402 



NA TURE 



\_AugUSt 2 2, 1889 



force of westerly winds in latitude 38°, in the lower and upoer 

 strata. The volume concludes with an article on Combe's 

 apparatus for testing chronometers. 



Fp.om the statistics of the Education Department in India 

 during the past year, it appears that the percentage of those 

 •of school-going age who actually attended was 11 '8 as com- 

 pared with 107 the preceding year. The total attendance 

 increased about 120,000 on the preceding year, but the numbers 

 at the training-schools fell from 5716 to 4761. Year by year 

 the Mahometan pupils have increased, and during the past year 

 their numbers were 804, 485 as against 752,441 in 1886-87. The 

 total expenditure on education has increased from 2,52,41,414 

 rupees in 1886-87 to 2,61,91,280 rupees in 1887-88; but the 

 indirect expenses — that is, the cost of inspection, buildings, 

 scholarships, &c. — fell from 54,11,098 rupees in 1886-87 to 

 52,81,471 in 1887-88. The fees increased from 65,29,958 

 rupees to 72,94,023 rupees. Except in the circumstance that 

 the numbers attending the training-schools have declined very 

 much, the Government thinks that everywhere marks of great 

 progress are shown. The expenditure by local bodies on educa- 

 tion has also increased from 37,14,579 rupees in 1886-87 to 

 46,41,551 rupees in 1887-88. 



A Swedish paper gives an account of some experiments 

 made by Captain R. von Miihlenfels in Carlskrona in storing 

 ■live fish, his object being to discover the maximum degree of 

 confinement they could bear without deteriorating in quality. 

 With this aim he placed 1300 kilogrammes of live cod in a cask, 

 •covered within and without with asphalt tar, and of about 52 

 cubic metres in content. The cask was firmly fixed in a strea-n 

 •of fresh running water. During the first few weeks of their con- 

 finement the fish grew thinner, and had deteriorated in quality. 

 -At the end of six weeks, however, it was found that those 

 which remained had much improved by their captivity. 



The French Jotirnal fficiel r&ceniXy contained a report whi ch 

 Prof. Edmond Perrierhad sent in to the French Government on 

 the subject of the best means of protecting fishermen against 

 porpoises. Although the depredations of these creatures have 

 been exaggerated, it is certain that they do considerable damage, 

 •especially on the Mediterranean coasts of France, by tearing the 

 'nets. For at least a quarter of a century past, efforts have been 

 made to lessen the numbers of the porpoises by ofiFering a reward 

 per head, and by other remedies. In 1865 the Government 

 invited the fishermen themselves to organize a seinenet fishery 

 for porpoises, and they were offered special nets, and sums of 

 from 5 to 25 francs for each animal. It was, however, found 

 in practice that as soon as the porpoises felt themselves to be 

 .surrounded, they simply jumped over the seine- nets and were at 

 large again. Some years later the fishermen of Cannes, Saint 

 Tropey, and La Ciotat petitioned Government to lend them a 

 gun-boat, filled with torpedoes, for the purpose of firing at the 

 porpoises. This was done, and the cannon and the torpedoes 

 Fcared away the porpoises for about eight days, but they scared 

 away the fish as well, so that there was no fishing for at least a 

 week. The porpoises, moreover, are too numerous and too agile 

 to be shot, one by one, in an effective manner. The report 

 sums up that the employment of artillery against porpoises is 

 perfectly useless, that a reward for killing them singly is equally 

 unavailing, and that the only thing to do is to encourage the 

 ^shermen to unite in chasing the porpoises, and in forming a 

 mutual insurance guarantee against their depredations. In the 

 meantime the Department of the Marine might continue to in- 

 ■demnify, to a certain extent, the proprietors of any nets that 

 have been very seriously injured. 



A FRUITFUL study may be made of the sociology of small 

 sections of a community. M. Dumont finds in the rural com- 

 munes of France much individuality as regards density, wealth, 



mobility, birth, marriage, and death rates, &c. We will give a few 

 facts from his interesting paper (Rev. Scient.). Unlike what 

 usually occurs near large towns, the eleven rural communes in 

 the outskirts of Caen are with one exception (Mondeville) being 

 depopulated. Great mobility in the rural populations is generally 

 associated with a low birth rate, great fixity with a high one. 

 Examples of a low birth rate occur in the communes near Caen 

 (13 to 17) ; on the other hand, the natality is high in some of the 

 pDor and miserable communes of the Coles-du-Nord (40 to 41). 

 Side by side in the same department, and even the same canton, 

 are very different birth rates. For the nine c:)mmunes of Paim- 

 pol (C6tes-du-Nord), some 20,000 inhabitants, the rate varies 

 from 20 to over 30. In Bretagne, with a generally high binh 

 rate, there are isolated communes with a very low one ; and two 

 communes are cited, which are apparently much alike, and 

 where subsistence is drawn from the sea, but the birth rate of 

 oneis35-i, that of the other 217. In the canton of Isigny 

 (Calvados) the birth rate was in general steadily low throughout 

 the century till ten or twenty years ago, when there was a re- 

 markable rise. The marriage rate in Ile-de-Re is considerably 

 above the average for France, while the fecundity of marriage has 

 of late been going down. But one commune, the small town of 

 Saint Martin, shows a recent decline of its marriage rate (25 per 

 cent, in three decades) while the constancy of its low birth rate 

 points to an increased fecundity of marriage. The death rate in 

 many communes (those of Douvres, e.g.) is now much greater 

 than early in the century. The increase of illegitimacy and high 

 mortality of infants are often obviously the cause of a rising death 

 rate. 



Considering the progress of biology. Dr. Dlising remarks 

 (in a recent number o{ Htimboldt) that for 25 years the efi nt of 

 zoology has been mainly to determine the descent of animals by 

 means of their morphological features. The flourishing of 

 morphology has been favoured by the discovery of a large num- 

 ber of lower forms of animal life. But the time is not far off 

 when it will become more and more difficult to discover new 

 animals, and those known will have been efficiently described. 

 Investigation will therefore be directed more to the mode of life, 

 which, in the case of most animals, is but little known. This 

 demands long observation and a special talent of observation, 

 which is quite different from that required by morphology. 

 Several investigators have entered this sphere, studying especially 

 the higher animals ; but most continue in the direction impressed 

 on zoology by Darwin. The prevailing tendency is exemplified 

 in the founding of a Professorship of Phylogeny at Jena. And 

 it is a remarkable fact that the present occupant, Prof. A. Lang, 

 is one of those who are leaving the older paths for bioligy, as 

 shown by his recent work, which is entitled " On the influence 

 of a fixed mode of life on animals, and on the origin of non- 

 sexual propagation through fission and budding," 



The Kew Bulletin for August consists of a full account of the 

 fluted scale-insect {Icerya purchasi, Maskell), which is described 

 as one of the most destructive pests injurious to plants. Of late 

 years it has made its appearance in South Africa, New Zealand. 

 and California. The best account of the insect has been pub 

 lished by Prof. Riley, and the results of his inquiries are made 

 easily accessible in the Btdletin to a wide circle of readers. 



Mr. Wray, Curator of the Museum of Perak, in the Malay 

 Peninsula, communicates to the Perak Government Gazette a 

 note on the mango weevil, a pest which has lately excited some 

 alarm in various parts of the East. Mr. Wray describes it as 

 a small beetle infesting the mangoes in Perak, particularly the 

 introduced varieties, which has been examined and found to be 

 identical with the mango weevil of India, known to science as 

 Cryptorhynchtis niaiignifera of Fabricius. It is a small dark 

 rusty-grey insect about a quarter of an inch long, and, though 



