36 



NATURE 



{May II, 1876 



estimating the amount of the damage done. This was found to 

 be very considerable, the vermin eating the pale and succulent 

 bases of the grass, as well as the young shoots. No great de- 

 struction of other vermin has occurred in the district, so it cannot 

 be said that the Voles have become particularly abundant from 

 that cause. Similar plagues have before now occurred in the 

 New Forest. 



A Scientific Society and Field Club has been formed in the 

 northern burgh of Inverness. We have received the inaugural 

 address of the President, Mr. "William Jolly, on " The Scientific 

 Materials of the North and our Scientific Work." Mr. Jolly 

 has lofty ideas of what the work and influence of such a society 

 should be, and we hope his address will have a stirring effect 

 upon the members. . Inverness is a fine centre for a field-club, 

 especially in the region of geology. We are also glad to see 

 that a Monmouthshire Geological Society has just been formed ; 

 its first general meeting was held on the 2nd inst. 



The Geographical Magazineiox May contains an article on the 

 prospects for the Arctic Campaign of 1876. While we must be 

 prepared for the necessity of the ships spending a second winter 

 in the north, the writer thinks that possibly the Pandora, which 

 goes out this month for news and letters, may meet them coming 

 out of Smith Sound, "with their work done, their great enter- 

 prise completed." There is also an article, with map, on the 

 Island of Socotra, which the British Government have arranged 

 to occupy, and another by M. Venyukof on New Maps of Mon- 

 golia. 



The Supplementary Part, 46, of Petermami's Mittheilungen 

 consists of a valuable memoir on the Pekin Plain and the neigh- 

 bouring Mountain-land, by Dr. Bretschneider, Physician to the 

 Russian Embassy at Pekin. It is accompanied by a map of 

 Pekin and the district around. 



At the Royal Geographical Society on Monday the following 

 papers were read : — " The Country and Natives ot Port Moresby, 

 New Guinea," by Mr. O. C. Stone, and " The Natives and 

 Products of Fly River, New Guinea," by Signer L. M. 

 D'Albertis. Mr. Stone's paper gave some details of the country 

 and the people, speaking, on the whole, well of the latter. 

 Signor D'Albertis's paper gave somewhat similer details as to 

 the couniry in the neighbourhood of the Fly River. Dr. Mullens 

 read a few notes, in wnich he described the details of his excur- 

 sions in different parts of Central New Guinea. Sir Henry 

 Rawlinson hoped a " Cameron " for New Guinea would soon 

 turn up, and that Mr. Young would be the coming explorer, and 

 would force himself into the large and comparatively unknown 

 regions of New Guinea. 



Letters from Sydney, dated March 17, inform us that the 

 Governor of New South Wales has provided M. D'Albertis with 

 a steam-launch for the exploration of the Fly River, and that he 

 was intending to return to New Guinea ten days later. A public 

 meeting was to be called at Sydney to provide for M. D'Albertis's 

 other expenses in connection with the expedition. 



At the Crystal Palace Aquarium the hatching of the spawn 

 of Axolotls has been successfully accomplished. There are 

 three young " broods," and some still unhatched spawn, so that 

 the changes in growth during the first few weeks can be seen 

 all together. 



We greatly regret to learn that the Massachusetts House of 

 Representatives have by a majority refused to entertain at present 

 any proposal for a new and much-needed survey of that state. 

 We referred to the matter about a year ago, when everything 

 promised well (vol. xi. pp. 381, 497). We can only hope that 

 the present unpatriotic mood of the Legislature will not last 

 long. 



On Monday and Tuesday-week the first Annual Meeting of 

 the Cumberland Association for the Advancement of Literature 



and Science was held at Whitehaven, when an instructive inau- 

 gural address was given by the Bishop of Carlisle, the President 

 of the Association. Other interesting papers were read and 

 excursions made, including a geological excursion along the 

 coast under the guidance of Mr. J. C. Ward, and others. Ac- 

 counts of some of the confederated societies were given, and 

 altogether this first meeting of the Association promises well for 

 its future and for the cause of culture in Cumberland. 



The Cape of Good Hope University has decided to throw 

 open unreservedly degrees, honours, and pecuniary emoluments 

 at the disposal of that body to candidates who desire to be 

 examined in places beyond the bounds of the Cape Colony, pro- 

 vided the Government of the Colony or the State in which such 

 candidates reside shall be annual contributors of 200/. to the 

 funds of the University. 



Dr. M. T. Masters has been experimenting on the functions 

 of the nectaries formed by the small cup-shaped petals of Helle 

 borus, and finds that they absorb or digest nitrogenous substances, 

 repeating in all respects the phenomena of the leaves of Drosera 

 and Dioncea. 



We have received from Prof. Sachs a reply to Reinke's series 

 of papers " Untersuchungen liber Wachsthum" in the "Botanische 

 Zeitung" challenging the correctness of experiments made in 

 Prof. Sachs's laboratory at Wiirzburg on the rate of growth of 

 plants ; also a lecture on the " Nourishment of Plants," giving 

 a popular account of the state of our knowledge respecting the 

 phenomena of plant-life. 



M. Vogel, of Munich, has observed, says the Belgique Horti' 

 cole, that seeds germinate much more quickly when watered with 

 water containing camphor than with pure water. 



The Rev. S. J. Perry, F.R.S., has reprinted, in a separate 

 form, his " Notes of a Voyage to Kerguelen Island to observe 

 the Transit of Venus," from the Month. These Notes refer not 

 only to the immediate object of the expedition, but describe in 

 a pleasant way the voyage out and the nature of the desolate 

 island which was the home of the various expeditions for many 

 weeks. Many, besides astronomers, will find the narrative 

 interesting and instructive. H. S. King and Co., are the 

 publishers. 



From Prof. O. C. Marsh we have received a paper on the 

 principal characters of the Brontotheridee (Titanotheridce of 

 Flower, Nature, vol. xiii. p. 327), in which several additions 

 are made to our knowledge of the group. Four genera are 

 described, differing in the number of the always feebly developed 

 incisor teeth. The brain-case is shown to have been small. 

 The toes were the same in number as in the existing Tapirs, four 

 in front and three behind. All the known remains of these 

 animals are from east of the Rocky Mountains, in the Miocene 

 beds of Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado. Figures 

 of the skull, teeth, brain cavity, and fee^-, accompany the 

 description. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include three Brown Howlers (Mycetes fuscus) from 

 New Granada, a Brazilian Tree Porcupine {Cercolabes prehensilii) 

 from South America, deposited; two Leopards (juv.) {Felis 

 pardus) from India, presented by Mr. George Beale Brown, ist 

 W. I. Regiment ; a Grey Ichneumon {Herpestes griseus) from 

 India, presented by Mr. W. H. Worth ; five Water Ouzels 

 {Cinclus aquaticus), European, presented by Mr. Frederick 

 Swabey ; a Black-headed Gull {Larus ridibuudus), a Herring 

 Gull {Larus argentatus), European, presented by Mr. Brazenor ; 

 a Collection of Marine Fishes from the British Seas, presented 

 by Dr. A. H. Smee ; five Common Rabbits (Lepus cuniculus), 

 European, deposited by Master B. Sclater ; a Hoffmann's Sloth 

 {Cholopus hoffmanni) from Panama, purchased ; twenty Land 

 Crabs from the Ascension, presented by Mr. Win Drew. 



