436 



NA TURE 



[June \o, 1909 



■degenerate sexual process, but merely an abortive cell- 

 •division. Mr. W. NicoU contributes a long memoir on the 

 structure and classification of the digenetic Trematoda, and 

 two other papers, by Mr. F. H. Gravely on polychaet 

 larvas, and by Mr. C. H. Martin on Acinetaria, help to 

 make up an unusually interesting number. 



In the Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology for 

 May [vol. ii., No. 5), Dr. Breinl discusses the combined 

 atoxyl-mcrcury treatment of monkeys infected with Try- 

 panosoma gamhiense, the parasite of sleeping sickness. 

 In five out of six cases this form of treatment resulted in 

 a complete cure. 



Two articles by Messrs. Musgrave and Clegg and Miss 

 Polk in the December, 1908, number of the Philippine 

 Journal of Scietice (iii., No. 6) survey, respectively, strepto- 

 thricosis (diseases due to Streptothrix organisms) and 

 •trichoccphaliasis (whip-worm infections). These will be 

 •very useful on account of the attached bibliographies, 

 ■which are very complete. 



Experimental lead poisoning is the subject of a paper 

 by Mr. K. Goadby in the Journal of Hygiene (vol. ix.. 

 No. I, April). The results indicate that poisoning by 

 lead may take place by absorption by the lungs through 

 inhalation of air Laden with lead dust, as well as by 

 absorption by the alimentary tract. The journal contains 

 several important papers. 



Dr. Ricketts gives some interesting details of experi- 

 ments on the transmission of " spotted fever," a disease 

 resembling typhus fever occurring in limited tracts of 

 ■country in the Rocky Mountains Qohns Hopkins Hospital 

 Bulletin, May, vol. xx.. No. 218, p. 151). The parasite, 

 formerly supposed to be a piroplasma, is not known, but 

 infection appears to be conveyed by a tick, and can be 

 •transmitted to guinea-pigs. 



Mr. K. Saito, in a comprehensive article, discusses the 

 •occurrence of micro-organisms in the air (Journal of the 

 'College of Science, Tokio, vol. xxiii., 1907-8, art. 15). 

 No fewer than fifty-five species of bacilli and seventeen 

 species of cocci were isolated, -of -which eighteen are 

 ■described as new species. 



The Bulletin of the Sleeping Sickness Bureau (No. 6) 

 ■contains a note on the confirmation of Kleine's work that 

 tsetse-flies (G. palpalis) fed on animals infected with 

 Trypanosoma brucei fail to infect fresh animals during 

 the following fourteen, or possibly twenty, days, but 

 after that inte;-val again become infective up to at least 

 the forty-seventh day. Colonel Sir David Bruce has re- 

 peated Kleine's work with G. palpalis and the trypanosome 

 •of sleeping sickness of man, T. gamhiense, and finds that 

 the same latency in infectivity of the flies exists. This is 

 a very important discovery, and it will be necessary to 

 determine how long the flies may retain their power of 

 Infecting. 



A VERY complete set of figures, prepared by Dr. E. J. 

 Durand to illustrate the development of the sexual organs 

 and sporogonium of Marchantia polymorpha, is published 

 in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club (vol. xxxv.). 



In connection with the possible utilisation of rain or 

 ■dew, Mr. S. Awano has investigated the power of plants 

 to absorb moisture through the leaf surface. The ques- 

 ■tion was studied from an ecological standpoint, and the 

 results are tabulated, both individually and according to 

 plant formations, in the Journal of the College of Science, 

 lokio University (vol. xxvii., art. i). As would be ex- 

 NO. 2067, VOL. 80] 



pectcd, it was found that the upper surfaces of floating 

 leaves, also the surfaces of leaves of strand plants absorb 

 but slightly, if at all, while those of shade plants and ferns 

 absorb fairly readily. 



The Government of India has published, as Forest 

 Pamphlet No. 4, a note by Mr. D. N. Avasia on lac and lac 

 cultivation with reference to conditions in the Central and 

 United Provinces. The lac incrustation is mainly formed 

 by the female insect after impregnation, and continues 

 for a period of two and a half months, when the insect 

 enters upon a period of rest ; a month later the larvae 

 developing from the red liquid in the insect sac provide a 

 new swarm, so that there are two broods in the year. It 

 is stated that after swarming the lac is practically free 

 from colouring matter, and therefore more valuable, since 

 the lac dye, formerly the important substance, is now a 

 useless impurity. 



.^N article on the gardens of Achnashie, Rosneath, by 

 the Rev. D. Landsborough, will be found in the Trans- 

 actions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Edin- 

 burgh (vol. xxiii., part iv.). Two silver firs, averaging 112 

 feet in height and with a girth of about 22 inches at breast 

 height, are noted specimens. Such flowering shrubs as 

 rhododendrons, kalmias, and fuchsias flourish, and 

 bamboos are a special feature in the garden. Of the 

 latter, the four species Arundinaria nitida, Bamhusa 

 fastuosa, Pliyllostachys Henonis, and Phyllostachys milis 

 are mentioned as the most suitable and attractive ; 

 Arundinaria Falconeri was the first species planted in 1885. 

 Two species flowered in 1904, and two others in igo6 ; seed 

 that has germinated was obtained from Arundinaria Simoni 

 and Arundinaria Falconeri. 



The report for 1907, by Mr. J. H. Maiden, on the 

 botanic gardens and Government domains in Sydney, New 

 .South Wales, contains, as usual, notes on native plants 

 brought into cultivation, as well as introductions from 

 other countries. Reference is made to the asclepiad 

 creeper Tylophora grandiflora that grows in the northern 

 brushes of the colony, Oncinocalyx Betchei (Verbenacese), 

 a .scarce local evergreen shrub, and Pherosphaera Fitz- 

 geraldi, a curious conifer from the Blue Mountains that 

 thrives among the Toda;as and filmy ferns, since its 

 natural habitat is in spray-bedewed gorges. Morrenia 

 brachysfephana, an asclepiad from the Argentine, is re- 

 commended as a strong evergreen climber, and Verbesina 

 virginica, a robust perennial composite from North 

 America, for the shrubbery. 



An e.xceodingly interesting problem is presented by the 

 production of a vegetative cross between two species of 

 Solanum, the nightshade and the tomato, defined by the 

 raiser. Prof. H. Winkler, as a graft-hybrid. The method 

 of procedure consisted in grafting a scion of the night- 

 shade on the cut apex of a tomato plant ; when the graft 

 had matured, a transverse cut was made across the apex 

 at a point where tissue of both scion and stock was pre- 

 sent, so that the buds arising from the callus formed at 

 this position might partake of the characters of both 

 species. In this way various adventitious shoots were 

 obtained, which were separated and grown to form in- 

 dependent plants. One of these with distinct characters 

 is the specimen described and named as Solanum 

 Tuhingense in the Berichte der deutschen botanischen 

 Gesellschaft (vol. xxvia., part viii.). Subsequently four 

 other hybrids were obtained, which are described in the 

 Zcitschrifl fiir Botanik (vol. i., part v.). 



