NATURE 



[July q, 1908 



up ; it comprises the opening meetingf in the Albert Hall, 

 a conversazione at the Natural History Museum, a banquet 

 at the Crystal Palace, and lectures by Profs. Haller, Otto 

 Witt, and Nasini, and by Sir Boverton Redwood. Com- 

 mittees have been formed in foreign countries to organise 

 the work of the sections, and an executive committee has 

 charge of the arrangements at home. It is anticipated 

 that the congress will be largely attended ; meetings in 

 Paris, Berlin, and Rome were attended by about 3000 

 chemists. The honorary secretary is Mr. William Macnab, 

 of 10 Cromwell Crescent, S.W. 



Dr. Lriz Crui.s, whose death wc recorded in our 

 issue of July 2, was born at Diest, in Belgium, in the 

 year 1848. The early years of his manhood were devoted 

 to the military service of his country as an officer in the 

 Engineers. In 1881 he accepted the post of director of 

 the observatory at Rio de Janeiro, and from that date he 

 took a prominent part in scientific work in Brazil. In 

 addition to the directorship of the observatory, he held the 

 post of professor of geodesy and practical astronomy in 

 the military academy. He was also the head of many 

 scientific commissions appointed by the Brazilian Govern- 

 ment, among others of that for the exploration of the 

 central plateau of Brazil, and the report of this commission 

 forms an important part of his scientific work. His re- 

 maining contributions to scientific literature were of an 

 astronomical or meteorological nature. One of the most 

 important was a report on the observations of the transit 

 of Venus, made at Punta .Arenas in 18S2. Numerous other 

 astronomical papers appeared in the Cnmptes rendus of 

 the Academy of Sciences of Paris. A detailed discussion 

 of the climate of Rio de Janeiro calls for special mention 

 among his meteorological works. 



Among the list of new fungi determined by Mr. G. 

 Massee, and recorded in the current number of the Kew 

 Bulletin, there is a notable species from Grenada, Nectria 

 theohromae, a parasitic fungus that forms " bleeding " 

 wounds on the bark of cacao trees. From Old Calabar was 

 received an edible agaric, Vohmria esculenta, that grows 

 on coffee pulp. Boletus ciirtiftes furnishes the first record 

 for the genus from South .Africa. 



When" visiting the German colonies in tropical Africa, 

 Dr. W. Busse paid special attention to the effects of the 

 grass fires periodically kindled bv the natives, and has 

 summarised his observations in the Mittheilungen aiis den 

 dfutschen Schut:>gebieten (vol. xxi., part ii.). The original 

 motive would be to clear the land for cultivation, or by 

 ■burning the old stems to induce a fresh growth of young 

 shoots, and occasionally to drive the wild game for a 

 hattue. The general result has been to produce, as in 

 Togoland, the " steppe " vegetation where originally 

 forests existed. Although directly and indirectly the con- 

 sequences are in the main disastrous, it is noted that by the 

 destruction of dangerous insects fires may serve to check 

 siich evils as the " surrah " disease. 



A SUBSTANTI.\L account of the Fucacere, prepared by Mr. 

 K. Yendo and published in the Journal of the Royal College 

 of Science, Tokio (vol. xxi., article 12), forms a welcome 

 addition to algal literature. With regard to distribution, 

 it is noted that species of Fucus and Pclvetia are confined 

 to the north, Cystoseira to the Loochoo Islands, and a 

 boundary between cold and warm sea forms can be set 

 at Kinkwasan Island on the east and Ojika peninsula on 

 the west. Sargassum is the largest genus, with fortv-one 

 out of fifty-nine recorded species, and six species are 

 assigned to Cystophyllum. Coccophora Langsdorfi is an 

 NO. 2019, VOL. 78] 



interesting species with a perennial knotty stump, from 

 which arise two distinct kinds of branches ; similar 

 difi"erentiation is noted for an alga that is made the type 

 of a new genus, Ishige. A series of fine illustrations adds 

 to the value of the critical notes on the various species. 



An interesting contribution to the cytological structure 

 of coelenterates is made by Mr. H. B. Bigelow, who has 

 studied the cell divisions in Gonioneiinis mtirbachii, and has 

 published his results in the Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. at 

 Harvard College (vol. xlvii.). The nuclei possess in 

 somatic cells about twenty-four chromosomes, and the 

 nucleolus is regarded as consisting of a peripheral shell 

 of chromatin enclosing a non-chromatic substance. During 

 the reductions, suggestive stages were made out recalling 

 the observations made by Korschelt on Ophryolrocha. The 

 chromosomes arise by stages closely resembling those seen 

 in a somatic mitosis. There is, however, an early synapsis- 

 like (" pseudosynapsis ") appearance which Bigelow inter- 

 prets as an artefact. The modified spireme forms a 

 reticulum, which then breaks up into about twenty-four 

 spherical chromatin masses. This fact is remarkable, 

 inasmuch as there are twenty-four somatic chromosomes, 

 but in the preceding spermatogonial mitoses each of these 

 arises by the coalescence of two " chromomeres." The 

 author regards, on grounds which do not seem to us to be 

 conclusive, the twenty-four chromatin spheres, not as the 

 equivalents of somatic chromosomes, but as chromomeres, 

 and hence concludes that a reduction has already occurred. 

 But it seems at least as probable that we are really deal- 

 ing with a belated pairing, to form the pseudochromo- 

 somes, and this would bring the process into line with 

 some cases of the sort already known elsewhere. The 

 details given of the maturation of the egg seem not to 

 be opposed to such a view. The author is excessively 

 cautious in drawing conclusions, and whilst this is a wise 

 position to adopt for the present, it is to be hoped he will 

 continue his observations so as to enable him to put for- 

 ward his interpretation with more confidence. 



In 181 1 the Spanish Viceroy of Mexico addressed to the 

 authorities in California a series of questions designed lo 

 procure information regarding the Indian population 

 attached to the Missions, their manners and custonT;. 

 religious beliefs, and social condition, and the results 

 produced on them by missionary teaching. The original 

 replies to this series of interrogatories, prepared by the 

 authorities of the leading missions, now form part o( 

 the Bancroft Library at the University of California, and 

 have been translated and published as the first Bulletin 

 of the eighth volume of their Transactions, with excellent 

 annotations by Mr. A. L. Kroeber. The replies are 

 naturally of varying degrees of value. Some exhibit a good 

 knowledge of the people among whom the authors worked ; 

 and they generally display a spirit of tolerance towards 

 non-Christian beliefs, thus forming an interesting picture 

 of native society before it had been much influenced by 

 Europeans, .and long before the period of scientifii 

 ethnology. In particular, the accounts of the vulture 

 sacrifice as a mode of commemorating the dead, the 

 feathers of the bird being used as a dress of a boy who 

 danced before the community ; and the use of jimson-wccd 

 {Datura meteloidcs) as a means of producing the ecstatic 

 condition in youths at the initiation ceremony, when they 

 saw visions, and were instructed in the religious beliefs 

 and practices of the tribe, deserve special notice. 



In an address delivered before the National Geographic 

 Society of America, published in the May number of the 



