278 



NA TURE 



[July i8, 1907 



The wide circulation of " Poliorny's Naturgeschichte der 

 Thierrcichs " is indicated by the appearance of tlie twenty- 

 seventh edition not very long subsequent to the issue of 

 its predecessor. This edition, published by G. Freytag, of 

 Leipzig, is edited by Mr. Ma.\ Fischer, and illustrated by 

 twenty-four coloured plates, in addition to the woodcuts. 

 A new feature is an appendix, in which the proper care 

 of the human body and Its various parts is briefly described. 

 The proper standard of weight, the amount of sleep and 

 food necessary to be taken, and (he care of the eyes are 

 some of the subjects discussed in this appendix, which can 

 scarcely fail to be useful. 



CoNSiDERAHLE importance attaches to an account of the 

 skull of the Cretaceous pliosaurian genus Brachauchenius 

 given by Mr. .S. \V. Williston in No. 1540 (vol. xxxii., pp. 

 477-489) of the Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum. 

 Brachauchenius, which is known from West Kansas, is 

 regarded by its describer as closely related to Pliosaurus, 

 from which it differs in having single-headed cervical ribs. 

 From other plesiosaurians in which the skull is fully 

 known it differs in that the palatines meet each other in 

 the middle, but this is a feature which the author thinks 

 will be met with in Pliosaurus. The assumed relationship 

 of the plesiosaurs to chelonians is disputed. The latter 

 lack, for instance, epiphyses to the humerus, while such 

 resemblance as c.\ists between the shoulder-girdle in the 

 two groups is due to adaptation. Chelonians are without 

 the parietal foramen of plesiosaurs, and retain the hypo- 

 central mode of articulation of the ribs, whereas in plesio- 

 saurs the ribs are attached to the transverse processes. 

 Sauroplerygia are, indeed, probably descended from therio- 

 dont ancestors, while Cheionia appear derived from a 

 cotylosaurian type, both being widely sundered from 

 ichthyosaurs and rhynchoce[)halians. 



Among fifteen recent issues of the Proceedings of the 

 U.S. National Museum, special reference may be made to 

 three (Nos. 1543, 1547, and 1551) by Mr. A. H. Clark, on 

 new and other crinoids. The most important novelty is 

 Phrynocrinus nudus, a new genus and species from 

 Japanese waters, described in No. 1543. In general shape 

 the calyx is acorn-like, and it is further remarkable for 

 the presence of broad spaces between the radial, covered 

 with a leathery skin, showing no external signs of radial 

 plates. In the author's opinion, this crinoid probably 

 indicates a family by itself. The same paper contains 

 the description of a new species of Bathycrinus, also from 

 Japan. Ptilocrinus pinnatus, described in No. 1547, is a 

 new genus and species, from the neighbourhood of the 

 Queen Charlotte group, allied to Bathycrinus, but 

 characterised by a peculiar feather-like arrangement of the 

 radials. Japanese crinoids of the genus Eudiocrinus, one 

 of which is regarded as new, form the subject of the third 

 paper (No. 1551). In No. 1548 Mr. P. Bartsch describes 

 a gastropod of the genus Eulima parasitic in the calyx of 

 Ptilocrinus. In three specimens the proboscis was found 

 to be deeply embedded in the caly.K of the crinoid ; no other 

 Eulima is believed to be parasitic. 



Mr. M. J. NowAK communicates to the Bulletin inter- 

 national de I'Academie des Sciences de Cracovie (January) 

 a description of fossil plant-leaves found in the Upper 

 Senonian beds at Potylicz, in north Galicia. The leaves 

 are typical of evergreen .xerophilous plants, among the 

 genera represented being Glcichenia, Cunninghamia, 

 Quercus, Myrica, Eucalyptus, and Aralia. Mr. W. M. 

 Kudelka presents a paper on the comparative anatomy of 

 the vegetative organs of species of Ribes. 

 NO. 1968, VOL. 76] 



There are many difficulties militating against the 

 successful exploitation of new woods from the colonies 

 and foreign States, but with a little care it should be 

 possible to provide fair, representative specimens for show 

 or report. Mr. H. Stone, who has handled numerous 

 collections in recent years, offers some hints on the subject 

 in the Journal of Economic Biology, vol. iii., part i. He 

 attaches special value to cylindrical samples with a dome- 

 shaped top as showing every variation of grain from the 

 radial to the quarter. 



The report of the Midland Rcafforesting Association for 

 1906 announces the formation of three small plantations at 

 Walsall, Bloxwich, and Wolverhampton, the two former 

 on pit waste, the lalter on a sand-pit. The three local 

 committees at Old Hill, Walsall, and Wednesbury have 

 been augmented by two new commitlees for Wolver- 

 hampton and Ocker Hill. An arbor-day festival was held 

 in some of the districts to interest the children in the 

 preservation of the trees. The association still lacks the 

 services of a paid secretary owing to insufficiency of funds. 



Royal a.ssent was given on July 4 to " The Destructive 

 Insects and Pests Act, 1907," and the Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries will now be able, under this new law, to 

 issue an order against the American gooseberry mildew. 

 Mr. E. S. Salmon, mycologist to the South-Eastern Agri- 

 cultural College, Wye, sends us a letter in which he 

 emphasises the necessity for growers to cooperate with the 

 Board to stamp out this new pest. The disease has been 

 allowed seven years' start in Ireland and two or three 

 years' start in England. Now that the Board of Agri- 

 culture has acquired the necessary legislative powers to 

 deal with the disease, it behoves all growers and gardeners 

 generally to cooperate heartily with the Board if they wish 

 to see the American gooseberry mildew stamped out and 

 their gooseberry plantations kept healthy. Up to the 

 present, the outbreaks that have occurred in England are 

 as follows : — Kent, on standard gooseberries only in one 

 nursery (disease believed to be now stamped out) ; 

 Worcestershire, thirty-one outbreaks in gooseberry plant- 

 ations ; Gloucestershire, one outbreak ; Wisbech and dis- 

 trict, two outbreaks ; Warwickshire, one outbreak. 



Brilliant weather has at length set in over the whole of 

 the British Isles, and the failure of summer, which 

 threatened for so long, has fortunately not been realised. 

 The past records of temperature for London fail to show 

 any previous first fortnight of July as cold as that of the 

 present year. The sheltered thermometer did not touch 70° 

 from Julv I to 14, and the observations since 1841 show no 

 corresponding period without that temperature being 

 reached, and in most years a reading of 80° is shown, 

 whilst in some years the thermometer registers 90°. On 

 July 15 the thermometer in London registered 77°, which 

 is the highest temperature since May 11 and 12. The whole 

 type of weather has changed, and the persistent cyclonic 

 disturbances have at last given place to an anticyclone, 

 which during the present week has embraced practically the 

 whole of England. 



The volume of rainfall observations {Ncdb(j>riagttagelser, 

 vol. xii.) published by the Meteorological Institute of Norway 

 for 1906 is a most important contribution to that branch 

 of meteorological science. The institute, under the able 

 superintendence of Prof. H. Mohn, deals with about 430 

 rainfall stations for the year in question, and includes 

 means from seventy-seven additional stations at which 

 observations have now been discontinued. Daily observ- 

 ations are given for 200 places, and daily statistics relating. 



