250 



NA TURE 



[August 19, 1922 



Defoliation of Oaks. 



A reference to the defoliation of oaks, particularly 

 on the borders of Surrey and Hampshire, by the larvre 

 of Tortrix viridana, was made in Nature on June 10. 

 It concludes with the remark that the effect of the 

 defoliation is to check " the growth of the trees to 

 some extent for the time being, but is rarely more 

 serious." 



At Haslemere, in the south-west corner of Surrey, 

 infestation by the Tortrix larvae was sufficiently 

 marked fifteen years ago to be the subject of com- 

 ment, and it has continued ever since. In some years 

 the attacks were very severe. For a long time in- 

 fested trees did not appear to suffer any serious harm. 

 In recent vears, however, the American White Mildew, 

 Oidium alphitoides — winch in the early years of its 

 appearance in this country infested the leaves of 

 pollard and sapling oaks only — has invaded the new 

 leaves which the trees put forth after defoliation by 

 the caterpillars. The effect of the combined attack 

 is already becoming very serious. In the tract of 

 country lying between the towns of Haslemere, 

 Petersfield, Midhurst, Petworth, Horsham, and 

 Godalming, many oaks have been killed outright, 

 and large numbers are slowly dying. It seems very 

 desirable that these dead and dying trees be removed 

 and destroyed, or they may become centres for the 

 spread of beetles destructive to timber. 



E. W. Swanton. 



Educational Museum, Haslemere, 

 August 1. 



Scorpions and their Venom. 



Physalia in " Animaux Venimeux," p. 252, says 

 that in all venomous animals their immunity to their 

 own venom is limited, and announces that in an ex- 

 periment a scorpion, Bultens australis, was killed by 

 an injection of the same venom as its own. I should 

 like to add further observations from personal ex- 

 perience, bearing on this very interesting subject. 



Until very recently, by many, and even now by 

 some, the accepted opinion of men of science was that 

 each venomous animal carried its own antidote, i.e. 

 was immune to the effects of its own venom. 



So long ago as 1900, when for some weeks during 

 the Boer War I was stationed with my company in 

 the Blue River mountains opposite the Metrosberg 

 Peak in Cape Colony, I witnessed numerous fights 

 between the different species of scorpions. In more 

 than a hundred fights between two scorpions, each 

 of the same species, whether black, red or yellow, the 

 result was always the same, the one that was stung 

 by its opponent dying almost immediately, 10 seconds 

 being the longest interval between receiving the sting 

 and death. 



The result when different species were pitted against 

 each other was the same, but that was to be expected. 

 C. E. F. Mouat-Biggs. 



Hampden Club, Hampden Street, N.W.i, 

 July 7, 1922. 



Bloomsbury. 



It is to be regretted that in his interesting article 

 on Bloomsbury and the University of London, Mr. 

 Humberstone repeats the erroneous statement that 

 Bloomsbury was originally Lomesbury. That state- 

 ment was made by John Stow, London's first his- 

 torian, but one can only suppose that he was misled 

 by the mistake of some early copyist. The earliest 

 form of the name known to me is Blemidesberie. I 

 am writing away from references, but that form is at 



NO. 2755, VOL. I IO] 



least as old as the fourteenth century. Like other 

 place-names ending in -sburv it must be derived 

 from the personal name of its owner, possibly 

 Blemund. 



The further statement that the Royal Mews, at 

 Bloomsbury, were burnt down in 1537, is also not 

 quite accurate. The royal stables were burnt then, 

 but the Mews (i.e. falconry) were situate at Charing 

 Cross, on the site of the present Trafalgar Square, at 

 least as early as 1443 (the earliest reference verifiable 

 at the moment). It was the transference of the rdyail 

 stables to Charing Cross that led to the change in the 

 meaning of the word " mews " to that which it still 

 bears. A. Morley Davies. 



Amersham, July 29. 



I regret that my article should have contaimd the 

 errors to which Dr. Morley Davies draws attention. 

 Stow wrote : " But in the yeare of Christ 1534. the 

 26. of H. the 8. the king hauing faire stabling at Loms- 

 bery (a Manor in the farthest west part of Oldborne) 

 the same was fiered and burnt, with many great 

 horses, and great store of Hay. After which time, the 

 forenamed house called the Mewse by Charing Cross 

 was new builded, and prepared for the stabling of the 

 kings horses. . . ." H. B. Wheatley in " London 

 Past and Present " states that Bloomsbury is a 

 corruption of Blemundsbury, the manor of the De 

 Blemontes, Blemunds, or Blemmots. Blemund's 

 Dyche, which was afterwards Bloomsbury Great 

 Ditch, and Southampton Sewer divided the two 

 manors of St. Giles and Bloomsbury. He adds : 

 " There is an absurd statement, taken from Stow's 

 Survey, that the name of Bloomsbury was originally 

 Lomsbery. This could only have occurred by a 

 misprint, in which the B was inadvertently dropped." 

 T. Ll. Humberstone. 



Absorption of Potassium Vapour in the Associated 

 Series. 



In our investigations on the optical properties of 

 potassium vapour we found that there were some 

 traces of absorption in the above series at about 

 iioo°C., the results of which were embodied in a 

 note to appear shortly in the Phil. Mag. As a result 

 of further experiments conducted in the Physical 

 Laboratory of this college, we now feel fairly sure 

 that we have detected distinct traces of absorption 

 in the diffuse series ; the bands 5780, 5340, 5300, 

 and 5100 surely correspond to 5782, 5340, 5323, and 

 5100 of (2p-m.d). 



The well-defined dark line 4640 previously observed 

 by 11s at about 900 C. is confirmed to be the com- 

 bination line [is-zd) recently observed by Datta in 

 the vacuum arc spectrum of potassium (Proc. Roy. 

 Soc, 99, April 1921) and by J. K. Robertson on 

 " Electrodeless Discharge in certain Vapours " (I'hvs- 

 ical Review, May 1922). 



At these high temperatures the chemical difficulties 

 are so great, and the conditions in the experimental 

 tube so unstable, that, in spite of many attempts, we 

 found it difficult to obtain a good negative, on account 

 of the tube giving way owing to the chemical action 

 of potassium vapour on its walls. Further experi- 

 ments are in progress, and we hope to confirm these 

 observations bv photography, as these experiments 

 lend weight to Saha's theory of temperature radia- 

 tion. A. L. Narayana. 



D. GUNNAIYA. 



Maharajah's College, Vizianagram, July 10. 



