March 6, 1879] 



NATURE 



419 



times in China. When a man of distinction was buried 

 in China in former times, a certain number of servants 

 were buried with him. Now, figures made of pasteboard 

 and paper, about three feet or so high, are burnt at the 

 funeral service, in small furnaces provided for the pur- 

 pose in the temples, together with cartloads of similar 

 pasteboard gifts, which are thus sent by the survivors for 

 the use of the dead in the next world. Earthenware 

 figures were similarly buried with great men in old times 

 in Japan. 



" The pasteboard heads of these funeral servants and 

 retainers are painted with streaks, some of which are put 

 on in almost exactly the same style at the angles of the 

 eyes as those of modern Japanese actors. It seems a 

 fair conjecture that the streaks on these heads (Fig. 5) 

 are a direct survival of an actual former savage form of 

 painting which was once in vogue in China, probably 

 used to make fighting-men hideous. It is well known 

 that primitive customs survive in connection with funerals 

 all over the world wnth extreme tenacity. The numerous 

 interesting survivals existing in the case of English 

 funerals are familiar." 



In connection with colour and decoration, we must 

 draw the attention of breeders of poultry to the important 

 experiment on sexual selection suggested on p. 373. Mr. 

 Moseley in fact proposes to test the existence of a pre- 

 ference for colour on the part of hen-birds, by variously 

 dyeing and manipulating the colours of two of more cock- 

 birds kept with her. 



The last chapter is one of the most interesting in the 

 book, since here Mr. Moseley does not compress his 

 wonderful richness of material into the short space which 

 is necessary where he adopts the method of telling the 

 reader all that he saw and thought about in one locality 

 after another of the long list visited by the Challenger. 

 Here he launches out more fully into discussion and gives 

 a summary, intended for the general reader, of the most 

 striking features presented by the life of the ocean surface, 

 of the deep sea, and of the colony of cockroaches, rats, 

 and other animals and plants which established them- 

 selves or were introduced on board-ship. 



The significance of colour in marine animals is very 

 suggestively treated, and the origin and use of phos- 

 phorescence likewise considered in an original manner. 

 He says (p. 590) : — 



" The light emitted by phosphorescent animals is quite 

 possibly in some instances to be regarded only as an 

 accidental product, and of no use to the animal producing 

 it ; although of course, in some cases, it has been turned 

 to account for sexual purposes and may have other uses 

 occasionally. There is no reason why a constant emission 

 of light should be more beneficial than a constant emission 

 of heat, such as takes place in the case of our own bodies, 

 and it is quite conceivable that animals might exist to 

 which obscure heat rays might be visible, and to which 

 men and mammals generally would appear constantly 

 luminous.' ' 



The concluding paragraph contains a suggestion which 

 could be carried into effect without expense by the Govern- 

 ment, and there can be no question as to the naturalist 

 best fitted to direct such an undertaking. Mr. Moseley 

 says : — 



" The urgent necessity of the present day is a scientific 

 circumnavigating expedition which shall visit the least 

 known inhabited islands of the Pacific, and at the same 

 time explore the series of islands and island groups which 

 yet remain almost or entirely unknown as regards their 

 botany and zoology. These promise to yield results 

 of the highest interest, if only the matter be taken in 

 hand in time, before introduced weeds and goats have 

 destroyed their natural vegetation ; dogs, cats, and 

 pigs, their animals and their human inhabitants have 

 been swept away, or have had their individuality merged 

 in the onward press of European enterprise. There is 



still, to the disgrace of British science, even in the 

 Atlantic Ocean, an island, the fauna and the flora of 

 which are as yet absolutely unknown. The past history 

 of the deep sea, of the changes of depression and eleva- 

 tion of its bottom, is to be sought to a large extent in the 

 study of the animals and the plants inhabiting the islands, 

 which rear their simimits above its surface. These 

 insular floras and faunas will soon pass away, but the 

 deep-sea animals will very possibly remain unchanged 

 from their present condition long after man has died 

 out." 



Besides numerous woodcuts, Mr. Moseley' s book is 

 illustrated by two coloured plates of antarctic icebergs, 

 and a track-chart of the world, with contour-colours of the 

 sea-bottom. A very copious and carefully prepared index 

 is appended. Throughout the book the references to 

 literature of all kinds bearing upon the myriad topics 

 touched upon are very abundant, and form one of the 

 most intrinsically valuable features of the work. 



E. Ray Lankester 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES 



From the third annual Report of the Forest Meteoro- 

 logical Stations of Germany, being the Report for 1877, 

 we learn that this system of inquiry into the influence of 

 forests on weather and climate now includes fourteen 

 stations scattered over a region extending over 7° of lati- 

 tude and 5^ of longitude, the stations being at heights 

 ranging from 10 to 3,051 feet above the sea. The instru- 

 ments and observations have been planned on satisfactory 

 and comprehensive principles, and in a few years results 

 eminently ad rem may be looked for. In the meantime 

 the thermometric observations point to highly important 

 results. Each station has three sets of thermometers for 

 air temperature, similarly protected — one set in the wood, 

 the second set high up in the crown of a tree, and the 

 third set in an open space outside the wood, while earth 

 thermometers are placed both in the open and in the 

 wood, on the surface of the ground, and at depths of 6, 

 12, 24, 36, and 48 inches. The results show in every 

 case a lower air temperature inside the wood as com- 

 pared with the open country outside, the mean difference 

 amounting to i°'3. As regards the temperature of the 

 surface of the ground, the mean deficiency in the wood 

 shaded by the trees is 2°"5, an amount which gradually 

 diminishes with the depth to 2''"o at 48 inches, the lowest 

 depth observed. It would be a problem of great interest 

 to ascertain how deep this cooling of the earth's surface 

 extends when it is screened by trees from solar and ter- 

 restrial radiation. What are called the "true means" 

 of atmospheric pressure are calculated from the observa- 

 tions at 8 A.M. and_2 P.M., the formula being 



VIII. X2-fII. XS 



Since the stations range in height from 10 to 3,051 feet, 

 and otherwise differ in their physical conditions, it is 

 scarcely necessary to point out that the method of reduc- 

 tion adopted is very faulty. 



Some years ago a good deal of wTiting appeared in the 

 periodical press depreciatory of the climate of Rome on 

 account, as alleged, of the exposure of that city to the pesti- 

 lential malaria of the Campagna. Many of the opinions 

 then expressed will not bear scrutiny when confronted with 

 the facts of the mortality and health of Rome. It was 

 to counteract these opinions, which obtained wide cur- 

 rency, that a book entitled " The Times Newspaper and 

 the Climate of Rome," by S. A. Smith, was recently pub- 

 lished. The author has brought to his task the experi- 

 ence of a twenty years' residence, by which he has beeu 

 enabled to sketch familiarly and with general truthful- 

 ness the broad features of its climate in its hygienic rela- 



