July 8, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



57 



pollen chamber, open apically and containing 

 pollen grains in its lower part. The vascular 

 system of the seed consists of nine bundles 

 radiating from a single supply bundle and 

 running to the apex. 



It furnishes something more than suggest- 

 ive evidence of the origin of the Mesozoic 

 33ennettitales and Cycadales, on the one hand, 

 and the Paleozoic Cordaitales and other and 

 later gymnospermous orders on the other hand, 

 from some type of Paleozoic Cycadofilicales, 

 the latter leading back to the true Filicales as 

 recently diagrammatically set forth by 

 Coulter.* 



Professor Sewardf has styled this discovery 

 of Oliver and Scott as ' one of the most im- 

 portant contributions to botany published in 

 recent years.' The full details, which are 

 promised soon, will be awaited with im- 

 patience.^: 



Edwaed W. Beery. 



GVBBENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 

 ANTAECTIG METEOEOLOGY. 



A EECENT number of the Bulletin of 

 the American Geographical Society (Vol. 

 XXXVI., 1904, 22-29) contains an account of 

 Dr. Otto l^ordenskjold's Swedish Antarctic 

 expedition of 1902-03, in which are numerous 

 notes of meteorological interest. During five 

 months, beginning with May, there was a pe- 

 riod of storms with short intermissions never 

 exceeding three days, during the whole of 

 which period the average wind velocity was 

 23 miles an hour, and during a whole fort- 

 night it averaged 45 miles. The gales from 

 the southwest brought the lowest temperature 

 recorded. The stormiest day, in June, with 

 a mean wind velocity of 63 miles an hour, 

 was one of the coldest experienced ( — 24° F.). 

 The mean temperature for the first year was 



* ' Morphology of the Spermatophytes,' p. 172, 

 1901. 



t Presidential Address, Botanical Section, Brit- 

 ish Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 Southport, 1903. 



t These were read before the Royal Society, 

 January 21, 1904, and a new class of seed-plants, 

 the Pteridospermse, was proposed to include these 

 and similar remains. 



about 10.2° P.; that of the summer being 

 28.2° P. The general direction of the winds 

 was southwest, i. e., out from the south polar 

 region. 



VERTICAL DECREASE OP TEMPEEATURE IN THE 

 FREE AIR. 



At the February meeting of the Eoyal 

 Meteorological Society in London, Mr. W. H. 

 Dines read a paper on ' Observations by Means 

 of Kites at Crinan in the Summer of 1903,' 

 this being a continuation of the work done in 

 the previous summer, already referred to in 

 these columns. The results of the ascents 

 during August, 1903, show a mean tempera- 

 ture gradient for the first 5,000 ft. of 3.2° per 

 1,000 feet. This is at the rate of about .59° 

 C. per 100 meters. In the previous summer 

 the average rate per 100 meters was found to 

 vary from .56° 0. per 100 meters in a column 

 of 500 meters to .43° 0. at 3,500 meters. The 

 averages thus accord quite closely with those 

 given in Hann's 'Lehrbuch der Meteorologie,' 

 pp. 157-161. 



THE SAHARA AND THE SOUDAN. 



According to Sir Frederic Lugard, High 

 Commissioner for Northern Nigeria, the 

 sands of the Sahara are gradually encroach- 

 ing on the districts of the Sudan which border 

 the desert on the south. Sir Frederic is of 

 the opinion that the desiccation of the coun- 

 try is chiefly caused by the destruction of the 

 young acacias and tamarinds, which are cut 

 down by the natives, and given to the camels 

 for fodder. 



MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 



The Monthly Weather Review has recently 

 contained an unusual number of articles of 

 general interest. Vol. XXXIL, No. 1, 1904, 

 contains an account of the tornado of Jan- 

 uary 22, at Moundville, Ala. This tornado 

 was first noted about 1.20 a.m., the previous 

 evening having been warm, with fairly heavy 

 rains at intervals, and the wind blowing in 

 heavy gusts from southeast and south. At 

 Moundville nearly every building was demol- 

 ished, and thirty-six persons were killed and 

 eighty injured, out of a total population of 

 about 300. The storm moved northeast; the 



