494 



NATURE 



[September 22, 1892 



capture created much excitement among the natives, as their 

 ■chiefgodisa white bear, and he is supposed to dwell on an 

 inaccessible mountain in the interior of the island, and never 

 to let himself be seen by human beings. The Ainos, therefore, 

 ■concluded that the young white bear was a sort of Messiah, and 

 after long consideration they decided that he ought to be sent as 

 a present to the Mikado. In due time he arrived at Tokio, and 

 t)y the Mikado's orders he was received into the Zoological 

 Garden. Heie the animal soon became ill, and Herr J. L. 

 Janson was requested to do what he could for it. Fortunately 

 his treatment of it was successful. At first he thought the 

 creature must be a polar bear ; but he soon convinced himself 

 that this was a mistake, and that it was in reality an albino. In 

 4he latest number of the " Mittheilungen der Deutschen Gesell- 

 schaft fur Natur- und Volkerkunde Ostasiens in Tokio," Herr 

 Janson gives a full account of the bear, and he adds some in- 

 teresting facts as to the importance attributed to white animals 

 generally, and especially to albinos, in Japan. The appearance 

 of an albino is supposed to be a good omen for the reigning 

 monarch. The reign of a sovereign may even be known by the 

 name of a white animal. Thus the reign of one ancient Mikado 

 is called " Hakuchi nenkan," the period of the white pheasant. 

 That of another is " Haku ho5 nenkan," the period of the white 

 phoenix. The white fox is often mentioned in fables and temple- 

 stories, and a white serpent always appears in pictures and 

 plastic representations with Benten, the goddess of fortune. As 

 in former times among the Greeks, Romans, Persians, and 

 Scythians, so among the Japanese, horses dedicated to the gods 

 were generally white ; and white horses are still found in con- 

 nection with all the larger temples, and take part in the great 

 annual processions. The milk and butter derived from white 

 cows were formerly held in high esteem as medicine. 



Mr. F. W. Ward, formerly editor of the Sydney Daily 

 Telegraph, has sent to the' Agricultural Department of New 

 South Wales a report on recent shipments of fruit from Cape 

 ■Colony to London. The report is printed in the July number 

 •of the Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, which recom- 

 mends it as '* worthy of careful perusal." The Gazette refers to 

 the fact that good fruit-growing districts abound in Australia, 

 and that no better fruit can be grown in South Africa than is 

 ■now being produced in many districts of New South Wales. 

 The chief mistake hitherto, it says, has been the growing of 

 unsuitable varieties — unsuitable not alone for export, but even 

 for ordinary home use. It adds that this defect is being rapidly 

 remedied, and that many growers, who have gained experience 

 by their own efforts, are settling down to the work with intelli- 

 gent earnestness. 



Writing of wild strawberries in Ceylon, Mr. Nock says 

 in the Ceylon Observer that the species Fragaria vesea, which 

 grows so luxuriantly and fruits so abundantly in Jamaica, is 

 now growing wild in many places in the Nuwara Eliya dis- 

 trict. If the soil in Ceylon were as good as it is in the Blue 

 Mountains of Jamaica, and there was less Nilu {Strobilanthes), 

 this strawberry would soon, he thinks, be as plentiful in the 

 hill districts of Ceylon as it is there. When Mr. Nock was 

 Superintendent of the Government Cinchona Plantation in 

 Jamaica, he has given as many as twenty free tickets in one 

 day to old women and children to gather strawberries among 

 the Cinchona Plantations. He has known them gathered by 

 the bushel, and carried twenty-two miles to the Kingston 

 ciarket, where they always commanded a good price. He 

 adds that he has this year raised seedlings of six of the best 

 English varieties, to which he intends to give a fair trial in 

 the Nuwara Eliya district. 



The University of Minnesota has begun the publication of a 

 Quarterly Bulletin, under the management of aboard of editors. 

 NO. II 95. VOL. 46] 



The chief editor being Prof. Conway M'Millan, the professor of 

 botany to the University, is a guarantee that the interests of 

 science will not be neglected in the Btilletin ; and the first 

 number contains several items of information of interest to 

 American botanists. 



In the report of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, for the 

 year 1891-92, it is shown that the year was one of great activity 

 as regards outdoor operations. The abnormally dry season 

 proved very trying to many exotics, and, though for a time all 

 other work was suspended and the whole garden staff was 

 employed only in watering plants, many casualties occurred, 

 especially among the finer and rarer plants. The attention of 

 the staff was as usual largely directed to the cultivation and 

 distribution of plants of economic interest. The chief event of 

 the year under this head was the introduction of the aloe, which 

 yields "sisal hemp" {Agave rigida, var. sisalana). The 

 Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, in June 1891, kindly 

 obtained a consignment of plants for the Calcutta Garden from 

 Florida, and kept these at Kew till they were strong enough to 

 stand the voyage to Calcutta. The boxes reached Calcutta on 

 October 29, 1891 ; unfortunately a considerable percentage of 

 the plants died on the way out, and it was necessary to nurse 

 the survivors carefully before they could be distributed. Over 

 19,000 specimens were contributed to the Herbarium during the 

 year from various sources ; while the distribution of authentically- 

 named specimens to other herbaria reached the high total of 

 10,505 sheets. The chief benefactor to the Calcutta Herbarium 

 was again the Royal Herbarium, Kew, to the Director of which 

 institution the Calcutta one "owes a debt that can never be 

 repaid." Among other contributors was Baron von Mueller, 

 who again sent a beautiful collection of Australian plants. The 

 Herbarium was also greatly enriched by further accessions of 

 Tibetan, Chinese, and Mexican specimens, and the Saharanpur 

 Herbarium presented 954 plants from the north-west Himalaya. 

 Dr. Prain visited the Andaman Islands, Mount Parashak, and 

 the Khasia, and was thus enabled to add valuable collections. 

 Much good work was also done by collectors employed by the 

 Calcutta Garden, 



In the second number of the Journal of the Polynesian 

 Society Dr. A. Carroll, of Sydney, offers what he believes to be 

 translations of some of the famous Easter Island inscriptions. 

 He is of opinion that Easter Island was at one time occupied 

 by a pre- Polynesian people from America, and that to them the 

 inscriptions are to be attributed. " While engaged in studying 

 the languages, histories, antiquities, and inscriptions of ancient 

 American peoples," he says, " I came upon similarities to the 

 Easter Island characters, &c. ; with these as keys, discovered 

 what certain groups expressed, and from these, proceeding upon 

 the recognized methods of decipherment, succeeded in reading 

 into the original languages, and from these translating into 

 English these Easter Island inscriptions." This is very vague, 

 and, until Dr. Carroll gives some more definite information as 

 to his methods, his claim that "another ancient writing is 

 deciphered" will seem somewhat extravagant. Among the 

 other contents of the number are an interesting account of some 

 stone implements from the Chatham Islands, by Mr. S. Percy 

 Smith, and the first part of a history of the occupation of the 

 Chatham Islands by the Maoris in 1835, by Mr. A. Shand. 

 Mr. Shand's information has been derived from the Maoris 

 themselves, many of those who supplied it having taken part in 

 the transactions they described. 



Mr. William Kent, writing in Science on the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, complains that it 

 does not adequately represent the scientific movement in the 

 United States. He points out that while more than 2000 mem- 

 bers attended the Edinburgh meeting of the British Association, 



