1899] NEWS 307 



"We learn from Science that Prof. Win. Libbey and Dr. A. E. Ortmann of 

 Princeton University have gone to dredge and explore in Inglefield Gulf on the 

 steam whaler Diana, of the Peary Relief Expedition. 



Dr. Robert Logan Jack, late Government Geologist for Queensland, and 

 special commissioner in charge of the exhibits at the Greater Britain Exhi- 

 bition, has accepted an appointment from Mr. Pritchard Morgan to run some 

 mining concessions in Szechuan, Korea, and North China. Dr. Jack sailed 

 in September. 



Dr. J. B. Hatcher, of the Zoological Department of Princeton University, has 

 returned from his expedition to Patagonia, and some account of his results is to 

 be expected shortly in Science. 



Prof. John B. Smith gives in the Scientific American an interesting account 

 of " an improved method of studying underground insects " — by pouring liquid 

 plaster of Paris into the burrows and digging out the cast after it has set. As 

 he says, " concerning the habits of underground insects we are yet greatly in 

 the dark, and much of our supposed knowledge is really inference from 

 observations made upon the insects when at the surface, or from such ex- 

 cavating as has been done in attempting to follow out the burrows of diggers." 

 It may be recalled that the Duke of Argyll used the plaster of Paris method in 

 studying the burrows of the, lugworm. 



The forty-fourth annual exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society, at the 

 Gallery of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours, 5a Pall Mall East, 

 was opened to the public on Monday, September 25, for a period of seven 

 weeks. 



The Tsar has recently ordered the allotment of three million roubles to 

 found boarding-houses for University students ; and this has been followed by 

 a Government proposal to establish and subsidise boarding-houses, scholarships, 

 and even tutors for the children of the provincial nobility who are attending 

 the middle-class schools. 



It is noted in a recent issue of the Scientific American that while Britain 

 stands first in the production of slate, and France comes a good second, it will 

 soon be necessary to place the United States well up in the list of competitors. 

 The estimated world production is valued at 16 million dollars, of which 84 

 millions fall to Britain, and over 31 to the States. 



The Times gives, from a report of the British Consul at Naples, an interest- 

 ing account of the island of Procida, in the Bay of Naples. Unlike Ischia and 

 Capri, it is very rarely visited by travellers, though in point of scenery it is 

 almost superior to them. It is about two miles long by one mile broad, and 

 carries the enormous population of 14,000 souls. Its sailors are the best in the 

 Bay of Naples, and its little harbour is usually thronged with sailing vessels, 

 which do the coasting trade of Italy and the neighbouring islands. The plateau 

 in the centre of the island produces excellent wine and fruit. Some of the 

 people manufacture very fine gut from silkworms. They call the product fili 

 di seta, or " silk threads," the special properties consisting in strength and 

 flexibility. They are made from the stomachs of silkworms just before they 

 begin to spin their silk and form their cocoons. Not many worms in proportion 

 to the amount of gut put on the market are reared in Procida itself, but the 

 makers buy them from Torre dell' Annunziata and other neighbouring towns in 

 great quantities. The worm when fully matured, that is, at the moment when 

 its nourishment ceases, and just before its metamorphosis, is cut open, great 

 care being taken not to injure the membrane of the stomach. This is then 

 removed, and usually reaches the length of 13 to 20 millims., with a diameter 

 of H to 2 millims. The stomachs are then put into a pickle, the secret of 



