592 



NA TURE 



[April 



him. The Surveyor-General su^jges-ts that a ranger be employed 

 by the Crown to sell, on behalf of the Crown, fuel and timber 

 that has reached maturity. With regard to the trigonometrical 

 survey of the country, the piles built extend over 4000 square 

 miles, and the final results deduced from observations made over 

 2600 square miles have been recorded. It was intended to com- 

 mence a geological survey during the past year, with the object 

 chiefly of examining the districts in which gold, coal, lead, and 

 other minerals have been found, but considerations of economy 

 have led to the abandonment of this scheme for the present. 



The present state and the history of the flora of the province 

 of St. Petersburg were lately the subjects of a very interesting 

 communication by Dr. K. Kegel at a meeting of the St. Peters- 

 burg Society of Naturalists (yJ//wwV«, vol. xix.). The influence 

 of man in the introduction of new species is most marked in so 

 populous a province. Several species have been unconsciously 

 imported by man from South-Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean 

 coast, and Asia ; and many garden plants, such as Be'lis perennis, 

 Impaiiens parviflora, and Aster prcecox, have become regular 

 members of the wild-growing flora. Some of them have spread 

 with astonishing rapidity. The recently imported Erigeron 

 canadense has now penetrated as far as the Altai Mountains ; 

 the Matricaria discoidea, imported from America thirty years 

 ago, is found all over the region ; while the Samhticiis racemosa 

 grows even in the wildest marshes of Schlusseiburg. Plants 

 imported by man are dispersed by birds, water, and wind over a 

 wide space, and a great many species, such as Elodea cana- 

 densis, Corydalis bractenta, Scilla cermia, &c., have spread 

 during the last ten years. Dr. Kegel insists upon the necessity 

 of such species being carefully mentioned, because a few years 

 after their introduction the botanist may not be able to explain 

 how they appeared in the region, and may suppose that they 

 have been merely overlooked. 



Another interesting feature of the St. Petersburg flora 

 which has letn pointed out by Dr. Regel, is the frequency of 

 white colour in the case of such flowers as are coloured pink or 

 blue in Central Europe. The prevalence of white in the north 

 is thus confirmed. The Poly gala vulgaris, Lychnis viscaria, 

 L. Flos-cttcttU, Centaurea phrygia, Jasione niontana. Cam- 

 panula gljmerata, C. Tracheliuvi, C. latifolia, C. rottmdifolia, 

 C. patitla, Calluna vulgaris, Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi, Thymus 

 serpylhan, Brunella vulgaris, Gymnadenia conopsea, Orchis 

 maculata, 0. Traunsteineri, and others were found with white 

 flowers. In accordance with Dr. Masters 's views, Dr. Regel 

 sees in this fact a pathological phenomenon due to unfavour- 

 able climatic conditions. The colouring pigment does not dis- 

 appear, but more intercellular spaces appear, and being filled 

 with air, they permit the full reflection of light. In fact, several 

 white flowers of Campanula patula became blue when dried, 

 the pressure exerted upon them evidently having compressed 

 and reduced the intercellular spaces. 



The following are the lecture arrangements at the Royal 

 Institution after Easter, so far as they relate to science : — Prof. 

 E. Ray Lankester, four lectures on some recent biological 

 discoveries ; Mr. Eadweard Muybridge, of Pennsylvania, two 

 lectures on the science of animal locomotion in its relation to 

 design in art (illustrated by the zoopraxiscope) ; Prof. Dewar, five 

 experimental lectures on chemical affinity ; Prof. W. Knight, of 

 St. Andrews, three lectures on (i) the classification of the sciences, 

 historical and critical ; (2) idealism and experience, in philosophy 

 and literature ; (3) idealism and experience, in art and life (the 

 Tyndall lectures). The Friday evening meetings will be resumed 

 on May 3, when a discourse will be given by Sir Henry Roscoe, 

 M.P., on aluminium ; succeeding discourses will probably be 

 given by Prof. Dewar, Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, the Rev. S. 

 J. Perry, Prof. D. Mendeleef, Mr. A. Geikie, Mr. C. V. Boys, 

 and other gentlemen. 



The Registrar of the University of London desires us to call 

 attention to the fact that the June examination for matriculation 

 is, in the present and future years, to be held a week earlier than 

 heretofore. 



In the list of English and American Corresponding Members 

 of the French Academy of Sciences, printed in Nature, 

 January 24 (p. 312), Prof. A. Agassiz was inadvertently 

 omitted from the list of names under "Anatomy ani 

 Zoology." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Green llonkty {Cercopithecus callitrichus) 

 from Barbadoes, presented by the West Indian Natural History 

 Exploration Committee ; a Kinkajou {Cercoleptes cau iivolvulus) 

 from Demerara, presented by Mrs. Marian FitzSimons ; a Grey 

 Squirrel {Sciurus griseus) from North America, presented by 

 Miss Vokes ; a Shag (Phalacrocorax gracilis), Yir\t\s\\, presented 

 by Mr. Henry Reynold's; a Black Tortoise {Testudo carbonaria) 



from Trinidad, a Cayman {Jacari:, sp. inc. ) from Demerara, 



presented by Colonel Fielden, F.Z.S. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Melbourne Observatory.— The twenty-third Annual Re- 

 port of the Board of Visitors to this Observatory, together with 

 the Annual Report of the Government Astronomer, have just 

 reached us. The visitation took place on October 4, 1888, and 

 the Astronomer's Report is for the year ending June 30, 1888. 

 The principal points of interest in the Reports are those refer- 

 ring to the great reflector and to the new photographic tele- 

 scope. The mirrots of the former instrument had become so dull 

 that their repolishing was rendered imperative, and the work 

 was to be done at the Observatory itself, the risk and cost of 

 sending them to England being prohibitory. With a view to 

 this important operation, a number of small mirrors have been 

 repolished, in order that the necessary experience might be ac- 

 quired before the great mirrors were taken in hand. The new- 

 telescope for the photographic survey was well advanced, and 

 Mr. Ellery expected that Melbourne would be ready to enter on 

 her share of the work as soon, if not sooner, than the other 

 associated Observatories. The Government of Victoria, besides 

 supplying the necessary funds to enable the Observatory to take 

 part in the photographic survey, had granted ;i^2300 for the 

 erection of a dwelling house for the Director within the Obser 

 vatory grounds. The new transit-circle and the two equatorials 

 had been in constant use, and were in good order ; 2962 obser- 

 vations of right ascension, and 1434 of Polar distance, having 

 been obtained with the former during the year. The photo- 

 heliograph had been subjected to a slight alteration, the front 

 lens of the secondary magnifier having been previously too close 

 to the primary focus, so that much trouble was caused from the 

 magnified images of any particles of dust which might lodge 

 upon it. The sun-pictures had, in consequence of the time 

 employed over this alteration, not been so numerous as usual, 

 a record of the sun's surface being only obtained on 129 days. 

 With the great telescope, eighty-one nebulae were observed or 

 searched for. 



Mr. Ellery reports that the meteorological department, es- 

 pecially with regard to the Inter-Colonial Weather Service, 

 increases in importance and efficiency every year, and that he 

 proposed to call a conference of the several Meteorological 

 Directors of the Australian Colonies, with the view of as>imi- 

 lating their methods of reporting, and of still further improving 

 meteorological work in Australia. 



Comet 18891^ (Barnard, March 31). — Herrvon Heppergen" 

 has computed the following elements and ephemeris for this;] 

 object from observations of dates March 31, April 4 and 8 : — 

 T = 1S89 July 27-4812 Berlin M.T. 



CO = 2°57 27 28 ) 



a = 308 29 41 V Mean Eq. 1889 'o. 

 I = 162 46 20 ) 

 log a = 0295 19 



Error of middle place (O - C. ). 

 AA. cos ^ = - 11". A(8 = o". 



