394 



NATURE 



{Feb. 2 1, 1889 



Indian woods ; an herbarium, a chemical laboratory, and 

 a meteorological observatory ; while the forests of three 

 districts are attached to the School as a training-ground, 

 in which the young students may learn, by personal and 

 actual experience, the conduct of forest operations in the 

 field. The students are usually selected in the different 

 provinces by the Conservators of Forests, and are gener- 

 ally young officers who have seen already some pre- 

 liminary service. Several have been deputed by the chief 

 native States, such as Mysore and Baroda, and this shows 

 the spread that an enlightened forest policy is making in 

 the country. There are, besides, a number of independ- 

 ent students, who study in the hope of obtaining appoint- 

 ments if successful, either in the British territory or in 

 the native States. 



Two courses of study are carried on at the School, the 

 higher in English, leading up to the ranger's certificate, 

 which qualifies the students who succeed in obtaining 

 it for the appointment as " Forest Ranger," on salaries 

 rising from Rs. 600 to Rs. 3000 yearly ; the lower, in Hin- 

 dustani, leading to the forester's certificate, which quali- 

 fies the holder for appointments of from Rs. 240 to Rs. 480 

 per annum. The ranger's course lasts twenty-one months, 

 of which eight are spent in theoretical instruction, and 

 the rest in practical work in the field. The subjects 

 taught are forestry, botany, the elements of zoology, 

 chemistry, physics, geology, mathematics, and survey- 

 ing, with elementary engineering, such as road-making 

 and the construction of forest export works, and forest 

 law. The forester's course lasts sixteen months, four 

 in theoretical study, and the rest in the field, and the 

 subjects taught are elementary forestry and botany, 

 mathematics, surveying and plan-drawing, and depart- 

 mental procedure. 



The students wear a neat uniform of kharki, drill with 

 a turban or helmet, and they are regularly exercised in 

 drill, most of the European and Eurasian students, how- 

 ever, preferring to join the Dehra Doon Corps of Mounted 

 Infantry. When on tour in the forests on practical in- 

 struction, each has a small tent, with furniture of a camp- 

 table, chair, and bedstead, and some of them amuse 

 themselves occasionally in sport, one student last year 

 distinguishing himself by carrying off the first prize for 

 shooting in the province. 



The forests attached to the School Circle consist of 

 those of the Dehra Doon, Saharanpore, and Jaunsar 

 Forest Divisions. The two former contain chiefly forests 

 of the sdl tree {Shorea robusia), the chief gregarious tree 

 of India, and the most valuable timber, for building pur- 

 poses, after teak. They occupy respectively the northern 

 and southern slopes of the Siwalik Range, and are care- 

 fully managed as training forests. The Dehra Doon 

 forests are now being worked under a working plan 

 prepared by Mr. Fernandez, the Professor of Forestry. 

 These forests had, till some twenty years ago, been very 

 badly treated, so that at present the older portion of the 

 stock consists chiefly of trees which are crooked and un- 

 sound, the good and sound ones having previously been all 

 cut out to provide sleepers'for the East Indian, and Sind, 

 Punjab, and Delhi Railways. The present working plan 

 provides for a temporary rotation of twenty years, during 

 which (i) all the old, unsound, and crooked sdl trees 

 which can be cut without letting in too much hght are 

 removed ; and (2) all trees of the less valuable kinds that 

 are not required for shade are cut away. These opera- 

 tions have now been carried on for a few years with the 

 most beneficial results, for the ground is being rapidly 

 covered with good and straight saplings and coppice 

 shoots of sdl. The forest operations, the selection of 

 the trees to be cut, and their marking and enumeration, 

 are all done by the students themselves, so that in this 

 way they obtain a valuable amount of practical ex- 

 perience. 



The forests of Jaunsar lie on the hills of the outer 



Himalaya at an elevation of some 5000 to 10,000 feet, 

 and consist chiefly of coniferous trees. The deodar cedar 

 {Cedrus Deodara) is, of course, the most valuable of 

 these ; then come the pines, the "kail " {Pinus excelsd), 

 which so often accompanies the deodar, and the " chir " 

 {Pinus longifolia), which forms gregarious forest at the 

 lower elevations. The silver and spruce firs {Abies Web- 

 biana and Smithiand) also occur, as well as oaks {Quer- 

 cus iticana, diiataia, and setnicarpifolid) and other temper- 

 ate trees. These forests are also carefully treated under 

 working plans, and in them the students of the School 

 learn the management of coniferous forests, the extraction 

 of timber by roads and slides, the planting of blanks in 

 the forest, and the measures necessary for protection 

 against fire and frost. 



At the end of their course, and on obtaining their cer- 

 tificates, the students return to the provinces from which 

 they were sent, qualified to carry out ordinary forest works 

 in their own country ; and some of them have already 

 obtained promotion into the higher staff of the Department 

 as the reward of their good work, industry, and energy. 



The Forest School at Dehra Doon may thus be said 

 to be doing an excellent work, a work which cannot fail 

 to have the best possible effect in the country, and to 

 show the truth of Sir Edwin Arnold's saying that " the 

 Forest Conservancy carried out by the British ' Raj ' is 

 one of the greatest benefits to the peninsula." 



Soon, perhaps, the extension of forest work will neces- 

 sitate the establishment of other or branch establishments 

 in Madras, Burmah, and elsewhere ; but it is to Dehra 

 Doon that all will look up as the pioneer of scientific 

 forest teaching for the natives of our great dependency. 



THE GIANT EARTHWORM OF GIF P STAND. 



THE recently-issued first part of the Transactions of 

 the Royal Society of Victoria contains an elaborate 

 essay (of which we have something to say elsewhere to- 

 day) by Mr. Baldwin Spencer, the newly-appointed 

 Professor of Zoology in the University of Melbourne, on 

 the anatomy of the Giant Earthworm of Gippsland, the 

 largest earthworm yet known. This worm, of which 

 some examples attain to the extraordinary length of six 

 feet, was first described by Prof. McCoy in 1879, and 

 named Megascolides australis. It belongs to a peculiar 

 Australian group, of which five species are now known. 

 Mr. Spencer gives us the following general account of its 

 habits : — 



Of all the species of Megascolides yet known, this one 

 seems to be the largest, and is apparently confined to 

 Gippsland ; it is, when found at all, somewhat abundant, 

 and lives principally on the sloping sides of creeks. At 

 times it is found beneath fallen logs, and may be turned 

 out of the ground by the plough. 



When first seeking it, we were somewhat puzzled by 

 some of those who were evidently well acquainted with 

 the worm assuring us that the entrance to its burrow 

 was indicated by a distinct "casting"; whilst others, 

 evidently equally well acquainted with the animal, 

 were quite as positive in asserting that it never pro- 

 duced any " casting." Whilst searching, we found 

 what I believe to be the explanation of the contra- 

 dictory statements, and soon discovered that the surest 

 test of the presence of the worm underground was a very 

 distinct gurgling sound, made by the animal retreating in 

 its burrow when the ground was stamped upon by the 

 foot. When once heard, this gurgling sound is unmis- 

 takable, and we at once learnt to regard it as a sure sign 

 of the worm's presence. 



The worm very frequently lives in ground riddled by 

 the holes of the land-crab, as it is popularly called ; this 

 animal has a small circular burrow leading down to a 



