Feb. 23, 1888] 



NATURE 



399 



i;ieat pretensions to scientific knowledge^ but there is no doubt 

 that all naturalists will gain useful hints from this little volume, 

 which is profusely illustrated with woodcuts, giving the charac- 

 teristic features of most of the species. 



"The Statesman's Year-book" for 1888 has been pub- 

 lished. It contains additions and alterations which largely 

 increase the value of the work, and the statistical and other 

 information has been brought up to the latest available date. 



We have received three issues of the " Annuario " published 

 by the Imperial Observatory at Rio de Janeiro — the issues for 

 1885, 1886, and 1887. The work is well compiled, and the 

 editor evidently takes great pains to secure that each issue shall 

 be decidedly better than its predecessors. Besides the usual 

 collection of astronomical facts, the work contains useful tables 

 relating to meteorology, chemistry, physics, geography, and 

 other sciences. 



THE"Annuaire Geologique Universel " of Dr. Dagincourt, 

 which has just been issued for the third time, has been much 

 enlarged and improved. The new volume contains an exhaustive 

 review of recent work in palaeontology and geology. 



A FOURTH edition of Prof. Nichol's " Tables of European 

 History, Literature, Science, and Art, from A.D. 200 to 1888" 

 (Maclehose) has been issued. The idea of the work is good, 

 but we cannot say that the scientific tables are always quite 

 satisfactory. In his lists of men of science the compiler includes 

 the names of some writers who have a very inadequate claim to 

 the place he accords to them. 



The Trustees of the Australian Museum have issued a de- 

 scriptive catalogue, by Dr. R. von Lendenfeld, of the Medusa; 

 of the Australian seas. Speaking of the Scyphomedusa;, Dr. 

 von Lendenfeld says that he has observed three species in 

 New Zealand, three species on the coast of Victoria, and five 

 species in Port Jackson. Two of the latter are identical with 

 the Victorian species. Of the nine species, six have been 

 described by Dr. von Lendenfeld ; his specimens of the remain- 

 ing three were not sufficiently well preserved for description. 

 The difficulty connected with the preservation of t ese beautiful 

 animals has, he points out, been a great obstacle in the way 

 of a thorough knowledge of them. 



The fifth volume of the collected works of Paul Broca has 

 just been issued by M. Reinwald, in Paris. This volume, which, 

 like the others, is sold separately, is particularly interesting to 

 zoologists. It contains Broca's numerous and important memoirs 

 on the brain of man and primates. It is well illustrated. 



M. Zograff's new work on the structure of the Acipcnscr 

 rnthemts, which appeared in the Izvestia of the Moscow Society 

 of Amateurs of Natural Science (vol. Hi. fasc. 3), will be most 

 welcome to zoologists. Following the methods adopted by 

 Giinther, Johann MuUer, and Pallas, and more especially by the 

 Swedish ichthyologist, F, A. Smitt, who has applied the system 

 of numerous measurements used in anthropology to the study of 

 fishes, M. Zograff has undertaken to give anew a complete de- 

 scription of the Russian species of Acipenscr, and the Central 

 Asian species of Scaphirhynchus. He begins his work by a 

 gene al description of the body of the Russian Acipenseridoe : 

 the varying shapes of their heads ; the indexes of length, width, 

 and thickness of the body ; the skin and spines ; the teeth ; the 

 muscles ; and the brain. The whole is accompanied by numerous 

 engravings and coloured plates, great attention being given to 

 the minute anatomy of all parts of the diffisrent species. 



Amongst the papers contained in the last issue of the 

 Transactions of the Seismological Society of Japan (vol. xi.) is 

 one on earth tremors in Central Japan, by Prof. Milne. The 

 paper is a continuation of one on the same subject read before 



the same Society in 1883, which was referred to in these columns 

 at the time. In the present paper the writer discusses recent 

 investigations into earth tremors in Italy, describes tremor re- 

 corders, with special reference to an automatic tromometer, 

 gives numerous tables of records of the latter instrument, and 

 finally refers to the subject of earth tremors on mountains. The 

 paper is one of great length, and is accompanied by numerous 

 charts and tables, which make it a respectable volume in itself 

 The conclusions may, however, be given in a brief space. 

 Prof Milne says that his chief object has been to show the 

 relationship which earth tremors hold to barometrical fluctua- 

 tions, barometrical gradients, and the wind. He concludes 

 that they are more frequent with a low than a high barometer, 

 but even with the former they may often not be observed ; that 

 with a high gradient they are almost always observed, but with 

 a small gradient only seldom : that the stronger the wind the more 

 likely they are to be observed ; when there has been a strong wind 

 and no tremors it has often been a local wind, or one blowing 

 inland from the Pacific Ocean ; the recorded earthquakes do 

 not appear to be connected with earth tremors, more than that 

 both are more frequent at the same seasons ; and tremors are as 

 severe on the summit of a lefty mountain as on the plains. So 

 far as his observations have hitherto gone in Japan, it appears 

 that the majority of earth tremors are movements produced by 

 the action of the wind upon the surface of the earth, and that 

 these may often be propagated to distant places where wind 

 disturbances have not occurred. 



On January 13, at II.IO p.m., a faint shock of earthquake 

 was felt in the district of Orebro, in Central Sweden. It was 

 not accompanied by any subterranean noise. 



At five o'clock on Sunday afternoon a cyclone broke over 

 Mount Vernon, a town in Illinois, sixty miles to the south- 

 east of St. Louis. Many persons were killed or injured, and 

 five hundred buildings were demolished in a few minutes. 

 The cyclone is said to have come up from the south-west 

 with a rotary whirling motion, sweeping a path five 

 hundred yards wide and several miles long, within which 

 everything was destroyed. 



During last month the so-called "red after-glow" was 

 observed at sunset in the vicinity of Stockholm. Varying in 

 intensity the glare extended considerably towards the zenith. 



The Finnish Government is on the point of organizing a 

 number of stations along the coast of Finland for the observation 

 of the nature and peculiarities of the drift-ice during the winter 

 months. 



A LARGE block of stone with rude drawings and some Runic 

 inscriptions has just been discovered in the island of Tjorn, on 

 the south-west coast of Sweden. It is of particular interest as 

 being the first of its kind found in the southern part of the 

 province of Bohus. 



A MEETING has just been held at Tonsberg, in Norway, of 

 those interested in the Arctic seal fisheriijs in that country, for 

 the purpose of considering the Scottish Fishery Board's proposals 

 that the close time for seal should end on April 10 instead of as at 

 present April 3, and begin on July 10 instead of July 15. 

 Both proposals were unanimously rejected, the reason advanced 

 being that their adoption would tend to ruin the industry, so 

 far as Norway is concerned. The Scotch proposal that 

 young and old seal should be treated alike during the open 

 season was adopted. Finally, the following resolutions were 

 passed : (i) that it was advisable that the close season should end 

 at 6 a.m. on April 3 instead of at midnight ; (2) that the law 

 of preservation of seal should be al tered so that the area covered 

 by it should range from 60° to 70° N., and from 10° E. to the coast 

 of Greenland. A report of the meeting will be forwarded to the 

 Scottish Fishery Board for their consideration. 



