5i6 



NATURE 



\OcL 5, 1876 



Extract from the Protocol of the Second General Session of 

 the forty-ninth meeting of German Naturalists and Physicians. 

 Hamburg, September 20, 1876. 



Prof. Mobius proposed the Jollowing motion : — 



Gentlemen, — I have had frequent occasion to allude to 

 the great expeditions of the Challenger and of our Gazelle. I 

 could only give you mere indications of what has been so 

 promptly communicated to us by the leaders and scientific 

 explorers of these expeditions, and been thus made the common 

 property of all nations which cultivate science. This assembly 

 of naturalists is the first which has met since the completion of 

 the expedition of the Gazelle, commanded by Baron v. Schleinitz, 

 and extending over nearly two years, and since the termination 

 of the expedition of the Challenger, under the command of 

 Nares and the scientific directorship of Thomson, after a voyage 

 of three years and a half. I therefore take the liberty of pro- 

 posing that this assembly express to the promoters and to the 

 members of the expedition of H. M. S. Challenger and of H.I. M. S. 

 Gazelle, its recognition and thanks for their successful labours in 

 the domain of oceanic exploration. 



The motion was then put and passed with acclamation. 



I. Arthur F. Meyer 



Secretary of the forty-ninth Meeting of German 



Naturalists and Physicians. 



NOTES 

 The fifth "Exposition des Insectes utiles et des Insectes 

 nuisibles," arranged under the auspices of the Societe Cen- 

 trale d'Apiculture et d'lnsectologie, has been held during 

 the last four weeks in the Orangery of the Tuileries, and 

 closed on Sunday. The first exhikition of the kind was 

 held at the Palais de ITndustrie, in 1865, there was a 

 second in 1868, and at the third, in 1872, it was determined to 

 make it bi-annual. The society has three separate committees, 

 one on apiculture, one on sericiculture, and one on general 

 insectology, which sit once a month, and the exhibitions are 

 likewise divided into three corresponding sections. The section 

 devoted to apiculture was much like the bee shows held at the 

 Crystal and Alexandra Palaces, and included a show not only of 

 different breeds of bees, but all appliances employed or suggested 

 as improvements. We naturally have not in England any 

 shows analogous to the section of sericiculture as silkworm 

 rearing is here, only an amusement and not a business. 

 Nor, unfortunately, have we any exhibitions analogous to 

 the section of general insectology, and here it would be 

 well if we learnt a lesson from our French neighbours. The 

 society is endeavouring in various ways to educate the 

 country to a knowledge of the distinction of what insects are 

 useful and what are destructive to crops, granaries, garden- 

 produce, wood, textile fabrics, &c. For this purpose they en- 

 courage the formation of collections of insects, each destructive 

 species being accompanied by an illustration of what it preys on. 

 In this respect we are in point of quality still ahead, for the best 

 collection there was not so good as ours at Bethnal Green, made 

 by Mr. Andrew Murray, F.L.S. They were, however, able to 

 show several collections, while we have but one. But besides 

 this they use the elementary schools of the country as a channel 

 for instruction. They offer prizes to these schools for essays 

 and for magnified drawings of insects, the work of the pupils. On 

 one of the tables in the exhibition, a number of the essays were 

 exhibited, and on the walls many of the drawings were shown. 

 The Morning Post in speaking of the entomological collection at 

 the Bethnal Green Museum alluded especially to the drawings 

 made by Mr. Andrew Murray, and suggested they should be used 

 as copies in art schools, and that thus the information they teach 

 would be scattered over the country. This same kind of idea is, 

 it seems, already carried out in France. The drawings there, 

 however, are outline pen and ink sketches only, sometimes made 

 from the teacher's copy, sometimes the result of the pupil's own 



dissections. We have in England a machinery ready at hand 

 for teaching practical entomology, viz., the Science and Art 

 Department. It would not be a very difficult matter to add that 

 to the list of subjects on which teaching is given and examina- 

 tions are held. Those who know how much the country loses 

 annually by insect ravages would best estimate the value of such 

 teaching that might be turned to practical account. 



A LETTER has been received from Capt. Allen Young, of the 

 Pandora, who it will be remembered was to endeavour to com- 

 municate with or bring back letters from our Arctic Expedition. 

 Capt. Young's letter is dated Uperninik, July 19, He has 

 absolutely nothing to tell of the expedition, as might be 

 expected. He has every reason to believe that the weather in 

 the far north has been favourable to progress. Capt. Young 

 does not state what his next course is, and refers to a previous 

 letter, not received. 



Observations have been published by several French pro- 

 vincial papers on the meteor of September 24. One of the most 

 accurate was in the Echo du Nord, published at Lille. The 

 apparent diameter of the meteor is stated to have been equal to 

 the moon in opposition ; the same measure was given by M. 

 Bamberger, the member for Dunkirk, as reported by that gentle- 

 man in a letter to M. Leverrier. The position of the meteor was 

 below Ursa Major, on the eastern side, at 20°. from the horizon 

 for Lille. The time in Dunkirk and Lille was the same, 

 6h. 40m. local time, Dunkirk being a few minutes behind owing 

 to the western longitude. The colour was almost the same, having 

 been described as reddish-blue at Dunkirk and reddish-violet at 

 Lille. A surgeon at Dunkirk said he had heard a hissing sound ; 

 a sound was also heard at Lille by a number of people. It was 

 an explosion {fracas) according to ear- witnesses, and took place 

 three minutes after the appearance. If correct, that obser- 

 vation shows a distance of about 60 kilometres. M. Leverrier 

 is collecting and examining statements before entering into a 

 calculation. The light was seen by him at the observatory, as 

 reported before the French Academy of Sciences on the following 

 day. It was seen by a number of persons in Paris, The cloud 

 of burning matter and ashes was observed for a considerable 

 time — at least fifteen minutes. 



We are glad to see that means have been taken to obtain 

 subscriptions in aid of the family of the late Mr. George Smith, 

 as a public testimonial of respect to his memory. Contributions 

 to "The George Smith Fund" should be sent to Mr. J. W, 

 Bosanquet, 73, Lombard Street, E.C., in the name of Sir Henry 

 Rawlinson and Dr. Birch. 



We learn from the Chronique de V Acclimatation, that in the 

 just completed New York Aquarium immense basins have been 

 constructed for the reception of the large cetaceans. A number 

 of Otaries have already been received from Behring Strait, and 

 the proprietors hope to be able to exhibit to the public the 

 famous seal Ben Butler, which has for many years frequented 

 the island of San Domingo, in the Bay of San Francisco ; the 

 director has offered 5,000 dollars for this curiosity. For the 

 purpose of facilitating scientific researches, the central building 

 contains a library of the best works in natural history, pictures, 

 scientific journals, a laboratory, microscopes, drawing-tables, 

 dissection-room, and all the necessary materials for modelling 

 and photography. Finally, the establishment contains a restau- 

 rant in which will be served fish and crustaceans caught before 

 the eyes of the consumer. 



Prof. Turner, of Edinburgh, desires us to correct a misap- 

 prehension which appears in our brief notice (Nature, vol. 

 xiv. p. 485) of his paper on the Placenta, read before Section 

 D of the British Association at Glasgow. He states that the 

 restriction of area in the more complicated forms of placenta 



