474 



NA TURE 



[September 15, 1892 



years, and afterwards at intervals of from six to ten years. The 

 later crops furnish the best bark, which is used for bottle corks 

 and similar purposes. 



In his annual report to the Secretary of the Science and Art 

 Department, Dr. V, Ball, Director of the Science and Art 

 Museum, Dublin, says that throughout the past year Major 

 McEniry was continuously engaged in the rearrangement of the 

 Royal Irish Academy collections. Mr. W.F. Wakeman rendered 

 valuable assistance in preparing descriptive lists of the " Crannog 

 finds, "and Mr. George Coffey made a catalogue of the Irish coins. 

 Both have been printed, and will serve as valuable records, for 

 future reference, of the present condition and contents of these 

 two branches of the collection. They will, moreover, afford 

 useful material in the preparation of a contemplated handbook 

 to the collection, which now claims attention, but for which 

 some special arrangement will have to be made. In the same 

 report Dr. Ball notes that under the efficient management of 

 Mr. Moore the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, maintained 

 during the year their now well-established position as one of the 

 principal centres of scientific horticulture in the United 

 Kingdom. The continued and widespread interest in the 

 operations carried on there is amply shown by the generous 

 support which plant growers still afford by their contributions 

 of novelties. 



Mr. E. S. Morse, Director of the Peabody Academy of 

 Science, has been investigating the older forms of terra-cotta 

 roofing tiles, and presents the results of his inquiry in the latest 

 Bulletin of the Essex Institute, Salem. His paper is a valuable 

 contribution to the study of a very interesting subject. The 

 earliest known form of tile consists of two elements — a wide tile 

 (tegula) either square or rectangular, more or less curved in 

 section, and a narrow semi-cylindrical tile (imbrex), usually 

 slightly tapering at one end to fit into the wider opening of the 

 one adjoining. The tegula is placed on the roof, concave face 

 upwards, and the imbrex, placed concave face downwards, 

 covers the lateral joint between two adjacent tegulte. Tiles of 

 this kind covered the roof of the very ancient temple of Hera at 

 Olympia, the form being identical with that of tiles still used in 

 the remote East. Afterwards the form was modified in Greece 

 and Italy. In one or other of its varieties, this tile — which has 

 been called by Graeber the normal tile — is found all over Asia, 

 in Asia Minor, and in the countries bordering the Mediterranean. 

 The well-known pantile combines the two elements, imbrex 

 and tegula, in one piece. It originated in Belgium or Holland, 

 and is used mainly in those countries, in Scandinavia,, and to 

 some extent in England. The flat tile is simply a shingle in 

 terra-cotta, and has no genetic relation to the other forms of 

 tiles. It is used in Germany, Austria, Poland, Switzerland,* 

 France, and England. Mr. Morse's paper is well illustrated, 

 and contains a map showing the geographical distribution of 

 these three types of tile. 



Mr. Walter Hough contributes to the report of the U.S. 

 National Museum for 1890, just issued, a very good paper on 

 the methods of fire-making. Having in a previous paper dis- 

 cussed the apparatus of fire-making, he now deals with the 

 handling of the apparatus. All mechanical methods of gene- 

 rating fire take advantage of the law that motion, apparently 

 destroyed by friction, is converted into heat. These methods 

 can be grouped under three classes : — (i) wood friction, (2) 

 percussion of minerals, {3) compression of air. Three other 

 methods exhaust the entire range of usages in fire-making, and, 

 with one exception, they are perhaps recent. These may be 

 arranged in the following classes : — (4) chemical, (5) optical, 

 (6) electrical. These exhibit the action of friction in its 

 highest manifestations. Each method Mr. Hough examines in 

 NO. II 94, VOL. 46] 



turn. His exposition is concise and clear, and carefully illus- 

 trated. 



Several sponge deposits have been discovered at a distance 

 of about 150 metres from the western shore of the island of 

 Pantelleria (depth about thirty metres). Five Greek vessels, 

 with two divers, obtained in three days about twenty-five 

 quintali of sponges of the finest quality. 



Tviro papers which will be included in the forthcoming 

 Macleay Memorial Volume were read at the meeting of the 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales on July 27. One of them, 

 by Prof. F. W. Hutton, is on the Pliocene MoUusca of New 

 Zealand. It gives a complete list of the MoUusca hitherto met 

 with in the Pliocene fossiliferous beds of New Zealand. Such 

 beds have been found only in the southern and eastern parts of 

 the North Island. About 64 per cent, of the Pliocene MoUusca 

 are also found in Miocene rocks, but the Pliocene fauna is well 

 characterized firstly by the presence of the genera Trophon, 

 Columbella, Turricula, and Mytilicarda, by the absence of 

 certain genera present in Miocene strata, and thirdly by the 

 small size of sundry species common to both formations. From 

 the recent fauna, that of the Pliocene is distinguished by the 

 presence of from 23-37 per cent, of extinct species, and of a 

 number of genera no representatives of which up to the present 

 time are known to inhabit New Zealand seas. The Pliocene 

 fauna, therefore, seems to be the remains of an earlier fauna dis- 

 appearing rapidly before the conquering host of the recent fauna, 

 which had invaded New Zealand some time previously. The 

 other paper is by Prof, W. Baldwin Spencer, and offers con- 

 tributions to our knowledge of Ceratodus, with special reference 

 to the blood-vessels. 



At the same meeting of the Linnean Society of New South 

 Wales, Mr, Rainbow exhibited the two sexes of an undescribed 

 Sydney spider {Nephila sp.), the webs of which were said to be 

 strong enough to catch male birds. 



Mr. A. C . Gatto writes in the Mediterranean Naturalist 

 that the pretty moth Deiopeia pulcJiella, Beis, has occurred this 

 year in Malta in unusual abundance. On August 10, when 

 his note was written, and for a fortnight before, it was the 

 commonest moth to be seen on the wing in the island. He 

 does not remember ever to have had occasion to record such 

 extraordinary numbers of any butterfly or moth. This remark- 

 able abundance he supposes to be due to the fact that the rains 

 of the late spring caused an overgrowth of the Heliotrofiunt 

 etiropceum, on which the Deiopeia feeds. The moth is white, 

 with small red and black spots on the forewings, and with white 

 underwings bordered with black. It is subject to much varia- 

 tion, sometimes the black dottings predominating, sometimes the 

 red ones ; but it is a very characteristic form and easily dis- 

 tinguished, 



A NEVir edition of Mr. Alfred Gibson's well-known "Agri- 

 cultural Chemistry" has been issued by Messrs. Routledge and 

 Sons. The book was originally issued more than thirty years 

 ago, and there has been a steady demand for it ever since. In 

 preparing the present edition the author has had the help of his 

 nephew, Mr. A. E. Gibson, in making such changes as the 

 advance of agricultural chemistry has rendered necessary. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co. have issued a new edition of 

 Mr. W\ H. H. Hudson's " Arithm.etic for Schools." The 

 work has been enlarged and very carefully revised. 



The University College of North Wales, Bangor, has issued 

 the prospectus of the work to be done by its agricultural depart- 

 ment during the session 1892-93. The fund for the promotion 

 of agricultural education amounted, in the session 1891-92, to 

 ;^I900, and was derived partly from a grant by the Board of 



