January 28, 1892] 



NATURE 



295 



vanced towards the fjord ; but probably no single individual of 

 those who began the exodus lives to share its fate — only the 

 inherited impulse survives in the offspring. These animals may 

 live in captivity for two years ; mine, at least, did so ; hut, so far 

 as I know, no one else has succeeded in keeping them nearly so 

 long ; and the reasons are curious. In the first place, they fight 

 with each other incessantly, and irrespective of sex ; and 

 secondly, they invariably defile their supply of water, so that 

 unless this can be made running, they are sure to perish. 



I turned out my little colony on Richmond Green, at an hour 

 when the almost ubiquitous boy was still abed, and I watched 

 their behaviour with a bo.xcompass and a butterfly net. The 

 former article proved unnecessary, as they boxed the compass 

 for themselves, and the latter inadequate, as they ate their way 

 through the gauze with remarkable rapidity. I should add, 

 however, that they were all eventually recaptured, and that I 

 derived no information as to their sense of direction from the 

 experiment. Dr. Wilson states that naturalists generally 

 believe that the lemmings seek a " land of promise," or rather 

 of past fulfilment. I was under the impression that the credit 

 (or is it the reverse?) of the idea belonged to me, but under a 

 sun which sees so little that is new, I may well be mistaken ; 

 yet, singly or jointly, rightly or erroneously, I still believe that 

 these migrations were formerly of benefit to the species. That 

 they are not so now, is obvious ; but the chief inteiest seems to 

 lie in their periodicity, the marvellous fecundity which supports 

 them, and the remarkable faculty which directs them. 



W. Duppa-Crotch. 



Asgard, Richmond, January 14. 



P.S. — Absence from home prevented me from noticing the 

 letter of Prof. Romanes. To the former of his two queries 

 I reply that all the migrations which I have noticed during 

 twenty years have crossed my lake, which lies nearly north and 

 south, whereas had they followed the valley and watershed they 

 would have been spared this labour and risk. The same 

 argument applies to Lake Mjosen and others. As regards the i 

 second query, whether I believe in a sub-tropical Atlantis 

 or not seems to me to have as little bearing on a possible land- 

 connection between Norway and Iceland as on the Goodwin 

 Sands. It has been suggested to me that at the close of the 

 latest glacial epoch the lemmings may have found it necessary 

 to migrate to the warmer western shores of the peninsula : 

 this, however, leaves the presence of the animals in Iceland 

 unexplained, save by the rather vague action of flotsam and 

 jetsam. In any case, I only wish to adopt the most con- 

 venient hypothesis;, until it is disproved or supplemented by a 

 better one. — W, D-C, January 18. 



In discussing the much-debated subject of the westward 

 migration of the Norwegian lemming, the primary cause — as it 

 appears to me — has been altogether overlooked. 



This is, that the whole of Norway north of the Jotunhjem 

 region — that is, the whole of the country of the Norwegian 

 lemmings — is simply the steep and narrow westward slope of a 

 long ridge of mountains. 



When Mr. Collett says that "the wanderings take place ?« 

 the direction of the valleys," he simply repeats in other words 

 the usual description of their general westerly course. 



They breed in the uplands, and when very prolific the increase 

 must descend or perish, as they consume all the vegetation of 

 their birth-region and no further supplies of food are obtainable 

 either northward, southward, or eastward ; but downwards, i.e. 

 westward, the vegetation increases steadily as they proceed, 

 and the descending autumn snow-line pushes onward behind 

 them. Their devastation of meadows and oat-fields proves the 

 urgency of their downward or westward course. 



There are lemmings also on the eastern slopes of the Kjolen 

 range, i.e. in Sweden. We are told that the Swedish lemmings 

 proceed to the Gulf of Bothnia and are there drowned. To do 

 this they must travel in the eastward and southward directions 

 of a much longer slope than the steep westward course of the 

 Norwegian lemming. A glance at a good map of Sweden and 

 Norway will show all this. W. Mattieu Williams. 



The Grange, Neasden. 



The New Forest Bill, 1892. 



In connection with the petitions in favour of this Bill, to I 



which the signatures of persons interested in the New Forest J 



NO. I 161, VOL. 45] 



are being obtained, I am frequently asked, "What is the 

 necessity for the Bill, and what is its object?" The facts of 

 the case may be shortly stated as follows. The " Woods and 

 Wastes " of the Forest comprise about 63,000 acres of land, 

 the whole of which were, prior to 1698, open and uninclosed ; 

 but under the authority of the Acts 9 and 10 William III. 

 c. 36 (1698) and 48 George III. c. 72 (1808), the Crown was 

 empowered to inclose, and keep inclosed, freed and discharged 

 from all rights of common, such quantity of land in the Forest 

 as would amount to 6000 acres, for the growth of timber. By 

 the Act of 14 and 15 Vict. c. 76 (the Deer Removal Act of 

 185 1 ), the Crown was authorized to inclose and plant with trees 

 any quantity of land, not exceeding 10,000 acres, in addition 

 to the 6000 acres already in inclosure under the authority of 

 the Acts before mentioned. The powers conferred by these 

 Acts are not repealed by 40 and 41 Vict. c. 121 (the "New 

 Forest Act, 1877 "), but the rights of inclosure are by sec. 5 

 of the last cited Act limited to "such lands as are at the date 

 of the passing of this Act inclosed, or as have, previously to 

 such date, been inclosed by virtue of commissions issued in pur- 

 suance of the said Acts or some of them." The New Forest 

 Act of 1877 practically secured the New Forest to the public, 

 but the Act is virtually repealed by the lOth section of the 

 Ranges Act, 1891 (and other Acts therein referred to), under 

 the authority of which the War Department, with the consent 

 of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, can take possession 

 of any part of the Forest for military purposes, and exclude 

 the public from the enjoyment of any tract so taken. Already 

 it is proposed to take 800 acres for a rifle range and the site of 

 a camp, and there is nothing to prevent the exercise of such 

 rights throughout the district, and the conversion of the Forest 

 into a second Aldershot. Wherever a portion of the Forest is 

 taken, the rights of the commoners, if they complain, will be 

 bought up and extinguished ; and thus, by taking different areas 

 at different times, the Commissioners may before very long ex- 

 tinguish the common rights, and reduce the Forest into private 

 ownership. It is clear that the proposed inclosure of 800 acres, 

 and the user of the Forest generally in the way described, is in 

 direct violation of the spirit and intention, as well as of the 

 express provisions, of the New Forest Act of 1877. 



The object, therefore, of the New Forest Bill is to make it 

 clear that the Forest shall not be deemed to be within the pro- 

 visions of the loth section of the Ranges Act, 1891, and that 

 the provisions of the New Forest Act, 1877, shall remain in 

 force. 



The rights secured by the Act of 1877 and the preservation of 

 the Forest as an open space are of the greatest importance to 

 naturalists, artists, and the general public, and every possible 

 effort should be made to secure the passing of the Bill by signing 

 petitions in support of it. H. Goss. 



Entomological Society, 11 Chandos Street, 

 Cavendish Square, W., January 26. 



A Brilliant Meteor. 



Last night, at loh. 55m. G.M.T., I had the good fortune to 

 witness the flight of a magnificently brilliant meteor. I was 

 standing outside in the south-east re entering corner of this 

 building, and happened to be looking up at the constellation 

 Leo, when the meteor suddenly flashed into sight from over the 

 roof of the Observatory, a little east of the zenith, and not far 

 from the stars k and i Ursse Majoris, passed east of Procyon, 

 and did not disappear till it had reached a position about 5^ 

 east of Sirius. An immediate reference to the map showed 

 the positions of its appearance and disappearance to be about 

 9h. -f 48° and 7h. - 15^. 



For the greater part of its course it presented the appearance 

 of a broad band of deep yellow light, but after it had passed 

 about two- thirds of its path, it widened out into an elongated 

 mass, distinctly rounded on the front, and of a full violet 

 colour. From the middle of this round front the yellow band 

 again emerged, and was finally lost to view about 15" or 20° 

 further on. The violet mass would be about 5° in length. The 

 whole apparition occupied 4 or 5 seconds, and the band of light 

 was seen for an instant complete on the sky, stretching over 

 some 65°. 



About 10 minutes later a small meteor shot out from a point 

 near the stars /x and \ Ursoe Majoris, and disappeared in the 

 direction of Procyon. Thomas Heath. 



Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, January 25. 



