September 5, 1907J 



NATURE 



475 



flight not infrequently noticeable ifi individual humble- 

 bees is attributed by the author to damaged wing- 

 connections. 



The rapidly advancing study of spirocha;tes is at once 

 of practical and scientific interest, of practical interest 

 because these parasites occur in those " gustatory flashes 

 of summer lightning," as Huxley said, which mortals call 

 oysters, and because Spiroclmeta pallida is believed to be 

 the active cause of syphilis ; of scientific interest, because 

 it remains uncertain whether these protists are protozoa 

 or bacteria. In a recent paper (Ann. Nat. Hist., xix., 

 1907, pp. 493-501), Mr. H. B. Fantham points out that 

 the diffuse nuclei and transverse fission of spirochjetes 

 suggest bacteria, while, on the other hand, the presence 

 of an undulating membrane, longitudinal fission, and even 

 definite " chromosomes " suggest protozoa. It is to the 

 latter interpretation that he inclines. Mr. Fantham has 

 made a careful study of living spirochetes — Spirochaeta 

 balbiani (Certes) from the oyster, and S. anodontae 

 (Keysselitz) from the fresh-water mussel — and gives an 

 interesting account of their puzzling movements. Their 

 motion is resolvable into at least two components : — (i) a 

 vibratory motion of flexion of the body, mainly for pro- 

 gression, and (2) a spiral or corkscrew movement of the 

 body as a whole, due to the spirally wound membrane, 

 which is composed of longitudinally arranged " myoneme " 

 fibrilliE. The myonemes set up transverse movements on 

 the surface of the body, manifested as waves passing 

 down the body in a direction opposite to that in which 

 the organism moves. The spirochaetes seem to move more 

 quickly than even trypanosomes, and with an added cork- 

 screw motion. While flagella are present in the case of 

 true Spirilla, they do not occur in spirochetes. What 

 have been described as flagella or cilia by some investi- 

 gators are really " myoneme " fibrils split off from the 

 membrane during its rupture. 



A DOUBLE number of Le Bamhou, the first issue of this 

 year, comprising Nos. 7 and 8, has been received. It 

 contains a descriptive article on the aerial vegetative 

 structures of bamboos, also notes on their cultivation and 

 resistance to frost. 



The third number of vol. iii. of the Records of the 

 Botanical Survey of India is appropriated to the determin- 

 ations, by Dr. L. Radlkofer, of new species belonging 

 to the order Sapindacea;, based on material from India 

 and Malaya. 



The results obtained by de Vries have led botanists 

 to examine closely the so-called variable species, as from 

 such species special modifications or new characters may 

 most reasonably be expected. In the New Phytologist 

 (February) Dr. L. Cockayne refers to a New Zealand plant 

 of this type, Leptospcnnum scoparium, with regard to 

 colour modification. Ordinarily the flowers are white, but 

 a pink-flowered form was introduced to cultivation as 

 Leptospermum Chapmanni, and recently another plant, 

 bearing rich crimson flowers, has been discovered grow- 

 ing wild. Seedling plants of the latter have been raised, 

 so that from the next generation some idea as to the 

 origin of the plant, whether a mutant or hybrid, may be 

 obtained. In Science (.April 12) Dr. G. H. ShuU notes 

 that he can distinguish four elementary species in the 

 numerous specimens of Capsella hursa-pastoris he has 

 cultivated, all of which breed true, and that without geo- 

 graphical or complete physiological isolation they main- 

 tain themselves distinct. 



NO. 1975, VOL. 76] 



An account in the Kew Bulletin (No. 7) of the proceed- 

 ings in connection with the Linnean bicentenary celebra- 

 tions at Upsala, Lund, and Stockholm accords with other 

 descriptions in testifying to the enthusiastic and impressive 

 nature of the ceremonies. Correspondence connected with 

 the award of the special Linnean gold medal to Sir Joseph 

 Hooker is also published. An article on new or little- 

 known alg^ from eastern Asia is contributed by Mr. 

 A. D. Cotton, in which a new alga from Ceylon, Euptilota 

 Fergusonii, is described and figured. Dr. Otto Stapf com- 

 municates notes on two rubber plants, Mascarenhasia 

 elastica, belonging to the order Apocynaceie, that grows 

 in British and German East Africa, and Euphorbia fulva, 

 a tree known in Mexico as " Palo Amarillo." From the 

 former balls of fair-quality rubber, known as " Mgoa," 

 are prepared ; the latex obtained from the latter contains 

 a large percentage of resin, but a process of separation is 

 said to have been devised. Mr. J. M. Hillier has collated 

 information on Guayule rubber, the product of Farthenium 

 argentatum^. a shrubby composite of Mexico. 



According to the second part of the Bergens Museum 

 Aaibog lor the current year, Norway experienced an. 

 unusually small number of earthquake shocks in 1906, 

 namely, thirteen, against twenty-three in 1905 and thirty- 

 three in 1904. Mr. C. F. Kolderup, the author of the 

 paper referred to, is of opinion that the comparative 

 frequency of earthquakes in Norway is due to subsidence 

 in the bed of the adjacent sea. In another article in the 

 same issue Mr. J. Rekstad discusses ancient terraces and 

 beach-lines in western Norway, illustrating his account 

 with a number of reproductions from photographs. 



In the Physikaliscbe Zeitschrift for August 15, Prof. 

 F. Paschen gives the results of some careful measure- 

 ments made by his pupil. Miss Stettenheimer, of the 

 Zeeman effect in known magnetic fields for the lines 

 Zn 4680 and Cd 4678 which behave normally. From the 

 results he calculates by the theory of Lorentz the quotient 

 of the electric charge on the ion by its mass, and obtains 

 1-79x10'. This agrees very well with the value 

 1-77x10' given bv Messrs. P. Weiss and A. Cotton in 

 the June number of the Journal de Physique as the result 

 of their measurements. The values which have been 

 obtained bv different experimenters for the above quotient 

 in the case of the kathode rays differ so much from each 

 other that it is difficult to fix on a representative one for 

 comparison with the above numbers. Prof. Paschen takes 

 the value 1-88x10' given by Profs. Kaufmann and Simon, 

 and is disposed to think that the difference between the 

 values of the quotient in the two cases is due to some 

 difference in the ions. 



The uncertainty as to the melting point of platinum, to 

 which we referred a few weeks ago, is leading to corre- 

 sponding uncertainties in all high-temperature determin- 

 ations. Profs. C. E. Mendenhall and L. R. Ingersoll, in 

 their paper on the melting points of rhodium and iridium 

 in the July number of the Physical Review, are com- 

 pelled to give two sets of values, one based on 1745° C, 

 the other on 1789° C, as the melting point of platinum. 

 Thev use the Nernst glower as a meldometer, place a very 

 small particle of the metal on it, and observe through a 

 microscope for what current through the glower the 

 particle melts. The temperature of the glower is deter- 

 mined by measurement of the isochromatic radiation, 

 assumed to follow a law similar to Wien's, with constants 

 determined from the melting points 1065° C. and 1745° C. 

 or 1789° C. of gold and platinum. With 1789° C. as 



