550 



NATURE 



[October 8, 1891 



A NUMBER of small expeditions in the Ghin Hills and on the 

 Bhamo frontier of Upper Burmah have been arranged for next 

 cold season. In the Chin country, a column will explore 

 the Chinboh country, and four other columns will visit the 

 Baunghshe, Tashon, Tlangton, Kanhow, and Nwengal tribes. 

 In order to effect a settlement of the Kachyen tribes, colu nns 

 will be sent out from Bhamo, Mogoung, and Myitkynia. An 

 expedition will also proceed to explore the amber-mines and the 

 india-rubber tracts, and, if practicable, join hands with Assam, 



To estimate the relative merits of different kinds of points for 

 lightning conductors, Dr. Hess recently collected and examined 

 nineteen heads of conductors that had been struck by lightning 

 {Ekcirot. Zeits.). His conclusions are as follows : (i) the fusion 

 of points of lightning conductors by lightning causes no danger 

 of fire through scattering of fused drops, for this does not occur ; 

 (2) fine and smooth points receive the lightning stroke in con- 

 centrated form, while sharply angled and ribbed, also blunt 

 points, divide it into threads ; (3) platinum needles and tips have 

 no advantage over copper points ; (4) there are lightning strokes 

 which are capable of making brass wire 7 '2 mm. (say 029 inch) 

 thick, incandescent. Unbranched copper conductors should 

 therefore never be thinner than 7*0 mm. 



In submitting to the Wellington Philosophical Society some 

 "Coccid Notes" lately, Mr. W. M. Maskell expressed regret 

 that entomologists generally did not devote more attention to the 

 Coccidae. He believed he was the only person in New Zealand 

 who had published anything on the subject. In the Coccidae 

 there was infinite variety — a variety of life-history, habits, and 

 customs that seemed greater than that afforded by any other 

 branch of entomology. He gave instances of prculiarities in 

 these insects — wonderful vitality in some cases, and the boring 

 habits of one particular insect after it had thrown off It gs, mouth, 

 &c. — all tending to prove that these little despised creatures were 

 more interesting for study than "all the butterflies " 



Farmers in many parts of Victoria seem to be fully alive to 

 the necessity of adapting their methods to the conditions under 

 which they have to carry on their work. Mr. David A. Crichton, 

 in a report printed in the latest Bulletin (No. 12) of the Victoria 

 Department of Agriculture, says that, although farmers are sup- 

 posed to be too conservative in their practice to do much in the 

 way of new industries, he has been agreeably surprised to find 

 that a very large number are anxious to try crops other than 

 cereals. Fruit culture in particular is attracting great attention, 

 and he feels confident that before long it will become one of the 

 staple agricultural industries of the colony. He is doing his bes 

 to stimulate this particular industry, and, in addition to the in- 

 formation afforded by his lectures, he makes it a practice to visit 

 as many places as possible, to advise upon the selection of sites 

 for orchards and vineyards, and give practical lessons in pruning, 

 training, and other matters. He finds that this assistance is 

 highly appreciated, and his services are in great demand in this 

 respect Mr. Crichton's position in connection with the Victoria 

 Department of Agriculture is that of "the fruit and special 

 industries' expert." 



Mr. John H. Cooke is publishing in the Mediterranean 

 Naturalist an interesting series of observations on the geology 

 of the Maltese islands. In the September number he refers to 

 Cala Hein, a little bay between Comino and Cominotto. Qn a 

 bright day, he says, this bay presents an endless succession of 

 the most brilliant colours, "which commences with a deep blue, 

 and from thence passes through every conceivable gradation of 

 green, orange, and white, after attaining the last of which it 

 again graduates onward in the distance to that cerulean blue 

 that is so characteristic of Mediterranean waters." . The setting 

 of the picture is not less effective than the picture itself. Around 

 the bay are many caverns, which have sombre-looking entrances 

 NO. II45, VOL. 44] 



and wildly-fantastic shapes. The sides of these caverns are 

 full of interest for geologists, as "they literally teem with the 

 remains of creatures that formerly lived and died in the waters 

 in which the islands were built up " 



Mr. W. Prentis, of Rainham, Kent, describes in the Octo- 

 ber number of the Zoohgist an interesting case of a wild duck's 

 foreth:)ught. A mowing machine was set to work round the 

 outside cf a field of lucerne bordering a marsh, diminishing the 

 circle each time round the field, leaving about two acres in the 

 centre. A wild duck was seen by the shepherd to fly from the 

 piece of lucerne that was left with something in her beak, and, 

 happening to fly near him, she dropped a three parts incubated 

 egg. She was again observed by the shepherd, and also by the 

 sheep-shearer, carrying another egg in her beak, this time over 

 the marsh-wall towards the saltings ; and again she was seen for 

 the third time carrying an egg in her beak in the same direction. 

 Next day, when the field was " finished " by the removal of the 

 last piece of lucerne, the wild duck's nest from which the eggs 

 had been removed was discovered. 



Mr. W. H. Harris, Ealing, records in Nature Notes (Sept- 

 ember 15) a remarkable instance of "frugality" in bees. The 

 recent extremely rainy weather seems to have suggested to his 

 bees that there would probably soon bean end of honey-making. 

 Accordingly, although there was " a crate of fairly filled sections 

 above the stock-box," they adopted vigorous measures to prevent 

 future inconvenience. " It is a positive fact," says Mr. Harris, 

 " that my bees, not content with ejecting larvae of both drones 

 and workers, proceeded to suck out the soft contents of the 

 corpses, leaving only the white chitinous covering, which had 

 not hardened'sufficiently to prevent the workers from piercing 

 it with their mandibles, and then inserting their tongues." 



Messrs. R. Friedlander and Son, Berlin, send us the 

 latest of their catalogues of botanical books. This list, besides 

 various works on the distribution of plants and on botanical 

 exploration, includes a great number of writings on the florae of 

 different parts of the; world. 



Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co. an- 

 nounce the following books on scientific subjects : — " Colour 

 Blindness and Colour Perception," by F. W. Edridge-Green, 

 M.D., with three coloured plates (International Scientific Series) ; 

 " Descriptive Catalogue of the Nests and Eggs of Birds found 

 breeding in Australia and Tasmania," by A. ]. North, 

 with 21' full-page plates ; "English Folk Rhymes," by G. F. 

 Northall ; the following'volumesof a series, " Modern Science," 

 to be edited by Sir John Lubbock — "The Cause of an Ice 

 Age," by Sir Robert Ball, F.R.S., "The Horse: a Study in 

 Natural History," by William Henry Flower, C.B., "The 

 Oak : a Popular Introduction to Forest Botany," by H. Marshall 

 Ward, F.R.S., "The Laws and Properties of Matter," by 

 R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S. ;— "On Seedlings," by Sir John 

 Lubbock, with numerous figures in text ; " How to Use the 

 Ophthalmoscope," elementary instruction in ophthalmoscopy, by 

 Edgar A. Browne, "fourth edition, completely revised ; " Prin- 

 ciples of Political Economy," by Arthur Latham Perry; 

 " Moral Order and Progress," an analysis of ethical conceptions, 

 by S. Alexander, second edition (Trtibner's Philosophical 

 Library) ; " Chemisti'y of the Carbon Compounds, or Organic 

 Chemistry," by Prof. Victor von Richter, authorized translation 

 by Edgar F. Smith, new and enlarged edition. 



Two more papers by Prof. Curtius, upon the reactions of 

 the hydrate of his recently iso'ated hydrazine or diamidogen, 

 NH2 



I ", are contributed to the most recent numbers of the 

 NH2 



Journal fur praktischt Cheinie. The earlier communication 

 describes, for the first time, the neutral sulphate of hydrazine 



