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NA TURE 



[April 8, ucg 



which is an experiment. There are two gondolas, each 

 fitted with rubber buffers, to take up the shock when 

 •descending on dry land. The Daimler motors are those 

 used in the former Zepfelin II., destroyed last August, 

 ■developing no horse-power. The gondolas are connected 

 by a gangway, but there is no covered cabin, as in the 

 former ship. The newest feature of Zeppelin II. is a 

 vertical shaft going through the hull, equipped with a 

 ladder, so that it is possible to reach easily the top of the 

 hull and there to make observations of position. 



The relative size of the frontal lobe of the brain in the 

 two sexes, in men of genius, and in the lower races has 

 attracted the attention of many anatomists. The smaller 

 frontal lobe in women and in negroes, and the larger in 

 men of genius, would prove, it is believed, that this portion 

 of the brain is the chief seat of a good mind. In the 

 February number of the American Journal of Anatomy 

 Prof. Franklin P. Mall, of Johns Hopkins University, 

 brings forward evidence to show that no such unequal 

 distribution of brain substance exists. The brain of 

 woman, it is often stated, is of a simpler type than that 

 of man ; but if weight is not considered, it is questionable, 

 says Prof. Mall, whether a collection of brains could be 

 assorted according to sex with any degree of certainty. 

 It is generally believed, also, that the brains of men of 

 genius are of complex configuration, and those of lowly 

 races of a simple type ; but facts do not bear this out, 

 and such statements are only misleading. Prof. Mall 

 ■concludes that " arguments for difference due to race, sex, 

 and genius will henceforth need to be based upon new 

 data, really scientifically treated, and not on the older 

 statements." 



In its report for 1908 the Rugby School Natural History 

 Society announces a change in the presidency, and likewise 

 the appointment, for the first time, of vice-presidents. A 

 gratifying increase in the number of associates is recorded, 

 the names on the list now for the first time exceeding 

 four hundred. 



CocciDiANS inhabiting the intestine of a nemertine worm 

 of the genus Cerebratulus form the subject of a paper, by 

 Mr. S. Awerinzew, in vol. xxxix., part i., of the Comptes 

 rendus of the St. Petersburg Academy. They are stated 

 ■to present certain interesting features in their development. 



The birds and mammals collected during the Alexander 

 Expedition to south-eastern Alaska in 1907 form the sub- 

 ject of a paper by Dr. J. Grinnell and others, issued as 

 vol. v., No. 2, of the University of California Zoological 

 Publications. The expedition was financed and headed by 

 Miss A. M. Alexander, to whom the University is indebted 

 for the gift of the large series of specimens collected. 

 Several species and subspecies of mammals and birds are 

 •described as new, and notes on the habits of several species, 

 especially beavers, are given. 



To the first part of vol. xxxix. of Gegenbaur's Morpho- 

 logisches Jahrbuch Mr. Carl Dilg, of Cologne, contributes 

 an important paper on the post-embryonal development of 

 the Amazonian manati (Manatus inunguis), together with 

 notes, accompanied by maps, on the distribution of this 

 species and M. latirostris, and of the Sirenia generally. 

 The author's observations on the skull-structure apply in 

 the main to the genus, and not specially to the Amazonian 

 species. In the young the brain-chamber and the enclosing 

 portion of the skull are elongated, and it is not until 

 mature life that they attain the characteristic elongation. 

 The foramen magnum is always oval, and not, as has 

 been stated, round in M. inunguis. It does not seem 

 .possible to distinguish the sexes (Geschlecht) by the 



NO. 2058, VOL. 80] 



dentition. The tympanic and petrosal do not fuse to form 

 a pctro-tympanic. The molars of Manatus resemble the 

 milk-molars of Lydekker's Prorasthomus veronense of the 

 European Oligocene. The dentition of the manatis is of a 

 secondary type, so far as the exceptional nujiibcr of cheek- 

 teeth is concerned, while the extension of the skull in 

 the line of the body-axis, the marked forward inclination 

 of the orbital region, and the small orbits arc all features 

 indicative of adaptation to an aquatic life ; the comparative 

 lateness of this adaptation being indicated by the pre- 

 servation of the original condition in the structure of 

 the internal ear. The author agrees with Messrs. Thomas 

 and Lydekker in regarding Prorasthomus as the ancestor 

 of Manatus. As regards distribution, M. inungiUs is now 

 mainly confined to the Amazon basin, although it still 

 survives in the Rio San Francisko ; it was formerly met 

 with for a considerable distance along the Brazilian coast. 

 M. latirostris, on the other hand, is chiefly a Central 

 American species, ranging but little south of the main 

 stream of the Orinoco. For an undescribed Cretaceous 

 sirenian from Para the author proposes the name Trachy- 

 pleurotherium. 



An account by Mr. C. K. Subba Rao of the cultivation 

 in the Madras Presidency of the leguminous plant 

 Crotalaria juncea is published as vol. iii.. Bulletin No. 59, 

 by the Department of Agriculture, Madras. The plant is 

 grown either for the sake of the fibre known as sunnhemp 

 or as a fodder crop. The fibre is chiefly used for weaving 

 locally, but a certain amount is exported to the United 

 Kingdom and Italy. 



The outstanding feature of the report for 1907-8 on the 

 experiment station at Tortola, in the Virgin Islands, is 

 the large increase in the cotton crop of the islands, shown 

 by a rise in the export from fifty-one bales in 1907 to 

 162 bales in 1908. Good results have been obtained at the 

 station with Liberian coffee, onions, cassava, and seedling 

 sugar-canes ; the report from London on a small quantity 

 of cacao grown and cured locally indicates that there is 

 an opening for an industry in this product. 



The annual report for 1908 of the Rothamsted Experi- 

 mental Station contains a brief summary of salient features 

 in the series of manurial experiments and of the papers 

 published by members of the staff during the year. It is 

 noted that the grass plot, which receives a large dressing 

 of nitrate of soda, and has become strongly alkaline, is 

 being overrun by Lathyrus palustris. A new line of 

 research regarding the existence and nature of land " sick- 

 ness " was started, and in connection therewith an 

 examination was begun of the changes taking place in soil 

 when heated to the temperature of boiling water or partially 

 sterilised by treatment with volatile antiseptics. The 

 improvement is apparently due to a re-distribution of the 

 bacterial flora, and partially to chemical change. 



An article is contributed by Dr. H. Marzell to Natur- 

 wissenschaftliche Wochenschrift (March 14) on the subject 

 of plants which have been popularly endowed with magic 

 qualities. The chief of these is undoubtedly the mandrake, 

 Mandragora officinalis, the cultivation of which dates back 

 to very ancient times, and spread from the East to various 

 European countries, so that in the fourteenth century the 

 sale of the roots was interdicted in Paris. Another plant, 

 known as " moly " (fxaiKv), frequently mentioned in the 

 classics, because it was given to Ulysses to protect him 

 from the wiles of Circe, is generally regarded as a species 

 of Allium. Reference is also made to an old English 

 cantation, " The Song of the Nine Herbs," and to the 



