NA TURE 



[August i, 1907 



which the following are selected for notice. In vol. xxii., 

 art. 13, of the first-named serial is described the milk- 

 dentition of the hyracoid from the Egyptian Eocene known 

 as Saghatheriimi, the teeth at that age serving to confirm 

 previous conclusions as to the systematic position of the 

 genus. A restoration of the skeleton and external form of 

 the remarkable Permian reptile Naosaurus forms the sub- 

 ject of vol. .xxiii., art. 14. The enormous neural spines of 

 the dorsal vertebra;, armed with transverse spikes, are 

 considered to have supported a sail-like expansion of skin, 

 but no reference is made to the probable object of this 

 structure ; the creature measured about %\ feet in length. 

 A magnificent skeleton of the Columbian mammoth 

 {Elephas columbi), discovered in Indiana in 1903, and now 

 mounted in the .'\merican Museum of Natural History, is 

 described in art. 12 ; the tusks are remarkable for their 

 great curvature and the crossing of the tips. The extinct 

 mammals of Patagonia, and American exploration in the 

 vertebrate beds of the Fayum Eocene, form the subjects of 

 two of Prof. Osborn's contributions to Science. 



In referring to a scientific expedition sent out by the 

 University of Colorado to study the natural history of 

 the north-eastern part of the State, it is mentioned that, 

 owing to the diversity of climatic conditions, the flora of 

 Colorado is only exceeded in numbers by the flora of the 

 State of California, and possibly of Florida. The object 

 of the expedition was to collect plants, birds, and fossils. 

 Leguminous plants, notably Psoralea teniiiflora and species 

 of Astragalus, were prolific in the dry localities. Varieties 

 of Populus known as cotton wood were abundant along 

 the streams. Details appear in vol. iv.. No. 3, of the 

 University of Colorado Studies, where Mr. F. Ramaley 

 contributes a second article on the silva of Colorado, 

 treating of the species of Populus. 



.An ofliicial notice which has been issued by the Inspector- 

 General of Forests in India, intimating that the series of 

 Forest Bulletins initiated in 1905 will be superseded by 

 two publications to be known as the Indian Forest 

 Records and Indian Forest Memoirs, furnishes another 

 proof of the recognition by the Government of India of the 

 importance of the department. Similarly to the Records 

 and Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, the 

 former, that will be issued as material accumulates, will 

 be devoted to short articles, notes, and preliminary 

 announcements; the latter will contain memoirs or mono- 

 graphs, and will also appear irregularly as occasion arises. 



The report for 1906 of the Director of Agriculture in the 

 Federated Malay States has been received. In connection 

 with rice cultivation, experiments have been instituted to 

 test the value of rotation crops. The position of the rubber 

 industry is reviewed, and the opinion is expressed in 

 favour of pushing the manufacture of block rubber, since it 

 approximates more nearly to the smoke-dried Brazilian 

 product. On the subject of soils and the expense incurred 

 by weeding, Mr. Carruthers recommends the cultivation of 

 a suitable leguminous crop, such as Mimosa rudica, the 

 sensitive plant, on rubber lands, that would not only 

 increase the nitrogen in the soil, but would also tend to 

 conserve the surface. 



Dr. J. C. Willis contributes a paper to the Annals of 

 the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya (vol. iv., part i.), 

 on the occurrence and origin of certain endemic 'plants 

 on Mt. Ritigala in Ceylon and elsewhere, providing in 

 his opinion strong evidence against the theory of the 

 origin of species by natural selection of infinitesimal 

 variations. Comparing a number of allied species, such 

 NO. 1970, VOL. 76] 



as Coleus ejongatus, an endemic on Mt. Ritigala, with 

 Colcus barbatus, a plant widely spread through Ceylon 

 and S. India, Dr. \\'illis controverts the view that the 

 specific characters of the endemic have developed as 

 adaptations by means of infinitesimal variations, and 

 prefers the mutation theory as affording a more feasible 

 explanation. 



Fruit enters largely into the dietary of Americans, and 

 this wholesoiTie practice has been encouraged by the 

 United Stales Department of .Agriculture by means of 

 bulletins indicating the nutritive value of fruit to the 

 consumer and the economic value as a crop to the farmer. 

 A Farmer's Bulletin, No. 293, compiled by Mr. C. T. 

 Langworthy, provides a rational summary of available data 

 on the composition, food value, and place of fruit in the 

 human diet. 



A CATALOGUE of the plants of New Zealand, similar to 

 the London catalogue of the British Isles, has been pre- 

 pared by Mr. T. F. Cheeseman for the Education Depart- 

 ment of that dominion, The arrangement is that of the 

 author's recently issued " Manual of thn New Zealand 

 Flora "; the indigenous and naturalised plants are grouped 

 separately, and the distribution is broadly indicated. 



In the Journal of the Royal Society of New South Wales 

 (vol. xl.), Mr. R. H. Mathews gives some details of 

 the organisation of the Kurnu tribe in the north-west of 

 New South Wales, of their rules as to sharing food, of 

 the organisation of the Chauan tribe near the north-east 

 border of Western -Australia, and of the language of tribes 

 about Alice Springs; he also gives a Loritcha vocabulary 

 and some details as to avenging parties in Victoria. We 

 learn more as to the " blood " divisions of the Kurnu, of 

 which Mr. Mathews was the discoverer ; but an actual 

 genealogy of a small tribe thus organised would be of 

 far more value than many explanations, provided totems, 

 phratries, classes, bloods, and shades were duly noted. 

 It might also enable us to discover whether the present 

 irregularity in marriage regulations is of old standing. 

 The class system of the Chauan tribe seems to be aberrant, 

 so far as the form of the names goes ; only two show any 

 close relation to those prevailing among the more easterly 

 eight class tribes ; the names are arranged by Mr. Mathews 

 on the supposition that malrilineal descent prevails, but 

 this assumption can only be substantiated by the discovery 

 of phratry names for the two groups of class names, and 

 all the phratry names so far recorded indicate that patri- 

 lineal descent is the rule in the north. Mr. Mathews has 

 also published a paper on the Australian tribe in the 

 Zeitschrift fiir Elhuologie, 1906, pp. 939-946. His con- 

 tributions are now so numerous that he would do well 

 to attempt a general review of the facts he has published, 

 which are otherwise not easy to piece together. It is clear 

 from a paper by Mr. Mathews in vol. xxxvii. of the 

 Mitteiluiigen of the Vienna Anthropological Society that 

 he hardly realises the importance of exhaustiveness or of 

 the localisation of his facts; to take one example, the paper 

 professes to deal with Australian ethnography ; the shields 

 described are those of south-east Australia, but there is 

 not a hint that the statements are not true of the whole 

 of the continent. 



The great accuracy which has been attained in the 

 measurement of electric current by the current balance at 

 the National Physical Laboratory will in all probability 

 lead to a more extended use of balances depending on the 

 attraction of co-axial solenoids. A valuable series of 

 papers by E. B. Rosa and L. Cohen dealing with the 



