>46 



NA TURE 



[April 29, 1909 



In his introductory chapter he discusses the zoo- 

 logical position of termites, and compares them with 

 the ants. He follows Handlirsch in regarding- the 

 termites as forming a separate order, Isoptera, 

 allied to the Blattidae, and including three sub- 

 families and about 350 species. 



In later chapters the foundation of a colony, the 

 structure of their nests, and their form and habits are 

 dealt with. Like ants, they sometimes defoliate trees in 

 order to form mushroom-beds. Next, their relations, 

 hostile and otherwise, with bees, wasps, and especi- 

 ally ants, are discussed, and also the various animals 

 (beetles, reptiles, &c.) which inhabit their nests, 

 either as guests or intruders. In the sixth chapter 

 their relations to man, and the good and harm which 

 they work, are dealt with. The book concludes with 

 a useful synopsis of families and genera, after 

 Desneux, supplementary notes on the sexes, soldiers, 

 recognition of friends and foes, &c., and a biblio- 

 graphy and index. Naturalists will be grateful to 

 Prof. Escherich for having brought together in this 

 handy form a useful compendium of widely scattered 

 information relative to a very interesting and impor- 

 tant, though somewhat neglected, group of insects. 



W. F. K. 



Oil Motors : their Development, Construction, and 

 Management. By G. Licckfeld. Pp. xv+272. 

 (London: C. Grifiin and Co., Ltd., 1908.) Price 

 15s. net. 



This work is an authorised translation of a German 

 handbook written for German engineers interested in 

 engines using liquid fuel. Although, as is inevitable 

 in a case of this kind, a large part of the work is 

 taken up with catalogues of German machinery, there 

 are about 130 pages of the book which give valuable 

 and well-arranged general information on the subject. 

 The first few chapters give a very readable history of 

 the development of the liquid fuel trade, both of' the 

 mineral oils obtained from oil wells and the liquid 

 fuels distilled from coal or from various shales. The 

 chapters on petroleum spirit, on the paraflin oils, on 

 benzol, and on alcohol also give valuable information 

 in a condensed form. 



The development of the modern internal combustion 

 engines worked by petroleum spirit and by parafifin and 

 the heavier oils is given partly in historical and partly 

 in_ descriptive form, and the remainder of the bonk, 

 with the exception of the last thirty pages, is a descrip- 

 tive list of machinery almost entirely German, although 

 a few engines of English construction are mentioned. 



There are several important omissions in the book. 

 The name of one of the leading workers on this 

 subject, Dugald Clerk, is never mentioned, although 

 he was undoubtedly one of the first in the field, and 

 has taken a leading part in the development of the 

 Internal combustion motor using liquid fuels. Again, 

 in giving the history of the adaptation of the petrol 

 engine to the automobile movement, the author as- 

 sumes that all the work previously done with steam 

 engines may be ignored, whereas' it is well known 

 that as regards the heavier class of motor vehicles 

 steam-driven vehicles still predominate. 



There are several places where the work suffers from 

 careless translation, notably in one of the notices on 

 the De Dion Bouton engine, at the foot of p. 84, whicJi 

 is quite unintelligible as it stands. 



Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, Roval Botanic 

 Gardens, Kew, 1908. Pp. iv+477-t-ii6'; with ap- 

 pendices. (London : His Majesty's Stationery Office, 

 igoS.) Price 4s. 6d. 

 The volume of the Kew Bulletin for 1908 well merits 

 its title as a compendium of miscellaneous informa- 

 NO. 2061, VOL. So] 



tion. The systematic work emanating from the 

 herbarium includes six decades of African plants, two 

 of new orchids, and seven of new plants generally. 

 The African plants appear to have come in small 

 collections and from all parts of the continent. China 

 supplies a considerable quota to the Decades Kew- 

 enses. A notable contribution to a knowledge of 

 Transvaal trees and shrubs is provided by Mr. J. 

 Burtt Davy, and no less valuable is the list of southern 

 Nigerian trees furnishing timber, prepared by Mr. 

 H. W. Thompson. Generic revisions are provided 

 by the director for the gentianaceous genus Chironia, 

 and by Mr. A. W. Hill for two genera of the Exaceee. 

 In connection with the rubber industry, information 

 is supplied regarding the West African asclepiad 

 Kaphionacme utilis, that stores the latex in its 

 tuberous root, Bleckrodea tonkinensis (Morace^), and 

 the sources of Manicoba rubber. Other economic 

 articles deal with patchouli and cascara sagrada. It 

 is interesting to note the inclusion of articles by out- 

 side contributors, such as the account of the Soutnern 

 Islands expedition by Captain Dorrien Smith, and the 

 continuation of the policy of sending members of the 

 staff to visit establishments of interest. 



The Genitalia of the Group Noctuidae of the Lepi- 

 doptera of the British Islands. An Account of the 

 Morphology of the Male Clasping Organs. By 

 F. M. Pierce. Illustrated by F. M. Pierce and H. 

 Butler. Pp. xii-l-88; 32 plates. (Liverpool: A. W. 

 Duncan, 1909.) Price ys. 6d. net. 



In this unpretentious volume we have the results of 

 twenty years' investigations by an ardent microscopist 

 into a group of anatomical characters which have 

 hitherto been less frequently, and also less success- 

 fully, employed in the Lepidoptera than in some other 

 orders of insects, especially the Neuroptera and Tri- 

 choptera. Mr. Pierce's work is naturally too technical 

 for detailed notice, but we may note that he gives 

 careful directions for the preparation and examination 

 of specimens, and a general description and nomen- 

 clature of the organs, one section onlv of which, the 

 clasping organs of the males, is figured, and described 

 in more or less detail, in a large number of species of 

 British Noctuidae. Mr. Pierce takes as his motto a 

 quotation which expresses a truth which should en- 

 courage all honest workers, and should never be over- 

 looked by critics, " He who never makes a mistake, 

 never makes anything." 



W. F. K. 



Palaeolithic Vessels of Egypt, or the Earliest Handi- 

 work of Man. By Robert de Rustafjaell. Pp. iii + 

 22; 13 plates. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 

 1907.) Price 2^'. bd. net. 



In this pamphlet of some twenty-two pages and 

 thirteen plates, Mr. de Rustafjaell advances a new 

 theory as to the origin of potterv. He directs atten- 

 tion to certain flint nodules with hollow cavities which 

 he found in the Western Desert of Egypt, and sug- 

 gests that they were used by primitive man as water- 

 holders, that these hollow flint " nodules were copied 

 during the Palaeolithic age in limestone, from which 

 again evolved other stone, and finally the clav vessels 

 of the predynastic period " (p. 21). This is a theory 

 which will have few, if any, adherents, and the author 

 seems to be unaware that the lines on the earliest 

 examples of pottery abundantly show its evolution 

 from basket-work (by way of a burnt clay lining), and 

 not from any form of rigid material. The forms of 

 rarly stone vessels clearly show that they were copied 

 from pottery types. 



