August i i, 1898] 



NA TURE 



355 



The flat fishes of Cape Colony are described by Mr. G. A. 

 Boulenger, F. R.S., in a bulletin just published by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture at the Cape. Only five kinds of flat fishes 

 were known from the coast of South Africa until recently, when 

 Dr. Gilchrist, the marine biologist to the Cape Government, 

 sent Mr. Boulenger a sixth, allied to the British Scald-fish, and 

 representing a species not only new to the South African 

 fauna, but also new to science. All the material obtained in 

 the course of the investigation of the marine fauna undertaken 

 by the Cape Government will be worked up by specialists, and 

 the results published in bulletins similar to the present one. 

 The investigations will deal with marine biology in the widest 

 sense of the term, including the study of conditions of life 

 dependent on physical factors, such as currents, temperature, 

 &c. 



The third number of the second part of the second volume 

 of the new enlarged edition of Dr. Ostwald's " Lehrbuch der 

 allgemeinen Chemie " has just been published by Engelmann, 

 of Leipzig. About three more numbers have to appear before 

 the new edition is completed, and it is announced that they will 

 be published as soon as possible. 



Vol. iii. of *' Among British Birds in their Nesting Haunts," 

 illustrated by the camera by O. A. J. Lee, has been brought to 

 completion by the issue of Part 12 by the publisher, David 

 Douglas, Edinburgh. This part deals with the tree-creeper, 

 blackbird, rock-pipit, magpie, ringdove, sedge- warbler, dipper, 

 fulmar and dunlin. 



Attention may appropriately be called at the present time 

 of year to the publication of a new edition of the late Mr. John 

 Ball's Alpine Guide, vol. i., dealing with the Western Alps. 

 The work has been reconstructed and revised on behalf of the 

 Alpine Club by Mr. W. A. B. Coolidge, and its place is be- 

 tween such a Guide for ordinary travellers as " Murray," and 

 such a special series as the "Climbers' Guides." We shall 

 review tfce new edition in a future issue, and content ourselves 

 now with merely announcing its publication by Messrs. 

 Longmans, Green, and Co. 



A SECOND and revised edition of the standard work on 

 " Hydrographical Surveying," by Rear- Admiral Sir William 

 J. L. Wharton, K.C.B., has been published by Mr. John 

 Murray. The work originally appeared in 1882, and has 

 instructed many naval officers in the principles of marine sur- 

 veying. The new edition is in the same form as the old one, 

 but the descriptions of instruments and fittings which have 

 changed in the interval between the two issues have been 

 brought up to date, thus increasing the usefulness of the book 

 for members of the nautical surveying service. 



The Agricultural Gazette 01 New South Wales (for May) is 

 as usual, full of valuable articles and notes. The present issue 

 contains the continuation of articles on " The Growth of Gall- 

 making Insects," "Bees, and how to manage them," and 

 " The Bee Calendar," besides a number of other contributions 

 likely to be of practical service to all who take an interest in 

 agricultural and kindred pursuits. We notice that a series of 

 articles especially intended as a guide for beginners in the 

 application of science to agriculture and horticulture is to be 

 commenced in the next number of the Gazette. 



The Manchester Microscopical Society may take credit to 



itself for the volume of Transactions just published. A number 



r interesting papers are published in the volume, and the re- 



>rt shows that the session in which they were read was in 



very respect a successful one. A paper by Mr. Mark L. 



Sykes, on "Natural Selection in the Lepidoptera," illustrated 



by eight good plates, deserves special mention. The butterflies 



NO. 1502, VOL. 58] 



shown upon the first two plates illustrate the mutual protection 

 afforded by the simulation of various inedible species to each 

 other in the same region ; while the six remaining plates illus- 

 trate mimicry of inedible by edible species. Among other sub- 

 jects of papers in the volume are : the Hemiptera-Homoptera, 

 influence of light and temperature on vegetation, the functions 

 and structures of leaves, and adaptations in plants. 



The current issue of the National Geographic Magazine 

 (Washington) is a National Educational .\ssociation number, 

 and contains many interesting and valuable contributions. Mr. 

 W. J. McGee writes on " American Geographic Education " and 

 "Geographic Development of the District of Columbia," and 

 Mr. Henry Gannett, of the U.S. Geological Survey, shows, in 

 an article entitled " Geographic Work of the General Govern- 

 ment,'" how, through a number of bureaus and departments, the 

 United States Government is engaged in promoting the study of 

 geography in its various branches. The longest, and perhaps 

 most valuable, contribution to the number is by Mr. G. K. 

 Gilbert, of the U.S. Geological Survey, on the " Origin of the 

 Physical Features of the United States," This paper was, we 

 are told, prepared as an introduction to a course of afternoon 

 lectures planned by the late Mr. Hubbard, to present the eff"ect 

 of geographic environment on the civilisation and progress of 

 the United States. 



The twenty-ninth annual report of the Norfolk and Norwich 

 Naturalist's Society forms an important contribution to the 

 natural history of the district, thirteen of the fifteen papers 

 published being of a local character. The presidential address, 

 delivered by Mr. A. W. Preston, is mainly meteorological in 

 character, and is accompanied by a series of ten tables indicating 

 the highest, lowest and mean temperatures, the monthly and 

 annual rainfall, the prevailing direction of the wind, and par- 

 ticulars of the duration in each quarter ; all these extending over 

 the ten years ending 1897. Mr. Southwell contributes a paper 

 (with map) on an ancient decoy at Feltwell, and some further 

 remarks on the Swan pit at St. Helen's, Norwich. He also 

 records the addition of two new species of birds to the Norfolk 

 list, viz. the Mediterranean Herring Gull {Larus cachinnaus) 

 and the Tawny Pipit, bringing the number of fully recognised 

 species of birds which have been obtained in Norfolk to 308 ; 

 in addition to eight doubtful species. Mr. Gurney contributes a 

 paper on the " Economy of the Cuckoo," in which he considers 

 in detail some of the moot points in the life-history of this common 

 but still mysterious bird. Mr. A. Patterson sends his usual 

 " Natural History Notes from Yarmouth," and Mr. G. H. Harris 

 the eighteenth consecutive report on the herring fishery at Yar- 

 mouth and Lowestoft. These notes, in the absence of any official 

 returns on the subject, should have more than local value. An 

 obituary notice of the late Sir Edward Newton, as former 

 president of the Society, should be mentioned ; also the fact that 

 mainly through the instrumentality of the Society the close-time 

 for wild-fowl, other than ducks breeding in the county, has 

 been extended to September I in each year. The Society is 

 to be congratulated on the list of its members, its financial 

 prosperity, and the excellent work it is so successfully per- 

 forming. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Mozambique Monkey (Cercopithecus 

 pygerythrus) from East Africa, presented by Miss Ethel 

 Ansorge ; a Squirrel Monkey [Chrysothrix sciurea) from 

 Guiana, presented by Mr. R. Routledge ; a Hairy Armadillo 

 {Dasypus villosns) from La Plata, presented by Mr. W. Harman ; 



a Ichneumon (ffelogale, sp. inc.), an Abyssinian Guinea 



Fowl {Numida ptilorhyncha) from East Africa, presented by 

 Mr. R. M. Hawker; a Red-masked Conure (Conurus itibro- 

 larvatus) from Ecuador, presented by Mrs. E. Henry ; a 



