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NATURE 



[Feb, 27, 1879 



alive these echini were of a brilliant vermilion colour. 

 Salenia pattersoni spec, nov., is described as the 

 most exquisitely coloured of the living Salenidas, thus 

 far found ; the test was of a light cream colour, as 

 well as the shafts of the primary spines. These 

 are banded with a brilliant vermilion, the two colours 

 nearly equally divided. The secondary spines are also 

 cream-coloured, but separated at the base by dark violet 

 lines which extend from the apical to the actinal system. 

 Similar dark violet lines separate the genital and. ocular 

 plates. Cotioclyptis sigsbei is described as a magnificent 

 species, by far the most striking sea-urchin which A. 

 Agassiz had ever seen. The first time it was seen the 

 dredge brought up half a dozen of the huge, brilliant 

 lemon-coloured specimens. All these species, as well as 

 the remarkable Periaster limicola, are figured from pho- 

 tographs. Count Pourtalds describes a number of new 

 or rare forms of corals. As far as our present know- 

 ledge goes, he writes, no sea-bottom can rival in abund- 

 ance of deep-sea corals the West Indian. It is not at all 

 unfrequent for a single cast of the dredge to bring up a 

 dozen different species represented by more or less 

 numerous specimens of each. A very young specimen of 

 Holopus was dredged from a depth of 100 fathoms. It 

 has been sent for study to Sir Wyville Thomson, but a 

 beautiful figure by A. Agassiz is here given. Several new 

 species of Antedon are described by Pourtalds. A large 

 number of new species and two new genera of ophiuroids 

 are described by Theodore Lyman. The descriptions 

 are accompanied by excellent figures. 



United States Fish Commission. — Messrs. G. 

 Brown Goode and Tarleton H. Bean give an account of 

 some fifty species of fishes from the east coast of the 

 United States, some of which are new to science and all of 

 which are new to the fauna of that portion of the American 

 States. Among the more interesting of the new forms 

 may be mentioned Phycis chesteri, the largest specimens 

 measured without the tail about eight inches in length ; 

 they were taken off Cape Ann. A new species of Dr. 

 Giinther's genus Haloporphyrus was taken on the outer 

 edge of Le Have Bank at a depth of 400 to 500 fathoms. 

 Two specimens of iheizxt Remoropsis brachyptera{\^owe) 

 GiU, were obtained ; one was found clinging to the side of 

 a sword-fish, harpooned in the channel south-west of 

 George's Bank, and the other on the deck of a Halibut 

 trawler fishing to the north-east of George's Bank, at a 

 time when sword-fish were being taken on the trawls. A 

 specimen of Nemichthys scolopaceus was taken alive from 

 the stomach of a cod caught on the same bank. Atnia 

 calva is reported from St. John's River, Florida, and from 

 Spruce Creek, a tributary of Halifax River, about lat. 28°. 

 Its range has not hitherto been recognised south of 

 Charlestown, South Carolina, from whence Garden sent 

 specimens to Linnaeus {American Journal of Science and 

 Arts, January, 1879). 



American OEdogoniace^.— Dr. V. B. Wittrock has 

 just published a revision of the species of ffidogoniaceae 

 found in America, as far as they are known {Botaniska 

 Notiser \x\'g\ivi& af O. Nordstedt, November, 1878). The 

 list contains twenty-three species belonging to the genus 

 CEdogonium, and eight belonging to the genus Bulbo- 

 chaste. Cf these, nine are found in Greenland, five in 

 Pennsylvania, one in California, five in Mexico, three in the 

 West Indies, one in Venezuela, one in Bolivia, and seven in 

 Brazil. It would seem very certain that this number consti- 

 tutes but a small part of the species which will by further 

 investigations be discovered ; still it enables the author 

 to draw, with a considerably high degree of probability, 

 the following conclusions : — i. That the cedogoniaceous 

 vegetation of America differs but little from that of the 

 European. 2. That the species found towards the more 

 northern portion of this area are perfectly identical with 

 those to be met with in Northern Europe, while the 



species met with in the more southern portion of the 

 same area are either species quite different from those 

 met with in Europe, or, at most, extreme varieties of 

 European forms. Only one of the South American 

 species forms an exception to this {CEdogonium crispum 

 (Hass.), Wittr.), which would seem to be nearly a cosmo- 

 politan. 3. That the genus Bulbochaete has in America, 

 as in Europe, most of its species indigenous to the cold 

 temperate or arctic zone. Of the eight species known 

 from America, five are natives of Greenland. 



Chemico-Agricultural Stations in Italy. — 

 Stations for the scientific observations of subjects con- 

 nected with agriculture in its widest sense, have now 

 been for several years established throughout Italy. 

 These are under the general control of a Minister of 

 Agriculture. We have lately received the reports (Atti) of 

 the stations at Rome and Palermo, contributed by Prof. 

 J. G. Briosi ; they have, as might be expected, mostly to 

 do with the subject of the diseases of the vine and the 

 olive. Among the more important of these reports are 

 the following : On the Phytoptus of the Vine {Phytoptus 

 vitis), with figures ; an account of the Marciume of the 

 Vine {Albinia wockiand), with figures ; on a Fungoid 

 Disease attacking Lemons {Fusisporiitm limoni), with 

 figures. At Messina a lemon-tree, in good condition, of 

 fair size, will, it is reckoned, produce about 2,000 ripe 

 fruit each year. These fruits are sold at from twenty to 

 forty lire the thousand, according to size and quality, so 

 that a lemon orchard is of great value, and a good deal 

 of distress has been caused by the destruction of the 

 lemon crops by this disease. 



ASPARAGIN in Plants. — The physiological rdle and 

 distribution of asparagin in the plant kingdom have been 

 lately studied by Herr Borodin {Botanische Zeitung, 5 1 and 

 52, 1878). He states, as the result of his researches, that 

 whenever a vigorous part of a plant becomes poor in non- 

 nitrogenous substances, asparagin occurs as a product of 

 decomposition, and accumulates. This may be explained in 

 either of two ways : either the presence of non-nitrogenous 

 matters hinders the decomposition of albumen, while 

 these alone are decomposed ; or (conversely) in life 

 albumen is always decomposed and asparagin constantly 

 formed, but where carbohydrates are present albumen is 

 regenerated, and it is only where these are deficient that 

 asparagin accumulates. The former hypothesis supposes 

 different processes of decomposition in life according as 

 carbohydrates are present or not ; Herr Borodin thinks 

 it therefore the more improbable, and adopts the other, 

 doing so the more readily that the regeneration of 

 albumen from asparagin and carbohydrates certainly 

 occurs, and is necessary for the transference of the albu- 

 minous matters. Not all carbohydrates are adapted for 

 regeneration of albumen from asparagin, and therefore 

 asparagin may accumulate even when carbohydrates are 

 present. Such unsuitable carbohydrates are starch and 

 the oils, whereas glucose is the suitable form. 



THE PIC DU MIDI OBSERVATORY 



OUR readers may remember that early in the year 

 General de Nansouty, the hardy director of the Pic 

 du Midi Meteorological Observatory, was cut off from 

 communication with the world below, the severe weather 

 having so affected the telegraph as to prevent it from 

 acting. Fears were entertained for the General' s safety, 

 and M. Albert Tissandier resolved to organise a party for 

 the ascent of the Pic and the succour of the veteran 

 observer. An interesting account of this ascent appears 

 in La Nature, to which we are indebted for the accom- 

 panying illustrations. The snow-storm having somewhat 

 abated at Bagn^res-de-Bigorre on January 9, M. Tis- 

 sandier resolved to attempt the Pic next day, in company 

 with three of General Nansouty's usual guides. 



