Feb. 13, 1890] 



NATURE 



349 



his youth as a forest ofificer. That was more than 40 years 

 ago, before the time arrived for experts like Dr. Schlich and his 

 distinguished predecessor Sir Dietrich Brandis to come to the 

 country. He could therefore tell any of Dr. Schlich's students 

 who might be present that the life of a forester in India was not 

 only a career of importance, but that it was one full of interest 

 and of real enjoyment. The formation of the department in 

 which they would serve had justly been characterized by Sir 

 Richard Temple as one of the greatest achievements effected in 

 India during the Queen's reign. 



The Royal Society of New South Wales offers its med?,l and 

 a prize of £2^ for the best commnication (provided it be of 

 sufficient merit) containing the results of original research or 

 observation upon each of the following subjects : — (To be sent 

 in not later than May i, 1890) — The influence of the Australian 

 climate (general and local) in the development and modification 

 of disease ; on the silver ore deposits of New South Wales ; on 

 the occurrence of precious stones in New South Wales, with a 

 description of the deposits in which they are found. (To be 

 sent in not later than May i, 1891) — The meteorology of 

 Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania ; anatomy and life 

 history of the Echidna and Platypus; the microscopic structure 

 of Australian rocks. (To be sent in not later than May i, 1892) 

 — On the iron ore deposits of South Wales ; on the effect which 

 settlement in Australia has produced upon indigenous vegeta- 

 tion, especially the depasturing of sheep and cattle ; on the 

 coals and coal measures of Australasia. The competition is not 

 confined to members of the Society, nor to residents in Australia. 



M. LiGNiER has been appointed Professor of Botany to the 

 Faculty of Sciences at Caen ; and Mr. G. C. Druce, author 

 of the " Flora of Oxfordshire," succeeds Dr. Schonland as 

 Curator of the Fielding Herbarium at Oxford. 



Herr Jadin, of Montpellier, has undertaken a voyage for 

 the investigation of the algal flora of the islands Mauritius and 

 Reunion ; and Prof. P. L. Menyhardt, who has been appointed 

 to a mission on the Zambesi, is intending to make a collection of 

 plants in the region between the Zambesi and the sources of the 

 Congo. 



For the purpose of growing plants under more natural con- 

 ditions than those usually afforded by the soil and surroundings 

 of ordinary botanic gardens, M. G. Bonnier, the Director of the 

 Botanic Garden in Paris, has obtained from the Director for 

 Higher Education in Paris the grant of a piece of land in 

 the Forest of Fontainebleau, as an annexe for experimental 

 culture. It has been placed under the special charge of M. 

 CI. Duval. 



At the meeting of the Royal Botanic Society on Saturday a 

 sweet-scented fern, from the Society's garden, was exhibited. 

 The perfume, which closely resembles that of fresh hay, is 

 retained after the frond is dry, and lasts for many months, if 

 not years, imparting its fragrance to anything in contact with it. 

 The secretary thought it might be grown as a source of perfume 

 by amateurs, if not commercially. As yet it appeared to be 

 little known in collections of exotic ferns. Some fine blooms of 

 scarlet anemone, gathered from plants growing in the open air 

 in Rutland, were shown by Mr. T. H. Burroughes. 



It is a good sign that the present building of the Bethnal 

 Green Free Library has become quite inadequate for the needs 

 of the institution, and that much larger premises are, if possible, 

 to be erected. The sum of ;i^20,ooo is required, and many 

 donations have already been received or promised. We may 

 note that a largely attended meeting at the Bethnal Green Free 

 Library lately started as tudents' union, for the study of various 

 branches of science and art, in connection with the evening 

 classes. 



In his " History of Barbados," published in 1848, Sir 

 Richard Schomburgk says of the Barbados monkey that it was 

 found in large numbers by the first settlers. From the appear- 

 ance of a living specimen he considered it "to be Cebus eapu- 

 cinus, Geoff., the Sai or Weeper, or a very closely allied 

 species." In the current number of the Zoologist Col. H. W. 

 Feilden presents a wholly different view. He asserts that the 

 Barbados monkey is an Old World form, the Green Monkey, 

 Cercopithecus callitrichus. Is. Geoffr., and that its original 

 habitat is West Africa. " This," he says, " undoubtedly proves 

 its introduction to Barbados by the Guinea trading-ships." 

 Col. Feilden cannot discover any warrant for Schomburgk's 

 statement that this animal was found in large numbers by the 

 first settlers on their arrival. The subject is interesting because 

 of its bearing on the general view set forth by Col. Feilden, 

 that Barbados has had no continental connection since the intro- 

 duction of its present flora and fauna, but has received its 

 tc-restrial animals and plants from the effects of ocean currents, 

 winds, accidental occurrences, or by the agency of man. 



The Council of the Ceylon Asiatic Society, in its last Report, 

 urges on the Government the importance of systematically col- 

 lecting, transcribing, and publishing the manuscripts of the 

 ancient literature of the island which are scattered about in the 

 libraries of temples, as well as in private houses. The researches 

 which have already been made by individuals, or on behalf of 

 the Government, show that manuscripts of great value may be 

 found. During the last three years, private exertions have 

 secured 69 of these ; but what is needed is that the work should 

 be undertaken as carefully and systematically as in India, where 

 the duty of preserving the ancient literature of the country has 

 been recognized by the Government, and where the collection 

 of ancient manuscripts has for years past been conducted by 

 a large staff of officers. 



Sugar seems to be losing its attractions for Lepidoptera. 

 Mr. Joseph Anderson writes to the Entomologist from Chichester 

 that his experience agrees with all that has been written on this 

 subject lately. In the trees surrounding his house, and in those 

 of his neighbour's garden, he has good sugaring grounds, and in 

 former years they brought him a satisfactory return for the 

 trouble expended on them, his captures numbering about fifty 

 different species. "Now," he says, "for three or four years 

 past, night after night, sugaring has been almost of no avail. 

 Can it be a case of inherited instinct ? And are the rising 

 generation of moths getting too wise to be trapjei by the 

 sugaring baits ? " 



With the aid of an apparatus called a periscope, the sub- 

 marine boat Gymnote was lately, it will be remembered, piloted 

 safely in Toulon harbour. This enables the officer directing the 

 movements to have a wide view around ; and it consists of a 

 vertical telescopic arrangement, with a lenticular total reflection 

 prism at the top held between the tube and a cover above. 

 After reflection in the prism, the rays converge at a certain point, 

 and are received by a lens, the principal focus of which 

 coincides with this point ; thus a vertical cylindrical beam is 

 formed, which meeting a mirror below, inclined at 45°, is 

 directed horizontally to the eye-piece. A diaphragm, having a 

 small radiating tongue, and moved by a tangent screw, enables 

 one to intercept the view of the vertical plane in which the sun 

 is, the tongue being brought to coincide with the plane. The 

 system is said to work admirably. 



Experimenting lately on the sense of smell, Dr. Zwarde- 

 maaker, 0/ Utrecht, devised an olfactometer, which consists 

 simply of a glass tube with upward curving part to be inserted 

 in the nostril. A short movable cylinder made of some 

 odoriferous substance fits over the outer straight end of the tube. 



