628 



NATURE 



[October 25, 1900 



The U.S. pilot chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for October 

 shows the track of the Galveston hurricane. The storm was first 

 noted to the east of Martinique on August 30. Next morning 

 its centre passed slightly to the northward of Antigua, where the 

 barometer fell to 29-84 inches ; it traversed the southern portion 

 of Haiti on September i, and reached the southern part of Cuba 

 on the 3rd. The barometric depression, which had been quite 

 shallow, began to deepen over western Cuba, where the baro- 

 meter read 2979 inches on September 5. To the west of 

 southern Florida the storm increased rapidly in area and strength, 

 a reading of 28-10 inches and gales of hurricane force be!->2 

 noted on September 7 in lat. 26^ 40' N., long. 90° W. T.ie 

 storm-centre passed slightly southward of Galveston on Septem- 

 ber 8. The destruction of life and property at and near this 

 city was unprecedented in the history of West India hurricanes. 

 The strength of the storm decreased rapidly to the northward of 

 Galveston, again increasing in the region of the Great Lakes, 

 Newfoundland and the Grand Banks, where it attained great 

 violence, force 12 being frequently reported. The storm moved 

 to the north of the 60th parallel in about 20° W. on Septem- 

 ber 16. The recurving so far westward, long. 98°, is quite 

 unusual. Before recurvature, the storm moved in a W.N.W, 

 direction, and after recurving it took an E.N.E. course, its 

 progressive movement increasing greatly in velocity. 



Naturalists will read with much interest a paper by Mr. R. 

 Hall in the October number of the Zoologist, describing his 

 experiences among the elephant seals of Kerguelen Island. The 

 visit took place during the winter of 1897-98, when Mr. Hall 

 ound these huge animals in great numbers. He believes that 

 they arrive in August on the island, whence, after breeding, 

 they depart in February or March. A large male may measure 

 as much as 20^ feet in length, and the weight of many of the 

 animals is estimated at between two and six tons. The finest herd 

 seen included a couple of dozen males averaging about 19 feet in 

 length. In disposition these seals are sluggish and peaceful, 

 although when attacked many of them will show fight. On 

 several days from sixty to seventy were killed, but iotty per diem 

 was considered a good average. It is to be hoped that steps 

 will be taken by Government to prevent the extermination of 

 these remarkable seals. Mr. Hall gives a characteristic photo- 

 graph of a group on shore. In the same journal, Mr. E. Selous 

 brings to a close his diary of the habits of the thicknee, or great 

 plover ( CEdiatemus crepitans), in the course of which he notices 

 that these birds indulge in dances comparable to those so 

 graphically described by Mr. W. H. Hudson in the case of an 

 Argentine plover. 



The latest issue (vol. xiii. pt. 2), of the Journal of the 

 College of Science at Tokyo, contains a coloured plate and 

 description of a gigantic and gorgeously coloured medusiform 

 hydroid recently captured in deep water off Misaki. It is identi- 

 fied by its describer, Mr. Miyajima, with a form obtained in 

 Japanese waters during the Challenger expedition, and named 

 by Prof. Allman Monocaulus imperator, the generic title being 

 now changed to Branchiocerianthus. There are, however, certain 

 differences from the type-specimen of the latter, and other 

 examples are much needed in order to determine the value 

 of these variations. 



The Yorkshire College, Leeds, together with the conjoint 

 Agricultural Council of the East and West Ridings, have just 

 published a pamphlet on sheep-breeding experiments in the 

 county, forming No. 13 of their series. It is a common custom 

 in Yorkshire to cross ordinary evves with pedigree rams of other 

 breeds ; and the object of the experiments has been to ascertain 

 whether such crosses are profitable, and which are the best. 

 The results are tabulated in the pamphlet. 

 NO. 16 I 7, VOL. 62] 



The October number of the Biologisches Centrablatt includes 

 a paper by lierr Stempell on the formation and growth of the 

 shells of molluscs ; and another, by Herr Wesenberg-Lund, on 

 the relation between the fresh-water plankton and the specific 

 gravity of the water in which it occurs. 



We have received from the Trustees of the Indian Museum, 

 Calcutta, a fasciculus of the " Illustrations of the Zoology of 

 the R.I. M.S. Investigator," containing the plates to Fishes 

 (Part vii.) and Crustacea (Part viii.), and also the index to 

 Part i. (1892- 1 900). 



The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in Bulletin No. 24, 

 has just issued a list of works on North American entomology, 

 compiled by Mr. N. Banks. With the exception of a few deal- 

 ing with the general subjects, the various memoirs are cata- 

 logued under the headings of the different groups to which they 

 refer. 



We have received from Prof. Jamshedje Edalji a paper on 

 " Reciprocally related figures and the principle of continuity," 

 which is remarkable as a collection of exercises in polar recipro- 

 cation. It contains reciprocal theorems corresponding to the 

 properties of the circle contained in Euclid's Third Book, as 

 also to many of the exercises in Todhunter's Euclid. 



In the Berichte der naturforschenden Gesellschaft (Freiburg 

 i. Br), Dr. Otto Berg discusses the significance of kathodic 

 rays in connection with the mechanism of discharge. In con- 

 nection with the heating effects produced when kathodic rays 

 fall on a solid body, experiments with a thermo-element show 

 that (i) for given potential the heat produced is proportional 

 to the quantity of electricity carried over ; (2) the ratio of the 

 quantities of heat and electricity decreases as the potential 

 increases. The same journal also contains a paper by Dr. F. 

 Himstedt on observations with Becquerel and Rontgen rays. 

 Dr. Himstedt has observed no action of radium on a coherer, 

 but has found a noticeable reduction of resistance of a sele- 

 nium cell due to these rays. A similar diminution of resist- 

 ance amounting to as much as 50 per cent, is produced when 

 Rontgen rays fall on a selenium cell, and this effect might be 

 conveniently used to measure the intensity of Rontgen rays. 

 The same action is also produced by ultra-violet, but not, 

 accord ing to Dr. Himstedt's experience, by ultra-red light. 



The American Naturalist states that the discontinuance of 

 the Italian scientific journal Erythea has been immediately 

 followed by the reappearance of Zoe, a journal of very much 

 the same scope, after a suspension of several years. 



An interesting report is printed by the U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture (Division of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology) 

 by Mr. Hermann von Sc^renk, on two diseases of the red cedar 

 (/uniperus virginiana), caused by the attacks of two parasitic 

 fungi, Polyporus juniperinus and P. corneas, the former new to 

 science. The paper is copiously illustrated by seven plates. 



Prof. F. Pechoutre, of the Lycee Buffon, Paris, contributes 

 to the Revue ghi^rale des Scienas (for September 30) a veiy 

 interesting epitome of recent researches in vegetable cytology 

 and the process of impregnation in flowering plants. A very 

 useful summary is given of all the most important papers— an 1 

 they have been very numerous — published on the Continent, in 

 England, in Japan, and in America, during the last three years, 

 under the following heads :— Centrosomes and blepharoplasts ; 

 Chromatic Reduction ; Centrosomes and kinetic centres ; the 

 influence of organic substances on the action of nitrifying 

 microbes ; the Antherozoids of Angiosperms and double im- 

 pregnation ; the phenomenon of Xenia and the h)dDrid impreg- 

 nation of the endosperm. Under the last heading the 



