420 



NATURE 



[March 3, 1892 



of Vienna, and that a suitable monument to him shall there be 

 erected. At present, his grave is not marked even by an 

 ordinary tombstone. An influential international Com nittee 

 has been formed for the purpose of giving effect to the scheme. 

 Those who desire to associate themselves with it should send 

 subscriptions as soon as possible to the K.K. zoologisch- 

 botanische Gesellschaft, Vienna, I, Herrengasse 13. 



Mr. W. Saville-Kent, who has been absent from England 

 during the past eight years, acting in the capacity of Inspector 

 and Commissioner of Fisheries to various of the Australian 

 ■Colonial Governments, and most recently to that of Queensland, 

 is now in London, and will be occupied for the next few months, 

 chiefly at the British Museum, South Kensington, in working 

 out the corals and other natural history materials collected by 

 him on the Great Barrier Reefs. Associated with the materials 

 in question is an extensive series of photographs of coral reefs 

 and coral animals taken from life, some few of the more early 

 acquired of which were exhibited at last year's conversazione of 

 the Royal Society. Selections from the completed series will be 

 shortly published in association with a work, on the fishery and 

 natural history products generally of the Great Barrier district, 

 that Mr. Saville-Kent has in preparation. Mr. Saville-Kent is 

 under engagement with the Government of Western Australia to 

 proceed to that colony towards the end of the current year, to 

 investigate and report upon the pearl and pearl-shell, oyster, and 

 other indigenous fisheries, with a view to their more profitable 

 development. This engagement is likely to occupy him for 

 some two years, when he proposes to return permanently to 

 England. 



Prof. Huxley and Prof. Ray Lankester have each 

 written to the Times on Lady Blake's proposal that a marine 

 biological station should be established in Jamaica as a memorial 

 to Columbus. Prof. Huxley points out that "animal life is in. 

 describably abundant and varied in the intertropical seas," and 

 hopes that the scheme will meet with cordial support here and 

 in the United States. Prof Ray Lankester is also of opinion 

 that a good permanent laboratory for the study of marine life 

 should be established in the tropics ; and he thinks that "no 

 position is more favourable for this purpose than the coasts of 

 Jamaica." He urges, however, that a definite set of proposals 

 •should be made in Jamaica for the realization of the Columbus 

 Laboratory. His opinion is that "the Government of Jamaica 

 should initiate the scheme, and. make the proposed laboratory 

 part of a biological and physical survey of the coasts of the 

 island." What is chiefly needed is "an efficient, well-trained 

 naturalist, who must be paid at least £,^00 a year for his services 

 (less than a lawyer or a sanitary officer), and a Government gun- 

 boat with crew, &c., and two or three special fishermen and 

 attendants." A suitable building, Prof. Lankester thinks, could 

 easily be obtained. 



The members of the Geologists' Association will make an 

 excursion to Hornchurch on Saturday, March 5, Mr. T. V. 

 Holmes acting as director. They will visit sections on the new 

 railway between Upminster and Romford. The early date of 

 the excursion has been rendered necessary by the state of the 

 most important section. The first cutting to be visited is that 

 between Upminster Station and the Ingrebourne. It shows 

 London Clay capped by gravel and loam belonging to the 

 highest terrace of the Thames Valley deposits in this district. 

 Crossing the Ingrebourne, the line enters another cutting north- 

 east of Hornchurch. In this cutting boulder clay has been seen 

 for a distance of 300 yards, resting in a slight hollow on the 

 surface of the London Clay, and capped by gravel belonging to 

 the highest terrace of the Thames Valley beds. The greatest 

 thickness of boulder clay seen in this cutting is 15 feet, and it is 

 hoped that the sloping now going on may not have advanced so 



NO. II 66, VOL. 45] 



far at the date of the excursion as to have destroyed every clear 

 section. At Butts Green there is a good section of London Clay 

 capped by sand and gravel. Nearer Romford the cuttings are 

 not sufficiently advanced to be worth visiting. The total walking 

 distance is three miles. 



A WORK of considerable interest to meteorologists has been 

 published in the Memoirs of the Physical Society of Geneva, 

 containing the detailed observations made under the directions 

 of H. B. de Saussure on the Col dti Giant, at Geneva, and at 

 Chamounix simultaneously, from July 5 to 18, 1788. The 

 means only, and these only for a part of the observations, were 

 published in his " Voyages dans les Alpes" (Neuchatel, 1779-86). 

 These valuable observations, which have been carefully revised 

 by his grandson, Henri de Saussure, have often been asked for, 

 and we believe have only lately been discovered. They include 

 values taken several times daily of pressure, temperature, 

 humidity, wind, cloud, electricity, magnetism, &c., together 

 with general remarks upon the weather. 



From a recent statistical study of the wheat harvests of Ohio 

 (summarized in Science), it appears that the average yield of 

 wheat is increasing in the northern and central sections of the 

 State, while it is at a standstill, and at far too low a point for 

 profit, in the southern and south-eastern counties. Geologic- 

 ally, there are three bands running across the State from north 

 to south — that in the east (nearly a third of the whole), over 

 coal-measures ; next to it, a narrower strip of Waverly rocks 

 (sandstones and calcareous shales) ; then the western half, 

 over limestones. The two latter are covered with a bed of 

 glacial drift, which is, however, a good deal modified by 

 the underlying rocks. In the northern portion, the counties 

 over the Waverly rocks show a larger average yield (in 

 forty-four years) than those over limestones and the coal- 

 measures, and they also show a higher rate of increase. In 

 the middle and south, the limestone counties show the larger 

 yield ; and in the middle (not the south), the larger rate of 

 increase. The counties over the coal-measures are inferior in 

 yield per acre in each belt, the diffisrence increasing as we come 

 south. The hilly character of the ground is supposed to be the 

 chief cause of this lower yield. Some 48 million bushels were 

 harvested in Ohio in 1888. The area devoted to wheat is 

 approaching 3 million acres, and represents 12 per cent, of the 

 area in farms in the State. The average yield is thirteen bushels 

 per acre (in England it is about twenty-eight bushels), but in the 

 northern and middle parts it is steadily growing. The produc- 

 tion is keeping far ahead of any possible consumption within 

 the State. 



An important Conference of fruit-growers was held last year 

 in Sydney, the chair being occupied by the Hon. Sydney Smith, 

 Minister of Mines and Agriculture in New South Wales. It 

 lasted several days, and the report of the proceedings, which has 

 now been issued, ought to be of great service to fruit-growers in 

 all parts of the colony. The President, in his concluding speech, 

 said the Government were both proud and anxious to assist the 

 agriculturists of the country. All that was required was the co- 

 operation and assistance of those engaged in the industry, in 

 order that they might know in what direction this assistance 

 would be most useful. He felt sure a great deal of good would 

 come from the discussions during the Conference, and he hoped 

 the members would hold Conferences in their own districts. He 

 was most anxious to see the local Agricultural Societies holding 

 meetings every month, where papers could be read and different 

 important questions discussed, as he was certain this would do 

 good, and he sincerely hoped his suggestion would be acted 

 upon, as they might rely upon the assistance of the Department. 

 The Government, as they knew, had already granted pound for 

 pound to the Agricultural Societies, and they were willing to do 



