I50 



NATURE 



[Bee. 14. 1876 



In a paper in the Cleveland (U.S.) Herald, November 14, 

 entitled " Archseological Frauds," Col. Whittlesey examines 

 some of the recent so-called prehistoric finds in some parts of the 

 United States, and comes to the conclusion that most of them 

 are extremely suspicious ; among these is the well-known Grave 

 Creek inscription. 



The New York Aquarium, some account of which we gave 

 recently, is publishing a fortnightly journal. Of course it is essen- 

 tially popular, but, while keeping an eye to the success of the 

 aquarium, it gives considerable information concerning its in- 

 habitants. 



We have received from New South Wales several papers 

 which show that there is a creditable amount of activity in con- 

 nection with science in that colony. We recently published a 

 brief account of two meetings of the Royal Society of the 

 colony, and from the rules, list of members, and other docu- 

 ments in connection with that body, which have been sent us, we 

 have hopes that it will become an important centre of scientific 

 influence and culture. We believe that the recent development 

 of the Society is greatly due to the "energy of the hon. secretary, 

 Prof. Liversidge. " New South Wales ; its Progress and 

 Resources," is the title of a 'paper prepared by the authority of 

 the Commissioners for the Philadelphia Exhibition, and giving, 

 in brief space, an interesting account of the rapid progress of 

 the colony. Along with this is a mineral map of New South 

 Wales, showing the localities of the principal minerals, the back 

 being utilised for the tabulation of some important statistics. 

 As text to this map is a long and valuable paper by Prof. 

 Liversidge giving a complete account of the minerals of the 

 colony. Finally, we have by the same gentleman, a " Report 

 of the Sugar-Cane Disease in the May River District, Queens- 

 land." 



We noticed some time ago the opening of Mr. Rooke Pen- 

 nington's local museum at Castleton, in Derbyshire. We are 

 informed that the result has been a great [impetus to scientific 

 study in that and the neighbouring Peak villages, and that a 

 course of lectures has been arranged in connection with the 

 museum. The first lecture will be delivered by Mr. Ralph 

 Betley, F.G.S., who will take as a subject "Water." Mr. C. E. 

 De Ranee will give the second. 



A VERY valuable and interesting collection of silver ores from 

 Chili and Bolivia was sold by auction the other day by Mr. 

 Stevens at his sale rooms in King Street, Covent Garden. Some 

 of the specimens realised very high prices, one piece of red silver 

 about the size of an orange being bought by Mr. H. Ludlam for 

 200/. , another about a quarter the size, with very perfect crystals, 

 was secured by Mr. Bryce M. Wright, the mineralogist, for 100 

 guineas, and the remainder, comprising about 100 small speci- 

 mens, were sold at proportionate prices ; we believe Mr. Wright 

 bought nearly a third of the collection, ivhich was probably one 

 of the finest ever brought to England. 



This year Dr. Hermann Muller was accompanied to the Alps by 

 one of his pupils, Ed. Gaffron, who collected, prepared, and care- 

 fully mounted fine specimens of all those Alpine flowers which Dr. 

 Miiller has observed and described, or will describe, in Nature, 

 in his articles on the Fertilisation of Flowers by Insects. Twenty 

 complete collections have been made, and the young collector is 

 anxious to sell them in order to raise funds to accompany Dr. 

 Miiller next summer. No doubt a number of our readers will 

 desire to possess such a collection, which may be obtained by 

 writing to Eduard Gaffron, Realschule, Lippstadt. The price, 

 we believe, of a single collection is fifteen shillings. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Patas Monkey [^Cercopithecus ruber) from 

 West Africa, presented by Mr. J. W. Feather ; an Australian 



Crane {Grus australasiana) from Australia, presented by Mr. 

 H. Roberts ; two Crested Guinea Fowls {Numida cristata) from 

 West Africa, presented by Mr. Daniel R. Ratcliff ; two King 

 Pairakeets {Aprosmictus scapulatus) from New South Wales, 

 presented by Miss E. Rigby ; a Short-eared Owl {Otus brachy- 

 otus), European, presented by Mr. W. R . Stanley ; a Snowy 

 Owl (Nyctea nivea), European, presented by Mr. John Kendall ; 

 a Brown Capuchin {Cebus fatuellus) from South-east Brazil ; a 

 Kinkajou {Cercoleptes caudivolvulus) from South America, a 

 Royal Python {Python regius), a West African Python {Python 

 sebce) from West Africa, deposited. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Linnean Society, December 7. — Mr. G. Bentham, vice- 

 president, in the chair. — Mr. Francis Day read Part I. of the 

 " Geographical Distribution of the Fresh-water Fishes of India." 

 This contribution aims towards solving the vexed question ot 

 whether the fauna of Hindostan is mostly African or Malayan. 

 The author first separates the true fresh-water spscies from those 

 which enter rivers from the sea for breeding or predacious 

 purposes. Out of nine families of Spiny-rayed fish (Acan- 

 thopterygians), only two are likewise found in the African 

 region, but one of these is in Madagascar, which is doubtfully 

 African ; the other is also found in the Malgy Archipelago, 

 which possesses representatives of eight out of nine families. 

 Each of the forty-five known species is then followed out, and 

 the author considers that the Indian and Malayan fauna (of the 

 group in question) are essentially identical, whereas the species 

 are scarcely represented in Africa. The fresh-water fishes of 

 Ceylon, the Andamans and Nicobars, he believes, are also strictly 

 Indian, whilst as these fishes cannot be spread except by line ot 

 fresh-water communication, it thus appears highly probable that 

 these islands were at one period connected to the continent of 

 India. Moreover, certain forms exist in Malabar which are 

 absent from the rest of India, but reappear in the regions of 

 Chittagong or Siam.— Mr. J. G. Baker gave the substance of an 

 exhaustive memoir on a general systematic arrangement of the 

 Iridacefe (the Iris family). Nearly all the Iridaceas inhabit 

 temperate regions, and may be grown successfully in the open 

 air in this country. Some are among our most familiar garden 

 genera— for instance, the Crocus, the Iris, and the Gladiolius. 

 Altogether about 700 species and sixty-five genera are now 

 recognised. In his present classification the structure of the 

 perianth mainly guides the author to adopt three primary divi- 

 sions — (i) Ixieas, (2) Irideag, and (3) Gladioleae, the above 

 cominoii garden plants serving respectively as typical examples 

 of these groups. The three divisions in question are again sub- 

 divided into — (a) T)xo%&ha.v\ng bulbs zvith free staniens ; (b) Those 

 having bulbs with monadelphous stamens ; (f ) Those wanting 

 bulbs, but with free stamens : (d) Those also devoid of bulbs with 

 monadelphous stamens. As regards distribution, 312 genera are 

 found at the Cape ; in Europe and North Africa, 94; Temperate 

 Asia, 89 ; Tropical America, 82 ; Tropical Africa, 56 ; Sou'h 

 America, 34; Australia, 31 ; and Polynesia, I. — The Rev. W. 

 A. Leighton communicated a description of eleven new British 

 Lichens, seven of these belonging to the genus Lee idea, one to 

 Odontotrema, and three to Verrucaria. — The Chairman passed 

 some remarks on a folio treatise concerning the structure and 

 culture of the quinine-bearing trees {Cinchona) in our East 

 Indian Plantations, by I. E. Howard, F.R.S. — Mr. T. Christy 

 exhibited specimens of the so-called Black Coral {Antipathes) 

 from the Philippines, referring to its commercial value. — Thirteen 

 gentlemen were elected Fellows of the Society. 



Zoological Society, December 5. — Dr. E. Hamilton, vice 

 president, in the chair. — A letter was read from Count T. Salva- 

 dori, announcing that a newjspecies of Paradise-bird, of thejgenus 

 Drepanornis, had been discovered near the most inland point ot 

 Geelvink Bay, New Guinea. — A communication was read from 

 Mr. Andrew Anderson, containing some corrections of and addi- 

 tions to previous papers on the Raptorial Birds of North 

 Western India. — Mr. Francis Day read a paper on the fishes 

 collected by the Yarkand Mission, in 1873, to which the late 

 Dr. Stoliczka was attached as naturalist. The paper gave an 

 outline sketch of the fresh-water fishes of Hindustan, Afghan- 

 istan, Western Turkestan, Yarkand, Tibet, and Cashmere. The 

 author showed that the principal fishes of Yarkand belong to a 



