August J, 1878] 



NATURE 



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other countries, effective measures ought to be taken for its 

 thorough investigation. 



The British Medical Association meets at Bath from August 6 

 to 9. 



Near Pombonne (France) the incisor of a mastodon has just 

 been discovered in a sand-pit at a depth of about a metre. It 

 measures 2*95 metres in length, its base is 45 centimetres in 

 diameter, and the whole weighs some 250 kilogrammes. The 

 ivory at the point is particularly well preserved. 



The General Meeting of the German Anthropological Society 

 will take place at Kiel on August 12-14. Prof. Fraas, of Stutt- 

 gart, will speak on the drawing- up of a prehistoric map of 

 Germany ; Prof. Virchow, of Berlin, on the statistics of the 

 shapes of skulls in Germany ; and Prof. Schaaffhausen, of Bonn, 

 on the compilation of a general catalogue of all the anthro- 

 pological material in Germany. 



The Geologists' Association have arranged for an excursion 

 to the Boulonnais on August 5, and five following days, which, 

 judging from the admirable programme, promises both pleasure 

 and profit to those who join it. 



Dr. Schliemann is at Constantinople, and intends resuming 

 his excavations in the Troad if he can obtain from the Porte 

 fifty soldiers as a guard against robbers. From Berlin it is 

 stated that a summary account of the German excavations at 

 Olympia says that the number of marble objects found during 

 the last three winters is 904 ; of bronzes, 3, 734 ; of terra 

 cottas, 904; of inscriptions, 429; and of coins, 1,270. All the 

 more important ruins have been photographed, and the third 

 volume of the official account is about to appear. An exhibition 

 of all the casts taken will shortly be opened at Berlin. 



The Jardin d'Acchmatation of Paris offers, during the present 

 year, numerous opportunities for ethnological study. The 

 latest arrival is a party of Guachos from the Pampas of South 

 America, consisting of six men, three women, and a child. 

 They are accompanied by a complete collection of the animals 

 of the Argentine Republic, and by seventeen wild horses. The 

 capture of the horses at full gallop with the lasso fonns their 

 chief exhibition. 



A second edition of Hooker's standard "Student's Flora of 

 the British Islands," has just been published by Macmillan and 

 Co. ; several emendations have been introduced. 



We alluded recently to the remarkable record of earthquakes 

 preserved through so many centuries in Japan. Mr. Hattori, of 

 Tokio, has lately described an ingenious seismograph, which was 

 invented by one Choko, 1,750 years ago. It consisted of a 

 cylinder 8 feet in height, ornamented by various characters and 

 designs. The upper part was encircled by a series of eight 

 dragon's heads, in the open mouth of each of which, a copper 

 ball was lightly balanced. The interior of the cylinder was 

 occupied by a system of rods and springs, so delicately joined 

 that the slightest trembling of the earth would serve to push a 

 ball from a dragon's mouth. Immediately below each dragon's 

 head was a frog looking upward, with his mouth likcMise wide 

 open, to receive the balls. The sound of the falling ball would 

 call attention to the phenomenon, and the direction of the earth- 

 quake would be revealed by the particular ball dropped. This 

 seismograph correctly recorded earthquakes, which were felt 

 strongly at a distance, but were too feeble to be noticed by the 

 senses in the immediate vicinity. 



The African traveller, Hildebrandt, recommends strongly, in 

 the Korrespondenzblatt der afrik, Gesellschaft, the use of petroleum 

 for those travelling in the tropics, as a protection against insects. 

 Occasional applications to the face and hands ensured entire 

 freedom from mosquitoes, and the same method sufficed to 



preserve horses and cattle against the deadly attack of the 

 Dondorobo gadfly, which so often cripples the movements of the 

 explorer. Petroleum, likewise, protected the natural history 

 collections of the traveller from ants, moths, &c. 



The contributors to the Zdtschrift fiir wissenschaftliche 

 Zoologie have just completed the issue of a supplemental volume 

 of 634 pages, following on their thirtieth volume, as a testi- 

 monial offering to Carl Theodor von Siebold on the fiftieth 

 anniversary of his doctorate, April 22, 1878. Prof, von 

 Siebold was for long the chief conductor of this most important 

 journal, having now associated with him as active editor Prof. 

 Ehlers. The festival volume is remarkable for the number and 

 eminence of the contributors, and the importance of their con- 

 tributions. There are more than twenty authors, including 

 Haeckel, R. Leuckart, Ehlers, Oscar Schmidt, von Thering, 

 Forel, Stiela, Weismann, Simroth, F. Leydig, Salensky, Carl 

 Vogt, Mobius, Repiachoff, and L. Graff. Leydig on the 

 Amphipods and Isopods, Mobius on the movements of flying 

 fish through the air, Haeckel on the phylogeny of the Echino- 

 derms, Flogel on the brains of insects, may be mentioned as 

 memoirs of the most valuable kind. 



Messrs. Longmans have sent us vol. iv. of " lire's Die 

 tionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines," edited by Mr. Robert 

 Hunt, F.R.S. This volume is supplementary to the preceding 

 three, and it is apparent that an earnest attempt has been 

 made to record all additions, improvements, and new applica- 

 tions of value. 



We have received from Messrs. Maclure and Macdonald the 

 first four parts of a beautifully and faithfully executed series of 

 Portraits of Distinguished Men, among which are the portraits 

 of several men of science — Sir Joseph Hooker, Prof. Owen, Dr. 

 Allen Thomson. The future parts will contain other portraits of 

 men well known in the scientific world. Each portrait is 

 accompanied by a suitable notice, and the work as a whole 

 deserves hearty encouragement. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Macaque Monkeys {Macacus cynomolgus) 

 from India, presented by Dr. Adcock ; a Burrowing Owl {Speo- 

 hyto cunicularia) from America, presented by Dr. Geo. E, P. 

 Nixon ; a Green-winged Dove {Chalcophaps indica) from India, 

 presented by Capt. Otho N. Shaw ; six Common Guillemots 

 {Uria troile), British Isles, presented by Sir Hew. Daliymple, 

 Bart. ; a Common Nightingale {Daulias luscinia), European, 

 presented by Mr. Gee ; five Great Bustards ( Obis tarda), a 

 European Bearded Vulture [Gypaelzis barbafus), a Spanish 

 Imperial Eagle {Aquila adalberti ), a Bonelli's Eagle {Nisa'etus 

 fasciatus), a Booted Eagle {Nisaetus pennatus), two Lanner 

 Falcons {Falco lanarius) from Southern Spain, a Red and Blue 

 Macaw [Ara macao), a Blue and Yellow Macaw {Ara araratma) 

 from South America, deposited ; an Orang-outang {Simia 

 satyrus) from Borneo, a Coati (Nastia nasica) from South 

 America, two American Flying Squirrels {Sciuropterus volu- 

 cella) from North America, received in exchange. 



THE MOVEMENTS OF FL YING FISH 

 THROUGH THE AIR 



THESE movements form the subject of an interesting paper 

 recently contributed by Prof. Mobius to the Zdtschrift fiir 

 wissenschaftliche Zoologie (Band xxx., suppl., p. 343 ; see Natur- 

 forscher, June 8, 1878). From his own observaitions (madedurmg 

 a voyage to Mauritius, vi& Suez, and back by the Seychelles) 

 and the observations of others, he describes the principal features 

 of the phenomenon thus : — 



The exocceti dart with great velocity out of the water without 

 regard to the direction of the wind and the course of the waves. 



They do not, during their flight, make any regular fluttering 



