May 31, 1900] 



NA rURE 



[09 



published. The comparatively large number of bottles received 

 appears to be owing to the prevalence of southerly winds ; the 

 north-west winds being found to alter the direction of the 

 drifting bottles, so that they pass to the south of Australia. The 

 suggestion made in the previous paper that bottles thrown over 

 on the east coast drifted first to the east in Tasman Sea, and 

 then northwards until they reached the great current from the 

 east, which passes south of New Caledonia, is supported in a 

 remarkable way by the drift of the Perthshire after she was 

 disabled in the Tasman Sea ; her general direction for 640 miles 

 was N.E. by N., at an average daily rate of 1 3 "6 miles. To- 

 wards the end of the drift she travelled rapidly to the west. 

 Two bottles floated near Cape Horn came over to Australia at 

 the daily rates of 122 and 9*5 miles respectively. There are 

 also some very interesting bottle tracks in the North Atlantic 

 Ocean. One of these, floated in the Gulf of Mexico, made a 

 run of 6300 miles in a south-easterly direction— the longest 

 hitherto recorded in that ocean by Mr. Russell. The propor- 

 tion of bottles received to those thrown overboard appears to 

 be very disappointing ; out of 48 bottles thrown from ss. Gulf 

 of Bothnia, to take an extreme case, only one was received. 



The resolutions passed at the International Congress for 

 Marine Research held at Stockholm last summer are published 

 in extenso in the April number of the Scottish Geographical 

 Magazine. An important feature in these resolutions is the 

 recognition that the primary object of the investigations recom- 

 mended to be undertaken is the improvement and promotion of 

 fisheries by means of international agreements. 



In Appletott's Popular Science Monthly for May, Prof. E. S. 

 Morse gives a full account of the observations made by himself 

 many years ago as to the manner in which the larval insect 

 known as the " cuckoo-spit " forms the mass of froth in which 

 it is concealed. If the insect be cleared from the mass of froth 

 and allowed to settle upon some succulent plant-stem, it will 

 soon thrust its. piercing organs through the outer layers and 

 commence sucking the juices. After a short time a clear fluid 

 exudes from the abdomen, and after flowing over the body 

 eventually fills up the spaces between the latter, the legs and 

 the stem, so that the entire creature is soon totally enveloped. 

 For about half an hour the insect will remain quiescent in this 

 condition, when it suddenly begins to "blow bubbles" by 

 turning its tail out of the fluid, opening the terminal segment, 

 which appears like claspers, and then bending down the tail 

 into the fluid with an attached air-bubble, which is instantly 

 allowed to escape. These movements are repeated at the rate 

 of 70 or 80 a minute till the entire envelope of fluid is converted 

 into the mass of froth with which we are all familiar. 



Bulletin No. 23 of the Division of Entomology of the U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture is devoted to a series of articles, by 

 Mr. F. H. Chittenden, dealing with some of the insects in- 

 jurious to garden crops. Sixteen different species of such pests 

 are described, with the devastation they cause. Out of these, 

 the most generally interesting is the invasion of the " fall army- 

 worm " in 1899. This caterpillar {Laphygmafrugiperda) derives 

 its name from the circumstance that, unlike the true "army- 

 worm," it is seldom observed, except perhaps in the most 

 Southern States, to travel in large hosts until the autumn, or, at 

 least, before August. During 1899 these caterpillars appeared 

 in vast swarms over a large area of the States, where they in- 

 flicted much damage on crops of various kinds. Properly 

 -peaking, the " fall army-worm" is a grass-feeder, but when it 

 iiakes its appearance in such numbers as to consume all acces- 

 ible pasture in the neighbourhood, as was the case last season, 

 it turns its attention to gardens, orchards and greenhouses. 

 The crops affected last year, in addition to grass and clover, in- 

 cluded rice, maize, wheat, oats, cabbage, beet, peas, turnips and 

 NO. 1596, VOL. 62] 



even tobacco. Unfortunately, the " fal army-worm" differs 

 from the true " army-worm " in that its hosts may reappear the 

 year after a visitation ; and destructive measures, such as 

 poisoning by kerosene or arsenic, are accordingly essential. 



We have received the Proceedings of the South Londoi> 

 Entomological and Natural History Society for 1899, which 

 includes the President's address and several original communi- 

 cations on entomological subjects. 



The latest issue of the Natural History Transactions of 

 Northumberland, Durham, &c., contains a catalogue of the 

 unique and unrivalled collection of British birds presented in 

 1883 to the trustees of the Natural History Society of those 

 counties by the late John Hancock. The catalogue has been 

 drawn up by Mr. J. Howse. 



There are already several excellent editions of Gilbert 

 White's " Selborne," but a welcome will be extended to the 

 splendid volumes, the first of which has just been published by 

 Mr. S. T. Freemantle. In this edition we shall have in two 

 volumes a superb " Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, 

 and a Garden Kalendar," edited by Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, 

 with an introduction to the Garden Calendar by Dean Hole, 

 and numerous plates and other illustrations. 



" La Speleologie" is the title of a little handbook by M. 

 E. A. Martel on the science of caverns. It belongs to the 

 "Scientia" series, published by MM. Carre et Naud (Paris,. 

 1900 ; pp. 126). The author gives an account of the origin of 

 fissures and caverns, of the action of subterranean waters and 

 all matters connected with them. He deals also with the phe- 

 nomena of ice-caves [glacieres), and again with the relations 

 between rock cavities and metalliferous deposits. The various 

 prehistoric and historic remains found in caverns are somewhat 

 briefly dealt with ; and finally the author discourses on the plants 

 and animals found living in subterranean regions. 



Mr. W. Engelmann, of Leipzig, has just commenced the 

 publication of an elaborate work, by Prof. W. Wundt, en- 

 titled " Volkerpsychologie : Fine Untersuchung der Entwick- 

 lungsgesetze von Sprache, Mythus, und Sitte." The work 

 will be completed in three volumes — the first dealing with 

 language as the expression of the emotions by signs and 

 speech, the second with myths and religions, and the third 

 with ceremonies and customs. Each volume will be complete 

 in itself, and will be separately indexed. The second (and 

 concluding) part of the first volume will be published in the 

 autumn of this year, and will then be reviewed with the part 

 which has just appeared. 



Dr. Robert Munro's " Rambles and Studies in Bosnia- 

 Herzegovina and Dalmatia" (Blackwood) is not only an 

 excellent book of travel, but a very valuable contribution to 

 archiEological literature. An appreciative notice of the work 

 appeared in these columns four years ago (vol. liv. p. 78), and 

 we have now] to announce the publication of a second, revised 

 and enlarged edition. An account is given of the proceed- 

 ings of the Congress of Arch;\?ologists and Anthropologists 

 held at Sarajevo in August 1894, and as the Government of 

 Bosnia- Herzegovina have departed from their original intention 

 to publish a report of the congress, Dr. Munro's volume has 

 the distinction of being the only record, in book form, of the 

 important problems which were considered. A number of 

 additions have been made to the original volume, and a much- 

 wanted index has been supplied. 



The second and third parts of the second volume of the 

 unique " Encyklopiidie der mathematischen Wissenschaften " 

 in course of publication by the firm of B. G. Teubner, Leipzig, 

 have just been issued. The scope of this great undertaking is 



