NATURE 



[July 2, 1891 



On the other hand, Miiller noticed that in the Alps the relative 

 number of Lepidoptera increases, of hemitrope Hymenoptera 

 (short-tongued bees) decreases in the higher parts of the moun- 

 tains. The influence of altitude upon those two groups of insects 

 is not evident in the Pyrenees. 



The Lepidoptera— which in the Alps, according to Miiller, are 

 very numerous — are much less numerous in the Pyrenees. All 

 the allotrope insects (Coleoptera, allotrope Diptera, andallotrope 

 Hymenoptera) are relatively more numerous in the Pyrenees 

 than in the Alps. The hemitrope Hymenoptera (short-tongued 

 bees) are somewhat more numerous in the Pyrenees than in the 

 Alps ; the hemitrope Diptera (Syrpbidse.ConopidcE, and Bomby- 

 lidse) are almost equally represented in both the mountains. The 

 eutrope Hymenoptera (long-tongued bees) seem to be equally 

 numerous in the Pyrenees and in the Alps ; in both countries, 

 the humble-bees are predominant, and the not-social long- 

 tongued bees are scarce. 



The following table vi^ill enable students to compare the flora 

 of the Pyrenees with that of the Alps :— 



Pyrenees. Alps. 



Species. Per cent. Species. Per cent. 



Pollen flowers (class Po) ... 12 (4-6) ... 14 (3-3) 



Fl. with free-exposed honey 



(class A) 34 (13-0) ... 42 (lo-i) 



Fl. with partially concealed 



honey (AB) 45 (i7'2) ... 61 (14*6) 



Fl. with quite concealed 

 honey (B) 37 (h'i) ... 66 (15-3) 



Associated flowers with quite 



concealed honey (B') 48 (18-4) ... 84 (20-2) 



Flowers adapted to bees 

 (Bb) 73 (27-9) ... no (26-4) 



Flowers adapted to Lepi- 

 doptera (Vb) 12 (4-6) ... 39 (9-3) 



The allotrope flowers (Po, A, AB) are relatively more 

 numerous, the lepidopterophilous flowers (Vb) are less numerous 

 in the Pyrenees than in the Alps ; we have seen that the same 

 differences exist for the corresponding groups of insects. 



The hemitrope flowers (B, B') are a little more numerous in 

 the Alps than in the Pyrenees ; the contrary occurs with the 

 hemitrope insects. There is here accordingly no concordance in 

 the geographical distribution between flowers and insects ; but 

 the hemitrope insects are not so constant in the choice of their 

 flowers as the allotrope insects and the Lepidoptera ; their in- 

 fluence upon the distribution of the corresponding flowers is 

 therefore not so great as that of the two latter groups. The class 

 Bb and the long-tongued bees are nearly equally represented in 

 both the mountains. The parallelism which occurs between 

 the relative abundance of the classes Po, A, AB, Bb, and Vb, 

 and the relative abundance of corresponding insects, agrees very 

 nicely with the theory of flowers. 



It may be observed that in the Pyrenees, with reference to 

 the biological floral organization, the Choripetalse are, on the 

 whole, on a lower level than the Sympetalse. Only a small 

 number of Monocotyledoneas could be observed. 



University, Ghent. J. MacLeod. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The Council of the Senate have appointed 

 Mr. E. Hill, of St. John's College, to be a governor of Wood- 

 bridge School, under the new scheme. 



The Harkness Scholarship in Geology and Palaeontology has 

 been awarded to Herbert Kynaston, of King's College. 



Mr. A. A. Kanthack has been elected to the John Lucas 

 Walker Studentship in Pathology, vacated by the election of 

 Mr. J. G. Adami to a Fellowship at Jesus College. Mr. 

 Kanthack is at present in India as a member of the Leprosy 

 Commission. 



The managers of the John Lucas Walker Fund have made a 

 grant of £bQ to Mr. E. H. Hankin, Fellow of St. John's, for 

 the purchase of bacteriological apparatus required for his 

 researches. 



I. H. Burkill, of Caius College, has been appointed Assistant 

 Curator of the Herbarium. 



Prof. Ewing advertises for a demonstrator in mechanism, who 

 has had a workshop training in mechanical engineering. The 

 salary is ;i{^i50 a year. 



The annual report of the Local Lectures Syndicate, published 

 in the University Reporter ol ^yxa^ 23, records a large amount of 

 useful work in so-called University extension. The number of 

 courses given in 1890-91 was 135, with an average attendance 

 of 10,947. The average attendance at the classes held after 

 lecture was 4916, the number of weekly papers sent in 2266, 

 and the number of candidates examined for certificates 1547. 

 The following passages refer to a fresh departure of considerable 

 interest, and of far-reaching possibilities in the future : — 



"The grant for technical education which has been put at 

 the disposal of the County Councils has led to an extension of 

 the work of the Syndicate, and it seems not improbable that if 

 a grant of this nature is made permanent a considerable demand 

 will be made upon their staff of lecturers. In Devonshire they 

 have provided at the request of the County Council a Lecturer 

 on Chemistry and a Lecturer on Mechanics, in each case with 

 special reference to applications to agriculture. The lectures 

 in chemistry were given at six centres, those in mechanics at 

 five. The average weekly attendance was — at lectures about 

 40, at classes about 25, at each centre. In all, 64 students 

 presented themselves for examination, of whom 44 passed, 14 

 obtaining distinction. The audience comprised a number of 

 boys from elementary and secondary schools, and some working 

 men and farmers and schoolmasters, in addition to the usual 

 mixed audience. The lectures were of necessity arranged 

 rather hurriedly, without sufficient time for the local authorities 

 to complete their organization, and they can only he regarded as 

 an experiment. The Syndicate have reason to think that the 

 experiment has been as successful as under the circumstances 

 could be expected. . , . 



" Having regard to the probability of a considerable demand 

 for lecturers in connection with the County Councils, the 

 Syndicate have added to their list several new lecturers whose 

 attainments mark them out as suitable for this work. And in 

 order that the lecturers may have practical acquaintance with 

 the applications of their science to the uses of agriculture, the 

 Syndicate have arranged that they should pay visits to farms of 

 various characters and to the experimental farm at Woburn. 

 These visits are paid under the experienced superintendence of 

 Mr. H. Robinson, of Downing College, the assistant to the 

 Professor of Chemistry. Mr. Robinson conducts also a course 

 of laboratory work with the lecturers, with special reference to 

 agricultural investigations. The Syndicate desire to express 

 their grateful sense of the help which Prof. Liveing and Mr. 

 Robinson have so liberally given. The provision of teaching 

 and guidance in Cambridge for the scientific study of subjects 

 connected with agriculture appears to the Syndicate to be so 

 important for the training of students who may become lecturers 

 on their staff, that they will endeavour to secure a continuance 

 of this assistance, and are prepared to devote a portion of their 

 funds to the purpose." 



The Ordo Senioritatis for the year shows that 6 D. Sc. degrees 

 have been conferred, 19 M.D. degrees, 72 M.B., and 70 B.C. 

 These figures bespeak the steady growth of the faculties of 

 science and medicine, the numbers in medicine being larger 

 than in any previous year. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, June 11. — " On Electrical Evaporation." By 

 William Crookes, F.R.S. 



It is well known that when a vacuum tube is furnished with 

 internal platinum electrodes, the adjacent glass, especially near 

 the negative pole, speedily becomes blackened, owing to the 

 deposition of metallic platinum. The passage of the induction 

 current greatly stimulates the motion of the residual gaseous 

 molecules ; those condensed upon and in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of the negative pole are shot away at an immense 

 speed in almost straight lines, the speed varying with the degree 

 of exhaustion and with the intensity of the induced current. 

 Platinum being used for the negative pole, not only are the 

 gaseous molecules shot away from the electrode, but the passage 

 of the current so affects the normal molecular motions of the 

 metal as to remove some of the molecules from the sphere of 

 attraction of the mass, causing them to fly off with the stream of 

 gaseous molecules proceeding from the negative pole, and to 

 adhere to any object near it. This property was, I believe, first 

 pointed out by Dr. Wright, of Yale College, and some interest- 



NO. I 131, VOL. 44] 



