March 29, 1877] 



NATURE 



481 



Mr. Stanford has just published five more physical wall- 

 maps of the series noticed by us some time since. One chief 

 feature of these maps is their exhibition of the orography of 

 the respective countries, and we still think it would be an 

 improvement if the green could be dispensed with, as by 

 gas-light it and the blue of the water are indistinguish- 

 able. We are glad to know, however, that means are being 

 taken to remedy this in future issues, which we think may easily 

 be done by the use of various shades of brown ; when this is done 

 tlie maps will leave little to be desired. They are those of North 

 and South America, Africa, Scotland, and Ireland. Each map 

 is up to the latest date, and as physical maps, showing at the 

 same time all the main natural and artificial features of the 

 various countries, they must be quite a luxury to teachers and 

 students, and to all who have to consult maps. Africa es- 

 pecially is thoroughly satisfactory, and the compiler has wisely 

 abstained from following any theory as to the course of the 

 fragmental rivers west of Tanganyika, unless indeed one may 

 be led to infer that he believes Lake Chad to be the receptacle 

 of much of the drainage attributed to the Congo and the Ogove ; 

 if so, his theory, judging from the little that is known of the 

 rivers themselves, and the various elevations of the region so 

 clearly sho\vn in the map, is quite as probable as any other. 



M. Leverrier recently received a requisition from the 

 Chamber of Commerce of Marseilles for the establishment of a 

 special service for the Meciiterranean coasts, M. Leverrier re- 

 plied that the military government had established in Algeria a 

 special meteorological service which pertinaciously refused to 

 comply with the rules of the international service. Consequently 

 it was impossible for him to take advantage of Algerian observa- 

 tions so long as the special rules of the Algerian Meteorological 

 Service were not altered, and without Algeria no reliable service 

 could be established at Marseilles. 



The opening meeting for 1877 of the West Riding Consoli- 

 dated Naturahsts' Society will be held at Pontefract on Easter 

 Monday, April 2. 



We have to record the death, on the 9th inst., of Dr. John 

 Scott Bowerbank, F. R.S., so well known from his important 

 investigations on sponges. Dr. Bowerbank, born in 1797, in 

 London, commenced life as a distiller, but being attracted by 

 biological studies, subsequently devoted himself to them. In 

 1833 his first paper appeared in the Entomological Magazine, on 

 the circulation of the blood in insects, from which time numerous 

 papers by him have appeared in the Philosophical Alaqazine, 

 the Microscopical Journal, the Annals of Natural History, the 

 Philosophical Transactions and the Proceedings of the Zoolo- 

 gical Society, upon the geological and structural relations of the 

 Spongidre, upon Pterodactyles, upon the structure of the shells 

 of the Mollusca, and other less important points. Dr. Bower- 

 bank was a Fellow of many learned societies, with the 

 foundation of more than one of which he was intimately 

 associated, including the Microscopical, the Ray, and the 

 I'alreontological. 



The tomb of Croce-Spinelli and Sivel, the two Zenith 

 aeronauts, will be inaugurated at Pore la Chaise on April 4, 



The Annual Congress of the Socictcs Savantes will, as usual, 

 take place at Paris on April 3 and following days. 



A WEi.L-ATTENDED soircc was given by the Northampton 

 Naturalists' Society on Tuesday evening, March 6, in the 

 Science and Art Rooms of the Grammar School. A large 

 and valuable series of natural objects were displayed, many 

 of which had been collected during the past year. Amongst 

 those especially worthy of note were a splendid collec- 

 tion of eggs, exhibited by the Rev. G. Nicholson ; of but- 

 terflies, A. Perry, Esq. ; of plants, by G. C. Druce, Esq. ; and 



of fossils, by W. Hull, Esq., and C. Jecks, Esq. The opening 

 address was given by the Rev. R. Winterbotham, and short 

 addresses were delivered in the course of the evening, by the 

 Very Rev. Canon Scott, the Rev. W. F. Aveling, and B, 

 Thompson, Esq. A beautiful collection of photographs was 

 exhibited by R. G. Scriven, Esq., and II. Manfield, Esq., 

 under the superintendence of the Rev. S. J. W. Sanders, and 

 the attractions of the evening were still further enhanced by the 

 exhibition of several excellent microscopes, and other scientific 

 instruments, kindly lent by various gentlemen of the town and 

 neighbourhood. 



In " The Stone Age in New Jersey," by Dr. C. C. Abbott 

 (Washington, Government Printing Office), a valuable mass of 

 facts on the various implements and weapons found in that state 

 is collected and discussed, and illustrated by upwards of 220 cuts. 



Part 4 of vol. i. of the Proceedings of the West London 

 Scientific Association contains, among other interesting papcr.«, 

 one on Waves, by Prof. F. Guthrie, F.R.S. 



Among other matters that came before the German Ornitho- 

 logical Society at a recent meeting, mention was made by M. 

 Miitzel of an osprey which had lived eighty years in captivity on 

 a farm near Neu Damm. M. Schalow took up the question 

 whether in bad weather birds stop their migratory flight and 

 return, or not. He affirmed that they either went on or re- 

 mained for a time where they happened to be caught by the 

 weather. M. von Schleinitz, of the Gazelle, stated that several 

 individuals of Chionis minor had been brought from Kerguelen's 

 Land to St. Paul's. It remains to be seen on later visits to St. 

 Paul's whether the birds will still be found there. 



M. Decharme has been studying the comparative pitch of 

 sounds given by various metals and alloys. Cylindrical bars of 

 each metal were used, all of the same length and diameter 

 (20 cm. and I cm.). The metals examined rank as follows in 

 ascending series : — Lead (fa^, 690 vibrations), gold, antimony 

 and silver (the same), tin, brass, zinc, copper, cast-iron, 

 iron, steel, aluminium (fag, 2,762 vibrations). From lead to 

 aluminium there is thus an interval of two octaves. No simple 

 relations, sufficiently exact, were perceived between the pitch of 

 the sounds and the physical or chemical properties of the sub- 

 startces. M. Decharme's results differ considerably from those 

 of Wertheim. 



The circumference (not the diameter) of the exploring 

 balloons for meteorological purposes in Paris, referred to last 

 week, is ninety centimetres. They have an ascensional force of 

 about thirty grammes. 



Prof. Garrod illustrated his Royal Institution lectures by a 

 colossal model of a disarticulated human skull, not skeleton, as 

 we stated last week. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Puma {Felis concolor) from South America, 

 presented by Commander Stanhope Grove, R.N. ; a Nisnas 

 Monkey [Cercopithecus pyrrhonotus) from Nubia, presented by 

 Mr. B. C. Simpson ; a Burrhel Wild Sheep [Ovis burrhel) from 

 the Himalayas, deposited ; two Hairy Tree Porcupines [Sphin' 

 gurus villosus), two White-fronted Guans {Ptnelopejacucaca) from 

 Brasil, two Blue-bearded Jays (Cyanocorax cyanopogon) from 

 Para, two Turkey Vultures {Cathartes aura) from America, two 

 Upland Geese (Bernicla magdlanica) from Patagonia, three 

 West Indian Rails {Aramides cayennensis), a Common Boa {Boa 

 constrictor) from South America, two .Great Cyclodus Lizards 

 {Cyclodus gigas), a Stump-tailed Lizard {Trachydosaurus un- 

 gosus) from Australia, purchased ; a Zebu {Bos indicus) born in 

 the Gardens. 



