May 1 6, 1907] 



NA TURE 



63 



A I APEK bv Dr. S. A. Forbes on the local distribvition 

 of certain Illinois fishes, forming article eight of vol. vii. 

 of the Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural 

 History at Urbana, is noteworthy on account of the seven 

 exquisitely coloured plates of so-called "darters" 

 fKtheostomin.-Bl with* which it is illustrated. In article 

 nine of the same serial Dr. Forbes discusses from a similar 

 point of view (that is to say, the relations of interaction 

 between organisms and their animate and inanimate 

 surroundings) the results of an ornithological traverse of 

 Illinois in autumn. The predominance of European (we 

 fail to see whv they should be specially referred to as 

 English) sparrows in certain districts and situations is 

 very noteworthy. 



The series of " ichnites " in the geological department 

 of the British Museum (Natural History) has just been 

 enriched by the addition of two large slabs of Triassic 

 sandstone from Storeton, Cheshire, displaying labyrinth- 

 odont and reptilian foot-prints. Some remarkably well- 

 preserved casts of the foot-prints of " Chirotherium," 

 together with other much smaller ones referred to the 

 reptile Rhynchosaurus, and likewise others of an unknown 

 reptile, are displayed. Both slabs are the gift of the 

 owners of the Storeton quarries. Important additions 

 have likewise been made to the series of exhibits illus- 

 trating the development of eels and the nature of the food 

 of well-known food-fishes. In one jar are displayed a 

 number of specimens from the Gulf of Messina, presented 

 by Prof. Grassi, showing various stages in the develop- 

 ment of the larvjE of the conger-eel and their final evolu- 

 tion into young congers, while alongside are shown a 

 mass of elvers recently taken in the Severn, and a few 

 young eels from the Thames. The fishes of which the 

 food is illustrated are the plaice, the turbot, and the sole, 

 the exhibits being specially instructive on account of the 

 remarkable difference existing between the nutriment of the 

 turbot on the one hand and that of the plaice and sole on 

 the other. The turbot, for instimce, seems to subsist 

 entirely on other fishes, including immature clupeoids and 

 flat-fish and sand-lance. Excepting that young sand-lance 

 are eaten by the first and very small dabs by the second, 

 plaice and soles, on the contrary, subsist on an inverte- 

 brate diet, including lug-worms, echinoderms, crustaceans, 

 and tellinas and other small bivalves. 



CoxsiDER.^BLE interest attaches to a paper, by Mr 

 F. W. True, just issued as No. 1604 "f '^"' quarto series 

 of Publications of the Smithsonian Institution, on an 

 imperfect cetacean skull obtained in 1S47 from the Eocene 

 Marl of the Ashley River, near Charlestown, South 

 Carolina. In the same year appeared a brief account of 

 it. with plates, by Mr. M. Tuomey, who referred it to 

 Zeuglodon, and two years later it was named Z. pygmaetis 

 by Prof. J. Miiller, of Berlin. Soon afterwards the speci- 

 men came under the notice of Prof. L. .Agassiz, who caused 

 a lithographed plate to be prepared, with the lettering 

 Phocodon holmesi, .\gass. For some reason this plate was 

 never issued, and in iSqj Prof. E. D. Cope referred the 

 specimen to a new genus, under the name of Agorophiiis 

 pygmacus. Despite the fact that the specimen, when 

 figured in the plate made for Agassiz, had a single 

 Squalodon-like tooth remaining in the maxilla, a sugges- 

 tion was made that the species might be an ancestral 

 form of rorqual. Were this confirmed, it would have 

 been a matter of much importance, and Mr. True has 

 therefore been well advised in publishing the original 

 plate. In his opinion, Agorophius is a squalodont. 

 NO. IQSQ. ■^'OL 76! 



altlinugh differing in cranial characters from Squalodon 

 itself. The European so-called Squalodon ehrUchii of 

 Van Beneden has, however, a broad rostrum recalling the 

 Carolina genus, and it may be that this imperfectly known 

 form is a connecting link between Squalodon proper and 

 .Agorophius. 



Sever.^l matters referred to in the report for 1905 of Mr. 

 M. Kelway-Bamber, a Government chemist at the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, Ceylon, published as vol. iii., No. 24, 

 of the Circulars and Agricultural Journal, are of scientific 

 as well as practical interest. The problem of establishing 

 a connection between the mineral ingredients of the tea 

 plant and the quality and strength of the tea^ is under 

 investigation, with a prospect of obtaining definite results. 

 From a study of the methods of preparing Oolong tea in 

 Formosa, it is concluded that the quality and character- 

 istics are due to an aroma produced by faint oxidation in 

 drying and a slight scorching during roasting of the leaf, 

 as well as to the mild decomposition caused by a fungus, 

 and it is suggested that the fungus acting on the legumin 

 in the leaf produces flavouring bodies similar to the action 

 of moulds in cheese. The report also contains hints on the 

 distillation of camphor and citronella oil. 



An article in the West Indian Bulletin, vol. vii.. No. 4. 

 deals with the manufacture of citrate of lime, as an article 

 for export to take the place of concentrated lime juice. 

 The project was brought to the notice of planters m the 

 West Indies by Dr. F. Watts, who has published mform- 

 ation on the production of citrate of lime in Sicily, and 

 given public demonstrations on the process of manufacture. 

 The commercial outcome is seen in the shipments first 

 made from Dominica in 1906, and also from Montserrat. 

 In the same number Mr. W. R. Buttenshaw compdes 

 some facts on the distribution of plants from the var.oijs 

 botanic stations in the West Indies to ''"dicate the valuab e 

 service rendered in this connection. Incidentally he refers 

 to the popular practice of observing Arbor Day, and 

 mentions that palms, principally the cabbage palm, 

 Oreodo:ca oleraeea, and the royal palm, Orcodoxa rega, 

 are commonlv chosen for planting, often, too, the 

 mahogany or the white wood, Bucida Buceras. 



The principal article in the last issue (No 4I of 'he 

 Kew Bulletin contributed by Mr. J. S. Gamble treats o 

 the gutta-percha trees in the Malay Penmsula. After 

 reviewing the species belonging to eight genera of the 

 Sapotacel found in Malaya, the author concludes that the 

 onlv important tree is Palaquiun, GuUa, known as Taban 

 Merah," with its variety oblong.fohum, Taban Sutra 

 h ee other species, Palaquiurn 0.leyanu,n P«/<.,». m 

 oL'atum and P«v..m Lecrii. afford a second-rate gu.ta, 

 and culti;ation is being restricted to these four species 

 The lists of new plants from the herbarium co-P-^^ « 

 decade of orchids, mostly from Asia, determined b> Mr. 

 A N Rolfe, and exotic fungi from India and elsew^here, 

 fdentified by Mr. G. Massee. Supplementing ^^^ -f-^ 

 ation given in the first two numbers of the BuHetm for 

 Ts vL, Mr. T. A. Sprague confirms the distinction 

 between Dubouzetia and Tricuspidaria, and offers 

 revision of the former genus. 



The second part of the nineteenth volume of the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria contains some 

 interesting papers on the biology and geology of Australia. 

 It begins^ with the eighth of Mr. Frederick Chapmans 

 valuable ".Additions to the Palaeontology of \ ictoria ; 

 in this number he describes some interesting _ne^^ 

 Silurian ophiurids. He also describes a new Cypndina 



