220 



NATURE 



I'/une 27, 1878 



■measuring more than 10 feet 6 inches in the skin. He saw 

 the skin of one at Dinagepore, over 12 feet in length ; this was 

 also no doubt stretched. Col. J. Macdonald has killed a tiger 

 of 10 feet 4 inches. He says : " I do believe tigers have excep- 

 tionally reached 12 feet." 



The Hon. R. Drummond, C.S., killed a tiger 11 feet 9 inches 

 in length before being skinned. 



Col. Shakespeare killed a tiger of 1 1 feet 8 inches. 



In regard to the allusion to BufTon's tiger of 15 feet, and 

 Hyder Ally's of 18 feet, I refer to but to express my distrust 

 of them. 



It is needless to adduce further evidence. I repeat that though 

 male tigers-over 10 feet may be uncommon, they do occasionally 

 (and I said no more) attain the greater size. 



June 17 J. Fayrer 



Zoological Geography ,. 



In the annual address of the President of the Geological 

 Society of London, just issued, an extract is given by anticipa- 

 tion from the forthcoming work of Dr. Gunther, on the gigantic 

 land-tortoises, wherein that naturalist discusses the question of 

 the geographical connections by which the tortoises of the 

 Mascarine region may have been related to those which are found 

 in the Galapagos Islands. 



As neither in this extract nor in the presidential discussion do 

 I find any allusion to the circumstance that, according to the 

 paper of Dr. Litton ForV es, in the journal of the Geographical 

 Society for 1877, Didunculus strigirostris,2. near congener of the 

 Mascarine Dodo, is living in Upolu, one of the islands of the 

 Navigator group, I venture to call attention to it. Since this 

 island lies in 14° S. lat., and is distant 130° of longitude, in a 

 direct line eastwards from the Mauritius, towards the Galapagos, 

 the presence on it of this ground -bird seems to show that the 

 ancient geographical connection from the Mafcarene to the 

 Galapagos Islands was eastwards across the Indian and Pacific 

 Oceans, rather than, as Dr. Giinther thinks, westwards by way 

 ' 6f Africa, the Atlantic, and South America ; for by it more 

 than three-fifths of the 210" of longitude, which in the easterly 

 ■direction separates the Mascarine region from the Galapagos, 

 and presents a difficulty to Dr. Gunther, are bridged over. 



The Navigator group, together with a multitude of other 

 islands in the South Pacific, which extend to within 40° longitude 

 of the Galapagos, appear to be small remnants of that continent 

 of vei'y remote geological age of which Australia, New Guinea, 

 and New Zealand constitute larger remnants ; and perhaps I 

 may be allowed to observe that the suggestion made by Dr. 

 Giinther in reference to the extinction of the gigantic tortoises, 

 viz., that they may be supposed to have once spread over the 

 whole of the large area which connects the places of their present 

 occurrence, but to have been unable to survive the arrival of man 

 or the large carnivora, is precisely that \^hich, many years ago,^ 

 I offered as the explanation of the extinction of the great wing- 

 less, or ground -birds, wherever they were unprotected from these 

 enemies by insulation. This formed part of the argument by 

 which in i860 I endeavoured to show to the Geological Society 

 that most of the land -tracts of the southern hemisphere were 

 remnants of an ancient continent, which had become insulated at 

 different times during the secondary or mesozoic period. 



Searles V. Wood, Jun. 



Martlesham, Suffolk, May 27 



Time and Longitude 



In Nature, vol. vii. p. 68, the Rev. J. Pearson asked, " In 

 what part of the globe and in what meridian does October 20 

 end and October 21 begin ? " 



The question was answered by several correspondents. Still 

 the following may be interesting as a matter of fact in connection 

 with Mr. Latimer Clark's letter in your issue of May 9. 



The date was fixed in many of the Pacific Islands by the early 

 missionaries, who, sailing eastward from Australia, kept the date 

 of the eastern hemisphere after they had crossed the meridian of 

 l8o°. This imaginary boundary line cuts through the Fiji Islands, 

 the principal islands of the group being in the eastern hemi- 

 sphere. It would, of course, be inconvenient to have two dates 

 in one group of islands, especially as the meridian of 180° passes 

 through the north-east point of Vanua Levu, the island of 



' Quarterly yournal of the Geological Society for i860, p. 329 ; Phil. 

 Mag. for March, April, and May, 1862. 



Taviuni, and another small island. Such an arrangement might 

 possibly lead to the necessity (if a stickler for strict accuracy 

 should build his house across the line) of a person going from 

 one day to another by passing from one part of the house to 

 another. It would, to say the least, be awkward to sleep during the 

 night of October 20-21 and on arising on the morning of October 

 21, by simply walking into the breakfast-room, to cross the 

 boundary-line, and find oneself back into the beginning of 

 October 20. 



The Tongan and Samoan Islands are a few degrees east of the 

 meridian of 180° ; consequently they ought to be a day behind 

 the neighbouring Fiji group. But hitherto their chief commercial 

 intercourse has been with Australia and New Zealand ; and this, 

 for the sake of convenience, has led to the date of the eastern 

 hemisphere being retained up to the present time, although a 

 change has been advocated in Samoa more than once. 



In consequence of the present arrangement these little islands 

 have the honour of leading the world in the matter of time, 

 whereas they ought, according to their geographical position, to 

 wind up the rear. There is, however, one drawback to the 

 honour : all our dates, when compared with those of the rest of 

 the world, need to be put back twenty- four hours. This should 

 be remembered in connection with observations of natural phe- 

 nomena. To obtain local time we add 1 2 hours 33 minutes to 

 G.M.T. instead of subtracting ll hours 27 minutes. 



S. J. Whitmee 



New Lunar Crater 



I was much interested in the account which your last number 

 (vol. xviii. p. 197) contained of the presumably new lunar crater 

 discovered by Dr. Klein in the Mare Vaporum. Is it really 

 necessary to ascribe the formation of such a crater to present 

 volcanic action ? It seems to me that this singular phenomenon 

 of the birth of a new crater may be more likely owing to such 

 action having, in long-past ages, left (as in all probability it 

 would leave) extensive caverns beneath the visible surface of our 

 satellite. Such caverns might, in consequence of the gradual 

 changes which the action of the sun's rays, alternating with 

 intense cold, muf t produce on the lunar rocks, occasionally give 

 way. A crater-like cavity would then be caused on the moon's 

 surface by this subsidence, such as are not unfrequently seen in 

 mining districts where old workings have fallen in. The fact 

 that the new crater is elliptical, and not round, seems to add 

 to the probability of its having been caused by some such 

 "settling" proccFS. If the crater were produced by active 

 volcanic agency, it would surely be circular, or nearly so. I do 

 not find this mode of quasi-crater formation suggested in Nas- 

 myth's book, nor, so far as I can remember, in any other. Is 

 it not, however, a possible cause of change on the surface of our 

 satellite? Edward Greenhow 



Cardiff, June 22 



Opening of Museums on Sundays 



I AM delighted to find from my friend Prof. Dyer's letter tha 

 I was mistaken in the belief that the Maidstone Museum was 

 " the first and only scientific museum that has yet been opened 

 on Sunday in the United Kingdom." 



Still the fact that "the Botanical Museum of the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew," is not closed when the Gardens are opened to 

 the public on Sunday, a fact which I had overlooked, although 

 important enough in itself, is not for a moment to be compared 

 with the deliberate opening of the Maidstone Museum by the 

 town authorities. 



Had the Botanical Museum not been attached to the Royal 

 Gardens there can be no doubt that it would still be closed on 

 Sunday, as the British and South Kensington Museums are ; the 

 opening of one of these institutions would be a parallel case to 

 that of Maidstone. 



I am happy to be able to state that a motion for rescinding the 

 resolution under which the Maidstone Museum was opened on 

 Sunday has been defeated in the Town Council. 



May I express a hope that there are many towns which will 

 not long remain behind Maidstone in this matter. 



10, Bolton Row, • W. H. Corfield, 



Mayfair, W. Chairman of the Committee of the 



Sunday Society 



P.S. — I have just been reminded that the Natural History 

 Museum in Dublin has been open to the public on Sundays for 



