92 



NATURE 



{Nov. 28, 1889 



may be carried by the wind. They close up tightly when 

 the rains come, so that they may not interfere with the placing 

 •of the seed close to the ground and its consequent germination. 

 Sooner or later they break from the seed. 



(5) Particular adaplatioiis contrived for particular classes of 

 insects, &'c. 



Ants are caught and killed at Kew by flowers of Eria stricta 

 (an orchid). The ants are too large for the flower, but they visit 

 it for the sake of the honey and get caught in the mucilage. 

 Thus both flower and ant suffer. 



(6) The mutual adaptation of plants and animals. 



In some instances animals and plants appear to strive with 

 each other, and, as the one develops a particular protective con- 

 trivance, the other likewise adopts some plan to counteract it 

 and annul its efficiency : thus the canari nut (the fruit of 

 Canai-iunt commune^ develops a hard shell which protects it 

 from most enemies, but the black cockatoo {Microglossus ater- 

 rimus) reciprocates by developing a wonderfully strong beak, 

 which appears indeed to be developed with a special view to the 

 ■canari nut. Insects also often imitate parts of plants for their 

 own benefit, e.g. leaf insects. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The Senate has formally thanked Prof. Sedg- 

 wick for his munificent gift towards the new buildings for 

 physiology, and the Museums and Lecture Rooms Syndicate 

 has been authorized to contract for the buildings to be imme- 

 diately begun. 



Tl)e following stipends have been augmented : Dr. Gaskell, 

 F.R.S., University Lecturer in Physiology, from ;^50 to ^^150 ; 

 Mr. Gardiner, University Lecturer in Botany, from ;^50 to 



;^IOO. 



The Special Board for Biology and Geology, recommend the 

 appointment of an additional University lecturer on botany, at 

 a stipend of ^100 per annum, after considering a strong appeal 

 for increased teaching power, from the professor and lecturers in 

 the subject. No teacher had practically been added since the 

 •departure of Prof. Vines for Oxford, and the regretted death of 

 Mr. Vaizey. 



Mr. W. Bateson, the Balfour Student, will give a course of 

 lectures during Lent term, on the study of variation — a distinct 

 and attractive novelty in the biological courses. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Journal of Science, November. — This number opens 

 with an interesting address by Mr. R. S. Woodward at the last 

 meeting of the American Association, on the mathematical 

 theories of the earth, in which emphasis is laid on the 

 incompleteness of those hitherto advanced. — From a simple 

 investigation, Mr. R. Hooke concludes that for planetary bodies 

 assumed to have the same surface density {i.e. those in which 

 solidification has taken place), the increase of the difference 

 between the mean and surface density is proportional to the 

 increase of the diameter. He tests this by computation of the 

 mean densities of the inner planets from their assigned diameters, 

 and further confirmation is derived from the case of Jupiter's 

 satellites. He also applies the law to computing the ultimate 

 diameters and mean densities {i.e. after solidification) of the 

 sun and outer planets. — Regarding Tschermak's theory of the 

 mica group as inadequate, Mr. F. W. Clarke offers the view 

 that all the micas, vermiculites, chlorites, margarite, and the 

 clintonite group, may be simply represented as isomorphous 

 mixtures, every constituent being a substitution derivative of 

 normal aluminium poly- or ortho-silicate. — Mr. E. O. Hovey 

 studies the low trap ridges (some six lines of them) of the East 

 Haven-Branford region in Connecticut ; he considers all the 

 trap intrusive, and the western dikes, at least, of later origin 

 than the tilting of the sandstone. — Mr. C. Lea contends that 

 subchloride, and not oxychloride, is the product of the action of 

 light on silver chloride. — Thei-e are also papers on an improved 

 standard Clark cell with low temperature coefiicient, by Mr. H. S. 

 Carhart ; on pseudomorphs of native copper after azurite, from 

 Grant County, New Mexico, by Mr. W. S. Yeates ; and on the 



relation of volume, pressure, and temperature, in case of liquids, 

 by Mr. C. Barus. 



The American Meteorological Journal for October contains : — 

 A reprint of Prof C. Abbe's paper on the determination of the 

 amount of rainfall, read before the recent meeting of the British 

 Association ; the object of the paper is to determine the possible 

 errors arising from the different shapes of the rain-gauges, and 

 their height above the pea-level and the ground, &c. — Tornado 

 statistics, by Lieut. Finley : {a) for the State of Louisiana, for 

 the thirty-seven years 1852-88, — the total number of storms 

 was only thirty, the month of greatest frequency being April ; {d) 

 for Texas, for the thirty years 1850-88, — the total number of 

 storms was ninety-six, the month of greatest frequency being 

 June. — Distribution of wind velocities in the United States, by 

 Dr. F. Waldo. In the Eastern States there is a principal maximum 

 and minimum in March and August respectively, with a secondary 

 maximum in autumn, and a winter maximum. The same regu- 

 larity whicli exists in the Eastern States does not occur in the other 

 districts, but the region of the Lower Lakes has a little more 

 wind in winter and a little less in summer than the region of the 

 Upper Lakes. He also investigates the secular variation at 

 selected stations, and finds that a period of about nine years is 

 not improbable. — An analysis of a paper, by Dr. H. B, Baker, 

 Secretary of the Michigan Board of Health, on the connection 

 of intermittent fever with atmospheric temperature. For some 

 years that Board has made a special feature of the collection of 

 vital statistics, and publishes valuable reports on sanitary matters 

 in general. 



The Botanical Gazette continues to publish valuable original 

 contributions to botanical science, especially in the department 

 of cryptogamy. The August number contains the first of a 

 series of Prof Farlow's notes on Fungi, and the September 

 number an illustrated paper on the Uredo-stage of Gymnospor- 

 angium, by Mr. H. M. Richards. — Mr. H. L. Russell also 

 contributes observations on the temperature of trees, illustrated 

 by a diagram ; his general conclusion being that the direct ab- 

 sorption of heat is the main cause of the higher temperature of 

 trees, and that it is largely dependent on the character of the 

 bark. 



A LARGE proportion of the journal of Botany for August, 

 September, and October, is occupied by the conclusion of Mr. 

 G. Murray's Catalogue of the marine Algte of the West Indian 

 region, and the continuation of Messrs. Britten and Boulger's 

 Biographical Index of British and Irish botanists. — Mr. W. 

 West's paper on the freshwater Algas of North Yorkshire is a 

 valuable contribution to a department of botany in which there 

 are but few workers ; it is illustrated by a good plate, and con- 

 tains descriptions of several new species. — -Mr. W. H. Beeby 

 contributes a useful account of some of the difficult and critical 

 British forms of Vio'a. — There are other papers of interest, 

 especially to students of British botany. 



The number of the Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano of 

 October is entirely occupied by papers read at the meetings of 

 the Italian Botanical Society. They are chiefly devoted to 

 records of local floras, and to descriptions of remarkable tera- 

 tological forms. — Signor U. Martelli contributes a note on the 

 injury inflicted on the peach by Taphrina deformans. 



Bulletin de la Socike Imperiale des Natziralistes de Moscou, 

 1889, No. I. — On the origin of the shooting-stars, by Th. 

 Bredichin (in French), being an application of the authors 

 theory of the comes anomales to the origin of shooting-stars. The 

 paper will be continued by another on the origin of periodical 

 comets. — On the Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits in Russia ; 

 Part I, on the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous deposits in 

 Russia and Great Britain, by Prof A. Pavloff (in French, with 

 three plates). The author's conclusions are to the effect that the 

 Upper Jurassic deposits of Russia are so intimately connected 

 with those of England that a common classification could easily 

 be established. Several fossil species are described and figured 

 on plates, three of them being new {Olcosieplianus blaki, O. 

 swindonensis, and O. stcnomphalus). — Zoological exploration in 

 the Transcaspian region, by N. Zaroudnoi (in French), being 

 notes of travel, full of interesting information about the nature 

 and fauna of the country. — On a natural way of penetration of 

 superficial water into the depths of the earth, by Stanislas 

 Meunier (in French). — On the Spargania of Russia, by K. F. 

 Meinshausen (in German). Ten species are described, two of them 

 {Sp. ratis and Sp. septentrionale) being new. 



