Sept. 6, 1888] 



NATURE 



437 



water. A skeleton of a salamander, more or less resem- 

 bling this one, has recently been found in Germany, where 

 it was taken for a fossil man. It is the insect world which 

 supplied M. David with the greatest novelties. Great 

 though the collections sent to Europe are, they are but a 

 small fraction of the riches in entomology that China sup- 

 plies. The Coleoptera have been described by M. Fair- 

 maire, formerly President of the French Entomological 

 Society, and the Lepidoptera by M. Oberthur, of Rennes, 

 who has the finest collection in France, and perhaps in 

 the world. Amongst insects, more even than amongst 

 animals and plants, there is a large number called by the 

 names of the missionaries who sent specimens of them to 

 Europe. For example, Cicindela desgodinsii, Carabus 

 delavayi, Cychrus davidi, Nebria chaslei, Enoplotrupes 

 largeteani, Donatio, provosti, &c, in Coleoptera ; and in 

 butterflies, Anthocharis bieti, Armandia thaidina, &c. 

 With regard to the vegetable kingdom, the first important 

 work we have on the Chinese flora has been finished this 

 year, and styled " Plantae Davidianae." It has been printed 

 at the expense of the State, and is in two quarto volumes, 

 illustrated with forty-five very fine plates, and contains 

 a description of all the new species of plants in M. David's 

 collection, and an enumeration of all the plants collected by 

 him. The collection contains a small proportion only of 

 the plants of China. It should only be regarded as a mere 

 skeleton of the magnificent vegetation of the east-central 

 provinces, but it contains the greater portion of the plants 

 to the north of the empire and in the Mongolian mountains. 

 Collections made by English and Russian collectors do 

 not include many of the specimens found by M. David. 

 Perhaps the most remarkable find was the Davidia 

 mvolncrata—a. pretty tall tree with large leaves, for the 

 introduction of which an English amateur has offered a 

 big prize. Our European plants are not at all common in 

 the East. No trefoils are found in China, nor heather, nor 

 broom. There are also many plants there which have no 

 representatives in Europe, but which have representa- 

 tives in America, as, Pavia, Bignonia, Aralia, Dielytra. 

 Northern China, with its dry climate, its cold winter, as 

 cold as that of Upsala, and its summer as warm as that 

 of Senegal, has a poor and little-varied vegetation when 

 compared with the centre and west of the empire. The 

 number of Phanerogams collected by M. David in the 

 north of China did not exceed 1500 species, and he doubts 

 if there are many more. 



In geography and geology, besides several occasional 

 reports, the "Archives du Museum "have published full 

 accounts of his first and second journeys of exploration. 

 These voluminous writings are merely journals written 

 for some friends, for whom he wrote day by day everything 

 that seemed worthy of attention, whether botanical, geo- 

 logical, or geographical, in the extensive regions which for 

 five years he travelled over. Itinerary charts, striking 

 altitudes, up to 15,000 feet, the direction and importance of 

 rivers and mountain chains, the position of the lesser known 

 towns and countries, and of the coal and metal mines- 

 all have been noted down by him. From the writings of 

 M. David, M. Elise"e Reclus took many of his observations 

 on the Chinese Empire in vol. vii. of, I his " Geographie 

 Universelle," and especially the natural history portion of 

 that volume. Similarly Baron Richthofen has derived 

 much of the information in his work on geology from M. 

 David. In Mongolia M. David's guide was Sambdat- 

 chiemda, the famous ex-lama described by M. Hue, and 

 this leads M. David to speak of the lamas, and tell some 

 stories about them. 



M.David describes a curious meteorological phenomenon 

 observed by him when crossing the top of a mountain 

 about 5500 feet high. A storm had just passed, and a 

 little rain had fallen. The clouds were heavy, and lay on 

 the numerous .peaks below his feet like an immense sea 

 of silvery white. Little by little the masses of clouds 

 began to move and to split up here and there. ..They rose 



slowly and soon came to the right of M. David, who was 

 journeying from south to north. The wind was blowing 

 from the west, and when the clouds reached the summit 

 of the mountain they could not pass over on account of 

 the opposition of the wind, and there they rested, a huge 

 mass of opaque clouds. The sun was setting on the 

 horizon, and threw the image of M. David on the wall of 

 white clouds, where it was surrounded by two rainbows, 

 or rather two complete concentric circles. This pheno- 

 menon lasted nearly half an hour. M. David had been 

 six months in Mongolia when the revolt of the Mussulmans 

 broke out and prevented him from penetrating as far as 

 Koukounoor, and even beyond it, as was his intention. 

 These high Mongolian plateaux are of aboutthree thousand 

 feet above the level of the sea. The population is very 

 sparse, and the fauna and flora but little varied. The 

 remarkable animals most frequently seen in this region 

 are the souslik, or yellow antelope, a kind of little marmot 

 analogous to the prairie dog of America, a brownish 

 weevil, and a curious lizard with round head (Phryno- 

 cephalus) which is seen everywhere rolling its tail in 

 regular cadences. During the summer the open country 

 is covered either with the blue-flowered iris, or with the 

 liquorice (Glycyrrhiza echinatd) or the yellow rose. M. 

 David found in Mongolia in a wild state, but very rare, a 

 pretty flowering tree, which the Pekinese cultivate as an 

 ornamental plant {Xanthoceras sorbi folia), and which he in- 

 troduced into France with much success. In his journey 

 he satisfied himself of the existence of wild camels, some 

 of which were afterwards captured by'the Russian traveller 

 Prjevalski. M. David spent twenty-five months in 

 Western China. He had intended to spend three years, 

 but his health broke down. In that time he travelled 

 over 2500 leagues. He returned thence to Tien-tsin, 

 fortunately for him after the massacres had taken place, his 

 boat having been delayed on the way. 



THE AUSTRALASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR 

 THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



Sydney, July 1888. 



THE formation of this Association, which already 

 gives promise of being a great success, was first 

 suggested by Prof. Liversidge, of the Sydney University, 

 during the Exhibition in Sydney in 1879, but matters at 

 that time not being considered quite ripe for it, the 

 formation of the Association was again brought forward 

 through the press in the year 1884. It was then suggested 

 that, as it did not seem likely that the British Association 

 would see their way to visit Australia during the Centen- 

 nial year, an Australasian Association should be formed, 

 on the same lines as the British Association, in order to 

 bring about a federation or union of the members of the 

 various scientific Societies throughout Australasia. 



It was also suggested that the first general meeting 

 should be held in Sydney on the one hundredth anni- 

 versary of the foundation of the colony, as it was at 

 that time thought there would be an International 

 Exhibition in Sydney to celebrate that event. In further- 

 ance of this object a preliminary meeting of delegates 

 was held in Sydney in November 1886, the project having 

 met with the approbation and support of almost all the 

 learned and scientific Societies of Australasia. 



As this meeting the formation of the Australasian 

 Association for the Advancement of Science was agreed 

 to unanimously, the rules of the British Association 

 being adopted until the first general meeting, which it 

 was decided should be held in Sydney during the year 

 1888. 



In accordance with another resolution passed at the 

 meeting of delegates, the election of officers for the year 

 took place in March of the present year, Mr. H. C. Russell, 

 F.R.S., Government Astronomer, being elected President, 



