December 23, 1897] 



NATURE 



179 



shortly afterwards taken over by the Government, and two 

 t;ardens established, a "European" and a "Tropical." But 

 it was only within about the last thirty years that a serious 

 attempt was made, under Sir J. B. Grant, to make the Gardens 

 of economic value to the Colony, during which time much has 

 been done to determine what foreign importations are most 

 suitable to the climate. There are now six larger or smaller 

 Gardens, viz. the Parade, King's House, Hope, Hill, Castleton. 

 and Bath Gardens, varying greatly in their climatal conditions. 

 Mr. Fawcett estimates that the native flora of the island in- 

 cludes about 450 ferns, and 2180 species of flowering plants. 



Attention has been previously called in our columns to 

 Prof. Felix Plateau's observations of the way in which flowers 

 attract insects {^Bulletin de r Academic Koyale de Belgiqtie), 

 from which he inferred that the presence or absence of brightly- 

 coloured corollas possessed little or no influence on their insect 

 visitors. These researches are concluded in the current number 

 of the Bulletin (iii. 34). Repeated experiments on seventeen 

 species of plants, all genuinely anemophilous, prove that it is 

 sufficient to place on the greenish or brownish inconspicuous 

 flowers some artificial nectar, represented by honey, in order to 

 attract numerous insects. Moreover, it appears (both from the 

 author's personal observations and from previous writings) that 

 insect visits, often frequent, have been observed on ninety-one 

 forms of entomophilous plants having flowers devoid of con- 

 spicuous colour, viz. forty-one with green, thirty-eight with 

 greenish, and twelve with brown or brownish flowers. The 

 author has verified the coloration for seventy-two of these plants, 

 and has himself observed the visits of insects to sixty-three, or 

 more than two-thirds of them. Prof. Plateau concludes that 

 insects are little affected by the presence or absence of brilliantly 

 coloured floral organs ; what they seek is the pollen or nectar, 

 and in finding these their sense of vision is merely accessory ; 

 while, on the other hand, they are guided with certainty by 

 some other sense, which can only be that of smell. 



An important series of investigations has recently been pub- 

 lished in the Aimales de Vlnstitut Pasteur, by Dr. Paul 

 Remlinger, on the artificial communication of typhoid fever by 

 the alimentar}' tract. Hitherto it has been customary to infect 

 animals with the tjphoid bacillus by introducing this organism 

 into the peritoneum, but in consequence of the attention which 

 has lately been directed to the danger of typhoid being dis- 

 seminated through the direct watering of vegetables with sewage. 

 Dr. Remlinger experimented on the possibility of infecting 

 rabbits and rats with typhoid by feeding them on vegetables 

 soaked with typhoid bacilli. These experiments showed that it 

 was possible to induce typhoid fever in rats and rabbits by this 

 means, and Chantemesse has not only confirmed Remlinger's 

 results, but states that he has succeeded in infecting monkeys 

 with typhoid in a similar manner. The following experiment 

 gives some idea of the results obtained by Remlinger in this in- 

 teresting inquiry. A rabbit commenced to eat typhoid-soaked 

 vegetables on August 30 ; two days later its temperature rose 

 and later on it became thin and apathetic, and on September 7 

 the supply of typhoid bacilli was stopped ; on September 15 

 symptoms of diarrhoea made their appearance, and blood taken 

 l\ from the animal gave a positive reaction with the sero-typhoid 

 test ; a few days later the temperature became normal, and the 

 animal gradually recovered, but on September 30 its blood still 

 gave a positive reaction with the above test. Experimental 

 typhoid induced in this manner in rats resembled very closely 

 the symptoms observed in the case of rabbits. It is, however, 

 necessary in order successfully to infect animals with typhoid by 

 this means, to make them frequently swallow large quantities of 

 the bacilli. 



NO. 1469. VOL. 57] 



The number oi Tsis (Dresden) for the first half of 1897 con- 

 tains a paper, by Dr. P. Menzel, on the " Tertiary Flora of the 

 ' Jesuitengraben ' at Kundratitz," a very rich layer, from which 

 a number of new species are described. A plate accompanies the 

 paper. 



The Report of the Director of the Botanical Survey of India 

 for 1896-97 includes reports from all the Directors of Depart- 

 ments except that of Southern India. The results will shortly 

 be dealt with of the botanical exploration, by Lieut. Pottinger^ 

 of a portion of the valley of the Irrawaddy, a country hitherto 

 absolutely unknown. A synopsis is given of the flora of Western' 

 India as far as the Tiliacese. 



The Tuesday evening science lectures at the Royal Victoria 

 Hall, Waterloo Road, during January, will be as follows : — 

 January 4, "Coal," by Mr. W. F. Rudler ; January 11, 

 "Diamonds," by Prof. H. A. Miers, F.R.S. ; January 18, 

 "Through the New Gold Fields of Alaska to Bering Strait," 

 by Mr. H. de Windt ; January 25, "Mars as a World," byr 

 Mr. R. A. Gregory. 



Philip's revolving planisphere is well known to be a very 

 handy and serviceable means for finding the constellations visible 

 at any time. A more substantial form of the contrivance, with 

 an adjustable calendar combined, has just been published by 

 Messrs. George Philip and Son. The arrangement is made so 

 that it will stand alone, or it may be hung from a wall. It is 

 thus a suitable ornament for the astronomer's desk, or for the 

 observatory. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Mandrill {Cynocephaltis mormon, i), a 

 Mona Monkey {Cercopitheius mona, S ), two Green Monkeys- 



( Cercopithecus callitrichus, (J (J ), a Hawk Eagle {Spizaetus 



), seven African Walking Y\sh.(Periopthalmus koeli-euteri} 



from West Africa, presented by Dr. H. O. Forbes ; a Sykess- 

 Monkey (Cercopithecus albigularis, i) from West Africa, pre- 

 ssented by Mr. Henry Curnow ; a Binturong [Arctictis 

 binturong) from Malacca, presented by Mr. W. W. Skeat ; a 

 Blotched Genet {Gettetta tigrina) from South Africa, presented 

 by Mr. J. E. Matcham ; a Ruddy Ichneumon (ZT^r/^^/^x i-;«?V/i«> 

 from India, presented by Colonel F. Morison ; two Grey 

 Struthideas (Strut hidia cinerea) from Australia, presented by 

 Mr. R. Phillipps; a Crimson-eared Waxbill {Estrelda phceni- 

 cotis) from West Africa, presented by Miss Aves ; a Thar 

 [Capra jemlaica, 6 ) from the Himalayas, six Whi^e Pelicans 

 ( Pelecanus onocrotalus) from Egypt, deposited ; three Coscoroba 

 Swans (Coscoroba Candida) from Antarctic America, a Mac- 

 queen's Bustard (Houbra viacqueeni) from Western Asia^ 

 purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



New Double Stars. — The discovery of new double stars^ 

 at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, by Mr. R. T. A, 

 Innes, is proceeding apace, and Dr. Gill publishes in Astr. 

 Nach., 3462, a fourth list of such objects. The number of 

 stars given is twenty-nine, making the total now discovered 

 259. The distances of the components range in this last list 

 from o"*5 to 5". 



New Variable Stars. — More than once in this column it 

 has been shown that useful astronomical work can be done 

 with instruments of only moderate size, backed up by steady 

 observation ; but no one has done more to emphasise this fact 

 than Dr. Anderson, of Edinburgh, first with his discovery of 

 Nova Aurigae, and later by a close scrutiny of stars to detect 

 any variability. From observations made with his 2 J -inch re- 

 fractor, he points out in Astr. Nach., 3461, that a star ir> 

 Aquila, not mentioned in the Bonn Durchviusterung, but whose- 

 position (possibly wrong to the extent of i') is R. A. igh. 31m. lov 

 Decl. -f 11° 23', has proved to be variable 



