July 21, 1892] 



NATURE 



279 



publicity in the Compte-rendu of the Congress of Americanists, 

 Dr. Brinton contents himself with illustrating its character by a 

 limited selection of words. These show that the basis of the 

 tongue is Alikuluf, and it differs, he says, scarcely more from 

 the Alikuluf of the present generation than do between them- 

 selves the vocabularies of that tongue by Fitzroy and Dr. 

 Hyades in the present century. A few words belonging to the 

 Tsoneca and the Yahgan may be detected, probably introduced 

 by trading natives. 



The new number of the Journal of the College of Science, 

 Imperial University, Japan (vol. v., Part l), contains studies 

 on reproductive elements, by C. Ishikawa ; further studies on 

 the formation of the germinal layers in Chelonia, by K. 

 Mitsukuri ; papers on the development of Limulus longhpina, 

 and on the lateral eyes of the spider, by Kamakichi Kishi- 

 nouye ; a paper on the formation of the germinal layers in 

 Petromyzon, by S. Hatta ; and notes on a collection of birds 

 from Tsushima, by I. Ijima. The papers are most carefully 

 illustrated. 



We have also received the second part of the first volume of 

 *' Iconographia Florae Japonicce," by Ryokichi Yatabe (Tokyo : 

 Z. B. Maruya and Co.). The work consists of descriptions, in 

 Japanese, of plants indigenous to Japan, with figures. 



Mr. T. E. Buckley contributes to the current number of the 

 Annals of Scottish Natural History some interesting notes on 

 the vertebrate fauna of Sutherland and Caithness. The object 

 of the notes is to bring the fauna of these two countries up to 

 date. One bird, the ruff, is new to the Sutherland list, and Mr. 

 Buckley is able to show the spread of certain other species such 

 as the stock dove, tree pipit, &c. Eagles still hold their ground 

 fairly well, but other birds of prey show a decrease. This, the 

 author thinks, is only what might be expected, but it is sad, he 

 says, to see how the hen harrier is rapidly approaching extermina- 

 tion. Plantations are growing up, and increase the number and 

 breeding areas of certain species. When staying at Badenoch, 

 he has been repeatedly struck in the autumn with the attraction 

 which a few (say three or four hundred) small firs, a garden, and 

 an acre or two of cultivated ground, have for migrating birds. 

 Constantly in the early October mornings he has seen flocks of 

 small birds, such as greenfinches, chaffinches, &c., descend into 

 these trees, rest for a short time, then, with an unanimous twitter, 

 rise up and pursue their onward course. As a rule everything was 

 quiet for the day by nine o'clock. 



At the meeting of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria on 

 May 9, Mr. T. S. Hall read an interesting note on musical 

 sands. While on a trip to Phillip Island at Christmas time, 

 Mr. Hall was struck by the musical note given out by the sea 

 sand when walked over. He had never noticed this phenomenon 

 before, though it occurs not uncommonly in other parts of the 

 world. His first idea was that the sound was caused by the 

 india-rubber soles of his shoes, but he found he could get the 

 musical note by striking the sand with his hand, or by drawing 

 a stick rapidly over the surface. The sound was produced only 

 where the sand was dry, and resembled almost exactly that 

 ■caused by drawing the finger rapidly over a piece of corded silk. 

 On making the sound by skating over the surface, he found that 

 the note could be detected at a distance of forty paces. The 

 sands were musical wherever he tried them about Cowes, and 

 the only person to whom he spoke who had noticed the pheno- 

 menon said he had also noticed it at San Remo. Mr. Hall has 

 since tried the sand at Geelong, Barwon Heads and Warrnam- 

 bool without any result. He referred to the theories of Mr. 

 Carus- Wilson on the one hand, and Dr. A. A. Julien and Prof. 

 H. C. Bolton on the other, and expressed a hope that some 

 attention would be given to the subject in Australia. 

 NO. I 1 86, VOL. 46] 



In the latest quarterly statement of the Palestine Exploration 

 Fund it is said that considerable progress is being made with 

 the Akka-Damascus Railway, the route of which, after various 

 expensive surveys, has been definitely decided upon. The line 

 chosen is practically that first suggested by Major Conder, R.E., 

 several years ago. Beginning at the great fortress of Acre, the 

 railway will run down the plain of Acre parallel with the sea, 

 throwing out a branch to Haifa, at the northern foot of Mount 

 Carmel, and thence to and across the plain of Esdraelon, passing 

 near Nazareth to Shunem andjezreel, and through the valley of 

 Jezreel, skirting the slope of the hills, to the River Jordan, which 

 will be crossed within sight of Bethshean. The Jordan here 

 offers exceptional facilities for the erection of the railway bridge, 

 consisting of two spans. Not only are the two opposite banks 

 of the river formed of solid rock, but the centre of the river 

 contains a large block of similar rock, from which each span of 

 the bridge will be thrown to the east and west bank respectively. 

 From the Jordan the railway will ascend the slope of the Jaulan 

 Plateau, along the crests that close the eastern shores of the Sea 

 of Galilee, this ascent constituting the only difficult portion of 

 the line, but which the surveys now made show to be much easier 

 of accomplishment than was originally anticipated. The plateau 

 near El 'Al being reached, an easy gradient will carry the line by 

 Seil Nawa and Kesweh to Damascus. Passing through the 

 finest plains of Western and Eastern Palestine, the railway will 

 be one of great importance. The authorities of the Palestine 

 Exploration Fund are of opinion that its construction can hardly 

 fail to lead to important archaeological discoveries, and the com- 

 mittee hope to make arrangements for obtaining full information 

 respecting these. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Pig-tailed Monkey {Macacus nemestrinus) 

 from Java, presented by Major Day ; two Red-handed Tamarins 

 {Midas rufimanus) from Surinan, presented by Mr. J. J. Quelch, 

 C.M.Z.S. ; two Soemmerring's Gazelles {Gazella scemmerringi 

 6 9), three Egyptian Gazelles {Gazella dorcas <J ? ? ) from 

 Suakim, presented by Colonel Holled Smith, C.B. ; a Red Deer 

 (Cervuselaphus), European, presentedby Mr. J. Newton Hayley; 

 a Slender-billed Cockatoo {Licmetis ienuirostris) from South 

 Australia, presented by Mrs. Duppa ; a Rough-eyed Cayman 

 {Alligator sclerops) from South America, presented by Dr. 

 Rudyard ; two Dwarf Chameleons {Chamaleon pumilus) from 

 South Africa, presented by Mr. E. Windgate ; a Common 

 Chameleon {Chanueleon vulgaris) from North Africa, presented 

 by Mr. J. Cornwall ; two Green Lizards {Lacerta viridis), two 

 Green Tree Frogs {Hyla arborea), European, presented by Count 

 Pavoleri, F.Z.S. ; a Horned Lizard {Phrynosoma cornutum) 

 from Texas, presented by Mr. Conrad Kelsal ; a West African 

 Python {Python sebic) from West Africa, received in exchange ; 

 six Mandarin Ducks {ALx galericulata), five Summer Ducks 

 {.Ex sponsa), seven Chilian Pintails {Dafila spinicauda), six 

 Australian Wild Ducks {Anas superciliosa), a Variegated Shel- 

 drake {Tadorna variegata), four Upland Geese {Bernicla 

 magellanica), a Cheer Pheasant {Phasianus wallichii), a 

 Himalayan Monaul {Lophophoriis impeyamus), bred in the 

 Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 A New Nebulous Star.— Mr. Barnard, in Astronomische 

 Nachrichten, No. 3101, gives a brief account of a new nebulous 

 star that he found when photographing, on May 31 last, a 

 region situated in the Milky Way, i8h. lom., - 20°. This star 

 (B.D. I9°*4953), when examined (visually) with his 12-inch, 

 was quite devoid of nebulosity owing to the brightness of the 

 star in question, but the photograph showed a faint nebulosity 

 of about 15' in diameter symmetrically surrounding it. A 



