134 



NATURE 



{June 7, 1888 



phenomenon. A fish locally called the "tasargelt" (Temnodon 

 saltator) has appeared in vast shoals, having left the waters 

 unvisited, save a few stray specimens, since 1859. It weighs 

 from six to eight pounds, and has flesh of rich flavour, of which 

 the natives never seem to tire. It first appeared in large 

 numbers early in September, and from that time till December 

 the fishermen were busily occupied taking them. The mode of 

 capture is rather primitive. A piece of white rag or a strip of 

 the skin of the tasargelt itself is fastened to a large and often 

 barbless hook, which in turn is tied by strong brass wire to the 

 end of a short bamboo rod. When the bait is drawn rapidly 

 through the water, the fish rises quickly to it. The tasargelt 

 was accompanied by shoals of the "azlimzah" or "maigre," a 

 fish which frequently weighs as much as sixty or seventy pounds. 

 The presence of these voracious fish ruined the ordinary hook- 

 and-line industry. Though shoals of bonito appeared, only one 

 small specimen was taken, for they refused to take any bait. 

 The sardine fishery was also a failure. 



The British Consul at Varna^ in the course of his Report on 

 the trade of his district for the past year, refers to the vineyards, 

 and says that, though the Phylloxera has not made its appear- 

 ance in these regions, there is a kind of insect pest which he 

 believes to be peculiar to the Varna vineyards. Its ravages 

 have been confined to certain areas, and the vine it attacks is 

 disabled only for the year of the attack, and only to the extent 

 of the particular shoots which it may lop off. The local name 

 of the insect is Kara terzi, or " the black tailor," an appellation 

 which is supposed to indicate its appearance and habits. In the 

 absence of local entomologists, Mr. Brophy describes this new 

 pest as an adipose black beetle, somewhat resembling the 

 ordinary dung-beetle, measuring, when adult, about three- 

 fourths of an inch in body-length ; and furnished with a short 

 pair of shears ; with these, in the mornings of April and May, 

 it cuts through and off the young vine-shoots, which it leaves on 

 the ground until they are parched by the sun, when it drags 

 them into the recesses of its deep and tunnelled hole, generally 

 situated at the foot of the plant attacked. The vineyards chiefly 

 affected are situated on ground near the sea-shore, whence the 

 insect makes its way inland ; "and as the Kara terzi does not 

 appear to have obtruded itself upon the notice of the vine- 

 growers by its obnoxious habits until comparatively recently, it 

 may perhaps be fair to suppose that the temptation of green and 

 succulent vine-shoots may, in the course of generations, have 

 perverted the present race into abandoning the more innocent 

 diet which satisfied their ancestors, and which, when the vine- 

 shoots have passed the tender stage, has still to suffice those of 

 the present day." Mr. Brophy says that if the circumstances 

 of insect-life here related prove in any way new or interesting, 

 it would not be difficult to procure, in summer, specimens of 

 this beetle for inspection by qualified entomologists. 



At two successive meetings of the Oriental Society of Pekin, 

 Prof. Russell, of the Tung-Wen- K wan, or Foreign Language 

 College, read two papers on subjects connected with Chinese 

 astronomy. In the fir;t he described the instruments in the Pekin 

 Observatory, which were "constructed by the order "of the great 

 Emperor Kanghi about 1670. In the course of the discussion 

 which followed, it was stated that this prince was very fond of 

 mathematics and astronomy, and that the present Emperor was 

 credited with similar inclinations. Kanghi was sixteen when he 

 ordered the instruments to be constructed. The clepsydra used 

 in the Observatory, it was stated, consisted of five cisterns, and 

 was used for observing the time of eclipses, being put in order 

 for this purpose three days before each eclipse. One of the 

 instruments is usually said to be of European design and to 

 have been presented by Louis XIV. The inscription or emblem 

 on it has been carefully removed, and its place supplied by a 



piece of bronze matching the metal of the instrument. In some 

 Chinese books it is said that this instrument was manfactured by 

 a foreign priest. Verbiest, a Jesuit of the time of Kanghi, 

 pointed out a mistake in the Chinese calendar ; the matter was 

 referred by the Emperor to the Board of Astronomy, and 

 Verbiest's accuracy was acknowledged. From that time a 

 Jesuit missionary occupied the post of Vice-President of the 

 B:>ard down to 1828. 



The second paper, also by Prof. Russell, was on early 

 Chinese eclipse calculations, and entailed vast labour in re- 

 calculating. It appears from the investigations of the learned 

 Professor that the earliest calculations of a solar eclipse and also 

 of a lunar eclipse which have been preserved were made by 

 the Chinese. The discussion turned largely on the historical 

 value of the Chinese classics with regard to these astronomical 

 observations, and the attention with which the Chinese from the 

 earliest times have studied astronomy. Passages found in one 

 or other of the few works which survived the destruction of the 

 books before the Christian era bear witness to the devotion with 

 which the stars were studied in China at that remote epoch. 

 The full text of these two interesting papers will be awaited 

 with interest. 



At a recent meeting of the Scientific Society of Upsala, Dr. 

 C. Aurivillius read a paper on the skeleton of the so-called 

 Swedenborg whale {Etibalena svedenborgii, Lillj.), discovered 

 last November in the province of Halland, in a layer of marl 

 50 feet above the sea. Remains of this species of whale 

 have only been found once before, viz. early last century, 

 when some parts of one were discovered in the province of 

 Western Gothland, 330 feet abrve the sea, and 70 miles in- 

 land. It was at first believed that they were the bones of 

 some giant, but it is said that Swedenborg discovered their 

 true nature. The skeleton has been presented to the Upsala 

 Museum. 



In the Proceedings of the Moscow Archaeological Society, 

 there is a most interesting communication by M. Anutchin, on 

 the use of sledges, boats, and horses, or saddles, at the burials of 

 various races. He shows that until the seventeenth century the 

 Slavonians used sledges even in summer for the transport of the 

 corpse to the grave. The Samoyedes and Ostyaks, and many 

 Russian peasants of Northern Russia, still follow this custo n. 

 The boat was used by the Normans, the Old Germans, and gener- 

 ally by races inhabiting the shores of lakes. Many tribes of 

 North America used to bury their dead together with a horse, 

 or transported the dead to the grave on a horse. It is remark- 

 able that the same custom is found among the Lithuanians, who, 

 even in the sixteenth century, put their dead on a saddle. The 

 sledge, the boat, and the horse, or saddle, were obviously 

 intended to aid the dead in passing into another world, and in 

 visiting kinsfolk there. 



An ancient canoe has been found in the Tunhovd Fjord, in 

 Valders, in South Central Norway. It has been hollowed out 

 by means of red-hot stones, and is 4^ metres long and 80 centi- 

 metres broad. It is in fair condition. The find is of interest, 

 no other primitive vessel of the kind has been found inland 

 Norway. The boat will be sent to the Museum at Christiania. 



: 



Science says that a citizen of the United States, who has long 

 resided abroad, proposes to give to the Smithsonian Institution 

 a large collection of armour from the Middle Ages— some of it 

 connected with most famous historical names — including horse- 

 armour, helmets, swords, and all the paraphernalia of ancient 

 warfare. These objects, numbering about five thousand, have 

 been brought together at great expense, and the collection iso: 

 of the most valuable of the kind in the world. The condition 





