Dec. 26, 1889] 



NATURE 



181 



territories. At present this collection is seen to great dis- 

 advantage, but there is some prospect that it may soon be trans- 

 ferred to better quarters. A Parliamentary Committee has re- 

 commended that proposals should be submitted to Parliament 

 for the erection of a suitable building. 



The Public Free Libraries Committee of Manchester, in 

 their annual report, just issued, state that the success which has 

 so long attended the working of the public free libraries in that 

 city still continues in all departments. During the last twelve 

 months the number of readers and borrowers at the various 

 libraries and reading rooms {i.e., the number of visits they 

 made) reached an aggregate of nearly four millions and a half 

 (4,442,499), being over 70,000 in excess of the previous year. 

 The number of books used for home reading and for perusal in 

 the reading rooms was 1,649,741. In the preceding year the 

 number was 1,606,874, the increase being 42,867. The daily 

 average of volumes used in all the libraries was 4700. Of the 

 volumes issued to readers at the libraries, 336,058 were read in 

 the reference library, 507,964 in the reading rooms attached to 

 the branches, and 64,770 in the Bradford, Harpurhey, and 

 Hyde Road reading rooms. The number of volumes lent out 

 for home reading was 740,949. Out of these only sixteen are 

 missing. There are now 197,947 volumes in the libraries. 

 The committee express regret that the limited resources at 

 their disposal prevent the extension of branch libraries and 

 public reading rooms, but they trust that the Council will, 

 before long, enable them to take the necessary measures for 

 giving effect to the resolution of the Council passed unanimously 

 on December 21, 1887, with regard to- obtaining parliamentary 

 powers for the removal of the present restriction of the rate (a 

 \d. in the £) to be expended for library purposes. 



The following scientific lectures will probably be delivered at 

 the Friday evening meetings of the Royal Institution before 

 Easter, 1890:— January 24, Prof. Dewar, F.R.S., scientific 

 work of Joule; January 31, Sir Frederick Abel, F.R.S., 

 smokeless explosives ; February 14, Prof. J. A. Fleming, 

 problems in the physics of an electric lamp ; February 21, 

 Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S., magnetic phenomena; February 28, 

 Prof. C. Hubert H. Parry, evolution in music ; March 7, Francis 

 Gotch, Esq., electrical relations of the brain and spinal cord ; 

 March 14, Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., the glow of phos- 

 phorus; March 21, Prof. G. F. Fitzgerald, F.^.S,, electro- 

 magnetic radiation. On Friday, March 28, a lecture will be 

 given by Lord Rayleigh, F. R. S. 



On December 8, at 6.30 a.m., a severe shock of earthquake 

 was felt in Upper and Central Italy, Dalmatia, the Herzegovina, 

 and Bosnia. At Serajewo three shocks were felt, the direction 

 being from south-east to north-west. They lasted for five 

 seconds each. 



The inhabitants of the town of Reggio d'Emilia, in Upper 

 Italy, are very much alarmed by the activity of the volcano, the 

 Queccia de Salsa, which is situated about eight kilometres from 

 the town. During the last two or three weeks it has thrown up 

 lava, stones, and ashes. 



In the Comptes rendus of the French Academy of Sciences 

 for December 9, M. Angot has published an interesting paper on 

 the observations of temperature at the top of the Eiffel Tower. 

 The mean monthly maxima and minima for July to November 

 inclusive are compared with those recorded at the Pare Saint- 

 Maur. According to the usual decrease of temperature with 

 height, the tower observations should be about 2°'9 lower than 

 at the ground station, but the difference is much greater in sum- 

 mer during the day, and much less in winter during the night. 

 In calm and clear nights especially, the temperature has been 



found to be nearly 1 1° higher at the summit than at the base. 

 At the time of a change of atmospheric conditions, the change 

 is manifested some hours, or even days, at the higher station. A 

 striking instance of this occurred in November. After a period 

 of high pressure, with calms and easterly breezes, the wind on 

 the surface became strong, and shifted to south-south-west, and 

 temperature rose. But the change had manifested itself on the 

 tower on the evening of the 21st, and during the whole period 

 from the evening of the 21st to the morning of the 24th, the 

 temperature at the tower was higher than at the base, at some 

 times even exceeding 18°. Observations made by a " swinging " 

 thermometer at iih. a,m. on the 22nd showed that the inferior 

 limit of the warm current was approximately between 500 and 

 600 feet above the ground. 



The Third Report of the Meteorological Institute of Rou- 

 mania for the year 1888 shows that much progress is being 

 made, with very scanty means, thanks to the willingness of the 

 observers and to the voluntary assistance rendered in the pre- 

 paration of the observations for publication. The Institute has 

 been established only four years, and at the beginning of 1889 it 

 numbered 21 stations of various classes, in addition to 42 rainfall 

 stations. The observations are regularly published in the 

 Annales of the Institute, a quarto volume of about 600 pages, 

 about half of the volume being devoted to discussions, in French 

 and Roumanian. 



For a year past Mr. R. W. Schufeldt has been working at a 

 memoir on the morphology and life-history of Heloderma sus- 

 pectum, the well-known poisonous lizard of the south-western 

 part of the United States. This memoir is now nearly ready 

 for publication. Biologists have hitherto denied Heloderma even 

 the rudiment of a zygomatic arch, and Dr. Giinther, of the British 

 Museum, has said in his article * * Reptiles," in the ninth edition 

 of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" (p. 451), that "the skull of 

 Heloderma is very remarkable in that it has no zygomatic arch 

 whatever." We learn from Mr. Schufeldt that his recent dis- 

 sections of this lizard go to prove that such statements must be 

 qualified. Upon examining skulls of both old and young in- 

 dividuals of H. suspectum, he has found at least a very substan- 

 tial vestige of the arch in question. It consists of a freely 

 articulated, conical ossicle, standing on the top of the quadrate, 

 being moulded to the outer side of the posterior end of the 

 squamosal, with which it also freely articulates. It is seen to be 

 present upon both sides. That this is the osseous rudiment of 

 the hinder end of the zygomatic arch in this reptile, there cannot, 

 Mr. Schufeldt thinks, be the shadow of a doubt. 



At a recent meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union, 

 Mr. Jonathan D wight, Jun., read a paper on birds that have 

 struck the statue of Liberty, Bedloe's Island, New York 

 Harbour. He said, that, on account of its lighter colour, more 

 birds strike the pedestal of the statue than the statue itself. The 

 statue was erected too late in 1886 for the migratory birds. 

 It was first struck on May 19, 1887, then late in August, 

 when the lights were said to be put out by birds. The 

 first date at which birds struck the statue in 1889 was August 5, 

 when fourteen were killed. A few others were killed during the 

 month, and a considerable number in September and October. 

 October 24 was the last date at which birds were killed. The 

 whole number killed this year was 690, which was considerably 

 less than in 1888 or 1887. He found that every cold wave in 

 the early fall was followed by migratory birds flying against the 

 statue. Of the dead birds picked up this year, 60 per cent, 

 belonged to one species, the Maryland yellow-throats. The 

 remaining 40 per cent, included a great variety. 



At the meeting of the Scientific Committee of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society on December 10, Mr. Morris read a letter 

 addressed to the Director, Royal Gardens, Kew, by Mr. R. W. 



