Dec. 22, 1887] 



NATURE 



187 



are requested, especially as to the locality where the meteor 

 burst, which seems likely to have been between Thame and 

 Abingdon. 



The Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for December 

 reports the occurrence of two interesting phenomena. (l) The 

 formation of a very large waterspout on October 6 in latitude 

 394° N., longitude 69° W., during a thunder squall. The 

 lower end of the spout did not reach the surface of the ocean. 

 Water could be seen rushing down through the centre of the 

 funnel and ploughing up the surface of the sea to a height of 

 about 50 feet. (2) One of the rare and inexplicable cases of 

 globular lightning. On November 12, at midnight, near Cape 

 Race, a large ball of fire seemed to rise out of the sea to a 

 height of about 50 feet, coming against the wind close up to the 

 ship, and then running away to the south-east, lasting altogether 

 about five minutes. 



• The Meteorological Report published for the year 1886 by the 

 Surveyor-General of Ceylon shows that rainfall observations are 

 now taken at eighty-three stations. General observations are 

 made at sixteen] stations. The Report contains a map showing 

 the mean annual rainfall of the island, and a diagram of the 

 mean monthly fall at the principal stations. An important dis- 

 cussion of the Ceylon rainfall observations will be found in the 

 Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society for 

 October last. 



The Russian Government does good service to meteorology 

 by publishing observations taken for several hours daily on some 

 selected cruises of its men-of-war. A volume has just been issued 

 containing the observations of three such voyages, being Nos. 

 52-54 of the series. The information is rendered more avail- 

 able for ready use by the weather observations being expressed 

 in the international symbols, and by the data being printed on 

 one side only, to allow of being cut up and pasted in districts as 

 required. 



It is reported from India that, in connection with a plan 

 for improving the system of storm-warnings, 1 new meteoro- 

 logical stations are to be opened, on the Coromandel coast, at 

 Bimlipatam, Nellore, and Cuddalore, and one on the Burmah 

 coast, probably at Tavoy. Mr. Elliott, Superintendent of the 

 Bengal Meteorological Department, was to leave on an inspec- 

 tion tour to visit the coast stations, and to select sites for the 

 new observatories. 



The Observatory will in future be edited by Mr. Turner, of 

 Greenwich Observatory, and Mr. Common, of Ealing. 



A FLORA of riertfordshire by the late Alfred R. Pryor, 

 edited by Mr. B. Daydon Jackson, with notes on the geology, 

 climate, and rivers of the county, by Mr. John Hopkinson, will 

 be published in a few days by Messrs. Gurney and Jackson, Mr. 

 Van Voorst's successors. The book will consist of about 600 

 pages with a map. 



The twenty-third annual volume of the Zoological Record will 

 be issued shortly. This valuable book of reference, which was 

 established by Mr. Van Voorst, under the editorship of Dr. 

 Giinther, has been for some years supported by an Associa- 

 tion. . It is now taken over by the Zool jgical Society. Messrs. 

 Gurney and Jackson will continue to publish the volumes. 



Messrs. George Philip and Son have in the press, and 

 will shortly publish, " Emin Pasha in Central Africa : Letters 

 and Journals," collected and annotated by Dr. G. Schweinfurth, 

 Dr. Ratzel, Dr. G. Hartlaub, and Dr. Felkin. The work has 

 been translated from the Cierman by Mrs. Felkin. It is illus- 

 trated with a portrait, and with two maps specially compiled by 

 E. T. Ravenstein. 



A SIXTH edition of Prof. AUeyne Nicholson's " Introductory 

 Text-book of Zoology " (Blackwood) has just been issued. The 

 book is intended for the use of junior students. It has been 

 thoroughly revised, and the author explains that the general 

 arrangement of certain of the larger groups of animals has been 

 altered in accordance with the views now most generally accepted 

 by naturalists. Some of the illustrations have been changed, 

 and a few new engravings have been added. 



We have received from Mr. F. Enock some " Autocopyist " 

 pen-and-ink sketches of bodies and parts of insects, together 

 with examples of the prepared mounts of the objects delineated. 

 The latter call for no special comment. The drawings, however, 

 are exceedingly clear and well printed, scrupulously accurate, 

 and highly commendable. The admiration of the beautiful in 

 Nature must precede the study of the more useful ; and, this 

 being so, we can heartily recommend these drawings to the 

 legion of microscopical dilettanti. Mr. Enock is practical in his 

 work in that he introduces the Hessian fly, together with a 

 sketch of the infected barley. By way of giving the brief 

 notes which accompany the sketches an authoritative air, he 

 introduces occasional bibliographical references. As pertaining 

 to the aforenamed pest, an important paper by Prof. Fream, 

 read before the British Association this autumn, and duly 

 reported in these pages, may be recomjaended to Mr. Enock's 

 notice. 



M. Vayssiere, of Marseilles, has be^un what promises to be 

 an important publication — an atlas of the anatomy of inverte- 

 brates. The first quarter of the book has already been issued. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co will publish early in January 

 a revised and extended edition of the well-known " Practical 

 Biology " of Prof. Huxley and Dr. H. N. Martin. The work 

 of revision has been carried out by Messrs. G. B. Howes and 

 D. H. Scott, of the Normal School of Science. Besides other 

 improvements, including the addition of the Earthworm and the 

 Snail in the series of animal, and of Spirogyra in the series of 

 vegetable, types, the order of the subjects is completely changed. 

 Whereas in the original edition the lowest forms of life were first 

 dealt with, and then the rest in ascending scale, the course is now 

 reversed, beginning with the Frog and proceeding thence to the 

 less familiar regions of invertebrate organizations until the border- 

 land between animals and plants is reajhed, and a natural ascent 

 can be made to the most complicated vegetable organisms. 

 Prof. Huxley explains in the preface to the new edition that 

 after two or three years' triab of the^ road from the simple to 

 the complex he became thoroughly convinced that the way from 

 the known to the unknown was easier for students. 



An exhibition embracing every branch of science or manu- 

 facture connected with the art of ph jtography will be opened at 

 the Crystal Palace in February next. Valuable exhibits have 

 already been promised, and there is every reason to believe that 

 the collection of pictures and apparatus will be larger than at 

 any previous exhibition, while the classification will be far more 

 complete. Medals and certificates will be awarded for com- 

 petitive photographic lantern slide entertainments. 



We are informsd that the Cora nittee appointed by the Pari 

 Academy of Medicine to investigate the influence of fluorhydric 

 acid on tuberculosis has reported very favourably on the subject. 

 It seems that the Bacilli of tuberculosis are speedily destroyed 

 by minimal proportions of fluorhydric vapours. This fact is an 

 important one for the therapeutics of that very common and fatal 

 disease, tuberculosis. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Common Wolf{Ca«/j- lupus), European, 

 presented by Mr. C. S. Hardy ; a Spotted Crake {Porzana 

 maructta), British, presented by Mr. F. W. Proger ; two Golden 

 Plovers [C/iaradrius pluvialis), British, purchased. 



