448 



NATURE 



[June i, 191 i 



1830. This Beagle was sold, by public auction, to Messrs. 

 Murray and Trainer, for 540/., in May, 1870, having for 

 some years previously served as watch vessel at Southend. 



" The next vessel of the name was a first-class ^un 

 vessel (screw), built at Biackwall in 1854 and carrymg 

 4 guns. This vessel was serving on the Hast Indies and 

 China Station in 1862, and in the Navy List of that year 

 is shown as ' ordered home ' ; but in tlie following year 

 she disappears from the list, and in Parliamentary Paper 

 No. 560 of Session 1867 (' Navy — Ships sold ') she is 

 entered as ' sold abroad ' in 1863, for 5500/. Inquiry has 

 been made of the Contract and the Accountant-General's 

 Department as to whether she was bought by the Japanese, 

 but no information on this point is available, all such 

 records of the period having been destroyed. Doubtless, 

 however, this is the Beagle to which the inquiry refers. 



" The following are the dimensions of the respective 

 ships :— 



_ Beagle 

 built in 1820. 



Ton? 235 



Length — 



(iun deck ... ... 90 



Keel for tonnage ... Ti'l'i •■■ 



Breadth, extreme .. 24*8 



Breadth for tonnage ... 24 '6 



Depth in hold ... ... n 



Light draught — 



Afore 77 



Abaft 9-5 



" Initialled W. E. S., 15.12.09." 



F. P. Purvis. 

 Engineering College, Tokyo Imperial University 

 of Japan, May 9. 



IteagU 

 built in 1854. 



477 



160 

 I43*4if 



254 



25 



I3"3 



510 

 8-1 



Distant Orientation in the Amphibia. 



Romanes, in his book on " Animal Intelligence," 

 suggests that frogs have a distinct idea of locality, and 

 he also expresses the opinion that frogs are able to per- 

 ceive moisture from a great distance. One of his corre- 

 spondents found that frogs removed from their habitual 

 haunts for 200 or 300 yards returned to them again and 

 again. Romanes quotes Warden, who, in his " Account 

 of the United States," says that when a pond contain- 

 ing a number of frogs dried up, the animals " made 

 straight for " the next water, though it was 8 kilometres 

 away. During the spring of 1910 I made a series of 

 experiments, which have been continued this year, with 

 the view of settling how newts are able to find their way 

 back to water when they have once left it or have been 

 removed from it. Working with the Palmate newt {Molge 

 palmata, Schneid.), I got no evidence of a faculty for the 

 perception of moisture at a distance, and in order to 

 explain the spring migrations of the newt it is unnecessary 

 to presuppose its presence, because 1 certainly think there 

 JS a small homing faculty. My results directly point to 

 this. Romanes gives no details, and more information on 

 this question would be welcomed before I draw up a full 

 account of the experiments. The subject has an 

 important bearing on the psychology of the Amphibia, and 

 must form when elucidated an interesting chapter in their 

 natural history; yet the reference in Romanes is the only 

 one I can find. Bruce F. Cummings. 



Cross Street, Barnstaple, N. Devonshire, May 14. 



A Zenith Halo. 

 With reference to Mr. Gold's letter in your issue of 

 May II concerning the halo observed by Mr. Kreyer, I 

 should like to make the following remarks. I think Mr. 

 C.old is quite right in assuming that the phenomenon 

 observed was the so-called arc of contact of the halo of 

 46 radius, which for this altitude of the sun is really 

 almost in contact with that halo, whereas, according to 

 Bravais s theory, supported by numerous observations by 

 tkama and Besson, for lower altitudes these arcs mav be 

 separated by as much as 7° (with the sun at the horizon 

 even 12°). But I think Mr. Gold is mistaken in assuming 

 that the centre was at 80°, or 85" altitude. 

 NO. 2170, VOL. 86] 



Mr. Kreyer 's observation that the arc formed part of a 

 circle with the zenith as apparent centre is quite in 

 harmony with Bravais 's theory and the numerous observa- 

 tions in our country. Even Perntcr, who accepts Galle's 

 theory, besides that of Bravais, does not bring conclusive 

 evidence of the existence of arcs in the same altitude with 

 their centre outside the zenith. It is much more probable 

 that Mr. Kreyer's estimate of 10° or 15° has been too low, 

 as is usually the case with the estimates of arcs near the 

 zenith, and that the real radius was about 20°. 



These circumzenithal arcs are not of so little frequent 

 occurrence as one might think from Mr. Gold's letter. 

 Messrs. Besson and Dutheil have observed them at Mont- 

 souris III times in the course of ten years, and the Dutch 

 staff of voluntary observers sixty-seven times in the same 

 period. 



In recent years the observations have been even moro. 

 numerous in our country. The period 1904-8 gives fifty- 

 five days with observations of circumzenithal arcs ; 1904, 

 even thirteen observations by one and the same observer. 

 Perhaps the high altitude of the halo is the reason why it 

 is rarely seen by unskilled observers. 



E. VAN EVSROINCES. 



Meteorol<^ical Institute, De Bilt (Holland). 



The object of my remarks on Mr. Krtyer's oLiv.rva- 

 tion was to make it clear that the phenomenon belonged 

 to the class due to refraction through ice-crystals. For 

 that purpose the exact position of the centre of curvature 

 of the arc was immaterial, and in the absence of accurate 

 measurements an altitude of 80° to 85° was sufficiently 

 near the observer's estimate of 90°. Dr. van Everdingen 

 suggests that the radius of the arc may have been 20" 

 instead of 10° to 15° as estimated by the observer. I 

 agree with him, and indeed I thought of suggesting this 

 in my notes, but it seemed just as likely that Mr. Kreyer 

 had made a slight error in estimating the altitude of the 

 centre, and I did not regard the matter of sufficient import- 

 ance to call for a discussion of the alternatives. 



The interest of observations such as those of Mr. Kreyer, 

 where the positions and distances are estimated only, does 

 not rest on the support which they may give to the theory 

 of Bravais or to that of Galle, but now that Dr. van 

 Everdingen has reopened this question, I am sure meteor- 

 ologists would welcome from him a discussion of the two 

 theories in the light of the more extensive observations to 

 which he refers, which no doubt contain the measure- 

 ments necessary to prove or disprove the horizontality of 

 the arc. E. Gold. 



Meteorological Office, South Kensington, 

 London, S.W., May 20. 



The Yale. 



The animal upon which Prof. Hughes has based the 

 sketches published in N.'VTURe of May 25 (p. 415) is 

 evidently the typical, or white-tailed, gnu. But this is a 

 South African species, the northern limit of which is 

 formed approximately by the ^'aal River. How, then, 

 can it represent an animal the home of which was sup- 

 posed to be Ethiopia? The brindled gnu of East and 

 North-east .Africa has horns of an entirely different t>pe. 

 I may add that if Prof. Hughes can definitely identify '* the 

 antelope " he will perhaps kindly communicate his in- 

 formation to those who are less fortunately situated in 

 this respect than himself. R. L. 



Apple Blossoms. 



There is a theory that the retardation of the flow of 

 sap tends to the production of fruit as against wood buds, 

 and this retardation for apple and pear trees is effected in 

 various ways — by root-pruning, cutting of the bark, for 

 example. 



Now last year the want of sunlight, I think, tended to 

 weaken the vitality of trees, and so tended to retard the 

 flow of sap. Should we not, then, expect this year to 

 find an excess of fruit buds? The "show" of apple 

 blossom round us, in Gloucestershire, is exceptionally 

 profuse. F. C. Const.\ble. 



