May 14, 1908J 



NA TURE 



n 



be dominant over white, this being contrary to the experi- 

 ence with Poleinonium and Matthiola ; it is noted that in 

 Verbascum the yellow is a sap-colcur, whereas in the other 

 I ivo plants it is a plastid-colour. 



The new identifications, " Decades Kewenses, X\"[I.," 

 Iliat are published in the A'etti Bulletin (No. 3) are almost 

 entirely Malayan plants named by Sir George King, 

 r.R.S., and Mr. J. Gamble; species are added to the 

 genera Clerodendron, Premna, Vitex, and Petrsovitex of 

 the order VerbenaceEe. Colonel Prain forms a new genus 

 allied to CyiTiaria (order Labiata;) on the Malayan plant, 

 Icrytnia ajugiflora. To the same number Mr. T. W. 

 Brown communicates an article on banana cultivation in 

 Egvpt, where the Chinese or Canary banana provides the 

 commercially important variety. A synopsis of the New 

 Zealand species of Rhodophyllis, by Mr. A. D. Cotton, is 

 concerned with corrections of diagnoses by Harvey and 

 J. .Agardh ; a new species is proposed, and the recently 

 formed Rhodophyllis chathaniensis is withdrawn. The 

 seventh list of additions to the wild fauna and flora of the 

 gardens includes Coleoptera, ants, scale insects, and a few 

 plants. Mr. R. A. Rolfe contributes an article to show 

 that there is considerable doubt as to .the localities of some 

 of Cuming's Philippine plants. 



At the meeting of the Vienna .\cademy of Sciences of 

 April 2, Prof. J. Hann presented a paper entitled " The 

 Daily Variation of Wind-force on the Mountain Peaks of 

 South India in their Relation to the Daily Oscillation of 

 Air-pressure." The author calculated the daily range of 

 wind-force on the Dodabetta peak (lat. 11° 32' N.), and 

 at the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (lat. 10° 40' N.), for 

 separate months, and found that from October to May, 

 during the period of the north-east monsoon, the maxi- 

 mum wind-force occurred between gh. and loh. a.m., but 

 that in June, with the advent of the south-west monsoon, 

 it suddenly jumped backwards to 4h.-ih. a.m., while at 

 the recurrence of the north-east monsoon in October it 

 again jumped forward to gh.-ioh. a.m. After much 

 laborious investigation Prof. Hann traced the cause of 

 the shift of epoch to the double daily oscillation of the 

 barometer, which affects the east and west wind in a 

 different manner, as the author fully explains in the paper. 



The Scottish Geographical Magazine for April contains 

 a VI ry interesting article on the climate of the British Isles 

 by Mr. A. Watt, secretary to the Scottish Meteorological 

 Society. The average distribution of temperature in mid- 

 winter and in midsuinmer is shown with great clearness 

 by (wo maps drawn by Dr. Buchan, and reproduced from 

 Bartholomew's "Atlas of Meteorology"; the trend of the 

 isotherms plainly exhibits the ameliorating influence of the 

 sea on the climtite. The least difference between winter 

 and summer is in the south-west of Ireland, w'here the 

 isotherms shift by only 14°, and the greatest in the east 

 central district of England and near London, where the 

 isotherms shift by 25°. The author points out that the 

 prevalence of warm south-westerly winds is the controlling 

 factor of our climate ; the Gulf Stream, to which the mild- 

 ness of our winters is commonly attributed, has but little 

 direct influence, though it may have an indirect effect by 

 probably producing the low-pressure area off Iceland, 

 which, together with the area of high pressure near the 

 Azores, is the cause of our south-westerly winds. The 

 average rainfall is exhibited by a map specially drawn by 

 Dr. Mill from his unique collection of records. The 

 author mentions several interesting facts tending to show 

 that there is no evidence that our climate has changed, 

 aUhou,gh it has been subject to considerable oscillations. 



NO. 201 I, VOL. 78] 



The paper on electric supply prospects and changes as 

 affected by metallic filament lamps and electric heating, 

 by Messrs. Handcock and Dykes, read before the Institu- 

 tion of Electrical Engineers recently, gave rise to a very 

 important discussion, which occupied two meetings. The 

 metallic filament lamp has been welcomed on all sides as 

 a solution of the problem of cheap electric lighting to 

 compete with incandescent gas among small consumers, 

 and there is no doubt that it has done, and will do, a 

 great deal towards bringing the cost of lighting by 

 electricity within the means of the smaller consumer. At 

 the same time, central station engineers are faced with 

 the problem that, owing to the small consumption of the 

 metallic filament lamp, the output of the central station 

 is very greatly reduced, thus entailing a very large increase 

 in consumers to make up the loss incurretJ. Granted that 

 this increase can be obtained, owing to the facilities that 

 the metallic filament lamp offers, 'a two-fold difficulty 

 still remains to be surmounted — (a) the cost of installing 

 the wiring in small houses, and (6) the cost of the house- 

 service connection. The first falls on the consumer, 

 whether he installs it at his own cost or on the " free 

 wiring system," the latter on the supply company. The 

 present systems of wiring employed in this country have 

 been made as good, as solid, and as safe as is possible, 

 and consequently the expense is great. On the Continent 

 the course followed is the reverse. Perhaps the system 

 employed is not quite so secure from possible danger as is 

 desirable, but surely some happy mean may be found. 

 .Surface' wiring with a high-grade flexible would be in- 

 finitely cheaper than our present methods, and if central 

 station engineers would agree to this or some cheaper 

 method than that now employed, the wiring contractors 

 would be pleased to avail themselves of the permission. 

 i'\t present the contractor is handicapped by the cost of 

 the installation being too great for the prospective con- 

 sumer, and consequently the central station loses also. 



In connection with the letter from Dr. J. W. Evans on 

 the amount of helium in the earth's atmosphere which 

 appeared in N.4ture of .\pril 9 (vol. Ixxvii., p. 535), Prof. J. 

 Hann has sent us the following table given by him in the 

 Metcorologische Zeitschrift for March, 1903 : — 



Percentage composition by volume of the atmosphere at 

 different altitudes and probable temperatures. 



Total pressure... 760 mm. 199-2 42-2 0-32 0-0223 



Dr. Lull's memoir on the evolution of the elephant, 

 referred to in Nature of March 26 (vol. Ixxvii., p. 494), 

 appeared, not in the March number of the American 

 Naturalist as stated, but in the March number of the 

 Afuerictin journal of Science. 



Lieut. -Colonel Sedgwick writes to say that in the 

 notice of his book, " Man and his Future," which appeared 

 in last week's issue of Nature (p. 5), the date of his paper 

 on the " Form of the Atom " should have been given as 

 1892, and not 1902, as stated at the end of the review. 



.\ SECOND edition of Mr. Richard Semon's " Die Mneme 

 als erhaltendes Prinzip im Wechsel des organischen 

 Geschehens " has been published in Leipzig by Mr. 



