Miscellaneous Intelligence. 95 



season, along with as many of the others. They already show a 

 superior growth. This variety is also a valuable florists' plant, 

 and large "bulbs" bring a good price in the market; they could, 

 if desired, be grown here in quantity and at a very fair profit. 



The third variety is at present rather scarce, it is a larger and 

 taller grower than either of the above sorts, with a vigorous con- 

 stitution, but makes very few offsets and does not perfect them 

 so quickly; the flavor is also rather inferior to C. esculentum. 

 The fancy bright foliage Caladiums (closely related to the above) 

 of the C. Schomburgkii, C. Marmoratum, C. bicolor, and C. pic- 

 turatum type with their hybrids and varieties, grow and increase 

 freely here, and although the market is somewhat limited they 

 can be profitably grown. They do best in a rich humus and 

 require some shade in order to mature big "bulbs" quickly. 



The castor-oil plants (Ricinus Zanzibariensis var. Nigra) 

 sowed January 10 ripened their first fruit May 29, and promise a 

 good crop. This is the large black African bean; it is not quite 

 so high in percent of oil as the small native bean, but is several 

 times larger, superior in every other respect, and equally produc- 

 tive, which will more than compensate for this slight difference. 

 The shell is softer and more easily crushed and pressed than the 

 native variety; it also has an advantage over nearly all other 

 varieties in the fact that it is self-shelling in either fire or sun- 

 heat, while the native one is not. As a proof of this, I took 

 samples from thirty separate plants and did not find one in which 

 they were self-shelling. Some of the varieties of Arborea and 

 Borboniensis are better in this respect, but I have not been able 

 to test them thoroughly yet. 



[The remainder of the report deals with cotton, and with certain 

 vegetables.] 



10. Catalogus 3£ammalium, tarn viventiwn quam fossilium/ a 

 Doctore E.-L. Teouessart. Quinquennale Supplementum, Anno 

 1904. Fasc. I, pp. iv, 28S. Berlin (R. Friedlander u. Sohn).— 

 The successive parts of the second edition of this great work 

 have been repeatedly noticed in these pages. The edition was 

 completed in 1897 and an appendix was issued in 1899. A new 

 method has now been adopted to bring the work up to date, viz., the 

 publication of a five-year supplement complete in itself and form- 

 ing, in fact, a third volume of the Catalogus ; of this supplement 

 the first part is now issued. The arrangement is such as to show 

 at once what new species have been added and to what groups 

 they belong. 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Publication of the Earthquake Investigation Committee in 

 JBoreign Languages, No. 16, 117 pp. Tokyo, 1904. — A detailed 

 discussion is here given by A. Imamuea of the Milne horizontal 

 pendulum seismograms obtained at Hongo, Tokyo, of earth- 

 quakes, about 300 in number, which occurred from July, 1 899, to 

 Dec, 1902; Of 49 large earthquakes, 30 of which originated 



