860 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1146 



different, being only from 2 to 2.5 mm. in 

 diameter, the bell provided with 16 to 24 long 

 tentacles with basal bulbs. The American 

 Microhydra ryderi* is only 0.4 mm. in diam- 

 eter. It may be the young medusa of Craspe- 

 dacusta, but shows some differences from 

 young G. sowerbyi. Limnocida tanganyicce 

 Gunther, from Lake Tanganyika, Central 

 Africa, has the gonads attached to the stomach, 

 and differs otherwise. 



Everything considered, it seems best for the 

 present to regard the Kentucky medusae as a 

 form of C. sowerbyi. 



Harrison Garman 



Department op Entomology and Zoology, 

 University of Kentucky 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



With Scott: The Silver Lining. By Griffith 

 Taylor, D.Sc. "With nearly 200 illustra- 

 tions and maps. New York: Dodd, Mead 

 and Co. Pp. xiv + 454. $5.00 net. 

 Few volumes on polar exploration have been 

 written so attractively as to the phases treated. 

 The author has placed the reader in possession 

 of the environment, wherein his own experi- 

 ences are largely subordinated to the story, 

 both of the incidents of antarctic research and 

 also to the aspects of polar nature and its 

 scanty fauna. The style is delightfully hu- 

 man, and is often brightened by humor. In- 

 deed it admirably presents the silver lining of 

 Scott's tragic expedition. 



The biologist, the geologist and other scien- 

 tists will find much information along lines 

 usually ignored by polar authors, who are in- 

 clined to adhere closely to their specialties, 

 and in technical fashion. These data are most 

 welcome as the detailed memoirs, on the very 

 extensive and most varied scientific researches 

 of Scott's expedition, will not be completed for 

 several years, though ample funds have been 

 provided for their publication. 



Botanists will be interested in the discovery 

 of considerable patches of moss, on the east 

 coast of Victoria Land, on which all the field 

 work of Taylor was done — in two journeys. 

 Taylor says : 



* Potts, Science, Vol. 5, 1885. 



I was amazed to see a carpet of green moss, as 

 flourishing as any in more temperate regions — 

 three types of vegetation were present. One was 

 the moss, to my unbotanical eyes, of universal 

 distribution. The other two species may have been 

 algse, one resembled the sea-weed called Viva. The 

 patch of green was 60 feet long and about 15 wide 

 — possibly the largest area of vegetation south of 

 77°.5. 



Sea-kale planted in the open air sprouted 

 but did not develop. 



Insects were found, the antarctic spring- 

 tail, of which the record says. They were 

 found 



clustering among the whitish roots or hyphse of the 

 moss. They would be frozen stiff in a thin film of 

 ice until one turned the stone into the sun. Then 

 the ice would melt and they would move sluggishly 

 about until the sun left them. I can not imagine 

 a finer example of hibernation. 



There were two species, one red and the 

 other the millimeter-long blue, both unknown. 



Of the antarctic sea — noted on the voyages 

 to and fro — the author writes: 



Microscopic life simply swarms in these polar 

 seas, to an infinitely greater, extent than in the 

 warmer waters of the tropics, though one would be 

 inclined to the opposite belief. . . . There is al- 

 most as much protoplasm per acre of ocean as 

 there is in a well-cultivated crop on land. The 

 description of the cycle of life is interesting, to a 

 layman at least — from plankton to whale-killers. 



Meteorologists will find data as to blizzards, 

 etc., which are much less violent on the shores 

 of Boss Sea than those reported by Mawson 

 from Adelie Land. The record with Scott 

 was that of July 12, 1911, when the maximum 

 wind was 70 miles per hour, with a maximum 

 temperature of 8°. The comparative mean 

 temperatures for the years 1902-03 and 1911, 

 were respectively as follows : (approximately) 

 January, 24° and 22°; February, 13° and 15°; 

 March, 4° and 8° ; April, — 8° and — 2° ; 

 May, — 14° and — 12° ; June, — 15° and 

 — 14°; July, —16° and —22°; August, 

 ■ — -17° and — 23°; September, — 15° and 

 ■ — 17°; October, — 7° and — 2°; November, 

 13° and 13°; December, —23° and —21°. 

 The minimum temperature mentioned is that 

 of — 77° experienced by Cherry in his visit to 



