148 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 5. 



The climate is clear and dry in summer ; but in the 

 long winter there are heavy snowfalls, preventing 

 corarannicatiou between the villages. On the way 

 eastwaml to Karategin, he crossed three nearly merid- 

 ianal mountain ranges. South-east o£ the Wakish, 

 the ranges run north-east and south-west; and after 

 crossing the Pandj (Pandsch), the great Badalcshan 

 range is fully parallel to the Ilindu-Kush. The Wa- 

 kish, Pandj, and Wandj rivers are respectively 100, 

 100-170, and 60-100 metres broad. The natives 

 regard the latter two as the true head-waters of the 

 Amee. They both have turbid water, and in winter 

 carry cakes of ice. There are no bridges over the 

 Pandj, and the stream is crossed on goat-skin floats. 

 The x^opulation of these villages is very mixed: some 

 of the tribes seem of true Aryan type. For the last 

 fifty years the country has been desolated by wars, in 

 whicii the prisoners were carried off to be sold as 

 slaves at Biichara, Kashgar, and Badakshan. — ( Verh. 

 ges. erdlc. Berlin, ix. 1S82, 505.) w. m. d. [322 



Ufrica.) 

 Neiw expeditions for eastern Africa. — The 



geographical society of London has given Mr. Joseph 

 Thomson command of an expedition to enter eastern 

 Africa from Zanzibar, with the object of exploring a 

 direct route to the eastern shores of Victoria Nyanza, 

 and examining Mount Kenia. Thomson left England 

 on Dec. 13. He has previously led two expeditious 

 in this region with excellent success, and a good 

 share of scientific results. He is now preceded in 

 the field by Dr. G. A. Fischer, for whose expedition 

 the Hamburg geographical society has appropriated 

 15,200 marks. Fischer was to leave Pangani last 

 November, and march toward Liconono, tlien to 

 the south-eastern shore of Victoria Nyanza, and the 

 little-known Baringo Lake, and, if possible, to go on 

 farther north. Parts of this region have been spe- 

 cially studied by German explorers: Erhardt, Krapf, 

 and Rebraann, in 1848-49; v. d. Decken, Kersten, 

 and Brenner, in 1859 and 1802; Hildebrand, in 1875- 

 77; and Denhardt, and Fischer himself, in 1878. — » 

 (Proc. roij. qeorj. soc, 1883, 32; Verh. r/es. erdk. 

 Berl., 1882, .399; Aualand, 1882, 978.) w. ji. D. [323 

 Dr. Junker on the TTelle. — This persevering ex- 

 plorer joined an armed Egyptian party a year ago, 

 and followed down the valley of the llelle, gaining 

 some information about its probable lower course, and 

 returning by a d<?tour to the south and east. It seems 

 that Uelle is simply, as is so often the case, the local 

 word for river, and that its name is really Makua; so 

 with its southern branch marked Nomayo on Sell wein- 

 furth's map, which should be Bomok mdi. Dr. .Junker 

 concludes from native information, that the Makua 

 Uelle is the head stream of the Sliari ; and that the 

 Nepoko, rising farther east and flowing south, is Stan- 

 ley's Aruwimi branch of the Kongo. He also refers to 

 a large lake south of the region he passed through, 

 and doubtless corresponding to the lake repoited from 

 upper Egypt by Luptnn; .Junker's Makua being pre- 

 sumably the same a? Jjupton's Bahr el Makwar. — 

 {Proc. roil, oeor/r. soc,., Jan., 1883; Peterm. mitl/ieil, 

 1882, 424, 441.) w. m. d. [324 



BOTANY. 



The chromatophor of algae. — While at the 

 zoological station in Naples, Prof. Fr. Schmitz stud- 

 ied the arrangement of the coloring malter in the 

 cells of marine alsae; and he has since extended his 

 observations to the colnring matter of other groujis 

 of plants. At present he gives only the results of 

 his observations on algae, reserving for a future pub- 

 lication his researches on Archegoniata and phaeno- 



gams. In a few plants, as the Phycochromaceae, the 

 coloring matter is uniformly diffused through the 

 cell; but jn most cases it has a detiriite outline, and 

 forms a mass to which Prof. Schmitz gives the name 

 of chromatophor. In the Iiigher plants the chro- 

 matophor is principally represented by chlorophyl 

 grains; but in algae it is often represented by bands, 

 stellate masses, or large irregularly shaped bodies. 

 Schmitz finds in the chromatophors of many algae 

 more or less splierical bodies to whicli he gives the 

 name of pyrenoids. They occur in some red and 

 brown algae, and are very common in green algae. 

 Schmitz shows that the chromatophors of algae'are 

 capable of division, and that new chromatophors are 

 always formed from some already existing chromat- 

 ophor and not from the protoplasm itself, using the 

 word in its strict sense. In some cases it appears to 

 be the case that pyrenoids wliich are in reality )iuclei 

 of the chromatophors have been mistaken for the 

 nucleus of the cell itself; as in the case of Anthoceras, 

 wliei'e it has been generally supposed the cell nucleus 

 was surrounded by an irregular mass of chlorophyl. — 

 ( Verlmndl. natur. vereitis Rlieinl. u. Westfalens, 1S83. ) 

 W. G. F. [325 



American Characeae. — The manuscript of the 

 late Ale.xander Braun, of Berlin, has been edited by 

 Nordstedt, who has added notes and observations of 

 liis own ; and the Avhole forms the most complete 

 monograph of the Characeae yet published. In it ap- 

 pear for the first time in print descriptions of several 

 American species which were liitherto only known 

 from herbarium names. The monograph includes 

 one hundred and forty-two species and sub-species. 

 — (Abhandl.acad.wiss.Berlin,\^2.) w. o. F. [326 



The relations, as regards size, of the ■wood- 

 cells in Coniferae and other trees. — Dr. Ewald 

 Scliuize has repeated the extensive observations of 

 Sanio, and has obtained results which appear to con- 

 firm them. He has further shown, that the principles 

 laid down by Sanio may be extended to a much wider 

 range of ligneous plants. — {Zeitschr. f. naturwiss., 

 1882, no. 3.) G. L. a. [327 



Relations of organic matters in the soil to the 

 process of assimilation in the sugar-beet. — The 

 old experiments have been repeated and extended by 

 Corenwinder, but have added very little to what was 

 known before. He states, however, that the beet, 

 when cultivated in a soil very rich in carbonaceous 

 matters, can absorb more or less carbon from that 

 source. As to the use which is made of this carbon, 

 he is unable yet to express a positive opinion; so the 

 question has not been materially affected by his pres- 

 eiit work. — {CoinjHes reiidas, Jan. 2.) G. L. G. [328 



Detection of adulterations in tea. — Mayer calls 

 attention to the peculiar character of the felted hairs 

 on the leaves of certain Camellias, and to the univer- 

 sal occurrence of firm cells, which are almost true 

 sclerenchyma, in the iiarenchyma of the under side of 

 the leaves of tea. The cells are said to be best seen 

 when Ihin sections of soaked leaves are first treated 

 with dilute potassic hydrate, aftei'wards washed with 

 alcohol of 50% whicli contains 10% hydrochloric acid, 

 and linally placed in glycerine and water. — [Zeitschr. 

 /. 7K(ii(n«lss., 1882, no. 3.) G. L. G. [329 



{FosiU plants.) 



Laminarites Legrangei. — Saporta reviews the 

 characters and conformation of this species, <lescribed 

 formerly by Saporta and Marion in their work on the 

 Evolution of the vegetable kingdom, p. 101, f. :-J4. 

 Nathorst of Stockholm had considered it as represent- 

 ing the tracks of animals. From better, very large 

 specimens, Saporta has seen it composed of bands or 



