Dec. 13, 1877] 



NATURE 



133 



Dardanelles, just published by Mr. Stanford, will be extremely 

 useful to those who desire to follow, with intelligence, further 

 movements, military or diplomatic. 



Mr. Heighway's handbook of "Practical Portrait Photo- 

 graphy " (London, Piper and Carter), has reached a second 

 edition, into which some improvements have been introduced. 



TllE death is announced of Mr, John G. Anthony, who for 

 same years has had charge of the conchological department of 

 the Cambridge Museum. He was one of the party accompanying 

 Prof. Agassiz in his celebrated scientific expedition to BraziL 



The number of French communes receiving the daily warn- 

 ings of the international service for agricultural purposes is 

 increasing daily ; the death of Leverrier has not destroyed 

 that extraordinary movement. It is said the twenty districts 

 into which Paris has been divided, will very soon have the 

 daily warnings posted at'each of their respective mairies. Ac- 

 cording to a saying attributed to M. Dumas, ' The existing 

 meteorology had had -t own plebiscitum. " 



Prof. J. Plateau, of Ghent, has reprinted (from the Pro- 

 ceedhigs of the French Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, 1876) a paper on the question, Is the instinct of insects 

 deceived by artificial riowers ? As far as the series of experi- 

 ments performed by him — rather few in number, but apparently 

 carried out with great care — can ba relied on, although insects 

 may be attracted from a distance by the bright colours of arti- 

 ficial flowers, they are never tempted by the resemblance to 

 alight on them in the hope of obtaining food from them. He 

 concludes, therefore, that insects make use of some other organ 

 than that of sight in the selection of the flowers which they 

 visit. 



Prof. E. Morren, of Liege, has issued the fifth annual 

 edition of his " Correspondance Botanique," which contains a 

 complete list of botanical gardens and museums, and the occu- 

 pants of botanical chairs throughout the world. Even adding 

 a number of "unattached" English botanists whose names 

 are given, it is instructive to compare the number engaged in 

 botanical research in Great Britain with that in France or 



Irermany, or even in Italy or Russia. 

 A BRIEF report of the third annual conference of the Crypto- 

 amic Society of Scotland, held at Dunkeld in October last, has 

 een published, from which it is evident the meeting was success- 

 il. The first fasciculus of the " Fungi Scotici Exsiccati" will 

 be published in January. Dr. Buchanan White, Perth, will 

 receive orders ; no subscribirs names cxa be received after the 

 20th inst. 



We have received Part 2, 1876-77, of the Transactions of the 

 Cumberland Association ol Literature and Science, which con- 

 tains a number of scientifii: pipers of cons derable value. 

 Among these are six original papers cummunica'ed to the socie- 

 ties connected with the Association during the session, and 

 selected by the Council for publication. Two of the<e will 

 interest the scientific reader: "Jonathan Otley, the Geologist 

 and Guide," by Mr. Clifton Ward, and "Notes on the Migra- 

 tory Birds of the English Like District," by Mr. John BitketC. 



The seventh annual report of the Leeds Naturalists' Club 

 and Scientific Association speaks in the most favourable terms of 

 the continued progress of that society. 



In the MonaUberuht of the Prussian Academy of Sciences for 

 July, which has just appeared, we notice papers by H. Anver-, 

 "On the Results of the Transit Observations with Bradley's 

 Quadrant;" by H. Websky, "On the Horn Mercury from el 

 Doctor in Mexico;" by Prof, du Bois Reymond, Prof. Peters, 

 and Prof. Mobius, " On the Amphibious Collections made by 

 Dr. Sachi >,'uiing his la*e trip to Venezu.la,"' 



In Ac Atti della Reale Academia del Lined at Rome, some 

 interesting investigations are described, which were made by 

 Messrs. A. and G. De Negri at the Chemical Laboratory of the 

 Genoa University, on the purple dies of antiquity. The authors 

 have thoroughly investigated the subject ; after an elaborate 

 account and an enumeration of the various historical data with 

 regard to the molluscs from which the ancients obtained thtir 

 purple colours, they enter into a discussion of the chemical and 

 optical properties of these substances, the methods of dyeing with 

 them, the adulterations found in them, and various other detail} 

 concerning them. We must refer our readers to the original 

 treatise for further particulars, as our space will not permit us to 

 enter into them. The paper is accompanied by a number of 

 plates, giving the spectra of the colours obtained irom species of 

 the genera Applysia and Murex. The same volume of this 

 publication contains an excellent account, by Signor C. Bagnis, 

 of the fungi species Pucdnia, illustrated by no less than eleven 

 well-drawn plates. 



The Piscicultural Institution of Schwerin has recently made 

 some important experiments with a view to ascertain whether 

 the artificial culture of river Crawfish {Astacus fluviatilis) is 

 possible on a large scale. The experiments were entirely suc- 

 cessful. In the spring of last year some 700 crawfish with ova 

 were placed into two circular ponds of only six feet diameter, 

 and for each animal a separate hole had been constructed. At 

 the end of November the ponds were drained in order to separate 

 the young crawfish from the old ones. It appeared that of the 

 latter only three or four were crawling about at the bottom of 

 the pond while all the others had occupied their respective 

 dwellings. The young were of the size of a bee and extremely 

 lively ; they were taken out of the ponds and already on the 

 following day could be fed artificially with carrots and meat. 

 Many a land or garden proprietor could thus make crawfish- 

 culture a lucrative pastime at very little cost, particularly since 

 the consumption of these crustaceans increases largely every 

 year. 



The last number of the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnolo^ie contains a 

 most valuable and elaborate review of the entire ethnological 

 and anthropological literature of 1876, prepared by Prof. W. 

 Koner. Over 1,000 pamphlets, periodicals, and books are 

 referred to, and as few subjects are handled ia a greater variety 

 of languages than those in question, the labour of compiling 

 such a report can easdy be imagined. 



We have received the third (final) part of Herr Axel Blytt's 

 elaborate Flora of Norway, which is published by order of 

 the Royal Norwegian Society of Science--, and bears the title, 

 "Norges Flora ; eller Beskrivelser af de i Norge vildtvoxende 

 Karplanter" (" Flora of Norway; or, Description of the Wild 

 Plants in Norway.") 



A CORRESPONDENT asks where he can find a description of 

 the mode of drying sections of tree?. He has a transverse sec- 

 tion, three inches thick, of an elm tree, and he wants to dry it 

 so that it may be cut in veneer when ready. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Diana Monkey {Cercopithecus diana) from 

 West Africi, presented by Mr. Walter Mayhew ; a Rhesus 

 Monkey {Alacacut erythrceus) from India, presented by Mr. R. S. 

 Cox ; two White Storks ( .'iconta alba), a Common Heron 

 {Ard^a ctnerea), a Greater Black-backtd Gull (Larus marinus), 

 European, presented by Mr. C. Clifton ; a Hobby {Hypotriorchis 

 subbuteo), captured at sea, presented by Mr. W. Renney ; two 

 Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoos {Cacatiia sulphurea) from the 

 Moluccas, presented by Mrs. Roberts ; seven Gelada Baboons 

 (Cynocephalus gelada) from Abyssinia, four Barbary Turtle- 

 Ddves ( Turtur risorius) from North Africa, deposited ; two 

 Schlegel's Doves (Chakopelia puella) from West Africa, 

 purchased. 



