May 13, 1875J 



NATURE 



35 



the rromotion of Science : illustratiohs of the tije, progress, and 

 results of the various organisations for the promotion of science ; 

 models, drawings, descriptions, and statistics. 



Mr. Stanford has just published a Nortl; Polar map, 

 lior in most respects to anything we have seen. It 

 embraces a circle of forty degrees from the pole, thus including 

 the whole of England. It exhibits faithfully all the circumpolar 

 lands hitherto discovered, and in bold red letters shows the 

 points reached by all the most important discoverers, with the 

 date of discovery, from Sebastian Cabot down to Payer and 

 Weyprecht ; even the spot where it is hoped that II. M.S. Dis- 

 Cmery will winter is indicated. By means of dark and light blue, 

 the usual limits of the ice and open water are clearly shown, 

 and the whole execution of the map reflects the greatest credit 

 on Mr. Stanford's establishment. 



We have seen an ingenious scientific apparatus which 

 entirely obviates the use of matches or tapers, and does away 

 with the attendant danger in lighting gas. It consists of a 

 small bichromate of potash battery, the zinc plate of which 

 is so arranged that by the pressure of the finger it can be 

 immersed in the exciting fluid and put the battery in action. 

 Rising from the top of the battel y is a light brass stem, like a 

 taper-holder, but in the form of a swan's neck, terminating in a 

 little bell, whhin which the two "poles" of the battery are 

 united by a spiral of platinum wire ; this wire, when the battery 

 is put in action by the immersion of the zinc plate, becomes 

 white hot, and will instantly ignite the gas if held over the open 

 burner. The name v/hich the maker, Mr. Horatio Yeates, has 

 given to this happy contrivance is the " Galvano-Pyreon, Of 

 Voltaic Gas-lighter." 



M. Elie de Beaumont left a library containing a number of 

 valuable scientific books, which his, nephew and heir has pre- 

 sented to the Geological Survey of France, of which his uncle 

 was Director. The grant includes more than 2,000 volumes 

 relating to geology, and 600 maps. 



We formerly mentioned that the widow of the late General 

 Poncelct founded a few years ago a prize to be awarded by the 

 Institute. It was a handsome sum of money to be given every two 

 or three years to the author of the best essay on Mechanics. Last 

 week Madame Poncelet sent to the Academy a large number of 

 copies of the CEirures Completes of her husband, which were 

 completed only last month, with the request that each successful 

 competitor for the Poncelet Prize should be presented with a copy. 

 But as the stock would be exhausted in the course of five or six 

 centuries, the careful widow has created a special accumulating 

 fund providing for a new edition in the year 2600 a.d. 



The Paris Acclimatisation Society held its anniversary meeting 

 on the 6th of May, under the presidency of M. Drouyn de Lh lys. 

 M. Pichot gave a long and interesting address on acclimatisation 

 in Egypt under the Pharaohs. Many prizes were awarded for 

 practical results obtained in the way of introducing new kinds 

 of animals into France. One of these was given by M. Joseph 

 Comely, for having succeeded in the multiplication of the 

 kangaroos left in a state of liberty. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Guinea Baboon {Cyttocephahts sphinx) 

 from West Africa, presented by Mr. Lionel Hart; a Yellow- 

 shouldered Amazon {Chry softs ochroptera) from South America, 

 presented by Miss M. Sutherland; a Molucca Deer {Cervus 

 moluccmsis), a Pampas Deer (Cervus campestris), bom in the 

 Gardens ; two Chinese Jay-Thrushes (Garrnlax chinensis) from 

 China, purchased ; a Patas Monkey (Cctropilhecus ruber) from 

 West Africa; a Hairy Tree Porcupine {Cercolabes rupestris), a 

 Rock Cavy {Cerodott rupestris) from Brazil, deposited. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF KERGUELEN'S 

 ISLAND * 



TT is difficult, owmg to the mexactness of the charts, to 

 inform you of the pot'tions of the Astronomical Stations 

 in whose neighbourhood 1 have been able to work in this 

 island. The German station is in Betsy Cove, the American 

 at Molloy Point, Royal Sound. The English stations also 

 are in this Sound, the second being situated about three miles 

 N. by W. of Swain's Ilaulover. The fir-st English station is 

 between these last two on the main land, six or seven miles 

 N.W. of Three Island Harbour, in what will be called Obser- 

 vatory Bay. Two days before the Transit ot Venus a party 

 under Lieut. Goodridge, R.N., was detached from the first 

 English station to observe the transit from a position which he 

 selected near the base of Thumb Peak. I have not yet been able 

 to visit Betsy Cove. 



Observatory Bay is one of the minor inlets of a peninsula com- 

 prised between two narrow arms of the sea. One ot these runs 

 up from the Si-und, along the western flank of the hills adjacent 

 to Mount Crozier, several miles, and terminates at a distance of 

 three or four hours to the north of us, and about four miles from 

 the inlet near Vulcan Cove. The other arm, opening nine or 

 ten miles away to the southward, proceeds in a north-easterly 

 direction to within three or four miles of the former, and no 

 great distance from Foundry Branch. 



Besides the inlets of the sea, numerous freshwater lakes pre- 

 sent obstacles to inland travelling. Some in this neighbourhood 

 are two or three miles in length, but in general they are not 

 more than a mile long. Tliey are usually shallow, and appear to 

 be uninhabited by fish. The bogs and streams in this vicinity 

 are not impassable, but can be traversed with ease if ordinary 

 caie be taken. 



The most salient features of the landscape are the basaltic 

 hills, with irregular terraces of rock on their sides, and broken 

 cliffs at their summits. In lieu of grass, their slopes are clothed 

 with banks and boulder-like clumps of Azorella selago, excepting 

 where rich damp loam affords a soil suitable for the Accena and 

 the Pringlea. Here and there a fern (Lomaria) and grass {Fes- 

 iuca) grow in the interspaces of the other plants. 



The climate of Royal Sound is far warmer and drier than we 

 were led to expect it would be. In November the weather was 

 very pleasant ; since then it has deteriorated, though the snow 

 has not again covered the ground as it did when we first arrived. 

 Probably the previous accounts of its meteorology were based 

 upon observations taken in pans of the island where bad weather 

 prevails ; or it may be that the condition of the country in winter 

 has been presumed to be constant throughout the year. In one 

 respect we were rightly informed ; for usually when there is no 

 bieeze there is a gale. A calm day is an exceptional event. Me- 

 teorological observations are being taken in Observatory Bay on 

 board the Vola£;e and by the sappers on shore. 



Corresponding with the unlooked-for superiority in climate, a 

 difference is noticeable in the vegetation of this part of the 

 island. Some plants which occur at both extremities of the 

 country display in Royal Sound marks of luxuriance. For 

 instance, Pringha antiicorbutica, which is elsewhere apetalous, 

 here in sheltered places frequently develops petals ; some flowers 

 in the same inflorescence possessing one petal only, others having 

 tv/o, three, or four. And the petals are not always of a pale 

 greenish colour, but occasion dly are tinged with purple. Again, 

 Lomaria a/piiia, which is mentioned in the flora as rare in the 

 neighbourhood of Christmas Harbour, is excessively common 

 and very finely grown here. There are also more species of 

 flowering plants and of the higher orders of Cryptogamia here 

 than were found by the Antarctic Expedition at the north of the 

 island. But there are fewer species of mosses, lichens, and 

 algre. Their paucity, in comparison with those of the other 

 district, is probably due to the nature of the rucks on land, and 

 to the seclusion of the bay from the open sea. The additions to 

 the flora are for the most part Falkland Islands species. 



In speaking of the climate, it may be mentioned that the plants 

 of Kerguclen's Island are not {as was supposed) in flower 

 throughout the year ; but probably some of them do not cease 

 flowering until late in the winter. When we first arrived m 

 Royal bound the ground was covered with snow, and scarcely 



* " First Report of the Naturalist attached to the Transit of Venus Ex- 

 pedition to Kerguclen's Island, December 1874" By the Rev. E. A. Eaton. 

 Communicated by the President. A letter to the Secretary of the Re yal 

 Society, dated Royal Sound, Kerguclen's Island, 31st December, 1874. 

 Read April 8. 



