38 



NA TURE 



{Nov. 8, 1888 



since its separation, on the north, from the rest of 

 the Philippines, so that these genera have not flowed 

 over into Mindoro and Luzon. In addition to these 

 apparently late arrivals from Borneo, the sub-province 

 possesses a large number of peculiarly Philippine birds 

 and mammals, which show it to be an integral part of 

 the province. 



The rest of the Philippines would seem to have received 

 their Malayan fauna at another time, and by the other 

 way of Sulu and Mindanao. They possess the mammalian 

 genera, Ga/eopithecus, Tarsitis, and Cenn/s, which are 

 apparently wanting in the western sub province, and the 

 genera Macactis, Sus, Vwerra, Paradoxiirus, and Scmrics 

 in common with it. Of birds, the genera Loriculus, Cyclo- 

 j)sitta, Bi/ceros, and Penelopides are examples of forms 

 which are more or less generally distributed over the 

 archipelago outside of the western sub-province. 



The grounds for dividing the Philippines east of 

 Paragua into sub-provinces are, to a great extent, based 

 upon species, and especially upon the existence in 

 each of representative forms of the genera Loriculus, 

 Bjiceros, Penelopides^ Pitta, Chrysocolaptes, Diccetan, 

 Cinnyris, &c. The hornbills form perhaps the most 

 striking example of this distribution of representative 

 species. Of the eleven species of hornbills obtained in 

 the islands, the western sub- province has one, the 

 southern three, the central two, the eastern two, Mindoro 

 one, and the northern sub-province two, and we have 

 found no case of a single species occupying more 

 than one sub-province, or of more than one species of a 

 genus in a single sub-province. The genus Chrysocolaptes 

 of woodpeckers is also noticeable, each sub-province 

 possessing its own species, with the exception of Mindoro, 

 which lacks the genus altogether. The genus Loriculus 

 of the parrots is of the same character. Of other animals 

 than birds, the genus Sciiirus of mammals, and Draco, 

 the flying lizards, seem to have representative species in 

 each sub-province, and the land-mollusks are probably 

 distributed in the same way. 



The above examples are a few that come to mind before 

 a careful study of our collections has been made, and 

 they do not by any means show all the reasons for the 

 conclusions arrived at. These are the results rather of 

 the general observations of five careful men who have 

 been collecting and studying in the Philippines during the 

 last year. During this time we have visited and collected 

 in fifteen islands of the group, and these the largest and 

 most important. I am satisfied that the study of our 

 collections with the aid of the libraries and collections at 

 home, will only strengthen the conclusions of this paper. 

 It may be necessary to make the so-called western sub- 

 province of more importance in the arrangement, but the 

 non-existence in nature of exactly equivalent divisions of 

 any kind is well recognized. 



It is hoped that our work may aid in untangling some 

 of those puzzles in which students of Philippine zoology 

 have found themselves involved, and that it will also add 

 considerably to the sum of knowledge concerning this, as 

 yet, imperfectly known corner of the earth. 



Manilla, July 2, 1888. J. B. Steere. 



BAROMETRIC OSCILLATIONS. 



'T'HE following account of what appears to have been 



-»■ the passing of H.M. surveying-ship Egeria through 



the embr}o of a cyclonic disturbance, has been received 



from Captain Aldrich, of that ship. 



Admiralty, August i. W. J. L. Wharton. 



H.M.S. " Egeria," at sea, June 6, 1888. 

 I send the following extract from my journal, which 

 may possibly be of interest to meteorologists : — 



"Afay^i.— . . . Therehasbeenaswellfrom the south- 

 west during the day. The lower clouds come from be 



eastward, while the upper ones are from the westward. 

 This appears to be a common occurrence in this locality. 

 " $ June I. — Weather cloudy all night, and wind-force 

 2'3, gradually veering, till at 3.30 a.m. it was to the north- 

 ward of east. Baropieter rising slowly. At 6 a.m. the 

 wind shifted to the north-east in a rain-squall ; nimbus, 

 and a generally dark appearance in the sky. At 7 a.m. 

 the officer of the watch sent down to tell me the baro- 

 meter had fallen o'i2 of an inch in the previous hour. I 

 was about to commence dressing at the time, but, hurry- 

 ing on my things, I looked at the aneroid in my fore- 

 cabin, and found the report correct. I immediately reset 

 the aneroid and went on deck, and although there were 

 no signs of any forthcoming disturbance, the light sails 

 and mainsail were taken in. At 7.20 I had the barometer 

 again read, when it was reported to have risen nearly 

 -j'g inch in the twenty minutes. I went down imme- 

 diately, and found by the aneroid this jump had taken 

 place. During this time there was no change in the 

 weather, though the wind drew to the north-north-east. *' 



Now there is no doubt whatever that the barometer 

 went up 9/100 in twenty minutes. Of course, it cannot be 

 known to an hour when it previously dropped '12, as the 

 instrument was not read between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., and 

 the drop may possibly have been greater even, and also 

 may have taken place as suddenly as it rose afterwards. 

 There is no doubt that some extraordinary disturbance of 

 the atmosphere took place, though beyond the foregoing 

 observations we neither saw nor experienced anything of 

 it. The following are the actual readings of the mercurial _ 

 barometer : — 



The following is the list of names recommended by the' 

 President and Council of the Royal Society for election into the 

 Coimcil for the year 1889, at the forthcoming anniversary 

 meeting on the 30th inst. : — President : Prof. George Gabriel 

 Stokes. Treasurer : Dr. John Evans. Secretaries : Prof. 

 Michael Foster and Lord Rayleigh. Foreign Secretary : Prof. 

 Alexander William Williamson. Other Members of the 

 Council : Prof. Henry Edward Armstrong, Henry Bowman 

 Brady, Charles Baron Clarke, Dr. William Huggins, John 

 Whitaker Hulke, Prof. John W. Judd, Dr. Edward Emanuel 

 Klein, Prof. E. Ray Lankester, Prof. Herbert McLeod, Sir 

 James Paget, Bart., William Pole, William Henry Preece, 

 Sir Henry E. Roscoe, Dr. Edward John Routh, Prof 

 Arthur William Riicker, and Captain William James Lloyd 

 Wharton, R.N. 



The Pasteur Institute, Paris, is to be opened on the I3lh 

 inst., in presence of numerous delegates of the French Aca- 

 demies of Science and of Medicine, and of the Medical and 

 Scientific Faculties. President Carnot will perhaps be present. 



We regret to announce the death of the well-known geologist, 

 Dr. Theodor Kjerulf, Professor at the University of Chri>tiania, 

 and Director of the Geological Survey of Norway. He died 

 at Christiania on October 25, at the age of sixty-three. He 

 received his appointment as Professor in 1858, and since that 

 time has made many important contributions to geological 

 science. 



