256 



NA TURE 



[July i i, 1907 



the true explanation, as his observations lead to the con- 

 clusion that the eggs are never hatched on the exterior of 

 their host, but are licked off from the skin by the tongue 

 to undergo their final development in the alimentary canal. 

 Estimates of the enormous commercial losses due to ox- 

 warbles are given in the course of the paper. 



The rind disease of the sugar cane caused by the fungus 

 Melancoiiium sacchari forms the subject of Bulletin No. 7 

 prepared by Mr. L. Lewton-Brain, of the division of 

 pathology and physiology, and issued from the experiment 

 station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association. The 

 fungus can only penetrate the cane by wounds due to 

 borers or other agents, but, having penetrated, readily 

 forms fruiting masses from which arise the conidia that 

 are extruded in long black threads. Reference is also 

 made to the " red-rot " fungus, CoUetotrichum jalcatum 

 and to the pine-apple disease induced by Thielaviopsis 

 clhaccticus, a fungus that is sometimes regarded as a stage 

 in the life of the Melanconium. 



The introduction of rubber cultivation into the Malay 

 Peninsula has brought the Federated Malay States and 

 the Straits Settlements into prominence, and with the view 

 of supplying informntion as to their status and resources 

 Mr. H. C. Belfield has prepared a third edition of the 

 " Handbook of the Federated Malay States." The hand- 

 book contains much practical information, both for the 

 settler and the tourist; an estimate of the cost of starting 

 a rubber plantation is provided for the planter. As to 

 other crops, the west coast from Perak to Negri Sembilan 

 is well suited to the cultivation of cocoa-nuts, but coffee 

 plantations will cease to exist as the interplanted rubber 

 trees come into bearing, and owing to the wasteful methods 

 adopted, tapioca cultivation is being discouraged. 

 Measures are being adopted to conserve the trees yielding 

 gutta-percha. 



Two curious substances, n'hangellite and coorongite, 

 that have been described as mineral india-rubber or elastic 

 bitumen, the former discovered in Portuguese East Africa, 

 the latter in Australia, are the subject of an article in the 

 Kew Bulletin (No. 5). After examination, Mr. L. A. 

 Boodle arrives at the conclusion that they have been 

 derived chiefly from masses of a gelatinous blue-green 

 alga, and that the bituminous character is due to chemical 

 changes. An account of the method of preparing amber- 

 coloured biscuits of Funtumia rubber in Uganda is based 

 upon a communication by Mr. H. Hesketh-Bell. On the 

 subject of mud-binding grasses that might be utilised to 

 reclaim sand and mud-flats, information is provided with 

 regard to the growth of species of Spartina in Southampton 

 Water. A long list of moths collected during the season 

 of 1906, supplementary to the species recorded in the 

 special volume of the Kew Bulletin on the wild fauna and 

 flora of the gardens, is contributed by Mr. A. L. Simmons. 



The University of California, from funds supplied by 

 Mrs. P. A. Hearst, has added to its series of monographs 

 on American ethnology an account of the language of the 

 Yokuts in the south central region. This tribe, the name 

 of which means "men," inhabits the southern portion 

 of the San Joaquin basin. It includes some forty sub- 

 tribes, each with a distinct dialect, differences of vocabu- 

 lary being probably due, partly, as among the Nagas of 

 Assam, to inter-tribal feuds, and partly to the taboo of 

 words connected with the dead. The Yokuts are now 

 gradually disappearing, and the author of this monograph, 

 Mr. A. L. Kroeber, has found much diflSculty in collect- 

 ing the materials for a comparative grammar and 



NO. 1967, VOL. 76J 



chrestomathy, the latter including some interesting tribal 

 legends and folk-lore, more complete versions of which he 

 proposes to publish in a subsequent volume. 



The weather still continues most persistently cold lor 

 the time of year over the whole of the British Islands, and, 

 indeed, over nearly the whole of western Europe. Rain 

 is falling with considerable frequency, but the measure- 

 ments are not generally large. The principal feature is 

 the large amount of cloud and the consequent small amount 

 of sunshine. According to the summary of the weather 

 issued by the Meteorological Office for the week ended 

 July 6, the maximum temperature recorded anywhere in 

 the British Islands was 68°, in the Midland counties. 

 The defect of temperature on the mean for the period 

 was mostly from 6° to 8°, whilst the bright sunshine was 

 deficient over the whole of Great Britain. At Greenwich 

 the highest shade temperature for the first nine days of 

 July was 68°, and the observations since 1841 fail to show 

 any other year for the same period with so persistently 

 low a temperature, the previous years always having had 

 a temperature of 70°, and commonly a temperature of 80° 

 or even 90°. The mean highest temperature for the first 

 nine days is rather below 65°, which is in agreement with 

 the average conditions in the middle of May or the end 

 of September. The aggregate rainfall at Greenwich for the 

 first nine days of July is less than 02 inch, but rain has 

 fallen on six days. The aggregate rainfall at the London 

 reporting station of the Meteorological Office since the 

 commencement of the year is 8-8 inches, which is about 

 1-5 inches less than the normal, and April is the only 

 month with an excess of rain. The present outlook 

 promises a further continuance of cool and unsettled 

 weather. 



The Deutsche Scewarte has just published vol. xiv. of 

 Deutsche Ueberseeische Mcteorologischc Bcobachtungcn, 

 containing summaries of the meteorological observations 

 made at thirty-eight foreign stations for various periods 

 between 1S92 and iqo^. The first part includes the records 

 from twenty-six stations where the observations Avere 

 made three times a day, the stations being well scattered 

 over the globe. Labrador, West Indies, Brazil. Morocco, 

 Liberia, Siberia, China, Corea, and the Pacific Islands 

 are all represented. The value of these otherwise good 

 observations is marred by the fact that only from eight 

 of the stations can a continuous record be got for so short 

 a period as three years. The second part contains the 

 results of hpurly observations at stations which are all in 

 German East Africa, and deals with the period 1900-4. 

 Here again is the same trouble of discontinuity. 



" Distribution of Temperature and Air Pressure over 

 the Globe in the ' Polar Year ' 18S2-3 " is the title of the 

 inaugural dissertation chosen by S. B. Ehrhart on obtain- 

 ing his doctor's degree at Erlangen. It was a gigantic 

 undertaking, and the results of observations at 924 stations 

 have been utilised in preparing isothermal and isobaric 

 charts for each month from September, 1882, to August, 

 1883 ; the charts for January and July, 1883, accompany 

 the dissertation. The author states that, on the whole, 

 the charts for this particular year exhibit the same general 

 features as those drawn from means for a series of years, 

 and show that the temperature conditions of any one month 

 influence the pressure conditions of the following month, 

 e.g. areas of high temperature favour the development of 

 barometric minima, and vice versd. We fail to find anv 

 reference to the synchronous weather charts of the North 

 .Atlantic published by the Meteorological Office for that 



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