March 14, 1878] 



NATURE 



.^91 



the end of its tendrils, and as it climbs up a support each new 

 tendril is enal)led by its power of seeking for darkness rather 

 than light to find out little dark crannies in which to place its 

 feet. On the other hand a bryony climbs by seizing anything it 

 can get hold i>f, and as each tendril reaches out towards the light 

 the whole plant will tend to be dragged towards the lighter side 

 of the bush or hedge on which it clambers. 



It looks as if the case might be put thus : Given the fact that 

 light produces some kind of movement, the convenience of the 

 plant shall decide whether it be towards the light or away from it ; 

 or m other words, grant the plant the power of knowing where the 

 centre of the earth is, and grant it the power ot knowmg where 

 the light comes from, then the plant itself can decide what course 

 of growth is most advantageous.^ 



( To be continued, ) 



NOTES 

 The subscription for M. Leverrier's statue is progressing 

 favourably. A sum of 4,2CX3 francs has been already collected. 

 The subscribers up to the present moment number thirty-five, 

 almost all of them belonging to the French Institute. M, Cohen, 

 of Antwerp, sent l,ooo francs. Other large sums are expected 

 soon from different parts. 



It is stated that M. Faye has declined to stand for the direc- 

 tion of the Paris Observatory, unless it is agreed to retain at the 

 observatory the International Meteorological Office. It is very 

 probable that the long spoken of Meteorological Institute will 

 now be establishei j at all events a solution of the pending 

 question will soon be adopted by the government. 



M. Dumas announced to the Paris Academy of Sciences at 

 its sitting on March 4 that an anonymous donor offers a prize of 

 6,000 francs to be awarded in 1880 to the person who makes 

 the most useful application of M. Pasteur's researches to the 

 healing art. 



A COMMITTEE has been formed at Konigsberg to erect a 

 fitting monument upon the grave of the great philosopher Im- 

 manuel Kant, The City authorities have headed the list of 

 subscriptions with the sum of 4,000 marks {200/.). 



In a report by M. Daubree to the Paris Academy of Sciences 

 it is strongly recommended that measures should be taken to 

 preserve the many boulders which are scattered over France, 

 and many of which are disappearing under the pick-axe of the 

 builder. The Academy has appointed a commission for the 

 purpose, which will have delegates in the principal districts of 

 the country. Similar measures have been taken in Switzerland 

 since 1866, and our Scotch geologists deserve praise for their 

 zeil on behalf of the preservation of the boulders of their 

 country, and for their excellent periodical reports on the 

 subject. 



Gen. Duff, in a letter to the Earl of Derby, dated Gothen- 

 burg, January 4, reports that great shoals of herrings of 

 the large kind which disappeared from this coast in the year 

 1809 have now made their appearance again north of Gothen- 

 burg. The first appearance of the herring took place at Christ- 

 mas, when whales were seen following the shoals toward the 

 coast. Preparations were maae by the merchants of Gothen- 

 burg to make good use of this godsend. It would appear from 

 the history and traditions of Sweden that, after an interval of 

 seventy years, there are some grounds for supposing that the 

 shoals of herrings may be expected to visit the coast regularly 

 for fifty or sixty years to come, as has been the case during earlier 

 periods. The Swedish Government have appointed Professors 

 Sars and Smitt to inquire into the various questions raised by 

 this sudden appearance of the herring shoals off this part of the 

 Swedish coast, the more important of these questions being the 



I I have spoken as if the existence of positive and negative belio- and 

 geotropism could be simply explained by considering the convenience of the 

 plant. But in details many difficulties arise ; for instance, some roots are 

 heliotropic, (Sachs* "Text Book," p. 755.) 



alleged disappearance of the shoals from the coast of Norivay, 

 whither, it is said, they have betaken themselves since 1808, and 

 the bearing of the inquiry on the future of the fishery. 



The first National Entomological Exhibition commenced on 

 Thursday at the Royal Aquarium, Westminster, and is thoroughly 

 creditable to all concerned. There are altogether about 250 

 exhibitors contributing between eight and nine hundred cases, 

 with an average of at least 300 insects per case ; and the whcle 

 of the specimens shown, with very few exceptions, have been 

 collected by ladies and gentlemen and artisans, in their 

 leisure hours. 



We regret to learn the death of J oachira Monteiro, at Delagoa 

 Bay. He was an active and enterprising naturalist, whose work 

 on Angola will give him an endurirg place in the Hteraiure of 

 African travel, no less than his services in procuring and sending 

 to this country a great part of the fine series of specimens from 

 which Welwilschia was originally described. 



The death is announced of Sulhiz Kurz, the Curator of the 

 Herbarium of the Calcutta Botanic Garden. Posstssed of an 

 extensive knowledge of Indian botany, he had recently com- 

 pleted the preparation of a Flora of British Burma for the 

 Indian Forest Department. He died at Penang on his way to 

 the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, for the purpose of 

 botanical exploration. 



A letter has been written by the Municipal Council of Paris 

 to the director of the Meteorological Service of the Observatory 

 asking that the publication of weather telegrams and prognosti* 

 cations he made in Paris as well as in provincial towns. 



A GREAT prehistoric burial ground has recently been dis- 

 covered at Cremmen (in thedistrict of East-Havelland, Prussia), 

 net far from Berlin. Numerous urns and ash-jars of varied 

 form, all containing ashes and bones of burnt human remains, 

 have been found. The urns are mostly round in shape, and 

 stood some 7.\ to 3 feet below the suriace upon a large slab of 

 stone ; they were surrounded by round stones, and each was 

 covered with a flat stone lid. The antiquities will all be 

 deposited in the Provincial Museum of Berlin. 



An International Agricultural Exhibition will take place at 

 Hamburg on June 13, and will last 5 days ; and another 

 exhibition of this nature will be held at Prague on May 15, 16, 

 and 17. 



The Royal Society for Agriculture and Botany of Ghent, will 

 hold its Horticultural International Exhibition on March 31 

 next. These exhibitions are quinquennial, and last for seven 

 days. The coming one promises to be unusually brilliant, to 

 judge from the copious list of names of exhibitors. 



We are glad to see that a beginning has been made in the 

 formation of a local museum at Tenby, the proposal for which 

 we referred to some time since. The magnificent geological 

 collection of the late Mr. Smith, of Gumfreston, has been pur- 

 chased. The Corporation of Tenby has given the old National 

 Schoolrooms on the Castle Hill, and after some slight altera- 

 tions have been made they will be admirably well adapted for a 

 museum. In addition to the geological specimens there will be 

 a valuable collection of British shells, and one of Pembrokeshire 

 birds and eggs ; also a library of scientific books. It would be 

 idle to speak of the advantage this institution is likely lo confer 

 on the town, and on all the residents in South-v/est Wales, 

 where nothing worthy of the name of a museum at present exists. 

 About 300/. is still required before the museum can be opened. 

 The trustees ought to have no difficulty in raising this moderate 

 sum in the district concerned ; perhaps some of our readers 

 might like to contribute. The hon. secretary is Mr. Edward 

 Laws, Tenby. 



