September 29, 1898] 



NATURE 



525 



In a long article (to be continued) contributed to the 

 Zoologist, Mr. W. L. Distant reviews the facts and theories as 

 to assimilative coloration, and propounds some new views. He 

 remarks in the course of his paper: "It seems possible that 

 assimilative coloration may have been a first and very general 

 consequent in animal development ; that such a view is suggested 

 by many facts ; and that the subsequent protective resemblance 

 acquired by numerous living creatures through the process of 

 natural selection, when life had advanced to the competitive 

 stage, is far too frequently used as an explanation for whole 

 series of uniform phenomena in coloration, which have prob- 

 ably survived unaltered from remote antiquity, and which by 

 their very essence were outside the law of natural selection, or 

 unaltered survived as the * fittest.' " 



The Biologisches Centralblatt (No. 17) contains a paper by 

 Hartvig Huitfeldt-Kaas on the Plankton of the fresh-water 

 lakes of Norway. The author follows the methods of Apstein, 

 and finds that in general the Plankton is richer in shallow waters 

 than in deep, except in regions where the rainfall is excessive, 

 i.e. where the lake is subject to sudden large additions to the 

 volume of water. The seasonal variations in the quantity of 

 Plankton in a number of lakes are exhibited graphically. 



The National Geographic Magazine for August contains a 

 paper by Mr. W. J. McGee on Papagueria, the land of the 

 Papago or Papaf Indians, an arid region lying beyond the Sierra 

 Madre, partly in Mexico and partly in Arizona ; and covering 

 an area of about 50,000 square miles. The study of the natives 

 presents some remarkable features ; their whole existence may 

 be said to be occupied with the search for water, and the tribe 

 is distinguished by exceptional force and stability of character. 

 More than three centuries of contact with white races has 

 produced little or no effect upon them. 



The issue of the Belgian Moniteur International oi August 7 

 last is largely devoted to the new Sociiti Anonyme cT^tudes et 

 (TAiiitions Giographiqnes Elis^e Rechts. The laws and con- 

 stitution of the Society are printed in full, and there are special 

 articles by M. Reclus and others. The new Society has for its 

 object the furthering of geographical study and exploration in 

 all directions, by means of co-operation with existing foreign 

 institutions and with foreign branches of the Society itself; and 

 special attention is to be given to the working-up and publishing 

 of geographical information relating to particular regions, in a 

 form adapted for economic and commercial purposes. 



The number of the Natitrwissenschaftliche Wochenschrift 

 for September 1 1 contains an excellent popular account of the 

 Adschidarja, the gulf connected with the Caspian Sea by the 

 narrow strait of Karabugas, and often known by the latter 

 name. A current flows from the Caspian to the Adschidarja, 

 varying in speed at different seasons, but never changing its 

 direction, and the waters of the gulf are intensely salt — 28 per 

 cent. — compared with about I '4 per cent, in the Caspian. 

 Actual measurements made at different dates since its discovery 

 in 1836 show that the Adschidarja and the Karabugas are being 

 rapidly filled up, and the fossil remains show that for a long 

 period the waters of the former have been growing steadily 

 Salter. The description of the chemical deposits, both organic 

 and inorganic, is of extreme interest, the latter specially so in 

 relation to the formation of oil-bearing strata. 



Dr. H. Carrington Boi/rON has discovered in a cavern 

 at Lake Minnewaska, New York, a grotto in which are repro- 

 duced on a small scale many of the beautiful phenomena seen 

 at the celebrated Blue Grotto of the island of Capri. The lake 

 is situated on the Shawangunk range of mountains at an 

 elevation of about 1700 feet ; it lies in a basin, excavated in 

 glacial times, about half a mile long and less than a quarter in 

 width, and of a depth reaching seventy feet. The rock on all 

 NO. 1509, VOL. 58] 



sides is a white quartzite, which rests upon shale, but no out- 

 crop of the latter is visible at the lake. The water varies in colour 

 from Nile green through turquoise blue and sky blue todeepindigo 

 blue, and in all these shades exhibits the silvery appearance, 

 when agitated, characteristic of the grotto at Capri. A body 

 immersed in the water has a beautiful silvery sheen, similar to- 

 the reflection of moonlight. The water has these colours at all 

 hours, but they are strongest when the sun is in the zenith \. 

 late in the afternoon the slanting rays of the sun enter the 

 opening and light up the cavern, greatly diminishing the 

 optical effects. 



The last two issues (vol. i. Nos. 9 and 10) of the Records 

 of the Botanical Survey of India comprise a contribution to- 

 the Botany of the Chitral Relief Expedition, 1895, ^y ^^r. J. F. 

 Duthie ; and a Botanical Tour in Chamba and Kangra, by Mr. 

 G. A. Gammie. 



A VALUABLE list of the Freshwater Algse of Queensland is- 

 is§ued by the Department of Agriculture, Brisbane {Botany 

 Bulletin, No. 15). The compiler, Mr. F. M. Bailey, has in- 

 corporated with his own observations those of the European 

 algologists, Askenasy, Moebius, Nordstedt, Schmidle, and 

 Borge, who have worked at the algology of Australia. 



The Geological Survey of Queensland (Department of Mines) 

 has issued a list of Additions to the Fossil Flora of Queens- 

 land, compiled by Mr. John Shirley. The species described 

 are mainly from the Ipswich formation, Trias-Jura system, and 

 are mostly Gymnosperms and Pteridophyta, with a few Dico- 

 tyledones. The list is accompanied by twenty-five plates. 



It is recorded in the Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Inform- 

 ation (No. 140) that the Queen's Cottage Grounds (between 37 

 and 38 acres) have now been formally added to the precincts of 

 the Royal Gardens ; but that public access to them cannot be 

 given until provision for their maintenance and supervision has 

 been made in the estimates for the next financial year. It is 

 intended to preserve the grounds as far as possible in their 

 present condition. 



The numbers of \}nG^ Journal of Applied Microscopy for June 

 and July, published by the optical firm of Bausch and Lomb, 

 Rochester, New York, contain a number of very useful articles- 

 on microscopical technique, and on the structure of the micro- 

 scope, as well as some which are more purely biological. The 

 Journal should be in the hands of all microscopists. 



The Biologisches Centralblatt continues to publish useful 

 epitomes of recent research in various branches of biological 

 science. In the number for August 15 we find a paper, by 

 Bernhard Jacobi, on the results of the newest researches on the 

 locality and conditions of the formation of proteids in green 

 plants, with a bibliography appended. The same number con- 

 tains an article, by J. E. W. Ihle, on the phylogeny and 

 systematic position of the Pentopoda?. 



The illustration of lectures and lessons by lantern slides is 

 now so widely used, that attention may profitably be called t» 

 the supplementary list of slides just published by Messrs. 

 Newton and Co. Among the lantern slides of interest ta 

 teachers of science, we notice in this list a set of 1 1 1 bacterio- 

 Ic^ical slides, reproduced from original negatives by Dr. Spitta ; 

 numerous recent astronomical photographs, including pictures 

 of the Indian eclipse ; views taken by Prof. Crookshank during 

 the meeting of the British Association in Toronto last year ; 

 geological formations in the neighbourhood of Barmouth ; and 

 fifty-five pictures of English birds, photographed from the well- 

 mounted specimens in the Natural History Museum. In 

 addition to the titles of slides, the list contains descriptions of 

 new lanterns and lantern accessories of service in science 

 demonstrations. 



