April 13, 191 1] 



NATURE 



210 



On Wednesday, April 5, a very interesting exhibition 

 was held at the Natural History Museum, South Kensing- 

 ton, when all the subscribers to the British Ornithologists' 

 Union Expedition to Dutch New Guinea were invited to 

 ■ inspect the, first collections of mammals and birds. The 

 expedition is still attempting to reach the Snow Moun- 

 [ tains, but it will be remembered that two members of the 

 ! party, Mr. W. Goodfellow, the leader, and Mr. G. C. 

 I Shortridge, have been invalided home. The latter brought 

 with him a large zoological collection, including about 

 I roo birds and 100 mammals. These have now been 

 ' xamined, and though procured at a comparatively low 

 j elevation (none having been obtained above 21,000 feet), 

 I the birds especially are of the greatest value and rarity. 

 [ Quite a number were hitherto unrepresented in the national 

 j collection, while some five or six appear to be new to 

 science. One of the most notable acquisitions is a 

 ' magnificent bird of paradise (Xanthomelus ardens), which 

 yellow, with an orange-scarlet head and tippet. A 

 iiall series of this fine bird was sent home, including 

 adults of both sexes and a male in immature plumage. 

 Among the novelties we may specially mention two 

 brilliantly coloured parrots belonging to the genera Cyclo- 

 psittacus and Aprosmictus, likewise a beautiful fruit- 

 pigeon of the genus Ptilopus. The collections were much 

 admired, especially the many brilliantly coloured species 

 to be found among the birds of paradise, parrots, king- 

 fishers, rollers, pittas, &c. The mammals, though less 

 showy, were also of great interest, while the drawings by 

 Mr. Shortridge of bows and arrows, stone axes and clubs, 

 paddles, &c., were much admired. The ethnological 

 collection has not yet arrived, but is sure to prove of 

 s])(.-cial interest. 



It has been commonly taken for granted that a con- 

 v> nient and effectual way of encouraging scientific research 

 is by the foundation and endowment of prizes for investi- 

 tiations dealing with specified subjects. The results pub- 

 lished in the Rendiconti of the Lombardy Institution, xliv. 

 (j), I, recently received, seem to indicate that such endow- 

 nts not infrequently fail to accomplish the desired 

 •jict. The institution offered seven prizes for scientific 

 subjects, one medal for industry, one for agriculture, a 

 prize for commercial success, and others for economical, 

 |)liil<)S()p]iiral, literary, and forensic subjects. The indus- 

 trial medal was awarded to one of three competitors, and 

 for the Brambilla commercial prize eighteen firms com- 

 peted, nine of which received awards and medals ; but only 

 two awards were made for work in science, and none in 

 iLjriculture. These results are the more remarkable in 

 \i -w of the subjects on which dissertations were presented. 

 Ihc competitors for the agricultural medal seem to have 

 ' introduced substantial improvements in cheese-making, 

 'vised on a scientific study of bacteriology, but were appar- 

 : ly disqualified because their process had not met with 

 h universal adoption that further recognition was un- 

 essary. The prize founded for the cure of pellagra 

 ms to have been unavvarded, in spite of researches of 

 siderable scientific value having been made in connec- 

 iiun with this disease. But the most remarkable fact is 

 that a prize offered for improvements in dirigible balloons 

 has now remained unawarded for three consecutive years. 

 i At a time when aerial navigation has made its greatest 

 progress, it should surely have been possible to find many 

 I Italian aviators or aeronauts worthy of a prize founded 

 ' n;^ before the days of aviation. 



An exceptionally long spell of easterly and northerly 



winds has prevailed over the whole of the British Islands, 



I continuing for four weeks with the exception of a break 



NO, 2163, VOL. 86] 



or two lasting only for a few hours, and there have only 

 been four days to April ii at Greenwich since March 4 

 with the temperature in excess of the average. The day 

 temperatures were low in March, but the nights were often 

 fairly warm, with the result that the mean temperature 

 for the month was in good agreement with the average. 

 Since April set in, the cold has intensified, and the day 

 temperatures have been remarkably low for the time of 

 year. At Greenwich the maximum shade temperature on 

 April 5 was 36-1°, and on April 6 380°. The observations 

 at Greenwich since 1841 only show one day with the 

 maximum temperature below 40°, a reading of 36-3° being 

 recorded on April 19, 1849. The lowest minimum tempera- 

 ture at Greenwich during the recent cold spell was 26-7°^ 

 on April 6 ; this is not remarkably low and has been 

 occasionally equalled of recent years. The mean tempera- 

 ture for the week ending April 8 was 37-9°, and apparently 

 the Greenwich observations only yield one period of seven 

 days in April with so low a temperature since 1841, the 

 mean for the week ending .April 10, 1888, being 36'4°. 

 The mean of the maximum or day readings for the week, 

 ending April 8 this year is 43-1°, whilst for the specially 

 cold week ending- April 10, 1888, it was 44-1°, so that the 

 recent cold spell is the coldest on record for April so far 

 as the maximum temperatures are concerned. The 

 summary of the weather for the week ending April 8 this^ 

 year, just issued by the Meteorological Office, shows that 

 the mean temperature for the period was much below the 

 average over the whole of the British Islands. The coldest 

 district was the south-east of England, where the mean for 

 the week was 36-9°, which is 8-3° below the average of the 

 past twenty-five years. The deficit amounted to nearly 7°' 

 in the east and south-west of England and in the Channel 

 Islands, and to 6-4° in the Midland counties. During the 

 middle of the week the thermometer remained abnormally 

 low over the eastern and southern counties of England^ 

 barely exceeding 32° at a few places, and at Tunbridge 

 Wells on April 5 the highest temperature was 31°. The 

 lowest minima, recorded on April 1; or 6, ranged from 17^ 

 in the east of Scotland and 20° in the west of Scotland, to 

 26° in the north-east and north-west of England. Snow 

 was of frequent occurrence in nearly all parts of the 

 kingdom. 



In Man for April Mr. W. L. H. Duckworth describes 

 a skull of the second Neolithic period found in a mound 

 at Tsangli in Thessaly, and now deposited in the Cam- 

 bridge Museum. In form it is mesaticephalic, and a deep- 

 incesura subincutalis reduces the height of the mandible 

 in front. This last character is almost the only distinctive 

 feature of the specimen. If, as may be inferred from its 

 association with objects of undoubted antiquity, this speci- 

 men is of ancient date, it proves the existence of a highly 

 evolved type of cranial form in Thessaly at this early 

 period, modern examples indicating that the more usual 

 form of skull in this part of Greece is longer and narrower 

 than at the earlier period. 



Mr. H. St. George Gray, in his report of the third 

 season's work at the Maumbury Rings, records some addi- 

 tional discoveries. The remains now disinterred include 

 two skeletons of the Romano-British period, with two of 

 later date. We have as yet no certain knowledge of the 

 age of the surrounding embankment, which cannot be 

 fixed without further excavation. Socket-holes indicate 

 the position of the railing erected for the protection of 

 the spectators, and at the bottom of the arena some most 

 interesting ceramic remains were unearthed, establishing 

 the fact that ihe shafts date from the Neolithic period. 

 The pottery consists of pieces of a rude vessel, black in. 



