440 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 500. 



physical conditions such as soil, moisture, sun- 

 light, etc. No animals exhibit finer geogTaph- 

 ical variations or depend more completely on 

 a very precise environment. While a certain 

 and even considerable range of adaptability to 

 varying conditions undoubtedly exists in many 

 of the species, this is confined to dominant 

 forms, like certain Myrmicinae and Campono- 

 tinse, and does not extend to the archaic and 

 relict Ponerinae, even the most variable of 

 which, like Odontomachus, are peculiarly 

 specialized and lacking in plasticity. 



But even if the physical conditions of Texas 

 and the other southern states prove to be 

 favorable, it is certain that the kelep will have 

 to reckon with the ant fauna already existing 

 in this region, and in no state of the union 

 is this so extensive and so formidable as in 

 Texas. It is, indeed, probable that the living 

 will be an even greater danger than the phys- 

 ical environment to a species which is very 

 far from being a dominant faunal component 

 even in its native land. 



Dr. Cook makes the statement that ' the 

 kelep is as yet the only ant known to attack 

 and destroy healthy boll-weevils.' A few 

 years ago Professor A. Herrera, of the City 

 of Mexico, sent me for identification a species 

 of ant which he found attacking the boll- 

 weevil. I am not sure that he has published 

 any observations on this insect,* which occurs 

 from Colorado through Texas into Mexico, 

 but seems not to be found east of the Pecos 

 River. It may be seen at its best at Fort 

 Davis, Texas, where it forms enormous 

 colonies in grassy places about the cotton wood 

 trees along the arroyos. Although it is ex- 

 tremely predatory and pugnacious, it does not 

 sting. Of course, it is doubtful whether this 

 ant could be induced to live in the cotton- 

 gTOwing portions of Texas, but it seems to me 

 that it would be a better form for experimenta- 

 tion than the kelep, if, as Professor Herrera 

 seems to have found, it really attacks the boll- 

 weevil. William Morton Wheeler. 



Amekican Museum of Natural History, 

 September 5, 1904. 



^ Described by me as Formica suipoUta Mayr 

 var. perpilosa. Mem. y Rev. de la Soc. dent., 

 'Antonio Alzate,' Vol. 17, 1902, p. 141. 



CURRE^'^T NOTES OS METEOROLOGY. 



general circulation of the atmosphere. 



Dr. W. N. Shaw read a paper on the ' Gen- 

 eral Circulation of the Atmosphere in Middle 

 and Higher Latitudes ' before the Eoyal So- 

 ciety, on June 2, which he summarizes in 

 Nature for July 7. The isobars computed by 

 de Port for 4,000 meters above sea level indi- 

 cate a comparatively simple steady motion 

 around the polar axis from west to east, some- 

 what deflected to south or north by land or 

 sea areas. The computed velocities of air 

 movement on the gradients at this level are 

 not at all unreasonable, and the directions of 

 motion are appropriate, and are confirmed in 

 Hildebrandsson's report on cloud motion. 

 When the weight of the stratum of air be- 

 tween 4,000 meters and sea level is charted by 

 means of sea level isobars, a circulation of the 

 atmosphere from east to west around the cold 

 pole in each hemisphere is indicated. The 

 general surface pressures may, therefore, be 

 resolved into two components, one due to the 

 upper stratum above 4,000 meters which, alone, 

 would produce a general circulation from west 

 to east around the minima of pressure near 

 the poles. The other, due to the lower stratum, 

 if acting alone would produce a circulation 

 from east to west. Both circulations would 

 correspond closely with the surface distribu- 

 tion of isotherms. Where the one is pre- 

 dominant, in the lower middle latitudes, we 

 get a resultant westerly circulation ; where the 

 other is predominant, near the poles of cold, 

 we get an easterly circulation. And between 

 the two there is a region of minimum pressure 

 and a merging of the two circulations, which 

 gives rise to the cyclonic storms of the north 

 and south temperate zones. In the lower 

 air the caps of relatively cold air in the polar 

 regions stop the westerly currents which still 

 flow in the lower latitudes, and replace them 

 by currents from the east. Between these two 

 currents mixing takes place, and eddies may 

 be formed. 



JAPANESE meteorological OBSERVATORY. 



BulleUn No. 1 (1904) of the Central Meteor- 

 ological Observatory of Japan, contains the 

 following papers : ' Observations of the Earth 



