NOTES. 



575 



problem of the past distribution of land and 

 sea. It would probably never afford suffi- 

 cient data for a complete independent solu- 

 tion of the problem ; but it must always be 

 extremely useful as a check upon other 

 methods. Here, however, we are embar- 

 rassed by the enormous amount of work 

 which has yet to bo accomplished ; and, un- 

 fortunately, this is not of a kind which can 

 be indefinitely postponed. The old terres- 

 trial order is fast passing away before our 

 eyes. Everywhere the primitive vegetation 

 is disappearing as more and more of the 

 earth's surface ij brought into cultivation, 

 or at any rate denuded of its forests. A 

 good deal, however, has been done." Mr. 

 Bentham and Sir Ferdinand Mueller have 

 given a comprehensive flora of Australia, 

 the first largo area of the earth's surface of 

 which the vegetation has been completely 

 worked out. Sir Joseph Hooker is busy with 

 the Indo-Ma!ayan ilora of Ihe British domin- 

 ions, and the Dutch botanists have described 

 the Malayan flora proper. British botanists 

 have begun to work the Chinese flora, and the 

 French that of Yunnan. Prof. Bayley Bal- 

 four and Dr. Schweinfurth have studied the 

 anomalous flora cf Socotra. The flora of 

 Africa has been partly studied, and of this, 

 that of Madagascar is the most interesting. 

 American botanists are still busy with their 

 own flora, and the Ilussians are continually 

 adding to our knov/ledge of the flora of North- 

 ern and Central Asia. The flora and fauna 

 of Central America have been provided for 

 by the munificence of two English men of 

 science. The flora of Brazil is under slow 

 examination and arrangement in Prof. 

 TJrban's " Flora Eraziliensis." And the 

 deep-sea exploring expeditions have made 

 known the floras of remote islands. 



An Entliasiast in Science,— Prof. W. 



Stanley Jevous wrote to his sister, from Mel- 

 bourne, Australia, April 9, 1859: "This aft- 

 ernoon I called at the Melbourne Observa- 

 tory upon the director. Prof. Neumayer, a 

 rather new-comer. I was introduced to a 

 little spare German, who received me with a 

 tremendous bow, to which I was obliged to 

 respond with interest. . . . With the great- 

 est enthusiasm he at once commenced a com- 

 plete round of his observatory, showing and 

 discussing with me cvei'y instrument, me- 



teorological, magnetic, and astronomical, of 

 which, at least the two former kinds, he had 

 a numerous and very varied collection, all in 

 active use throughout the twenty-four hours. 

 Then he showed me many of the numerical 

 results, explaining the method of reducing 

 them, and carefully taking my direction and 

 name, that he might post me his published 

 reports, and even promising immediately to 

 set his assistants to work to copy out a few- 

 barometer readings which I required, and 

 had made the ostensible purpose of my visit. 

 . . . How delightful it is to meet this enthu- 

 siasm for true and highly useful things, when 

 one passes whole years together among those 

 who are enthusiastic and greedy only about 

 gold ! One would be willingly snubbed each 

 day of the year by the rich and addle-headed, 

 if only received so well as this by the truly 

 best of their race." 



Nascent Species cf Plants. — Through the 

 discussions of the floras of the western Pa- 

 cific islands, collected by the Challenger Ex- 

 pedition, wo have for the Crst time been 

 enabled, says the Picv. W. T. Thiselton 

 Dyer, to get some idea how a tropical island 

 was furnished with plants, and to discrimi- 

 nate the littoral clement, due to the action of 

 oceanic currents, from the interior forest, 

 almost wholly due to frugivorous birds. The 

 recent examination of Christmas Island by 

 the English Admiralty has shown the pro- 

 cess of flora-making in another stage. The 

 plants collected by Mr. Lister prove to be 

 closely allied to those of Java. But the 

 effect of isolation has begun to tell ; and it 

 is said by Prof. Oliver that the plants can 

 not be for the most part exactly matched 

 with their congeners from Java, but yet do 

 not differ sufficiently to be specifically dis- 

 tinguished. "We have here, therefore, it 

 appears to me, a manifest case of nascent 

 species." 



NOTES. 



PuoF. Fredekick Tuckermax, M. D., 

 of Amherst, has examined two specimens 

 of tape-worm {Tcenia saf/inaia) of unusual 

 length, sent him by Dr. John G. Stanton, of 

 New London. The first specimen consisted 

 of a long ribbon and several smaller pieces, 

 measuring together over 7 metres, and com- 

 prising 711 joints. The head and the neck- 

 joints were not obtained. The second worm 



