5o8 



NATURE 



{April 2<^, 1878 



The best orbit is by Kuhnert, but it is probable that the 

 want of observations in 1877-78 is not wholly attributable 

 to errors of elements, but in a certain degree to the 

 position of the planet at a considerable distance from the 

 ecliptical belt of the sky for which charts of small stars 

 are as yet published, and, in addition, to its faintness. 

 Medusa, which appears to have a very small inclination, 

 may possibly be recovered in the ensuing summer. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Tasmania. — The prospects of Tasmania are reported 

 to be improving, owing to the development of its mineral 

 resources. Very large quantities of tin, as is well known, 

 have been discovered at Mount Bischoff, and quite 

 recently the vast tract of country to the north-Avest, 

 which has always been looked upon as valueless, has 

 been explored with more care, and though it is probably 

 of little use for agricultural purposes it has been found to 

 contain enormous quantities of iron and other minerals. 

 Traces of gold have been met with in the beds of some 

 of the rivers, and copper has also been found. In the 

 dense forests which are common in this region specimens 

 of the Eucalyptus have been seen which are said to be 

 more than 300 feet in height. Further exploration is 

 still being carried on with a view to the accurate deter- 

 mination of the capabilities of this part of Tasmania. 



African Exploration. — Journalistic enterprise is 

 again contributing to the exploration of Africa, and this 

 time Paris is vying with London and New York. M. P. 

 Soleillet, who has been equipped under the auspices of the 

 Moniteur U7iiversel, departs soon for a tour of explo- 

 ration in Equatorial Africa, to follow in the footsteps of 

 his fellow-journalist Stanley. The development of open- 

 ings for French commerce is to form a prominent feature 

 in the undertaking. 



Paris. — The Paris SociiU de Giographie has elected 

 Baron de la Ronci^re Le Nourry its president for the 

 ensuing year. 



French GuayanA. — Dr. Crevaux, who was sent out 

 by the French government to explore the interior of 

 French Guayana, has returned to Paris after com- 

 pleting one of the most arduous journeys in the annals 

 of South American discovery. After having fulfilled his 

 instructions to penetrate to the Tumuc-Humac range, he 

 determined to make the passage of these mountains, and 

 descend into the valley of the Amazon, an attempt Avhich 

 has several times been tried in vain during the past three 

 centuries. AltLough deserted by all his attendants, with 

 the exception of a negro, he succeeded, after overcoming 

 numerous obstacles, and battling with famine during a 

 march of sixteen days across an uninhabited tract, in 

 reaching the head waters of the Yary, from whence a 

 canoe-voyage brought him to the Amazon. Of the 500 

 leagues traversed in this journey, 225 were hitherto 

 completely unknown. 



Survey of New York,— The Second Annual Report of 

 the State Geographical and Topographical Survey of 

 New York, in charge of Mr. James T. Gardner, gives 

 an account of the labours of the commission during the 

 year. The principal work of the year has been the 

 precise determination by primary triangulation of points 

 in eleven counties, embracing an area of about 3,000 

 square miles ; 167 points were located in an area of 

 1,700 miles in seven counties alone; the average has 

 been one to every ten square miles. Fifty-one monu- 

 ments have been placed in defining the boundaries of 

 counties, this being a very important part of the work of 

 the survey. The report is accompanied by several maps 

 showing the progress of the work, the position of the 

 stations, &c. 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES 



A New Fruit. — Mr. Hollister has introduced from 

 Japan to San Francisco a fruit, which is said in its 

 native country to have as many varieties as are grown in 

 this country of our apple, and the sweetness of the 

 fruit is more or less retained by all of them. It is known 

 as the Japanese Persimmon and, according to Mr. 

 Hollister, is the most beautiful of all the fruits he had 

 ever seen and the most delicious to the taste — four of the 

 fruits which ripened with him weighed three quarters of a 

 pound each, they were of a rich yellow colour, and 

 looked like balls of wax ; these were pronounced equal 

 to a good pear or peach. The tree is a highly ornamental 

 one, a prolific bearer, and as hardy as a pear. Its fruit 

 season is from October to March. It seems quite adapted 

 to the soil and climate of California. The grafted trees 

 bear in four years. The seedlings require double that 

 time, and are not reliable {Proceedings, Acad, of Science, 

 California, in American Naturalist for March, 1878). 

 This is the well-known and beautiful fruit of Diospyros 

 /i'«/5/,Linn.,fil.,a near ally of the Persimmon of the Southern 

 United States of America. Mr. Hiem tells us in his 

 Monograph of the Ebenaceae that the Chinese preserve 

 this fruit with sugar, and that it has for a long time been 

 in cultivation with them and the Japanese. The fruit has 

 a thin skin, with a sweet orange-scarlet coloured flesh, 

 with six or eight dark smooth seeds. It was beautifully 

 figured in the Gardeners' Chronicle for 1872. 



Fossil Insects.— Messrs. S. H. Scudder, of Cam- 

 bridge, and F. C. Bowditch, of Boston, attached to 

 Hayden's United States Geological and Geographical 

 Survey, spent two months in Colorado, Wyoming, and 

 Utah, in explorations for fossil insects and in collecting 

 recent coleoptera and orthoptera, especially in the higher 

 regions. They made large collections of recent insects 

 at different points along the railways from Pueblo to 

 Cheyenne, and from Cheyenne to Salt Lake, as well as at 

 Lakin (Kansas), Garland and Georgetown (Colorado), 

 and in various parts of the South Park and ^surrounding 

 region. Ten days were spent at Green River and vicinity 

 in examining the tertiary strata for fossil insects, with 

 poor results. The tertiary beds of the South Park yielded 

 only a single determinable insect ; but near Florissant 

 the tertiary basin described by Mr. Peale in one of the 

 annual reports of the Survey was found to be exceedingly 

 rich in insects and plants. In company with Rev. Mr. 

 Lakes, of Golden, Mr. Scudder spent several days in a 

 careful survey of this basin, and estimates the insect- 

 bearing shales to have an extent at least fifty times as 

 great as those of the famous locality at Giningen in 

 Southern Bavaria. From six to seven thousand insects 

 and two or three thousand plants have already been 

 received from Florissant, the specimens from this locality 

 being remarkable for their beauty. There is every reason 

 to believe that the tertiary strata of the Rocky Mountain 

 region are richer in remains of fossil insects than any 

 other country in the world, and that within a it^ months 

 the material at hand for the elaboration of the work on 

 the fossil insects of the American tertiaries which Mr. 

 Scudder has in preparation, will be much larger than was 

 ever before subject to the investigation of a single natu- 

 ralist. Mr. Scudder has in all now more than 12,000 

 specimens of fossil insects. 



The Climbing of the Virginia Creeper.— Mr. 

 B. D. Halsted has studied the mechanism of climbing 

 in the Japanese Ampelopsis, and finds that the clinging 

 discs terminate tendrils which are homologous with 

 main stems. While approaching a support, these discs 

 flatten themselves on the inner side. The surface of the 

 disc is papillose, and excretes a sticky substance ; and 

 the irregular contraction of the tendril draws the vine to 

 its support {Proc. Boston Soc Nat Hist., January, 1878). 



