mitters, and the circuits for the others are arranged on the same plan. A little study of this figure is enough to show that in each pair of telephones in the receiving room the left one corresponds to the transmitters on the left side of the stage, and the right one to the transmitters on the right side. All the left-hand telephones are in one circuit, and all the right-hand ones in the other. This arrangement, which is clearly shown in the figure, is very ingenious, and though a simpler arrangement with a smaller number of circuits could have been employed, the additional expense involved in having so many circuits was not allowed to stand in the way, as it was necessary in order to make forty-two pairs of telephones work properly; and even this number is not sufficient to satisfy the public curiosity.

These brilliant experiments show that there was no exaggeration in the statements which were published soon after the invention of the telephone, to the effect that concerts and sermons had been heard at great distances. It cannot now be said that we were too credulous when we announced in 1878 that the opera

"Don Pasquale" had been very well heard in the telephone at Bellinzona, and that none of the fine turns of this charming music had been lost. We believe indeed that the results then obtained were far inferior to those which we have now the opportunity of enjoying; and still more marvellous results in telephony have, we are informed, been quite recently obtained.

Fig. 3 represents one of the hearing rooms, namely, that which is lighted with Lane-Fox lamps. A mahogany wainscotting is carried round the walls at about the height of the ear, and on it are fixed twenty small wooden panels furnished with hooks to hang the telephones on. The telephones are connected with the underground conductors by means of flexible wire cords which come out of the wainscotting, so that nothing is easier than for the auditors to put the telephones to their ears. As the telephones are connected, eight in each series, with one and the same pair of microphonic transmitters, and the different pairs of transmitters occupy different positions on the stage, the effects are not the same for all the telephones. Those which are in connection with transmitters at the extreme right or left are more affected by the sounds

of the loud instruments in the orchestra than those which are connected with the transmitters nearest the prompter; but these latter, on the other hand, are more affected by the prompter's voice.

To make the effects as equal as possible, M. Ader has so arranged the connections that the two transmitters which form one pair are in precisely opposite conditions; for instance, the transmitter at the extreme left is paired with the first to the right hand of the prompter, second from the extreme left with the second to the rigic of the prompter, and so on. The best effect is obtaine from the pair which occupy the middle places in the two sets. These differences give an obvious explanation the different accounts given by different persons of the predominating sounds which they have heard, and explain why many of them, having heard in different parts of the same room, have not received the same impressions. Naturally enough they attribute the difference to the quality of the telephones, but though it is possible that some of these may be better than others, it is to the positions of the transmitters on the stage that the differences are chiefly attributable.

[The receiving instrument, which, as above stated, is the telephone à surexcitation of M. Ader (pronounced like the English name Adair), is very similar to the Gower Bell receiver, having like it a steel horseshoe magne. which forms nearly a complete ring, and which, being coated with nickel, serves as the handle. Round the two soft iron pole-pieces of this magnet coils of very fine wire are wound, which are in circuit with the line wires, sc that the currents from the transmitter at the sendingstation pass through them. A thin circular plate of iron. fastened by its edges, is fixed at a very small distance from the pole-pieces, and serves as the vibrating diephragm. The peculiarity of the Ader telephone is that a flat ring of soft iron is fixed at a little distance behind this vibrating plate; that is to say, on the side remote from the magnet, its office being to concentrate and intensify the force of the magnet upon the diaphragm This is what is meant by surexcitation. The plate, in fact, is more strongly attracted by the magnet than would be if this ring were absent. In Fig. 4 (which consists of three sections and one elevation of this telephone) A is the steel magnet, B B are the coils, M M is the vibrat ing diaphragm, x x the flat ring for intensifying the force of the magnet upon the diaphragm, o the resonance chamber, and E the trumpet-shaped opening which s applied to the ear.]

The following account of Rysselberghe's meteorograph was accidentally omitted from a previous article:

One of the neatest specimens of electrical mechanism is the meteorograph of M. Van Rysselberghe, exhibited by the Royal Observatory of Brussels. It gives its records not only at the place of observation, but at one or more distant stations, and is now giving every night at Paris a record of the indications of the instruments a Brussels. Once every ten minutes it comes into action and registers one after the other the six following ee ments: (1) temperature; (2) humidity; (3) water in raingauge: (4) direction of wind; (5) barometer; (6) velocity of wind. It also makes a mark about every half second due to the action of clockwork at the sending-station.

The registration is made by a diamond point on a thin plate of zinc which is bent round the surface of a revolving cylinder, and which is covered with lamp-black to make the marks more visible. This plate serves afterwards for printing any number of copies. There may be several of these cylinders at as many different stations, all receiv ing simultaneously the indications furnished by any one station. The mode of action is as follows:

Let us take for example the case of one of the therm meters. The thermometer-tube is vertical and open a the top. A long metallic probe smaller than the tube of the thermometer descends once in ten minutes with a

slow motion produced by clockwork. The probe, by touching the mercury, completes a circuit, through which a current is instantly transmitted from a local battery. The line-wire is included in this circuit, and a corresponding movement is produced in the diamond point of the receiving instrument. A local electro-magnet is also made by this current, and the arrangements are such that the current is thus diverted from the mercury at the instant after the probe has touched it, and there is consequently no spark when the probe leaves the mercury. The instantaneous current which thus passes is always from the probe to the mercury; in other words the mercury is the negative and the probe the positive terminal. If any moisture be present its oxygen goes to the probe (which is of platinum) and the hydrogen to the mercury, which thus, instead of oxidising, is kept always bright. Evidently the higher the mercury stands in the tube, the sooner will the contact be made, and thus the scale of equal parts before-mentioned gives the height of the mercury.

The diamond point makes a succession of short marks which (in virtue of a mechanical interruption) form a regular series up to the moment when the probe touches the mercury, after which they cease for several seconds. The cylinder revolves once in ten minutes, and the diamond point has at the same time a slow longitudinal motion (being mounted on a screw axle), so that the successive indications of the same thermometer form a nearly continuous curve (traced by points).

Thus by one line wire and one diamond point the curves for all the six instruments are drawn at a station which may be 200 or 300 miles distant. The value of such an instrument for furnishing the director of a central station with accurate data on which to base his weatherpredictions speaks for itself; and as regards expense, all the expenses of photography and of reducing and engraving photographic traces are saved. It has been worked in Belgium over a wire of the length of 750

miles.

(To be continued.)

NOTES

THE Royal Institution Session will commence with a course of six lectures on astronomy, adapted to a juvenile audience, by Prof. R. S. Ball, F.R.S., Astronomer-Royal in Ireland. Dr. W. Huggins will give a discourse on Comets at the first Friday evening meeting, January 20, 1882.

THE International Commission for the next transit of Venus, established in Paris under the presidency of M. Dumas, has accomplished its work and published a series of instructions, which will appear in the next number of the Comptes rendus of the Academy of Sciences, and be sent to all astronomers and observatories. A complete scheme for international co-operation has been adopted.

As No. 12 of the Bibliographical Contributions, edited by Mr. Justin Winsor of the Harvard University Library, we have a List of the Publications of Harvard University and its Officers, 1870-80. It contains, for example, the publications of the Astronomical Observatory, the Bussey Institution, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, &c., followed by an alphabetical list of the officers (professors, &c.) of the University with their publications, and including such names as those of Agassiz, father and son, J. A. Allen, the ornithologist, J. P. Cooke, professor of chemistry, Asa Gray, H. A. Hagen, professor of entomology, E. C. Pickering, professor of astronomy, the late Benjamin Peirce, S. H. Scudder, N. S. Shaler, J. Trowbridge, professor of physics, and others.

THE experiments made at the Paris Opera in electric lighting have been successful for regulators. Not less than thirty-six

Brush lamps illuminated the celebrated monumental staircase, with Werdermann in the circular gallery, and Jaspar in the buffet. Sixty-four Jablockhoff lights were disposed on the ceiling round the chandelier with success in spite of the numerous changes of colour. The incandescent light exhibitors-Swan, Maxim, and Edison-were not ready to act their part, and the opportunity was lost for them; a second will be given to-day.

A RUMOUR has been spread by the Journal Officiel that the Electrical Exhibition will be closed on the 1st of November. The impending resignation of M. Cochéry is stated to be at the But it is certain no bottom of this semi-official attempt. alteration will be made in the original date of closing, except to extend the time granted up to December 1.

THE death is announced, at the age of eighty-four years, of M. Dubrunfaut, a well-known French industrial chemist.

IT is stated that M. Hervé-Mangon, director of the Paris Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, has decided to resign his post in order to devote himself more entirely to politics, he having been elected recently as deputé for the department of La Manche. Probably he will be succeeded by Col. Laussedat of the Poly

technic School.

PROF. HAECKEL has arrived at Vienna on his way to Ceylon.

IN connection with the Museum and Library, Queen's Road, Bristol, the following syllabus of a course of nine lectures, on literary and scientific subjects, to be delivered during the winter, 1881-82, has been issued :-October 31, 1881, Clements R. Markham, C.B., F.R.S., Sec. R. G.S., the Basque Provinces of Spain; November 14, Prof. W. J. Solas, M.A., F.R.S.E., F.G.S., the Natural History of Volcanoes; November 28, Prof. S. P. Thompson, B.A., D.Sc., F.R.A.S., Electric Storage and Lighting; December 12, Prof. William Ramsay, Ph.D., F.C.S., Improvements in Iron and Steel Manufacture; January 23, 1882, Prof. Bentley, F.L.S., Epiphytic and Parasitic Plants, with some observations on the Life of other Plants; February 6, Ven. Archdeacon Norris, B.D., Canon of Bristol, Redcliffe Church its Architecture and History; February 20, J. E. H. Gordon, B.A., the Leyden Jar; March 6, W. Saville Kent, Infusoria; March 20, Rev. A. H. Sayce, M.A., the Land of

the Phoenicians.

LIEUT. FRIEDRICH WILL will shortly undertake a thorough zoological-entomological investigation of the provinces of Bahia, Pernambuco, and Piauby; he is sent by the Entomological Society of Stettin, the president of which is Dr. C. A. Dohrn.

WE have received parts 1 and 2 of the first volume of the Transactions of the Seismological Society of Japan, containing an address on Seismic Science by Prof. Milne, together with papers by Messrs. Ewing, Wagner, and Gray, on various seismo metric and seismographic instruments, and by Mr. Mendenhall on a determination of the Acceleration of Gravity at Tokio. The Society is to be congratulated on the numerous proofs of activity which it has already shown, and on the very valuable scientific work it is doing in this rather neglected branch of study.

A USEFUL paper by Mr. W. J. Harrison, Science Demonstrator for the Birmingham School Board, on the Teaching of Science in Public Elementary Schools, has been issued by him in a separate form. He resumes all the reasons for scienceteaching in schools in a clear and forcible manner, and gives some hints that might be of service to science teachers. In Birmingham, we believe, they are now endeavouring to obtain money for science scholarships, by which boys of merit will pass from the Board Schools to the great Foundation School there (King Edward's Grammar School), then to the Mason College,

and perhaps subsequently to some university. There are now 2000 children and 200 pupil teachers under science instruction in Birmingham, and the results so far have been most encouraging. MAJOR-GENERAL MAITLAND, writing to the Times in connection with the Bordeaux Phylloxera Congress, makes a suggestion which appears quite worthy of attention. He believes that all the remedies hitherto applied or proposed are open to the reproach to which all empiric treatment of disease is obnoxiousviz. the attacking of a symptom instead of the essential root of the disease, and thus betraying a want of right apprehension of its true origin. "This, in my humble view," General Maitland says, "is to be attributed to exhaustion of the vitality of the plant, induced by unduly and unnaturally overtasking its productive powers. In this respect the phylloxera of the French vineyards bears a close analogy to the red spider of the Indian tea garden, to the leaf-worm of the Indian, American, and other cotton fields, and, in short, to parasitic growth wherever proving fatally destructive throughout the vegetable kingdom. mode in which this law of nature, as it may be termed, operates, may be understood by reference to the physiological paradox, 'Life dies; death lives.' Wherever the vitality of a plant is abnormally diminished by over-plucking, over pruning, and unceasing inexorable demands to produce more, more, when nature demands rest and repose to recruit exhaustion, the sap, the plant's life-blood, becomes poor, sluggish, and enfeebled. Parasitic life is then evolved, and preys upon the little remaining life that injudicious culture has left the plant. If the above view in regard to the origin of phylloxera be accepted as an approximation to the truth, the remedy would seem to be self-indicated-repose. Give the vineyards rest."

The

AN extraordinary report of four large expeditions for Africa being organised in Brussels, was lately given in the Pall Mall Gazette, and has this week been reproduced by the Daily News. There is, however, absolutely no foundation for the statement.

THE Colonies and India states that the unusual spectacle of snow was seen on Table Mountain on August 16. Such an occurrence has been recorded only once since 1813, viz. in 1878.

THE first list of the honorary council of the International Electric Exhibition which is to be held at the Crystal Palace, comprises the following names of well-known men of science :Mr. James Abernethy, President Institute Civil Engineers; Prof. W. G. Adams, F.R.S., Sir James Anderson, Prof. Ayrton, F.R.S., Sir Henry Cole, K.C.B., Mr. William Crookes, F. R.S., Capt. Douglas Galton, C.B., F.R.S., Dr. Gladstone, F.R.S., Col. Gouraud, Sir John Hawkshaw, C.E., F.R.S., Dr. J. Hopkinson, F.R.S., Prof. Fleeming Jenkin, F.R.S., Sir E. J. Reed, C.B., M.P., Mr. B. Samuelson, M.P., Dr. C. W. Siemens, F.R.S., Mr. W. Spottiswoode, President Royal Society. The following gentlemen will be the chief officers for the Exhibition: Manager, Major S. Flood Page; secretary, Mr. W. Gardiner; superintendent, Mr. P. L. Simmonds; assistant engineer for Exhibition, Mr. R. Applegarth, C.E.; clerk of works, Mr. W. Carr.

THE Programme of the Technological Examinations of the City and Guilds Institute for 1881-2 contains several new subjects and arrangements-improvements on previous programmes. The examination papers set for 1881 are interesting.

WE Lotice in the Russian journal, Old and New Russia, an interesting paper on M. Tyaghin's wintering at Novaya Zemlya, on hunting in that land, together with a good sketch of the bird life in the neighbourhood of the wintering place.

DR. GOBI, who has investigated during many years the flora of the White Sea, has published his researches in a separate work in Russian.

We notice in a paper published in the Annals of the Spanish Society of Natural History (vol. x. 1881), that Don Fr. Quiroga

observes that the numerous implements in Spanish me which are usually described as nephrite are mostly made fibrolite, this name having been given by Count de Bournon a variety of sillimanite. Out of 115 hatchets which a considered as nephrite, and were found mostly during 2 geological survey of the provinces of Guadalajara and Crea only one was of nephrite, whilst III were of fibrolite and e of jadite. The fibrolite is often found among the mica-she the provinces of Madrid and Guadalajara.

THE same volume of the Annals contains a paper, by S. Calderon of Arana, on the evolution of the earth.

A STRIKING instance of the activity of man in destro forests may be shown by the following figures, which find in M. Olshevsky's paper in the last issue of the Ima of the Russian Geographical Society. After having into consideration the surveys which were made in the p vince of Ufa before 1841, and the recent distribution forests in that province, M. Olshevsky shows that the area forests, which formerly was about 17,577,000 acres, has 9.7 diminished by at least 3,500,000 acres ; although the populat is still very sparse, that is, less than three souls per square a and it was yet less some time ago.

THE well-known publishing firm of A. Hartleben (V) Pesth, and Leipzig) have recently published a little work Heinrich von Littrow, "Carl Weyprecht, der österreichis Nordpolfahrer." It contains many characteristic reminisces as well as letters of the late discoverer of Franz-Josef Land, is a fitting and touching literary monument to a brave, energet highly-cultivated, kind, and modest man of science, whose vet career was unfortunately cut short so prematurely.

Auf der Höhe is the title of a new international review, edta by Leopold v. Sacher-Masoch, and published at Leipig Gressner and Schramm (London: Dulau). The first (October) contains several interesting articles, though note them scientific; among the list of contributors, however, w notice the names of several Continental men of science.

DR. KING'S report on the Government Cinchona Plantatila in British Sikkim for the year ending March last, shows a co tinued and highly satisfactory progress-a progress that has bee made not only in the extended cultivation of well-known established species, but also in the propagation of valuable rarer kinds. Most satisfactory results are recorded of the speci known as Cinchona Ledgeriana, one of the varieties of Cali which, as Dr. King says, is surpassingly rich in quinine, which has derived its name from Mr. Ledger, a collector a brought the seed from South America. Regarding valuable kind, namely, the plant yielding the Carthage Columbian bark, which is largely imported to this country the northern part of South America, and of which four plane were sent to the Government Plantations from Kew in Jan

1880, Dr. King says, "They arrived in good condition as during the year they were increased largely by cuttings. Pro gation went on most favourably for some time, but later on the year the young plants were severely attacked by the pe only too well known to gardeners as 'thrips.' The usual tre ment was applied with vigour, but in spite of this, when there ended the six original plants had been increased only to s rooted plants and ninety partially rooted cuttings." Dr. K however, further says that "every effort will continue to made to increase the stock of this interesting species." B the general condition of the plantation and the financial res

are reported as satisfactory, and the results as gathered from t

quinologist's report, which is appended, are also satisfact inasmuch as they show an increased manufacture of febr Dr. King and his co-warkes

and also an increased demand.

are to be congratulated on the continued successful results of their labours.

DR. OBST, the director of the Ethnographical Museum at Leipzig, after attending the Archæological Congress at Tiflis, intended to make an exploring tour in the Caucasus, Armenia, and Asia Minor, and then to return to Saxony viâ Constantinople and Athens.

A STRANGE phenomenon was recently observed at Emerson,

near Lake Winnipeg. A dark cloud formed of myriads of winged black ants passed over the place from east to west. When it descended the ground over a large area was covered an inch deep with the insects.

MAUNA LOA (Hawaii) is again active, and the lava threatens the port of Hilo, situated on the east side of the island.

IN a letter which we have received from Mr. G. H. Kinahan he disavows the suggestion imputed to him (NATURE, vol. xxiv. P. 471) that Laurentian rocks occur in Co. Tyrone.

THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include a Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus ? ), a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus radiatus) from India, presented by Mr. G. E. Jarvis ; a Vervet Monkey (Cercopithecus lalandii 8) from South Africa, presented by Mrs. Brassey; two Leopards (Felis pardus) from Ceylon, presented by Lieut.-Col. J. S. Armitage, F.Z.S.; a Mesopotamian Fallow Deer (Cervus mesopotamicus), two Beatrix Antelopes (Oryx beatrix ? 9), two Arabian Gazelles (Gazella arabica 8) from Muscat, presented by the Lord Lilford, F.Z.S.; a Naked-footed Owlet (Athene noctua), European, presented by Mr. R. J. Marlton; a Common Kestrel (Tinnunculus alaudarius), a Common Hare (Lepus europæus), European, presented by Mr. W. K. Stanley; a Paradise Whydah Bird (Vidua paradisea) from West Africa, presented by Mr. Bowyer Bower; two Bonnet Monkeys (Macacus radiatus) from India, a Bell's Cinixys (Cinixys belliana) from East Africa, deposited; an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), European, purchased; a Hardwicke's Hemigale (Hemigalea hardwickii) from Borneo, received on approval.

30'63

12

From which figures u may be interpolated for any hour required. When u is found in the second column of the table, the angle of position is to be taken from the second column.

COMET 1881 f (DENNING, OCTOBER 3).-The comet discovered by Mr. W. F. Denning of Bristol during the night of the 3rd inst. has been observed at Marseilles by M. Coggia, and at Lord Crawford's Observatory at Dunecht. Elements calculated by Dr. Copeland and Mr. Lohse upon Dunecht observations on October 9, 10, and 12, are as follows:

Motion-direct.

M. Eq. 1881'0

Hence it is found that this comet, like that discovered by Mr. Barnard on September 19, is receding both from the sun and the earth. As remarked in Lord Crawford's Circular, No. 33, the elements bear some resemblance to those of the fourth comet of 1819, detected by Blanpain at Marseilles, which was certainly moving in an elliptical orbit of very limited dimensions. This circumstance alone attaches a particular interest to Mr. Denning's comet, and makes it of importance that it should be accurately observed for position as long as practicable.

CERASKI'S VARIABLE-U CEPHEI.-The following Greenwich times of minima depend upon Mr. Knott's observation on the 2nd inst. with the period 2d 49280:

BIOLOGICAL NOTES

6257

6 37

THE HYPOPHYSIS IN ASCIDIANS.-In a second paper to the Belgian Academy on this subject (Bull. No. 6) M. Julin describes the quite special arrangement of the "hypophysary in Phallusia mamillata. gland Besides the principal excre tory duct existing in all Ascidians, and here considerably reduced, there are a large number of orifices by which the glandular tubes pour their product of secretion into the peribranchial cavity, of which the cloaca forms the median part, which receives all the products and residues of the organism, to be cast out. Hence the products of the hypophysis in this species are probably also excrementitial, and the gland is physiologically the kidney of the animal. If it be so with P. mamillata it is likely to be the same with the other Tunicata; and though, in most, the hypophysis opens into the mouth, one cannot infer that the product is to be utilised in the alimentary canal. From the morphological point of view it is noteworthy that in glands properly socalled, arising from an epidermic or epithelial invagination, the product of secretion is generally eliminated by a single orifice, and that the only exceptions occur in the category of urinary apparatus (Cestodes, Trematodes, &c.).

THE CORALS OF SINGAPORE.-We learn from a paper (Proc. of Berne Nat. History Society) by Prof. Studer, on the Corals of Singapore, that there are no less than 122 species known from this locality. Of these fifty-one species are special to the locality, whilst the others inhabit the seas of New Guinea, of the New Britannic Archipelago, of the Solomon Islands, and reach as far as Fiji, some few extending as far as Tahiti. At the same time the Singapore corals yield very few species in common with the Red Sea, the Seychelles, and Mauritius, and these are Fungidæ, but no Madreporaceæ. Thus it may be established that the coral fauna of the Indian Ocean must be divided into two distinct regions-a western and an eastern, the latter extending far to the east into the Pacific. These two

regions are divided by deep sea and by coast-lines, which, as the eastern and southern coasts of India, do not afford the necessary conditions for the development of corals, whilst the extension to the east is much facilitated by low grounds and favourable coastlines. Nevertheless, however different as to the species which inhabit then, both regions have a close likeness as to certain species, and both might be considered as having formed a single region, probably at the time when the great plateau of the Sunda Islands was a continuation of the continent, and when Madagascar and Ceylon were in close connectio 1. As to the inhabitants of greater depths and of colder water-as the Gorgonids, the Anthozoa, and the Primnoids-the same species are widely spread throughout the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, showing thus that the differentiation of shallow-water forms goes on more rapidly than that of the deep-water ones.

A CHEMICAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIVING AND DEAD PROTOPLASM.-From various experiments (chiefly with protoplasm of plants, also with Infusoria) Herren Loew and Bokorny find (Pflüger's Arch.) that living protoplasm possesses in an eminent degree the property of reducing the noble metals from solutions, and that this property is lost when death occurs. "It may well be inferred," say the authors, "that the mysterious phenomenon denoted by the name of 'Life' depends essentially on these reducing atom-groups. In the present state of science we explain these groups in motion,' these springs of life phenomena, as aldehyde groups, but would by no means exclude some different and better mode of explanation."

RATTLESNAKE POISON.-Dr. Lacerda Filho has published the results of his experiments on the poison of the rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) in the Archivos do Museu nacional do Rio de Janeiro, iii. I. The poison of Crotalus horridus acts upon the blood by destroying the red-blood corpuscles, and by changing the physical and chemical quality of the plasma. 2. The poison contains some mobile bodies similar to the micrococcus of putrefaction. 3. The blood of an animal killed by the snake's bite, when inoculated to another animal of the same size and species, causes the death of the latter within a few hours, under the same symptoms and the same changes of the blood. 4. The poison can be dried and preserved for a long time without losing its specific quality. 5. Alcohol is the best antidote to the poison of Crotalus horridus known until now.

THE SPERMOGONIA OF AECIDIOMYCETES.-According to recent observations by Prof. Rathay (Vienna Acad. Anz.) the spermogonia of Uredineæ or Aecidio nycetes may discharge their contents without the action of external moisture, of rain or dew (the only way, as apparently supposed by A. de Bary). The process may occur in dry and hot sunny weather, and as follows:-These spermogonia produce in their interior not only mucilage and spermatia, but also sugar. In virtue of the latter they separate water by "osmotic action," and this water causes the inclosed mucilage to swell, and thereby afford exit from the cavity. The author's observations were made upon the spermogonia of Gymnosporangium conicum and Puccinia suaveolens.

PELAGIC FAUNA OF GULF STREAM.-Alexander Agassiz gives an interesting account of his explorations of the floating fauna of the Gulf Stream in the vicinity of the Tortugas. The party remained at this station for some five weeks, being allowed to select quarters at Fort Jefferson. Unfortunately during the greater part of their stay the strong northerly winds interfered greatly with the surface fauna. Had the south-easterly winds prevailed the fauna would have been driven against the Tortugas. The few favourable days showed, however, a wealth of pelagic animals which had been hardly anticipated, and which proved how excellent a station this would be to investigate the fauna from. It also has the im nense advantage of supplying the naturalist, and at his very door, with not only the common species of reef-building corals, but with the varied invertebrate fauna to be found in such places. Leaving a full enumeration of the species for another occasion, in the letter we now notice (Bulletin of the Mus. Comp. Zoology, vol. ix. No. 3) A. Agassiz mentions in a general way the presence of a couple of species of Firoloidea, of Phyllirhöe, of several Appendicularis, of a small Pyrosoma, of a Doliolum, two species of Salpa, and half a dozen species of Pteropods. The number of pelagic foraminifera was greatly disappointing; not once was a species of Globigerina met with, and the Radiolarians appear to have also been scanty. A list of the Ctenophora, Discophora, Siphonophore, and Hydroids met with is appended by Mr. Fewkes. Many of the species are indicated as new.

RETARDED DEVELOPMENT IN INSECTS.-In a paper by Prof. C. V. Riley, at the recent meeting of the American Asso ciation, the author records several interesting cases of retarde! development in insects, whether as summer coma or dorman of a certain portion of a given brood of caterpillars, the beles issuing of certain imagines from the pupa, or the deferred had ing of eggs. One of the most remarkable cases of this las which he calls attention is the hatching this year of the eggs the Rocky Mountain Locust or Western Grasshopper (Calt spretus) that were laid in 1876 around the Agricultural Co at Manhattan, Kans. These eggs were buried some ten ind below the surface in the fall of 1876 in grading the gr around the chemical laboratory, the superincumbent mater being clay, old mortar, and bits of stone, and a plank sidebeing laid above this. In removing and regrading the so spring Mr. J. D. Graham noticed that the eggs looked sa and fresh, and they readily hatched upon exposure to mo influences, the species being determined by Prof. Riley fr specimens submitted by Mr. Graham. Remarkable as the fa are, there can be no question as to their accuracy, so that the eggs actually remained unhatched during nearly four years and a half, or four years longer than is their wont; and this suggests the significant question, How much longer the eggs of this species could, under favouring conditions of dryness and reduced ter perature, retain their vitality and power of hatching? Puting all the facts together, Prof. Kiley concludes that we are as absolutely incapable of offering any satisfactory explanation the causes which induce exceptional retardation in develope among insects. The eggs of Crustaceans, as those of Af Cypris, are known to have the power of re-isting drouth for six, ten, or more years without losing vitality, while in some cases they seem actually to require a certain amount of desi tion before they will hatch. Yet the fact remains that different species act differently in this respect. In short, nothing is m patent to the observing naturalist than that species, and even dividuals of the same species, or the progeny of one and the individual, act very differently under like external conditions existence in other words, that temperature, moisture, food, k influence them differently. Hence, as has been shown Semper to be the case with other animals, so it is with in-e

changes in the external conditions of existence will not affec the fauna as a whole equally, but will act on individuals. We can understand how this great latitude in susceptibility to t conditions may and does, in the case of exceptional seas prove beneficial to the species by preserving the exceptional viduals that display the power to resist the unusual cha but we shall find ourselves baffled when we come to seek explanation of the cause or causes of such retardation, uns we accept certain principles of evolution. In the innate pr perty of organisms to vary, and in the complex phenomena heredity, we may find a partial explanation of the facts, fr exceptional tendency in the present may be looked upon 5 3 manifestation through atavism of traits which in the past been more commonly possessed and more essential to the species

PHYSICAL NOTES

A SINGULAR case of the production of sound by natural c is recorded by M. Reuleaux (Proc. of the Nat. Hist. S. / Prussian Rhineland and Westphalia). He observed it while ing in the Röderbacherthal, near the highest point of the R province. The ground is, in the main, gently undulating densely wooded. The valley, spacious on the eastern S narrows rapidly at one part to a sort of pass, through w for about one kilometre, the Röderbach flows westwards. sout-west wind was blowing, and M. Reuleaux, coming the hillside from the east, heard what appeared to be the str of a fine deep-toned bell in rapid succession. There was such bell in the neighbourhood, and some other sounds

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were heard growing in force to a maximum, then dying a they were like those of organ pipes at first, but their c came to resemble that of a harp or violin. At the mouth pass, whence the sounds seemed to radiate, there was a stra agitation in the air, and mixture of sounds, some of w abruptly stopped. M. Reuleaux supposes bodies of air in

tical motion (trombes) to have been carried along from the p and the sound to have been due to conflict between the and the inner air at the mouth of such trombes, producing s lations. There was a marked difference of temperature beta

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