;i2 



NATURE 



[September 9, 1909 



and big-game shooting, with special reference to the effects 

 of the latter on the numbers of the animals in the country. 

 Several paragraphs are devoted to the facilities for hunting 

 expeditions from Nairobi, and to the fact that by obtain- 

 ing licences for his wife and servant a sportsman is able 

 to obtain more than the permitted number of specimens 

 of the rarer species. Despite the effects of game reserves 

 and shooting restrictions, Dr. Trouessart is inclined to 

 take a pessimistic view of the prospects of the big game 

 in East Africa, and hazards the prophecy that in less than 

 half a century it will have vanished. To quote his 

 words : — " Avant un demi-sifecle, peut-gtre, de tout ce gros 

 gibier si abondant a I'heure actuelle, il ne restera plus 

 que souvenir." Special attention is devoted to the 

 appalling destruction of elephants which still goes on in 

 the heart of the continent, a statement of Mr. Schillings 

 being quoted to the effect that the number of tusks annually 

 imported into Antwerp alone represents the slaughter of 

 no fewer than 18,500 elephants. The inaction of France in 

 the matter of game-protection is strongly commented 

 upon. 



The metamorphoses of the midges and gnats of the family 

 Chironomidje form the subject of an article, by Dr. A. 

 Thienemann, in the second half of vol. Ixv. of Verhandl- 

 iingen des Naturhistorischen Vereins der preussischen 

 Rhcinlande und Westfalens. The developmental history of 

 the Trichoptera has, according to the author, been well 

 worked out, but that of the Chironomidoe is still imperfectly 

 known. Although the greater number of chironomid larvje, 

 of which the so-called blood-worms are familiar examples, 

 inhabit fresh water, it is pointed out that many are found 

 in various situations on land, while a few dwell in 

 brackish, and even in salt, water. Of the land-living 

 forms, the larva; of some species of Camptocladius are 

 found in the droppings of animals, those of three kinds 

 of Ceratopogon talie up their quarters in ants' nests, while 

 others of the same genus are nourished in the resin or 

 beiieath the bark of dead branches of pines, while another 

 is found in decaying funguses. Larva; of another genus 

 select damp moss as their home. Larva; and pupae of 

 several genera are figured. 



Part iii. of the "Treasury of Human Inheritance, " which 

 forms No. g of the Memoirs published by the Francis 

 Galton Laboratory for National Eugenics, furnishes a good 

 example of the e.xcellent work which is being done by that 

 institution. The subjects here dealt with from the point 

 of view of heredity are certain pathological conditions, such 

 as angioneurotic cedema, insanity, and deaf-mutism. There 

 are also sections devoted to the malformations of certain 

 organs, and to the inheritance of special kinds of mental 

 and physical ability. Cases available for the purpose in 

 view have been collected and tabulated with great care, 

 the respective pedigrees being clearly shown in diagrams, 

 and the result is a mass of material which forms a valu- 

 able addition to the data now being rapidly accumulated 

 under the guidance of Prof. Karl Pearson. The applica- 

 tion of the principles deduced from such investigations 

 will present special difficulties of its own, but whatever 

 may be the practical outcome of the movement set on foot 

 by Sir F. Galton, there can be no question as to the 

 importance of the study of these and similar conditions 

 in their bearing upon the racial qualities of future 

 generations. 



A NOTE by Dr. A. C. Hof on the action of iodo-eosin 

 as a test for free alkalis in dried plant tissues is published 

 in the Bio-chcmical Journal, Liverpool. The substance re- 

 quired is a solution in ether of the dye-acid prepared by 

 NO. 2080, VOL, 81] 



treating an alkaline solution of iodo-eosin with excess of 

 acid. The presence of free alkali in a vegetable tissue 

 is indicated by the red colour due to the formation of 

 alkaline salts. Microscopic preparations can be perman- 

 ently mounted in neutral Canada balsam. 



Of the articles which appear in the Journal of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society (vol. xx.\v., part i.), the most 

 generally interesting are the hints on French gardening, 

 chiefly on the cultivation of lettuces, contributed by Mr. 

 C. D. Macka\', and the note on Solanum etuberosum 

 provided by the editor. It is pbserved that plants passing 

 under the name of Solanum cluberosum do produce tubeis 

 about the size of walnuts, and also show a remarkable 

 power of resistance to the potato disease induced by Phyto- 

 phthora infestans. The latter property has suggested the 

 possibility of raising disease-resistant hybrids with 

 etuberosum as one parent ; some experiments in crossing 

 this species, the Chilian wild potato, Solanum Maglia, and 

 cultivated forms of the ordinary potato are communicated 

 by the Rev. J. A. Paton. 



As a result of some months' botanical exploration in 

 Sardinia, Dr. Th. Herzog presents in Engler's Botanische 

 Jahrbiicher (vol. xlii., part iv.) an attractive sketch of the 

 vegetation on the island, accompanied by an illustrative 

 map. The once extensive oak forests have been much 

 reduced by ruthless cutting ; Ouerctis ilex still flourishes 

 in less accessible situations, notably round Mt. Gennar- 

 gentu, where it is accompanied by Paeonia officinalis ; 

 Quercus vobur also grows in the central districts, while 

 the cork oak, Quercus suber, clothes the mountains in the 

 north. A very wide area is covered by the formation 

 known as "maquis, " where Pistacia lentiscus, Rhamnus 

 Alaternus, Myrtus communis, and Arbutus unedo, with 

 species of Cistus, form the dominant species. The solitary 

 European palm, Chamacrops humilis, grows in the north- 

 west, occasionally in pure stands. 



An important article dealing with the classification of 

 the Scitaminere, the monocotyledonous series comprising 

 the Zingiberacea;, Marantaceae, Cannacea2, and Musace^, 

 as represented in the Philippine Islands, is contributed by 

 Mr. H. N. Ridley to the botanical series of the Philippine 

 Journal of Science (vol. iv.. No. 2). The area of the 

 Philippines is much poorer in species than the Malayan 

 region, but four genera and five-sixths of the species are 

 endemic. Alpinia, Globba, and Amomum furnish the 

 majority of the Zingiberaceae ; Alpinia is typically eastern 

 .Asiatic, but ranges so far as Japan and Polynesia. A 

 feature of the genus Globba is the preponderance of white 

 over yellow flowers, this being the reverse of what occurs 

 in India and Malaya. The Marantaceae are represented by 

 three genera, but no indigenous species of Cannaceae or 

 Musaceas are noted, so that there is at present no record 

 of any species of the curious tribe Lowioideae. 



Prof. Bruckner returns to the vexed question of the 

 development of the Rhine-Rhone divide in the Zeitschrift 

 of the Berlin Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde (igog, p. 387).. 

 His paper is a reply to that of Herr L. von Sawicki, pub- 

 lished in the same journal early this year (p. 7), and 

 deals in detail with the points on which the two authors 

 differ. 



Prof. J. Cvijic contribufs a further important contri- 

 bution to our knowledge of the geology of the Dinaric 

 coastal region in a mcniulr published in the June and July 

 numbers of Petermatin's Miltrilungen entitled " Bildung 

 und Dislozierung der dinarlschen Rumpflliiche." Few 

 parts of the earth's surface show a more complex and 



