7tdy 8, 1875J 



NATURE 



195 



deserts divided by a strip of open country about thirty miles 

 broad ; the western one Mr. Giles has named Richards' Desert, 

 and the eastern one Ross's Desert. His starting-point was 

 Youldeb, 135 miles N.N.W. from Fowler's Bay. At Pyleburg, 

 sixty-four miles from this, is an extraordinary native dam, and a 

 clay tank, with circular wall five feet high around it, the work 

 of the aborigines. Mr. Giles is confident of being able to cross 

 to the settled district of Western Australia. 



Advices from New Zealand represent the last shipment of 

 salmon ova from Glasgow to that country as having arrived in a 

 worthless state. The total length of time during which the eggs 

 were packed on board ship was 121 days, or only nine days 

 longer than the period during which it has already been proved 

 by Mr. Bu ckland and Mr. Youl that the development of salmon 

 may be safely retarded by ice. A large quantity of the ice 

 remained till the end of the voyage, so that the temperature of 

 the ice-houses must have been kept very low throughout the 

 voyage. In fact it is said that the exterior of the packing never 

 exceeded 43° Fahr. The officers of the Otago Acclimatisation 

 Society state that microscopic examination proved that many of 

 the eggs were unfertilised : but this was not the case with all ; 

 and it is hardly to be supposed that so experienced a piscicul- 

 turist as Mr. Buckland, who had charge of the operations of 

 collecting and packing the eggs, could have improperly performed 

 so important a duty. It is more than probable that of the 

 large number of ova sent, many were handled by incompetent 

 assistants. But this theory will not explain the want of vitality 

 in the impregnated eggs, especially when the conditions for their 

 safe transit were so favourable. The cases in which they were 

 packed are described as "sodden," so that they did not suffer 

 from dryness. It is probable, therefore, that want of ventilation 

 was the cause of the failure of the experiment. It will be in- 

 teresting to receive more detailed information from New Zealand, 

 as our present advices hardly enable us to judge accurately of 

 the state of the whole consignment. 



At the time of his death Dr. J. E, Gray had compiled a list 

 of the books, memoirs, and miscellaneous papers of which, 

 during his lengthy life, he had been the author. This Mr. J. 

 Saunders has completed and seen .through the press, a fitting 

 last service to his illustrious chief. The total number is 

 1,162. 



There is no professional branch of practice which is so 

 much in need of elevation as the veterinary. On this account 

 we feel particular pleasure in noticing the commencing 

 number of a new monthly journal, the Veterinary yotirnal, con- 

 ducted by Mr. George Flemming, of the Royal Engineers, whose 

 valuable Manual of Veterinary Science and Police, as well as 

 his other contributions to veterinary science, make it certain that 

 the undertaking will not be found lacking in enterprise and the 

 outspoken criticism of existing abuses. Messrs. Bailliere, Tindall, 

 and Cox are the publishers. 



The third part of the eleventh volume of the Transactions of 

 the Zoological Society consists of a monograph by Prof. Owen 

 on Cneiniornis cakitrans, the huge extinct Lamellirostral bird of 

 New Zealand. We omitted to mention in connection with the 

 preceding part of the same work that the monograph on the 

 Birds of the Philippine Islands is by Ixjrd Walden, President 

 of the Zoological Society. 



The subscription for the families of the unfortunate aeronauts, 

 Sivel and Crocc-Spinelli, has reached 3,200/. A monument will 

 be erected by means of a special fund. The two aeronauts will 

 be represented sleeping, wrapped in a large mantle, and the 

 statue will be executed in marble, life size. 



» A VERY valuable publication is the " Seventh Annual Report 

 on the Noxious, Beneficial, and other Insects of the State of 



Missouri," made to the State Board of Agriculture by Mr. Charles 

 V. Riley, State Entomologist It argues considerable enlighten- 

 ment on the part of the Government of Missouri that they keep 

 a State Entomologist, though Mr. Riley complains that his work 

 is much hindered from want of sufficient funds. The necessity 

 for such an official in Missouri is proved by the fact that a single 

 insect, the Chinch Bug, filches nineteen million dollars from the 

 pockets of the farmers in a single year, and reduces by so much 

 the wealth of the State. "Yet, though the sum demonstrably 

 amounts to millions," Mr. Riley states, "many of our legislators 

 and some of our journalists would laugh at.me were I to ask for 

 an appropriation of five or ten thousand dollars to be expended 

 in experiments which might result in giving us a perfect, or at 

 least a much better remedy for the evil than any now in our posses- 

 sion, and thus save the whole or the larger part of this immense 

 annual loss." In cases, as with the Locust, the Chinch Bug, 

 the Cotton Worm, &c., where the evils are of a national cha- 

 racter, Mr. Riley rightly advocates the appointment of a National 

 Commission for the express purpose of their investigation, and 

 consisting of competent entomologists, botanists, and chemists ; 

 and we are glad to learn that preliminary^steps have been taken 

 by some of the leading scientific men in the United States to 

 memorialise Congress to create such a Commission, the members 

 to be chosen by the Council of the National Academy of Science, 

 and approved by the Secretary to the Treasury. The present 

 Report is wholly occupied with the following noxious insects : — 

 The Colorado Potato- Beetle, the Chinch Bug, the Flat-headed 

 Apple-tree Borer, Canker-worms, the Grape Phylloxera, and 

 the Rocky Mountain Locust. 



The U.S. Smithsonian Institution has lately undertaken an 

 exploration which promises very important results in the interest 

 of American archjeology. It is well known that on some of the 

 islands off the south coast of California there have been found 

 some extremely interesting remains of prehistoric occupation on 

 the part of the aboriginal tribes of the country, these consisting 

 of stone implements in great variety, soap-stone bowls, bone and 

 shell ornaments, &c., forming a valuable collection already 

 obtained for the National Museum. With a view of exhausting 

 the locality and securing whatever may still remain of interest, 

 the services of Mr. Paul Schumacher, who had previously 

 explored the region, have been secured by the Smithsonian 

 Institution, and he left San Francisco early in May, with four 

 labourers, for the scene of action. The U.S. Treasury Depart- 

 ment gave him transportation on the revenue steamer Rttsh, and 

 the War Department supplied tents and camp equipage. It is 

 expected that this investigation will occupy several months, and 

 that the results will be almost as interesting in their relations to 

 American archaeology as those of Di Cesnola in Cyprus, and of 

 Schliemann in Troy, to that of the Old World. The special 

 object of this investigation is the furnishing of material for the 

 grand display to be made at the Centennial by the combined 

 efforts of the Smithsonian Institution and the Indian Bureau. 



The Eighth Annual Report of the Trustees of Cambridge, 

 U.S., Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethno- 

 logy contains a memoir of Jeffries Wyman, the late Curator, 

 to whom Mr. F. W. Putnam has succeeded. The Report 

 contains besides some account of the additions made to the 

 Mviseum since last Report, which are extensive and valuable. 

 One of the principal additions is a collection of earthen dishes 

 and vases, a number of bone and stone implements and miscel- 

 laneous articles from mounds* near New Madrid, Missouri, and 

 several stone implements from various localities in that State, 

 collected by Prof. G. C. Swallow. This is a very important 

 collection, particularly rich in articles of pottery and stone of the 

 mound-builders. The Report contains a pretty full account of 

 these with many illustrations, especially of articles of pottery of 

 very varied and remarkable shapes. The mounds from which 



