November 3, 1892] 



NATURE 



compulsory colour examination (in many cases a most inefficient 

 one) to be passed before a sailor can become an officer, there is 

 no check to a colour-blind man being a sailor, or to his remain- 

 ing one to his life's end. 



The Rev. T. A. Marshall describes in the November number 

 of the Entomologist s Monthly Magazine a new genus and 

 species of Belytidae from New Zealand. The paper is accom- 

 panied by representations of two insects in fine condition. Mr. 

 Marshall abstains from giving tedious details, as the figures 

 will, he believes, convey a better idea of these creatures than 

 many words, and he thinks they will now be unmistakable, 

 at least until other species of the same genus shall be discovered. 

 He has not taken any characters from the under-side, the 

 specimens being carded ; hence the oral organs could not be 

 described, but they may be pretty safely assumed to resemble 

 those of Belyta, Anectata, &c., and their details would have 

 been of little value. 



A CORRESPONDENT of the New York journal Electricity, 

 writing from Paris, describes some electrical peculiarities which 

 he has seen in a cat. This cat, called Michon, is a half wild 

 animal, and dislikes handling. It belongs to the household of 

 Dame Gais, whose residence on the Carnier Mount, near 

 Monte Carlo, looks directly down on the noted gambling casino 

 and its botanical reservation. On some of the cold and very 

 dry nights common to Monte Carlo in the winter, Michon, 

 while in the dark, is quite a spectacle. Every movement of its 

 body sends off hundreds of minute bluish sparks, something like 

 those thrown off by ill-adjusted brushes, though not so pro- 

 nounced in colour. They make a noise on a small scale, like 

 the crackling of burning furze. Stroking the cat increases the 

 sparking, and ruffling its fur the reverse way produces a minia- 

 ture pyrotechnic display quite remarkable. The cat itself does 

 not seem to mind the sparking, but, like all cats, dislikes to have 

 its fur rubbed in a wrong direction. The writer has never seen 

 the electric element so abundant in a cat, and many who have 

 seen the coruscations that have given notoriety to 

 Michon, confirm him in the opinion that the cat is an 

 electrical curiosity. 



A USEFUL account of "Biological Teaching in the Colleges 

 of the United States," by Prof. John A. Campbell, of the 

 University of Georgia, has been issued by the United States 

 Bureau of Education. The writer's object is to present the actual 

 extent and scope of the biological courses offered by the colleges 

 of the United States, together with the methods of teaching 

 employed. He also aims at presenting as fully as possible an 

 account of the equipment and facilities for teaching which the 

 various colleges possess. The statements he makes are there- 

 fore based largely upon the printed accounts found in the college 

 catalogues, supplemented in many cases by letters containing 

 additional information. These have usually been re-written, 

 but where they are in suitable form they are quoted directly. 

 Prof. Campbell notes that many of the colleges announce more 

 in their catalogues than they can possibly do thoroughly with the 

 teaching force employed. This is often perfectly apparent, but 

 in more than one letter received the statement has been made 

 that certain courses have no existence save on paper. Prof. 

 Campbell, however, thinks that it is worth while to record the 

 views of the professors in charge in regard to the nature and 

 aims of such work, and the ideals towards which they are 

 striving. 



The " Treatise on Hygiene and Public Health," edited by 

 Dr. T. Stevenson and Mr. Shirley Murphy, and reviewed in 

 Nature last week, is published by Messrs. J. and A. 

 Churchill. 



Messrs. J. and A. Churchill are publishing a second 

 edition, revised and enlarged, of " Commercial Organic 

 Analysis," by Alfred H. Allen. The second part of the third 

 volume has just appeared. The third part of the same volume 

 will be issued as soon as possible, and will complete the work. 

 In the second part he has sought to describe fully and accurately 

 such of the organic bases as have any practical interest, and to 

 give trustworthy information as to their sources. 



The new number of Natural Science includes articles on the 

 evolution of consciousness, by C. Lloyd Morgan ; primaeval 

 man : a palaeolithic floor near Dunstable, by W. G. Smith ; 

 the evolution of sharks' teeth, by A. S. Woodward ; the walk of 

 arthropods, by G. H. Carpenter ; the falling of leaves, by A. 

 B. Rendle ; and Norwich Castle as a museum, by H. Wood- 

 ward. 



A REVISED edition of "London Birds and London Insects," 

 by Mr. T. Digby Pigott, has been issued by Mr. H. Porter. 

 Along with the essays on these subjects have been printed 

 several other bright and attractive sketches. 



An elaborate index to the genera and species described in the 

 •' Palaeontologia Indica," up to the year 1891, by W. Theobald, 

 has just been issued. It is included among the Memoirs of the 

 Geological Survey of India. Mr. Theobald has also pre- 

 pared " Contents and Index of the Memoirs of the Geological 

 Survey of India, 1859 to 1883." 



A SECOND edition of Dr. F. H. Hatch's " Text-book of 

 Petrology " has been issued by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein 

 and Co. The author explains that he has taken advantage of 

 this opportunity to revise the book thoroughly, while largely 

 increasing its scope. 



The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge has pub- 

 lished a second edition of Klein's " Star Atlas." Mr. E. 

 McClure, the translator of Dr. Klein's explanatory text, has 

 I sought to bring up to date the German writer's descriptions of 

 the more interesting fixed stars, star clusters, and nebulae. 



Messrs. Robert Grant and Son, Edinburgh, and 

 Messrs. Williams and Norgate, London, have issued Parts II. 

 and III. of Vol. XXXVI. of the Transactions of the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh. The following are the subjects of some 

 of the papers : — the foundations of the kinetic theory of gases 

 (IV,), by Prof. Tait ; the solid and liquid particles in clouds, 

 by J. Aitken ; the development of the carapace of the chelonia, 

 by J. B. Haycraft ; the composition of oceanic and littoral 

 manganese nodules, by J. Y. Buchanan ; the winds of Ben 

 Nevis, by R. T. Omond and A, Rankin ; and the Clyde sea 

 area, by H. R. Mill. 



The University College of Wales, Aberystwith, has issued 

 its calendar for its twenty-first session, 1892-3. 



The City and Guilds of London Institute has issued its pro- 

 gramme of technological examinations for the session 1892-93. 



Messrs. George Philip and Son announce that a work on 

 " British New Guinea," by Mr. J. P. Thomson, Hon. Sec. to 

 the Brisbane Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Aus- 

 tralasia, is almost ready for publication. An appendix will con- 

 tain contributions to the geology, fauna, flora, &c., by Sir 

 William Macgregor, K.C.M.G., Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, 

 Professor Liversidge, F.R.S., and others. The pro6f-sheets 

 have been revised by Dr. H. Robert Mill and Dr. Bowdler 

 Sharpe. 



Another and apparently much more convenient mode of 

 preparing glycol aldehyde, CHjOH.CHO, the first member of 

 the series of aldehyde-alcohols, is described in the current 

 number of the Berichte, by Drs. Marckwald and Ellinger, of 



NO. 1 201, VOL. 47] 



