212 



NA TURE 



\7uly 



1875 



object for which it was estabhshed — the study of the 

 natural history and antiquities of the neighbourhood. 

 The vokimc before us contains a selection of some of the 

 principal f>apers read at the Club meetings during these 

 ten years, and, as a whole, they reflect credit on the dili- 

 gence, intelligence, and knowledge of the authors. Both 

 the papers on general and those on local subjects contain 

 much valuable material, quite deserving of publication, 

 and the latter especially will be useful to those who want 

 information on the natural history and antiquities of 

 Staffordshire. One of the most interesting general papers 

 is by Dr. J. Barnard Davis, " On the Interments of 

 Primitive Man," which is illustrated by some beautifully 

 executed woodcuts. Of the papers on local subjects, we 

 may mention " Notes on the Fossil Trees in a Marl Pit 

 at Hanlcy," by John Ward, F.G.S. ; "The Geology of 

 Mow Cop, Congleton Edge, and the surrounding dis- 

 trict," by J. D. Saintcr, F.G.S. ; " On the abscnee of 

 Waterfalls in the Scenery of North Staffordshire," by J. 

 E. Davis; and "On the Organic Remains of the Coal 

 Measures of North Staffordshire," by John Ward, F.G.S. 

 Appended is a considerable list of Macro-Lepidoptera 

 taken and observed in North Staffordshire by members 

 of the Club, by T. W. Daltry, F.L.S. The illustrated 

 paper on Croxden Abbey is a valuable one of its kind. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



\The Editor does not hold himself responsible Jor opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. \ 



The India Museum 



In your notice of the various transfers of the India Museum 

 (vol. xii. p. 192), you do not allude to the somewhat important 

 fact that from 1869 up to the recent opening of the new museum 

 the whole of the Natural History Collections have been kept in 

 closed boxes in the cellars of the ladia Office.* This has been 

 a grievous wrong to working naturalists, who have constantly 

 required access to typical specimens to solve various points of 

 inquiry. 



Again and again the attention of the authorities of the India 

 Office was called to this state of affairs without effect, and natu- 

 ralists cannot give too much credit to Lord Salisbury and the 

 present Administration for putting' an end to the scandal that 

 existed so long. 



Unfortunately, however, as I prophesied, it has been found on 

 opening the boxes that some of them have been attacked by 

 moth, and that valuable specimens have perished. 



July 9 r. L, SCLATKR 



Irish Cave Exploration 



During the last few weeks Dr. Leith Adams, F.R.S., and 

 myself have been exploring an ossiferous cave at Shandon, near 

 here, under a grant from the Royal Irish Academy. Bones of 

 mammoth, reindeer, bear, wolf, horse, and hare, were found in 

 the debris of a quarry here in 1859, and are now in the Royal 

 Museum, Dublin, We have worked through a considerable 

 quantity of limestone breccia and stalagmite, in which and in a 

 thin underlying deposit of cave- earth we have found numerous 

 bones of the above-mentioned animals, indicating at least two 

 individuals of mammoth, eighteen of reindeer, and five of horse, 

 for which latter this is as yet the sole recorded locality in Ire- 

 land. The bones of bear show extreme age and signs of disease, 

 and we have found the cast ander of a reindeer. Some of the 

 bones have been gnawed, probably by wolves, and many have 

 been broken by the falling-in of the roof of the cave. Though 

 we have broken into a large chamber, we are as yet unable to 

 form a clear conception of the original form of the cavern. A 

 full account of the cave previous to the present exploration was 

 given by Prof. Harkness in the Geological Magazine for June, 

 1570. G. S. BOULGER 



Dungarvan, Co, Waterford, July 1 1 



* See Nature, vol. vii. p, 457. 



Sea-power 



Will you allow me to ask your readers one or two questions 

 upon a subject which may ultimately belong rather to an engi- 

 neering than to a purely scientific journal, but which at present 

 has not, I believe, passed into the hands of practical men ? I 

 wish to know : 



1. Where — if anywhere — use is made of the movements of 

 the sea as motive powers ? 



2. Where I can find the latest and fullest information upon 

 this subject ? 



I have an impression that'a paper on the subject appeared in 

 one of the volumes of Nature, but I cannot find it. The latest 

 paper on which I can now put my hand is M. Cazin's lecture 

 on " Les Forces Motrices," xa S}^& Rruue des Cours Scientifitjues 

 of Feb. 19, 1870. The lecturer mentions the failure of the 

 moulins de tnaree, and gives a description, with diagram, of M. 

 Tommasi's proposed y?«x tnoteur. 



It has long appeared to me that the immense importance of 

 the question as to the possibility of utilising sea-power has not 

 been sufficiently recognised. The practical solution of this 

 question would not only give to England an inexhaustible motive 

 power, but would also, to a considerable extent, solve at once 

 such problems as are connected with the rapid consumption of 

 our coal, the pollution of our rivers in manufacturing districts, 

 the unhealthy and immoral massing of our working classes in 

 dirty and smoky towns and cities, &c. Moreover, the space 

 covered by the sea-side factories would in many instances be 

 merely the almost waste border-land between sea and field. 



Giessen, June 30 A, R, 



Sea-Lions 



It will be no doubt interesting to your readers to learn that a 

 pair of Sea-Lions have just been added to the collection of 

 animals in the Jardin d'Acclimatation, Paris. They are said to 

 have been brought from the North Pacific, and are marked 

 Otaria stelleH, but I think from their small size and long narrow 

 heads that the species is more probably Otaria ursina, the 

 Northern Sea Bear, whose principal habitat is the Pribylov 

 group. , They are quite young, and the female is larger than the 

 male. 



The administrative committee of the Garden has caused a 

 large tank to be built for their reception similar to that in our 

 Zoological Gardens, only rather larger. They seem in excellent 

 health, and it will be interesting to .see whether they breed in 

 captivity. 



They have no special attendant, so far as I could see, as the 

 Sea-Lions at our Gardens have, and are therefore only fed at 

 stated times. On the day of my visit the keeper was late, and 

 the female became hungry. She gave vent to her feelings by a 

 curious cry, a prolonged "Ah — a — a— ah," repeated at short 

 intervals — something like the bleating of an angry sheep. 



It is to be regretted that these animals were not secured for 

 our Gardens, where the best method of managing them is so 

 thoroughly understood, and where consequently the experiment 

 of breeding might have been tried with a better chance of success 

 than elsewhere, J. W. Clark 



Museum of Zoology and Comparative 

 Anatomy, Cambridge, July u 



Hereditary Affection of a Cat for a Dog 



I HAVE reared a fine mastiff. He is now three-and a-half years 

 old. When quite a puppy he and a kitten evinced a strong 

 liking for each other. The kitten, when able to leave her mother, 

 fixed her residence in the dog's kennel, and never seemed happy 

 when away from her large friend. She ate her breakfast out of 

 the dog's bowl, and slept in his kennel with his paws around her. 

 She used to catch mice and young rats, and carry them to him, 

 and seemed quite pleased when he accepted friendship's offering. 

 One morning I observed the cat preparing a bed with straw in 

 the corner of the kennel — an ordinary wooden one, 4 feet by 

 2\ feet. As she was going to have kittens, I thought she in- 

 tended making the kennel her nursery, and " Cato " (the dog) 

 her head nurse. Such proved to be the case. She brought 

 forth five kittens, and there they lay for some time. The mother 

 frequently went away for hours, leaving the dog to look after her 

 family. I many times stooped down to examine them, and 

 " Cato " stood by my side quite proud of his charge. The poor 



