit about a year ago by he 
writer of the present note, who, in consequence of a 
communication from Paris, did not consider it desir- 
able that it should be published. In the same issue 
Mr. G. Williams records that a few years ago he saw 
at early dawn on the Uasingishu a large and appar- 
ently unknown animal which he compares to a bear— 
a comparison borne out by the Nandi, who assert that 
they are well acquainted with the creature, for which 
they have a.name. Mr. Williams, who is confident 
that it is neither an ant-bear nor a baboon, adds that 
the animal has recently been seen again, and that he 
has heard of one which was burnt in a hut by natives, 
and of the skin of a second in the Kabras district, 
although he did not succeed in seeing it. 
Mr. Cuunc Yu Wanc, of Wuchow, author of the 
work on antimony in Griffin’s Metallurgical Series, 
has drawn up a “ Bibliography of the Mineral Wealth 
and Geology of China” (C. Griffin and Co., Ltd., 
Ig12, price 3s. net.) The references are divided under 
the headings of coal, iron, gold and silver, minerals 
in general, mining and metallurgy in general, 
geology, petrology, and palzontology; hence the work 
will be useful to geologists, as well as to those intent 
on developing the resources of the Chinese Empire. 
On p. 32, the author remarks that the best book on 
the mineral wealth of China is one of which he gives 
the name in Chinese characters, published, with an 
atlas, in 1907. Perhaps we may look forward to a 
translation at no distant date. 
Tue current Annual Report of the Board of Scientific 
Advice for India, recently received, contains an account 
of the investigational work done by the various scien- 
tific departments during the year 1910-11, and also 
the programme mapped out for 1911-12. The depart- 
ments concerned are those of applied chemistry, astro- 
nomy, botany, forestry, geodesy, geology, veterinary 
science, and zoology. One of the chief investigations 
now being carried on is in reference to the improve- 
ment of the cotton crop; to this a large amount of 
attention is being devoted by the agricultural staff. 
Simple selection is not considered likely to be of much 
service in obtaining the required type of plant, but 
practical results are expected from hybridisation. The 
methods adopted, and the ideas underlying the work, 
are of more than local interest; an account of them 
has been published in The Journal of Genetics, and 
an abstract in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. 
Among other researches in progress may be men- 
tioned one upon the production of new wheats of high 
quality, which are giving very promising results; also 
one having for its object the improvement of the 
saltpetre industry by modifying the refining processes. 
The report shows that much solid, useful work is 
being accomplished. 
In a paper published in 1911 at Helsingfors, entitled 
“Tid vattnen i Ostersjon och Finska Viken,” with a 
NO. 2233, VOL. 89] 
| and 
short German summary, Mr. Rolf Witting discusses 
the tides of the Baltic Sea and of the Gulf of Finland. 
The tides of these seas are small, and have but little 
importance for sailors, so that the interest of this 
paper is purely scientific. Mr. Witting used Sir 
George Darwin’s apparatus for making the tidal re- 
ductions, and he gives the tidal constants for Kron- 
stadt, Helsingfors, Reval, Hangé, Landsort, Libau, 
Karlskrona, Ratan, Draghallan, Bjorn, and Ytter- 
grund. He also makes use of Dr. Crone’s reductions 
for eight Danish ports, and others by Dr. Schweydar 
for eight German ones. This considerable amount of 
material is ably discussed by the author. Perhaps the 
most remarkable result is that while at the Danish 
end the semi-diurnal tides are predominant, in the 
Baltic the tide becomes almost purely diurnal. He 
explains this by showing that the Baltic ports are 
near nodes of the semi-diurnal oscillation of the sea. 
The author also discusses seiches, according to the 
principles of Chrystal, and finds a period for the 
longitudinal seiche of about eighteen hours. The 
transversal seiches differ much at various transverse 
sections, having periods which lie between three and 
seven hours. The paper appears to be thorough and 
scientific, and is thus a valuable monograph on the 
subject. 
Owine to the large amount of cartilage in which 
they are embedded, it is practically impossible to 
exhibit the true relations to one another of the bones 
of the cetacean carpus in macerated skeletons. Some 
months ago, when a shoal of black-fish was stranded 
at Mount’s Bay, the paddles of a specimen were 
procured for the Natural History Museum, and, by 
dissecting away the integuments and muscles from 
one side of each, moulds were obtained of the bones 
and cartilages, from which plaster casts were after- 
wards taken. These casts, coloured to nature, are 
now éxhibited in the Whale Room. During the pre- 
sent summer a taxidermist from the museum was 
despatched to the Shetlands for the purpose of obtain- 
ing flippers of the larger fin-whales; these have been 
treated in the same manner, the cast of one of the 
specimens being already completed and _ coloured. 
This new mode of exhibiting the structure of the 
paddle cannot be surpassed. 4 
WE have received a copy of a report by Mr. Merritt 
Cary on a biological survey of Colorado, forming 
No. 33 of ‘‘The North American Fauna,” which was 
published in August, 1911. An excellent coloured map 
exhibits the complex life-zones, which show that 
Colorado, like other areas with varied climatic and 
physiographical conditions, possesses a correspondingly 
large and varied fauna and flora. The main features 
brought out by the survey are: first, the division of 
the State into three topographic regions, namely the 
eastern plains, the central system of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and the rugged area of alternating plateaus 
and valleys on the western slope; and, secondly, the 
subdivision of each of these regions by diverse physical 
climatic conditions into small and irregular 
faunal and floral areas. Lists of some of the char- 
acteristic animals and plants of the various zones are 
given, as well as a complete list of the mammals of 
the country. ; 
