March 8, 1877] 



NATURE 



419 



temal disease. It seems equally difficult to say, whether the 

 fungus is the cause or effect of the diseased leaf. As to reme- 

 dies, these appear to be expected rather from climatic influences 

 than from the sagacity of man, for all the propositions yet made 

 may prove satisfactory in the laboratory, but are impracticable 

 where any large area is to be operated upon." 



The subject of blight or disease affecting the plants in the tea 

 plantations of India has been brought prominently under the 

 notice of the Agri- Horticultural Society of India, a letter 

 having been addressed to the society to the effect that the 

 attacks of " blight and red spider having become of such a 

 serious nature on many tea-gardens both in Assam and Cachar, 

 but especially in the latter province, it is necessary that all 

 possible information, with a view of mitigating the evil, should 

 be obtained and made widely known," At a subsequent meet- 

 ing of the society the line of action proposed, subject to the 

 assistance of those interested in the matter, was to engage the 

 services of an entomologist from England for the period of two 

 years so that he might have time and opportunities to observe 

 and carefully study the character of the several kinds of blight 

 in their various localities, such observations to be published 

 under the auspices of the society. 



The introduction of the Carob {Ceratonia Siliqua) into the 

 Madras Presidency, a subject which occupied the attention of 

 the Agri-Horticultural Society of Madras a few years since, has 

 been again brought before the society. It is strongly recom- 

 mended for cultivation in countries suffering from periodical 

 droughts in consequence of its long roots penetrating a great 

 depth into the earth, and because of the large quantity of muci- 

 laginous saccharine matter contained in the pods, so that it 

 might be largely used for feeding cattle, horses, pigs, &c. It is 

 said, however, that although the seeds contain nitrogenous ele- 

 ments or flesh-making materials, they do not possess great 

 nutritive properties, and the seeds being small and hard they 

 are not easily masticated, and pass in their crude [state undi- 

 gested. 



A PECULIAR request (according to the Berliner 7'ageblatt) has 

 been made by the Society for Bird Protection to the General 

 Postmaster in Berlin, viz., to make arrangements so that birds 

 be not killed by the pneumatic post. The case is this : From 

 the large air-compressing steam-engines proceed chimney-pipes to 

 the roof, by which the required air is sucked in. The power of 

 this suction-apparatus is so great, that both small and large 

 birds, even pigeons, which happen to be flying over the tubes 

 when the engine is in action, are helplessly drawn in and 

 destroyed. 



Taking opportunity, lately, to observe with a Nicol's prism 

 an uncommonly fine rainbow, which spanned the Oesthal in 

 Baden Baden, M. Schiel found that with the prism in a certain 

 position, the colours disappeared completely, and the prism was 

 pretty dark. But on turning it through 90°, the bow appeared 

 again in all its brilliancy. The rainbow is therefore perfectly 

 polarised light. Several rainbows observed since have shown 

 the same behaviour ; but apparently only a very bright-coloured 

 rainbow presents dark on the field of vision with the correspond- 

 ing position of the prism. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past wecK include a Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus) 

 from India, presented by Mr. Thos. Dalby ; a Galapagan Tor- 

 toise ( Testiido elephantopus) from the Galapagos Isles, presented 

 by Mr. W, II. Henderson; two Herring Gulls (Zar«jar^^«/rt/;«), 

 European, deposited ; a Common Nuthatch {Sitta cmsia), Euro- 

 pean, purchased ; a Red Kangaroo {Maeropus ru/us), bom in 

 the Gardens. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Poggendorjf^s Annalen der Physik und Chemic, Erg'adzung 

 Band viii., Stiick 2. — Researches on the nature of the vowel 

 "clang," by M. Auerbach. — On the interference of reflected 

 light (concluded), by M. Lommel. — On the tension of liquid 

 films, by M. Sondhauss. — On a fundamental law in dioptrics, by 

 M. Most. — On the complementary colours of gypsum in polar- 

 ised light, by M. v. Kobell. 



Memoria delta Societh degli Spettroscopisti Italiani, November, 

 1876. — The paper by Prof. Young, of Dartmouth College, on 

 the displacement of the lines in the solar spectrum caused by the 

 sun's rotation appears here. Prof. Young used the spectra of 

 the sixth and eighth orders obtained by a grating of 8,640 lines 

 to the inch, a collimator of 2\ inches diameter, and 16 inches 

 focal length attached to the 9j inch equatorial. The observa- 

 tions were made chiefly on the D lines and the Ni line between 

 them giving a result of i "42 mile a second ; this exceeds the 

 result from ordinary observations of spots by o'34 mile, and the 

 author considers it a fact that the solar atmosphere really sweeps 

 on forward over the underlying surface. — Prof. Tacchini gives a 

 history of his journey up Mount Etna for the purpose of making 

 spectroscopic observations of the sun. The spectroscopic and 

 direct observations of the sun made at Palermo in October last 

 appear here, also the drawings of the chromosphere for May, 

 1875. 



December, 1876. — Father Secchi gives his 'catalogue of 444 

 coloured stars with notes on the spectra of the same. — Mr. 

 Huggins contributes a preliminary note on the photography of 

 stellar spectra, together with a drawing of the spectrum of 

 a Lyroe. — Observations of the lunar eclipse of September 3, 

 1876, by A, Dorna. — Observation of the Perseids made at 

 Palermo in August, 1876, by Prof. Tacchini and G. de Lisa, 



Morpholoqisches Jahrhiich, vol. ii. part 4. — On fossil vertebra 

 and teeth, by C. Hasse, dealing especially with fossil squatinas 

 from the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks. — On the development 

 of the auriculo- ventricular valves of the heart, by A. C. Bernays. 

 — On the segmentation of the ovum and formation of the blasto- 

 derm in Calyptrsea, by A. Stecker. — On the primitive groove in 

 the chick, by A. Rauber. — On the nasal cavities and nasal duct 

 of Amphibia, by G, Bom, seventy pages, three plates. 



Revue des Sciences Naturelles, vol. v.. No. 3, December, 

 1876. — Contributions to the natural history and anatomy of the 

 Ephemeridse, by N. and E. Joly, an important paper. — On par- 

 thenogenesis in Bombyx mori, by Carlo de Siebold. — On the his- 

 tology of the egg, by A. Villot, dealing with theoretical views on 

 the germinal vesicle and its history. There are also excellent 

 reviews of recent French zoology, botany, and geology, 



Zeitschrift filr wissenschaftliche Zoologie, vol, xxvii., part 4, 

 1876. — On the anatomy of the Ophiuroid, Ophiactis virens, by 

 H. Simroth, seventy pages, five plates. — On the structure of the 

 brain in Arthropods, a memoir describing the brains of Apis 

 inellifiea, Gryllus campestris, Gryllotalpa vulgaris, Catabus viol. , 

 and Astacus fluviatilis, by M. J. Dietl, of Innsbruck, thirty pages, 

 three plates. — On the transformation of the Mexican Axolotl 

 into Amblystoma, by Marie v. Chauvin. 



Reale Istiiuto Lombardo di Scienze e Letlere, Rendiconti, vol. 

 X. fasc. I. — On Arabic money in the numismatic cabinet of Milan, 

 by M. Ghiron. — On the coordinates of points and of lines in a 

 plane, and of points and planes in space, by M. Casorati. — On 

 two meteorological instruments invented by Angelo Bellani, by 

 M. Cantoni. — On special cases of anencephaly, with observations 

 on their etiology, by M. Sangalli. — On Helminthosporium vitis 

 (Lev), a parasite of the leaves of the vine, by M, Pirotta. — On 

 the phenomena which accompany the expansion of liquid drops, 

 by M, Cintolesi. 



Journal de Physique, February. — On a property of an electri- 

 fied surface of water, and on the polarisation of the electrodes, 

 by M, Lippmann. — On the phenomena of induction (con- 

 cluded), by M. Mouton. — Comparative pitches of sounds given 

 by various metals and alloys, by M. Decharme. — Experiments of 

 M, Ch, Lootens, S.I. — The movements of the aerialcolumn in 

 sonorous tubes, by M. van Tricht, S.I. — The electric proper- 

 ties of sodium and potassium at different temperatures, by MM, 

 Naccari and Beliati. 



