Aug. 17, 1876] 



NATURE 



34; 



weight of the earth by the method devised by Cavendish vrould 

 also probably be undertaken anew, there being at the present 

 day better means for this purpose than those of the old experi- 

 ments. Prof. Henry alluded to his own advancing years and 

 his anxiety to have the Smithsonian in a position of permanent 

 security before the close of his li'e. The accumulations of the 

 museum already overstock the building, and when the collec- 

 tions that have been sent to Philadelphia are returned there will 

 be no room for them. Conversing on the subject with a pro- 

 minent memb:r of Congress, he had recently stated his firm con- 

 viction that the problem could best be solved by abandoning the 

 present building to the National Museum and erecting a new 

 structure, to cost §100,000. The new building could be adapted 

 solely to the needs of the Smithsonian in its proper work, and 

 should contain besides accommodation for tlie system of ex- 

 change, a chemical, a physical, and a biological laboratory with 

 a lecture-room. 



Messrs. Williams and Norgate have sent us the following 

 new foreign publications : — " Die Dynamite, ihre Eigenschaften 

 und Gebrauchsweise sowie ihre Anwendung in der Landwirth- 

 schaft und im Forstwesen," by Isidor Trauzl (Berlin, Wiegand 

 and Co.) ; "Die Leitungsbahnen in Gehim und Ruckenmark 

 des Menschen, auf Grund Entwickelungsgeschichtlicher Unter- 

 suchungen," by Dr. Paul Flechsig (Leipzig, Engelmann) ; 

 " Sludien iiber die ersten Entwickelungsvorgiinge der Eizelle die 

 Zelltheilung und die Conjugation der Infusorien,"by O. Biitschli 

 (Frankfurt, Ch. Winter). 



In a reference to Eessels' Protobathybius, in Nature, vol. xiv., 

 p. 238, the statement is made that it has not been described and 

 figured. This, it would appear, is erroneous, for Mr. A. S. 

 Packard, jun., of Salem, Mass., has published a drawing and 

 brief description of it, furnished to him by Dr. Bessels, in his 

 little work entitled " Life Histories of Animals, including Man," 

 which appeared a few months since. 



The following is the title of the essay to which the Howard 

 medal of the Statistical Society will be awarded in Nov. 1877 (the 

 essays to be sent in on or before June 30, 1877). " On the con- 

 dition and Management — past and present— of the Workhouses 

 and similar Pauper Institutions in England and Wales, and their 

 effect on the Health, Intelligence, and Morals of the Inmates." 

 Further particulars at the rooms of the Society in Somerset 

 House Terrace, Strand, W.C. 



Mr. Charles Dabwin has been elected an Plonorary Vice- 

 President of the Birmingham Natural History Society. 



With regard to the statement in our recent paper on Oyster 

 Fisheries, that some fix three, others four, years as the age at 

 which an oyster becomes reproductive, Mr. W. Fell Woods, a 

 Director of the South of England Oyster Company, writes us 

 that it has been known to many that oysters breed when two 

 years old, and in the course of his own investigations (as stated 

 in his evidence before the Select Committee), he had found them 

 to spat when twelve months and even barely twelve months old. 

 The conditions then have, no doubt, been somewhat exceptional, 

 whilst at two years it is comparatively frequent. 



The Abstracts of Meteorological Obser%'ations made in New 

 Zealand during 1875 have come to hand. They show for 

 fourteen places the monthly results of pressure, temperature, 

 humidity, rain, wind, and cloud, compared with previous years' 

 averages, together with notes descriptive of the general character 

 of the weather and the unusual phenomena at each station, and 

 a rapid and graphic summary for the whole of New Zealand, 

 the earthquakes being specially recorded. The publication 

 might be made still more valuable if pressures were given not 

 reduced to sea-level, if the methods of computing the different 

 averages were clearly stated, and if some of the more important 

 results were also published for different hours. 



In the June number of the American yournal of Science and 

 Arts, there appears a short article on " The Curve of Eccentri- 

 city of the Earth's Orbit," by Mr. R. W. McFarlan-1, of the 

 Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, Columbus, Mr. 

 McFarland has performed the self-imposed task — one of great 

 labour — of testing the accuracy of the tables given by Mr. CroU 

 and by Mr. Stockwell. Mr. Croli, it will be remembered, com- 

 puted the values by Le Verrier's formulae, and Mr. Stockwell by 

 formulae of his own. Mr. McFarlani has now re computed the 

 values by Le Verrier's formulae, and finds " Croll's figures correct 

 in most cases, and not in error to the amount of 'ooi, except in 

 one instance." 



The operations of the United States Fish Commission in the 

 way of stocking the Connecticut and other rivers of the United 

 States with shad, promise to be very successful during the 

 present season, unless the great heat should bring up the tempe- 

 rature of the water to such a degree as to interfere with the 

 proper hatching of the eggs. More than a million and a half of 

 eggs were taken during the first week of the work, and a large 

 number of the fish therefrom were placed in the river at Bellows 

 Falls. As the hatching establishment is below the Holyoke 

 Dam, the fish are introduced above it, so that in their return 

 from the sea they may proceed up the fish-way to their starting- 

 point, instead of remaining below it, as would otherwise be the 

 case. 



It appears from reports brought from Iceland and the north 

 by Capt. Ambrosen, of the Arcturus, that boisterous weather 

 has been experienced within the whole navigable portion of the 

 Arctic circle, the high winds driving the field-ice southward in 

 large quantities. It is thence inferred that the ice within the 

 polar basin has been broken up to a larger extent than usual, 

 thus probably favouring the Arctic Expedition in carrying out 

 its objects. 



The ninth annual report of the trustees of the Peabody 

 Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, presented in 

 April of the present year, has been published, and gives an 

 account of the additions to this extremely extensive and im- 

 portant collection. Since the death of the lamented Prof. 

 Jeffries Wyman, the museum has been under the charge of Prof. 

 F. W. Putnam, who has continued the cataloguing and arrange- 

 ment begun by his predecessor, and brought the whole estab- 

 lishment to a condition of thorough efficiency. Many valuable 

 additions are recorded during the year, the most important, and, 

 indeed, the largest donation ever made to the museum, being 

 that from Peru and Bolivia, collected at the expense of Mr. 

 Alexander Agassiz, and presented by him, embracing nearly 

 six hundred specimens. These consist largely of objects from 

 the ancient burial-places at Anton, Chancay, Pasagua, Pacas« 

 mayo, and the island of Titicaca. The total number of addi- 

 tions to the museum, amounts to over eleven hundred speci- 

 mens. The report as published contains a general index to the 

 nine annual reports of the museum, which are arranged to form 

 volume one of the collective series. It is accompanied by por- 

 traits of Mr. George Peabody and Prof. Wyman. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Grizzly Bear {Ursus /erox) from California, 

 two Black Iguanas {Metopoceros cornulus) from San Domingo, 

 purchased ; two Booted Eagles {Aqtiila fennata), three Common 

 Bustards {Otis tarda) European, a Leopard Tortoise {Testudo 

 pardalis) from Port Elizabeth, deposited ; five Gold Pheasants 

 ( Thaumalea picta), an Amherst Pheasant ( Thaumalea amkerstia:), 

 a Siamese Pheasant {Euplocamus pralatus), a Crested Pigeon 

 {Ocyphaps lophotes), a Porto Rico Pigeon {Co/umba cortnsis), 

 bred in the gardens. 



