September 8, 1892] 



NATURE 



459 



North American types as the sabgenera Polygyra and Mesodon 

 of Helix {H. jejuna. No Name Key ; H, pustula, Cedar Keys ; 

 H. carpentcriana. Key Biscayne ; H, cereolus, Indian Key, Key 

 West, Egmont Key ; H. septemvolva, Key West ; H. oppilata. 

 Cedar Keys (but this is also a Yucatan species) ; FT. uvulifera, 

 plentiful on several Keys ; H. awiculata. Cedar Keys). 



How far the birds of Tropical Florida agree with those of 

 the Sonoran region I do not know, having no list at hand from 

 which to glean the facts ; but inasmuch as they must greatly 

 exceed nineteen, the number of Antillean forms quoted by Dr. 

 Merriam, it is apparent that the character of the air-fauna cannot 

 be so totally different from that of more northern regions as to 

 justify the proposal to merge it in a different ■ primary faunal 

 division. Dr. Merriam gives a list of the birds which are sup- 

 posed to be restricted to Southern Florida, comprising two 

 species and seven sub-species ; this list emphatically confirms the 

 view that the region in question is really North American 

 (Sonoran), for of the two species, one belongs to a genus which 

 does not occur in the West Indies, and the other to a North 

 American genus which has no endemic West Indian species. 

 The seven sub-species are all of North American species, and 

 three of them belong to genera {Meleagris Cyanocitta, Silta) 

 which do not exist in the West Indies. 



To sum up, the facts seem to be as follows : — The whole of 

 Florida really belongs to the eastern division of the Nearctic 

 region (or to the Sonoran region of Dr. Merriam), but along the 

 southern coast, on land of comparatively recent origin, a number 

 of West Indian forms have appeared, owing to the assistance of 

 currents conveying floating trees, &c., and to the proximity of 

 Cuba and the Bahamas, which has permitted many birds and 

 insects to fly across. These immigrants have formed a distinct 

 colony, but not to any great extent, so far as can be learned, at 

 the expense of the native fauna. The recent appearance of this 

 colony is shown by the fact that (except somewhat doubtfully in 

 the case of a few mollusca) there is at present no tendency to 

 form new endemic species. Mr. Schwarr, who was so 

 impressed with the great number of West Indian insects he 

 found in this region, -specially- mentions that there were no 

 endemic forms. • 



The northward spread of this colony has doubtless been 

 largely prevented by climate, as stated by Dr. Merriam ; but 

 doubtless also quite as largely owing to the competition of the 

 Sonoran fauna, for, as Dr. Merriam has himself put it in 

 another connection, "the sustaining capacity of a region is 

 limited ; hence such a thing as overcrowding, in the sense of 

 greatly increasing the number of organisms a region can support, 

 is an impossibility." 



If climate had been the only barrier, then Tropical Florida 

 should have a fauna like that of Cuba ; but so far from doing so, 

 it is still essentially Nearctic, notwithstanding the existence of a 

 very important and interesting West Indian colony. At best it 

 is a transition region. 



Under the guidance of Dr. Merriam, researches into the 

 geographical distribution of North Americin birds and mammals 

 are being energetically carried on ; and if I am not mistaken in 

 the above-stated opinions, no doubt information will in due 

 course accumulate that will cause him to withdraw from the 

 position here criticized, and to admit that Dr. Wallace was, in 

 the main, perfectly correct. T. D. A. Cockerell. 



Institute of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica, 

 July 31. 



'A NEW SECT Oh HERO- WORSHIPPERS." 



T TNDER this title, the Japan ^Vaz/ describes a curious Society, 

 ^ established in Japan, in honour of Isaac Newton, and 

 which is not a new scientific association so much as a new cult. 

 The day of all the year to the members is Christmas Day, being 

 that on which in 1642 the immortal Newton was born. The 

 constitution is of the simplest. The professors, graduates, and 

 students of the mathematical, astronomical, and physical classes 

 of the Tokio University are ex officio members ; once a member 

 always a member ; and there are no others. The Society was 

 launched as one for undergraduates by Messrs. Fujisawa, Tanaka, 

 and Tanakadate, the first brilliant triumvirate of mathematical 

 graduates which the Tokio University gave to the world. In 

 its early days it met in the students' dormitory. But as the 

 undergraduates developed into graduates and assistants, the 



NO. I 193, VOL. 46] 



professors themselves were drawn into the fold, and a more 

 suitable assembly hall was found in the University Observatory. 

 Now, however, that building is devoted to seismological pur- 

 suits. At Christmas, 1890, or Newtonmas, 248, for the first time, 

 the members of the Newtonkai, or Newton Association, met in 

 the Physical Laboratory of the Imperial University, to hear each 

 other talk, to distribute appropriate gifts, and to lengthen out 

 the small hours with laughter and good cheer. The Society has 

 no President : a portrait of the august Sir Isaac presides over 

 the scene. It keeps no written records, no minutes ; but its tra- 

 ditions are simple, and easily handed down from year to year. The 

 entertainment provided is the work of the second-year students, 

 assisted by those of the first year. Each professor is expected 

 to make a little speech, which is sometimes historical, sometimes 

 whimsical, as the individual spirit may prompt ; but it must not 

 be suggestive of the background of a blackboard. The meeting 

 in fact is essentially social ; and in the preparation of the magic 

 lantern slides, the committee of management lay themselves out 

 for frolic and jeit. The picture may represent a comical inci- 

 dent familiar to most of the members, or it may be a pictorial 

 conundrum to guess. It was a fine humour, for instance, which 

 gave a caricature of one student notorious for his indefatigable 

 asking of questions. This youth was shown labouring under a 

 shoulder beam, from which hung two buckets filled to overflow- 

 ing with points of interrogation ; while in the background 

 was seated one of the professors, perfectly aghast as this mathe- 

 matical labourer approached with his load. After the magic 

 lantern exhibition comes the lottery for presents. This is a 

 great feature, productive of much inerriment.' Each "person 

 draws a paper, which may be blank, but usually has a name on 

 it. This name may be one of the illustrious living, or the still 

 more illustrious dead. Corresponding to each name is an 

 article, which, with all solemnity, is presented to the holder of 

 the paper. The connection between the article and the name is 

 more or less symbolic, or it may rest on a far-fetched pun, to 

 which the Japanese language readily lends itself. Usually the 

 jokes are very technical ; but occasionally they appeal to a circle 

 more wide than mathematical. Thus the drawer of " Newton " 

 got an apple, and the drawer of "Franklin" a kite. " Her- 

 schell" (Sir John) was represented by a sprig of Nanten 

 ("southern heavens," which he surveyed); "Archimedes," by 

 a naked doll supposed to be returning from the bath ; while the 

 holder of " Kant- Laplace," got a puff of tobacco smoke blown in 

 his face, symbolic of the nebular hypothesis. Some time ago 

 it was pointed out by a European member of the Kai that in 

 holding the "Newtonmas" on Christmas Day the members 

 were guilty of a chronological crime hardly to be excused in 

 men trained in the accurate school of Newton. For although 

 he was registered as being born on Christmas Day, 1642, it was 

 Christmas Day, old style. In all strictness he was born on 

 January 5, 1643. But the great convenience of having the fete 

 at the beginning rather than towards the end of the winter vaca- 

 tion, and the avoidance of clashing with Japanese New Year 

 festivities, were sufficient to outweigh all other considerations 

 whatsoever. Besides, did not Newton himself hold his birthday 

 on Christmas Day? Why, then, should his admirers hold it on 

 any other ? After all, concludes the Yokohama journal, the 

 peculiar interest of the "Newtonmas" lies in its existence. 

 Only to the hero-worshipping Japanese has it occurred thus to 

 pay honour to the memory of the greatest mathematical sage of 

 all time. Very few English-speaking naturalists, to use the 

 word in its widest and legitimate sense, are even aware that 

 Christmas Day in 1642 beheld the birth of Newton. It is 

 possible that nearly fifty years ago a bicentenary fete was 

 held in Cambridge ; and it is very probable that about fifty years 

 hence Newton's tercentenary will be celebrated in England — 

 perhaps over all the civilized world. But an annual celebration 

 by a Newton Club outside Japan is a thing not to be dreamed 

 of, unless Japan influences the hero-worshipping instinct of the 

 Western people as profoundly as she has influenced their oesthetic 

 taste. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. 3(N.S.), Proceedings, Parti, 

 contains Notes on West Australian oology, by A. J. Campbell 

 ( Pis. I and 2) ; On some Victorian fishes, with descriptions of 

 Cristiceps wilsoni, C. phillipi, Syngnathus phillipi, and Trip- 



