196 



NATURE 



\7uly 8, 1875 



they were taken appear very ancient ; soil has formed on them to 

 the depth of three feet, and thelargest trees grow on them and 

 the connected embankments or levees. Another large collection, 

 by Mr. F. W. Putnam, comes from fortifications, caves, and 

 mounds in Indiana and Kentucky, and consist of implements, 

 weapons, pottery, sandals, bark-cloth, crania, &c. 



Mr. F, Clowes, B.Sc, has been appointed Natural Science 

 Master in the recently-established Middle Class Public School at 

 I^ewcastle-under-Lyne. Mr. Clowes is the author of a work on 

 Practical Analysis, and is well known as a sound and accurate 

 chemist. 



Prof. C. F. Hartt, of Cornell, U.S., has been appointed, 

 with Major Continho, a Brazilian, to take charge of the Geolo- 

 gical Survey of Brazil. 



It is estimated that 10,000,000 acres of land in Algeria are 

 covered with a spontaneous growth of the Alpha plant. The 

 exportation of this fibre for paper-making has increased very 

 rapidly during the past five or six years. In 1869 it amounted 

 to 4,000 tons, in 1870 it rose to 32,000 tons, and in 1873 to 

 45, 000 tons, while the past year's produce was expected to reach 

 60,000 tons. The average price at Oran is about 140 francs per 

 ton. 



A VERY fine specimen of the singular rubiaceous epiphyte 

 Hydnophytum foi-micarium has recently been received at the 

 Kew Museum. This specimen measures some thirteen inches 

 through, and was accompanied by some of the ants which make 

 their nests in the fleshy tubers of the plant. These ants were 

 very lively when received, and prove to be the Ca7nponotus 

 irritans of Smith. 



Prof. Bradley, of Knoxville, Tennessee, has recently pub- 

 lished the results of his geological labours among the Southern 

 Appalachians, and they throw much light upon the probable age 

 of the crystaUine rocks of that region. It has long been the 

 tendency of geologists to regard the metamorphic crystalline 

 rocks of the Atlantic coast as certainly pre-Silurian. This has, 

 however, been called in question by the observations of Prof. 

 Dana, which go to prove that the limestones and accompanying 

 schists and quartzites of Western New England are a// Silurian, 

 and not Huronian or Laurentian. Prof Bradley now claims the 

 same for the region he has investigated, that is, the western 

 portion of North Carolina, the eastern part of Tennessee, and 

 much of Georgia and Alabama. The evidence upon which the 

 conclusion is based is stratigraphical, and must be studied in 

 detail to be fully understood. The time at which the uplift and 

 metamorphism of this region took place is considered by Prof. 

 Bradley to have been post-carboniferous, and it is probably refer- 

 able to the close of the palaeozoic. 



A VERY interesting and important addition to the ethnological 

 branch of the National Museum at Washington, U.S., has lately 

 been made in the form of a large collection of objects of stone 

 from Porto Rico. This was gathered from the ancient graves of 

 the island during a period of many years by Mr. George Latimer, 

 an American citizen residing in that place. The most notice- 

 able features in the series consist of about fifty oval stone rings 

 of much the size and shape of horse-collars, all variously carved 

 and ornamented. There are also many statuettes, carved heads, 

 triangular stones with faces of animals carved at either end, 

 some pottery, and numerous axes and chisels — some of exquisite 

 beauty, and polished to the highest degree. Many of them are 

 of the green jade so much sought after by archaeologists. 



Mr. Elliot Stock sends us an essay by Mr. T. K. Callard, 

 F. G. S. , on * ' The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of 

 Man reconsidered ;" being an attempt to show that man's anti- 

 quity is not so great as some eminent geologists make it to be. 



and that ' ' man's advent was accompanied by the introduction 

 of a vast number of fresh forms both in the vegetable and animal 

 Ufe, and that this took place soon after a great devastation of the 

 former flora and fauna, which devastation was accompanied by 

 ice and water." 



The Electric Nnus and Telegraphic Reporter '\% the title of a 

 new journal, edited by Mr. VV. Crookes, F.R.S., to be pub- 

 lished every Thursday. We wish it success. 



The sturgeon fisheries of Schleswig Holstein yielded 1,917 

 fish during 1874, of which 1,355 were caught in the Elbe, and 

 562 in the Eider, In 1873 the total was 2,174. 



M. A. Lancaster, of the Brussels Observatory, sends us a 

 paper, reprinted from the Bulletin of the Belgian Academy, on 

 the remarkable dryness of the months of February, March, and 

 April of this year. 



Mr. Ellery's " Monthly Record of Results of Observations 

 in Meteorology, Terrestrial Magnetism," &c., at Melbourne 

 Observatory, for September and^Octoberj874, are to hand. 



The latest additions to the Manchester Aquarium include 

 twelve Octopus ( Octopus vulgaris) from the Channel Islands ; 

 seven King, or Horse-Shoe Crabs {Linmlus polyphemus) from 

 North America ; twelve Large Spider .Crabs {Maia squinado) 

 from Devonshire ; two Lettered Terrapins {Emys scripta) from 

 New Orleans ; two Salt-water Terrapins {AIalac/de?iiys concen- 

 irica) from Mexico ; one Horned Toad or Crowned Tapaxaxin 

 {Phrynosoma cortiutum) from Mexico ; one Alligator {Alligator 

 mississipiensis) three feet long. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include two Macaque Monkeys {Macacus cyno- 

 molgus) from India, presented by Lord Lindsay ; a Sloth Bear 

 {Melursus labiatus) from India, presented by Mr. Richard A. 

 Roberts ; three American Red Foxes {Canis fulvus) from N. 

 America, presented by Mr. Edward Darke ; a Peregrine Falcon 

 {Falco peregrinus), European, presented by Mr. H. J. Watson ; 

 a Water Viper {Cenchris piscivorus) from N. America, presented 

 by Mr. J. F. Painter ; a Gambian Goshawk {Astur tibialis) from 

 W. Africa, purchased ; three Indian Adjutants {Leptoptilus ar- 

 §ala), two Pondicherry Vultures ( Vuliur calvus), seven Indian 

 Cobras [Naia tripudians) from India, deposited ; six Trumpeter 

 Swans {Cygnus buccinator), a Common Fallow Deer {Datna vul- 

 garis) bom in the Gardens. 



OUR BOTANICAL COLUMN 



The Potato Disease. — It will be remembered by those of 

 our readers interested in the potato disease, that Lord Cathcart 

 offered a prize in 1873 for the best essay on the " Potato Disease 

 and its Prevention ; " and it will also be fresh in their memories 

 that of the ninety-four essays sent in, not one was considered by 

 the judges to deserve the prize. This circumstance, and Prof. 

 Dyer's summary of the history of what was known of the disease, 

 delivered before the Horticultural Society last year, gave rise to 

 some correspondence in this and other journals. Few subjects, 

 probably, have been so fertile a source of wild theories and 

 speculations, Mr. Eccles Haigh, one of the competitors for 

 Lord Cathcart's prize, now comes before the public on his own 

 responsibility, with a theory which at least has the merit of inge- 

 nuity, and is based upon a cleverly worked out idea. But it 

 seems to us that the writer has taken up a wholly untenable 

 position. In a pamphlet of forty-four pages, small octavo, the 

 writer traces the causes not only of the murrain, in which Perono- 

 spora infestans is so destructive, but also of the "curl," a disease 

 very prevalent just before the appearance of the present scourge ; 

 and, to his own satisfaction, explains how these diseases are to 

 be prevented. To be brief, gardeners are credited with having 

 induced by their mode of cultivation the " curl," and afterwards, 

 in getting rid of that, brought on the present far more formidable 

 scourge. Mr, Haigh endeavours to show that during the " curl '^ 



