March 15, 1877] 



NATURE 



439 



361 feet. The lake has only a small and shallow outflow, the 

 river Zanga, running into the Araks. The fauna of the lake and 

 of its shores is varied. Spongil/tc, not determined as yet, are 

 very numerous. Among the Vermes the most common is the 

 Nef-helis vidgaris ; the Crustacea are represented by a variety of 

 microscopical forms and by a species of Gamtnarus, this species 

 being probably all but the only representative of that kind, as 

 the dredging was not pursued to depths greater than 15a feet. 

 The snails are remarkably numerous, and all belong to species 

 common in European lakes [Limtncus s/a^nalis, L. ovatus, L. 

 variculariiis, and Plaitcrbis carinattis) ; they differ only by their 

 unusually fine and brittle shales. The common frog (a local 

 variety) and the Bufo viridis are numerous. The number of 

 fishes is immense, but they belong to only five species, of which 

 three are new. These three, whicli occupy an intermediate posi- 

 tion between the Salmo fario and the 6". trutta and 6". lanestris^ 

 will be described by Prof. Kessler under the names of Sahiio 

 ischan, S. hegarkufii, and S. bodschac. The fourth species of 

 fishes is very nearly allied to the Capceta fmtduhis. Pall., a 

 species most characteristic of Central Asian waters. The fifth 

 is akin to the Barbus cyri, De Fillipi ; it inhabits mostly the 

 short and cold rivers running from the mountains. 



Ants. — Mr. McCook has recently brought before the Academy 

 of Natural Sciencesof Philadelphia, an account of his investigations 

 on Formica riifa. He finds that ants descending the tree-paths, 

 with abdomens swollen with honey-dew, are arrested at the foot 

 of the trees by workers from the ant-hill. The descending ant 

 placei its mouth in contact with that of the food-seeker, the 

 two being reared on hind legs. Frequently two or three of its 

 fellows are thus fed in succession by one ant, mostly com- 

 placently, but sometimes only on compulsion. Mr. McCook 

 made many experiments, which lead to tlie conclusion that ihere 

 is complete amity between the ants of a large field, embracing 

 some 1,600 hills, and many millions of creatures. Insects from 

 hills widely separated always fraternised completely. A number 

 of ants from various hills were placed in an aitificial nest, and 

 harmoniously built galleries and jointly cared for the cocoons. 



Ne"A' Forms of Haliphysema. — The second half of the 

 second volume of Biologitche Studien, by Dr. E. Haeckel, has 

 just reached us. It contains an account of a wonderful family of 

 minute forms belonging to the genera Haliphysema and Gastro- 

 physema, and some supplementary remarks on the Gastrsea 

 theory. Six plates illustrative of the new forms accompany this 

 part. The genus Halipjhysema was established by Bowerbank 

 for H. tumanowiczii and //. ramnlosum. The species described 

 as H. echinoides seems almost certainly to be that described in 

 1870, by Perceval Wright, as VValliclin, but the two new species 

 described as //. fritnordialc and //. globigerina, the latter with 

 a mosaic of Globigerina shells laid over it, are most extraordinary 

 and interesting forms. The presence of a pore area in the tiny 

 form figured in the previous note seems to points to its no 

 having any close affinity to this new family of Haeckel. 



NOTES 



PuoF. Sir C, Wyville Thomson, F.R.S,, has been ap- 

 pointed Rede Lecturer at Cambridge for the ensuing year. Sir 

 Wyville Thomson will deliver a lecture in the Easter term. 



A Botanical Congress assembles at Amsterdam on the 12th 

 of April. 



The Iron and Steel Institute meets in London on March 20 

 and following days- On Wednesday, the 21st, at the rooms of 

 the Institution of Civil Engineers, Dr. Siemens, F. R.S., will 

 deliver his inaugural address, and the Bessemer Medal will be 

 presented to Dr. Percy. A number of important practical papers 

 are set down for reading. 



Capt. Ali.en Young has presented to the Museum of the 

 Royal College of Surgeons a collection of the skulls of Esqui- 

 maux obtained by himself and the surgeon of his vessel, Mr. 

 Horner, during the last cruise of the Pandora. The honour of 

 knighthood has been conferred upon Capt. Young. 



Sir John Lubbock's Ancient Monuments Preservation Bill 

 was, we are glad to say, read a second time in the House of 

 Commons on Wednesday week. We hope none of its important 

 provisions will be impaired in the select committee to which it 

 has been referred, but that it will be passed essentially as it 

 stands. 



The American Chemist for December, 1876, contains an 

 interesting Inaugural Address to the American Chemical Society 

 on " Science in America," by Dr. J. W. Draper. The Address 

 on a similar subject by Vice-President C. A. Young, at the last 

 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, has been printed separately. In both addresses the 

 important work done by Americans in various departmeirts of 

 science is justly insisted upon, and the future of science in 

 America spoken of in hopeful terms. Men of science in England, 

 we are sure, will heartily endorse all that Professors Draper and 

 Young claim on behalf of their countrymen as original workers 

 in science, and there is every reason to believe that there is a 

 bright future for science in America. 



As soon as the news that Mr. Edward, the Scottish Naturalist, 

 had resigned the curatorship of the Banff Museum spread over 

 the country, he was pressed to accept various situations, among 

 others one in Aberdeen and another in Durham, the latter in the 

 University of that city. He has been obliged to decline all these 

 offers owing to the state of his health. He had been solicited 

 by the Meteorological Society of London to become one of their 

 observers. This request he had owing to the same cause 

 declined. The work is, however, congenial, and does not 

 demand a change of residence, and we believe he has yielded to 

 a second very pressing application. 



The Sedgwick Prize, founded in honour of the late Prof. 

 Sedgwick, for an essay on a geological subject, has been adjudged 

 to Alfred John Jukes-Browne, B. A., of St. John's College, Cam- 

 bridge. The subject of the essay is "The Post-tertiary deposits 

 of Cambridgeshire, and their relation to deposits of the same 

 period in the rest of East Anglia." The subject for the Sedgwick 

 Prize to be awarded in 1880 is the best essay on "The Fossils 

 and Palseontological Affinities of the Neocomean Beds of Upware, 

 Wicken, and Brickhili." The prize is open to the competition 

 of all graduates of the University of Cambridge who have resided 

 sixty days during the twelvemonth preceding the day the essays 

 must be sent in, that is, before October i, 1880. 



A PRELIMINARY meeting has been held in Paris by some influ- 

 ential followers of the Positive Philosophy for the purpose'of esta- 

 blishing a course of lectures according to the system of Auguste 

 Comte, as modified by Littre. Important resolutions were 

 passed as to the teaching of the several sciences which, according 

 to the theoretical view adopted by Comte, constitute the encyclo- 

 pedic education. At the next meeting resolutions will be pro- 

 posed for meeting the expenses of the institution and regulating 

 its administration. 



An arrangement has been made with the Cassel publisher, 

 Theodor Fischer, whereby the hitherto very expensive publi- 

 cation Bahcotitographica, will be published in yearly volumes at 

 not more than forty-five shillings each. 



The Balloon Commission of the French Government, .styling 

 itself "Commission pour les Communications par VoieAerienne," 

 has become a standing institution, and includes within its pro- 

 vince carrier pigeons as well as oeronauts and balloons. 



