August 15, 1907J 



NA TURE 



3S9 



refers to the use of shoots of .\ralia cordata, called in 

 Japan " udo," as a salad or a vegetable, comparable with 

 celery or asparagus. 



A SEHi-roi'ULAR article on thr- phylogeny of thi- various 

 groups of the plant kingdom is contributed by Prof. M. 

 Mobius to N'aitiriuissciisclwftlichc Wochotschrift (June 30 

 and July 7). To the Flagellatoe is accorded the lowest 

 position, from which arose the algae, bacteria, diatoms, 

 and other elementary groups. From the green algn? were 

 derived the brown and red seaweeds, the connection of 

 the latter being through Coleochaete or through an Ulva- 

 Bangia link. With regard to the mosses, the author 

 favours the view that they have been derived from an 

 earlv type of the Jungermanniaceas, and that the proto- 

 type of the ferns and fern-allies was probably a plant akin 

 to .Anthoceros. Finally, the origin of the monocotyledons 

 is traced through the dicotyledons to the conifers, and 

 thence back to the lycopods. 



Four papers dealing with the identification of new plants 

 chiefly from Mexico are published in the Proceedings of 

 the .American Academy of .Arts and Sciences (July). Mr. 

 J. M. Greenman is responsible for new species of the 

 liliaceous genus Schoenocaulon ; among the diagnoses pre- 

 pared by Mr. M. L. Fernald are a group of Salvias. The 

 collections brought by Mr. C. C. Deam from Guatemala 

 and Mexico yielded, amongst others, Sfrcptochacta 

 soiloriaua, a grass already known from Ecuador, and a 

 curious Euphorbia. The majoritv of the identificitions by 

 Mr. B. I.. Robin.son are additions to the Composite, and 

 include two new genera, Cvmophora and I.oxothysanus, 

 also a series of species of Kupatorium. 



In the account of the grasses of British Somaliland 

 contributed to the Kcw Bulletin (No. 6), Dr. O. Stapf 

 establishes half a dozen new species, including the 

 economicallv important " durr " grass, Andropogon cyrto- 

 cladiis, and Sporobolus fniticuhsus, another shrubby 

 species. These shed their leaves and young shoots in the 

 dry season, but produce large, feathery branches after the 

 rains set in. The culms of Paniciim turgidiim and 

 Fciiiiisctum dichotomum are persistent, and form a tough 

 fodder suited to the hard-mouthed camel. Phytogeo- 

 graphically the grasses of .Somaliland have affinities with 

 the grasses of Eritraja, eastern Nubia, and tropical 

 Arabia. .A considerable number of new fungi are recorded 

 bv Mr. Massee as additions to the wild fauna and flora 

 of the gardens ; a Hypholoma and several parasitic 

 Melanconiaceae and Hyphyomyceteie provide the types of 

 new species. Mr. Bolting Helmsley has a note on a new 

 species of Rhododendron from China described by Mr. 

 E. H. Wilson. 



TuE .Annual Report and Transactions of the Manchester 

 Microscopical Society for the year 1906 has just reached 

 us. The society is, we are pleased to see, in a satis- 

 factorv condition. The volume before us contains the 

 address delivered in January last by the president. Prof. 

 S. J. Hickson, F.R.S., on " The Differentiation of Species 

 of Cctlenterata in the Shallow Water Seas," and many 

 papers of interest to students of microscopical science. 



.As a member of the International Congress of Geologists 

 meeting in Mexico in iqo6, Prof. H. F. Cleland, of 

 Williams College, took the opportunity of visiting, in the 

 company of trained observers of the Mexican Geological 

 Survey conversant with the regions investigated, se%-eral 

 of the Mexican volcanoes, and describes in the August 

 number of the Popular Science Monthly, under the title 

 NO. 1972, VOL. 76] 



of ■' Some Little-known Mexican Volcanoes," the 

 volcanoes known as the Volcano Colima and the Nevado 

 de Toluca, and the cinder cones of Valle de Santiago. 

 Thi' article is well illustrated. 



Prof. Karl Pearson's Robert Boyle lecture, entitled 

 " The Scope and Importance to the State of the Science 

 of .National Eugenics," delivered at Oxford on May 17 

 last, has now been issued by Mr. H. Frowde at one 

 shilling net. 



OL'"' ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Helium .Absorption in the Solar Spectrum.— In a 

 letter to the Observatory (No. 3S6, p. 315, August) Mr. 

 Nagaraja, of the Kodaikanal Observatory, records the 

 results of some furthe: observations of the helium 

 line, Dj, as a dark line in the spectrum of the 

 sun.' Having already frequently observed this dark line 

 in the regions of the photosphere adjacent to _ sun-spots, 

 he suspected that he had also seen it as a faint line in 

 the ordinary solar spectrum, but for several reasons found 

 the observa'tion difficult to confirm. He now states that, 

 with a recentlv mounted large grating spectrograph, he 

 obtained a photograph of the D, region on .April iq, and 

 on examination found that it shows both the darkening 

 and the chromosphcric (bright) line, where a spot was close 

 to the limb, and, further, both the dark and the bright 

 lines appear to be a continuation of a faint line in the 

 normal solar spectrum. Further examination is necessary 

 ere the identitv of this faint line with the helium line 

 can be definitely affirmed, and to this end Mr. Nagaraja 

 proposes to carrv on the research. 



In the same journal Mr. A. A. Buss discusses at some 

 length the appearance of dark and bright helium m 

 various solar regions. 



Possible Chanof.s in the "Owl" Nebula (M. 97).— 

 In a paper communicated to the Royal Astronomical 

 Society, Prof. Barnard compares the results of his recent 

 observations of the " Owl " nebula, made with the 40- 

 inch refractor of the Verkes Observatory, with those made 

 with Lord Rosse's large reflector in 1848. The latter 

 were embodied in the well-known drawing of this object 

 which shows a small star placed in each of the two holes, 

 or " eyes," seen in the nebula, each star representing the 

 pupil of the " eve " in which it was placed. 



But according' to Prof. Barnard's observations in recent 

 vcars these stars are clear of the dark openings, and are 

 seen on the nebulositv itself, although quite near to the 

 dark spaces. It follows, then, that either the older draw- 

 ing, which is corroborated by the observer's notes, did not 

 correctlv represent the relative positions of the stars, or 

 that a 'change has occurred in tire nebula, for the two 

 stars have not changed their places in the sky. As a 

 working hypothesis, Prof. Barnard suggests the possibility 

 of the nebula having rotated from west to east on an axis 

 having the position angle of 50°, and states that, if the 

 velocity of rotation were great enough, the two stars in 

 question would have occupied the positions in the holes 

 as shown on Lord Rosse's drawing (Monthly Notices 

 R.A.S., vol. Ixvii., No. 8, p. 543, June). 



A Quickly Changing Variable Star.— .According to the 

 results of observations made at the Yerkes Observatory 

 by Mr. Naozo Ichinohe, the variable star 87.140(3 Draconis 

 has the very short period of only loh. 37m. 35s. The 

 light increases from minimum (mag. ii-6) to maximum 

 (mag. 10-9) in about three hours, decreases to minimum 

 in about five hours, and remains at minimum for the 

 remainder of the period. ^ 



.An ephemeris accompanies Mr. Ichinohe s note in No. 

 4194 of the Astronomische Nachrichlen (p. 293, .August 2 1, 

 and the position of this object, for 1900, is given as 

 ibh. 33m. 43-35.-1-58° 2' 36". 



Venus as a Luminous Ring.— A brief note by Messrs. 

 H. N. Russell and Z. Daniel, published in No. i, vol. 

 xxvi., of the Astrophysical Journal (p. 69, July), describes 

 an observation of the ring-phase of Venus made at Prince- 



