OcToBER 4, 1918] 
eastwards from the Sea of Azov, along iso- 
therm 22° ©. (c. 71° F.) in July, while the 
winter-wheat area lies athwart the winds, 
parallel with the Black Sea coast, especially 
southeast of the Azov, i. e., along isotherm—4° 
C. in January. The spring-wheat area is, 
therefore, associated with greater range of 
temperature (having an average of —10° C. 
in January), as also with greater variation of 
yield, this having varied from 58,000,000 cwts. 
in 1906 to 148,000,000 in 1913; and such 
variation helps to account for the excessive 
variation in price, which even at Odessa varies 
from 29 per cent. below normal to 32 per cent. 
above, while at Saratov it varies from 35 per 
cent. below to 62 per cent. above. Both areas 
have sudden increase of rainfall in May, then 
maximum in June-July, a dry autumn, and 
some increase of rain again in November or 
December. And it is, of course, the “ tem- 
perate” winters that are bad for the winter 
wheat (p. 27)—in hard winters it seems to take 
no harm. In fact, wheat-growing is greatly 
facilitated by both soil and climate, but there 
are at present insuperable difficulties against 
introducing intensive culture, although the 
wheat area has—for Russia—quite a dense 
population (25 to 70 per square mile). In the 
absence of scientific agriculture, the result of 
this comparative density is that only sixteen 
governments, out of c. 70 in European Russia, 
have normally any surplus wheat for export; 
and this surplus is based on a per capita con- 
sumption of 150 pounds in 1913, as against 
60 pounds in 1906. Still, cereals make two 
thirds of the total value of Russian exports, 
wheat having over one third of the total cereal 
value. The transport is by both water and 
rail, the useful “floatage” being estimated at 
c. 90,000 miles and the navigable water at 
c. 28,000 (excluding Finland), and an an- 
nual duration varying from an average of 263 
days (with a range of 50) on the Dnieper, to 
one of 231 days (with a range of 29) on the 
Don, and ‘one of 223 (with a range of 67) on 
the Lower Volga. The statistical returns em- 
phasize in the most marked way the insignifi- 
eance of Odessa as a wheat port. For some 
years it has never been in the list of the first 
SCIENCE 
337 
six. It is generally far behind its two neigh- 
bors of the Dnieper liman, Kherson and Nico- 
laiev—the latter, as an important railway 
junction on the only line to Kherson and with 
a much wider river, having the steadier trade 
of the two. All three together were not equal 
to Rostov in 19138, with its 17 per cent. of the 
total Russian export, while even Riga is 
usually at least as important as Odessa. The 
sheltered “Riviera” port of Novdrossiskaya, 
the terminus of the Volga line from Tsaritsin, 
comes next to Rostov, with c. 9 per cent. of 
the total export and has a very steady trade; 
and Taganrog usually stands third, though 
large quantities of wheat are exported from 
other Azov ports, e. g., Yessk, Berdiansk, 
Mariupol and Feodosia—which really counts 
as an Azov port. Altogether, c. 45 per cent. 
of Russian wheat exports go from the Azov, 
the Black Sea proper having only ¢. 40 per 
cent.; and the quantity in millions of pounds 
roughly approaches the value in millions of 
roubles (203 and 225 in 1913). For years be- 
fore the war Russia had furnished Switzerland 
with her chief supplies of wheat, though by 
1912 the proportion had fallen slightly below 
50 per cent., while it was only 36 per cent. in 
1913. The grain moved via Genoa or Marseil- 
les or Mannheim, some going on as far as 
Strassburg or Kehl; and the manipulation of 
dues on the German railways was such that, 
though the water rate to Mannheim was c. 1,400 
francs per quintal as against 800 to Genoa or 
Marseilles, the total cost to Berne was only c- 
3,200 francs as against 3,070 via Genoa and 
8,300 via Marseilles. The saving to Zurich 
was 300 frances greater. The extra time for 
delivery to Switzerland via the Rhine was 20 
days. 
THE SUPPRESSION OF BODY-VERMIN 
A COMPREHENSIVE paper entitled “Combat- 
ing Lousiness among Soldiers and Civilians,” 
by Professor G. H. L. Nuttall, appears in 
Parasitology for May. According to an ab- 
stract in Nature, the paper is one of a series 
which when complete, will constitute an ex- 
haustive monograph on human lice. It brings 
together, not only the available published 
