May 24. 1900] 



NATURE 



85 



The second volume of the Anmles of ihe National Observa- 

 tory of Athens contains a catalogue of the earthquakes felt in 

 Greece during the years 1893-189S. Its value will be evident 

 from the facts that it occupies more than 150 quarto pages and 

 contains entries of 3187 shocks. Taking area into account, it 

 therefore appears that earthquakes are about twice as frequent 

 in Greece as they are in Japan. M. Eginitis, the director of 

 the observatory, adds an interesting discussion of the catalogue. 

 For the six years of the records, earthquakes were most numerous 

 during the months of April and May ; there is the usual apparent 

 maximum during the early hours of the morning ; and the usual 

 doubt as to the existence of any connection between the 

 frequency of earthquakes and the positions of the earth and 

 moon in their orbits. There seems to be no part of the country 

 entirely free from earthquakes, but their distribution is most 

 irregular, 2018 shocks having been recorded in Zante alone. 

 The volume also contains the meteorological tables for 1896, and 

 essays by M. Eginitis on ancient observations of meteor showers, 

 the increase of the discs of the sun and moon at the horizon, and 

 the solar eclipse of August 8, 1896. 



Two observers in the M.iy number of the Zoologist note the 

 effect of the unusually cold and late spring on the bird-life of the 

 country. Mr. W. W. Fowler states that after a careful search, 

 on April 10, in the neighbourhood of Chipping Norton, he was 

 unable to discover a single specimen of the summer migrants 

 which ought by that time to be numerous. Mr. W. Wilson, on 

 the other hand, comments on the late pairing of lapwings and 

 partridges in Scotland. 



In the April number of the Victorian Nituralist, Mr. D. Le 

 Souef gives an interesting account of the plants and animals 

 met with during a visit to Western Australia. In several 

 passages he comments on the diminution in the number of wild 

 mammals. The rabbit-bandicoot, for example, has disappeared 

 from districts where it was formerly numerous, owing to ** ring- 

 ing" the timber and cultivation ; while the common phalanger, 

 or " opossum," has been practically exterminated from the settled 

 districts. 



To the Revue genirale des Sciences ot Miy 15, Monsieur 

 P. Glangeaud contributes a notice of the biological laboratory 

 recently established ammg the extinct volcanoes of the 

 Auvergne. The principal object seems to be the investigation 

 of the fauna and flora of the numerous lakes, several of which 

 are of great depth and cover a large area. Already important 

 observations have been made with regard to the "plankton " of 

 the lakes. On the salt plains the existence of a marine fauna 

 has long been known, and the discovery is now announced of 

 the survival there of a marine fauna. 



We have received the fourth number of the News Bulletin of 

 the Zoological Society of New York, which contains a popular 

 illustrated account of some of the new buildings in the menagerie, 

 as well as of several of the most notable animals. Some of the 

 photographs, especially those of polar bears, of a group of 

 wapiti (elk), and of a bull bison, are exquisite productions. We 

 are, however, sorry to note that there is a deficiency of funds 

 for the support of the zoological park ; and an earnest appeal is 

 made by the Board of Managers to induce more of the residents 

 of New York to become members of the Society. 



Mr. J. K. Barton has sent us a copy ot a paper on the 

 anatomy of the digestive tract of the salmon, published in the 

 April number of the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology. The 

 object of the investigation was to determine the truth of the 

 statement that when salmon enter our estuaries they are suffer- 

 ing from a decenerative catarrh of the mucous membrane of the 

 intestines, which subsequently spreads upwards to the stomach. 

 The examination of a considerable number of specimens is 



NO, 1595, VOL. 62] 



stated to refute this assertion, and that previous observers have 

 been misled by the effects of the methods employed in their 

 investigations. 



Part III. of "A Manual of Surgical Treatment," by Dr. 

 W. Watson Cheyne, F.R.S., and Dr. F. F. Burghard, has 

 been published by Messrs Longmans, Green and Co. The 

 suljject is the treatment of the surgical affections of the bones, 

 and amputations. We propose to review the work when the 

 six parts of which it will be composed have been published. 



The fifth revised and enlarged edition of Dr. Richard 

 Uertwig's " Lehrbuch der Zoologie" has just been published 

 by the firm of Gustav Fischer, Jena. As with other zoological 

 text-books, many alterations and additions have had to be 

 made in order to bring it in touch with the present state of 

 knowledge. 



The ipaterial collected by Dr. Arthur Willey from New 

 Britain, New Guinea, Loyalty Islands and elsewhere, when in 

 search of the eggs of the Pearly Nautilus, during the years 

 1895-97, has proved exceptionally rich in subjects of study. 

 Part iv. of the "Zoological Results" (Cambridge: University 

 Press) contains ten papers upon various forms of life, and 

 Part V. is in the press. The original intention was to com- 

 plete the work in five or six parts. 



A NEW sugar has been discovered by M. Gabriel Bertrand, 

 by the action of the sorbose bacterium upon erythrite, and is 

 described by him under the name of erythrulose in the Coinptes 

 retidus for May 14. By its reactions it appears to be a ketone 

 of the composition CH2(OH).CO.CH(OH).CH20H, thus 

 being a lower homologue of levulose. Erythrulose is not fer- 

 mentable by yeast, but forms a well crystallised osazone ; it 

 resists oxidation by bromine water, and hence is probably a 

 ketone. 



A NEW general method of preparing secondary and tertiary 

 alcohols, which, on account of the excellent yields obtainable, 

 promises to be of considerable service, is described by M. V. 

 Grignard in the current number of the Comptes rendus. Mag- 

 nesium turnings react but slowly with methyl iodide at ordinary 

 temperatures, but in presence of ether a violent reaction takes 

 place, resulting in a clear solution probably containing CIIg.Mgl. 

 If to this solution an aldehyde or ketone is added, and the 

 product treated with dilute acid, about 70 per cent, of the 

 theoretical amount of the corresponding secondary or tertiary 

 alcohol can be isolated. Thus methyl iodide and acetaldehyde 

 give isopropyl alcohol ; benzaldehyde and isobutyl bromide 

 give phenylisobutyl-carbinol ; methyl iodide and acetophenone, 

 dimethyl-phenyl-carbinol. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Squirrel yi.o^:^^'^ {Chrysothrix scitirea) from 

 Guiana, presented by Mr, Percy L. Isaac ; an Ocelot {Felis 

 pardalis) from South America, presented by Mr. M, A, French ; 

 an Allen's Porphyrio (Hydrornia «//?«/) captured at sea, pre- 

 sented by Captain J. C. Robinson; a Snowy Owl {Nyctea 

 scandiaca, ? ) from Bylott Island, Lancaster Sound, presented 

 by Mr. A. Barclay Walker; two Long-eared Owls (Asio otus), 

 European, presented by Mr. D. F. Campbell ; six Long-nosed 

 Crocodiles (Crocodi/us cataphractiis) from West Africa, pre- 

 sented by Mr. J, S. Budgett ; four Blood-rumped Parrakeets 

 {Psephotus haeinatonotus), two Rose Hill Parrakeets {Platy- 

 cercus exintius), two Crested Pigeons {Ocyphaps lophotes), two 

 Plumed Ground Doves {Geophaps plumife>a), two Black and 

 White Geese {Anseranas sentipalmata) from Australia, two 

 African Tantaluses (PseuJotantalus ibis), two Senegal Touracous 

 (Turacus persa) from West Africa, purchased; two King 

 Snakes {Coronella getula), a Coralline Snake {Coronella gentilis)^ 



