no 



NA TURE 



[May 31, 1894 



daring the time of harvest ; and, if so, what were the arrange- 

 ments to be made for the purpose. In reply, Mr. Gardner 

 said it was proposed to repeat the experiment of last year, and 

 that the counties of Cambridge, Somerset, Carnarvon, the 

 East Riding of Yorkshire, Haddington, and .-Vyr had been 

 selected for the purpose. The forecasts will be despatched to 

 rural telegraph offices at such periods as will suit the agri- 

 cultural conditions of hay and corn harvest in the respective 

 counties, and Mr. Gardner hoped that those interested in the 

 matter would supply information as to the results of the experi- 

 ment, so that it could be determined whether the system was of 

 sufficient utility to justify its continuance and extension. The 

 forecasts are, of course, prepared at the Meteorological Office, 

 which has (or many years issued hay harvest forecasts to a 

 limited number of stations, and has had them properly checked 

 by the recipients. The results of these forecasts are regularly 

 published in the Reports of the Meteorological Council, and 

 they show that the percentage of success has been remarkably 

 good in nearly all the districts. 



The weather over these islands has continued ver)- unseason- 

 able during most of the past week ; the maximum shade tem- 

 perature readings have been as low as 55° in many parts, and 

 below 50° at some of the northern stations, while on Tuesday 

 morning, the 29th inst., the minimum shade temperature fell 

 below freezing point in the Midland counties. On the 26th a 

 deep depression was situated over Germany, and caused very 

 stormy weather over the south of England ; in London the wind 

 blew from the north-north-west with great force during Saturday 

 night, the pressure amounting to Ili lbs. on the square foot at 

 Greenwich. The fall of rain which accompanied this disturb- 

 ance was very great. On the Kentish coast it amounted to 

 over 2l inches, and more than 3 inches fell at the Helder. 

 Slight thunderstorms occurred in the Midland counties and 

 southern parts of England in the early part of this week. 



The influence of ancient village communities on the map of 

 England is made the subject of an interesting paper by Mr. H. 

 T. Crofton in the last number of the yi>«r«fl/of the Manchester 

 Geographical Society. Mr. Crofton reproduces a portion of 

 the six-inch ordnance survey map with the parishes coloured, 

 and thus biings out the curiously complicated manner in which 

 the boundaries are drawn, and the frequency with which portions 

 of one parish are scattered in isolated patches through the 

 neighbouring parishes. In order to explain these curious forms 

 he points out that the ancient village communities of the pri- 

 mitive Celtic people, with their complicated adjustment of 

 arable and pasture land, were not wiped out by the Roman 

 conquerors, but gradually assimilated to the new distribution of 

 property. Thus, acquiring a recognised character, the lands of 

 separate tribes or families retained their ancient names and 

 groupings, and to the present day the parishes of Manchester 

 and its neighbourhood bear witness in their irregular bound- 

 aries to the primitive customs of the pre-Roman inhabitants of 

 the land. The question of county and parish boundaries is one 

 so full of interest for the student of primitive populations, that 

 be must be grateful to the proverbial conservativencss of 

 parochial authorities ; still, intending students in this interest- 

 ing field would do well to set to their task speedily before the 

 changing of the old order destroys landmarks which can never 

 be restored. 



The report of the Hydrographer to the Admiralty, pub- 

 lished a few days ago, describes the work performed under the 

 direction of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty during 

 last year, in the examination and charting of seas and coasts in 

 variou.s parts of the globe. The necessity for accurate surveys 

 on a large scale is strikingly illustralc<l by the number of rocks 



NO. 1283, VOL. 50] 



and dangers to navigation annually discovered, this number 

 being steadily on the increase, no less than 201, which it has 

 been deemed necessarj- to notify by notices to mariners, having 

 been reported during the year 1S93. Of these, 26 rocks were 

 reported by H. M. surveying vessels ; 35 by others of 

 H.M. ships ; 22 by various British and foreign vessels ; 

 13 were discovered by vessels striking on them ; and 

 105 were reported by colonial and foreign Governments. 

 Ten vessels were employed in the surveys during the year 

 covered by the report — four on home and six on foreign stations. 

 The English stations were Plymouth Sound, the south coast, 

 east coast, west coast, and the east coast of Ireland. On the 

 west coast of Newfoundland the portion surveyed comprises from 

 Cape St. George to a point 16 miles eastward of Cape.^nguille, 

 nearly 100 miles of coastline. An area of about 500 square 

 miles was closely sounded. Of this locality there is at pre- 

 sent no chart in which the navigator can place any confidence, 

 and the new work will be especially useful. As might have 

 been expected, a certain number of uncharted dangers were 

 discovered, and no fewer than nine rocks with a less depth of 

 water than five fathoms over them were found round the shores 

 of the bay. A plan of Isthmus Bay, on a scale of 6 inches to 

 the mile, was also completed. Dr. BassettSmith accompanied 

 H.M.S. Egeria, and during the sounding of the Macclesfield 

 coral bank in the China Sea was enabled to obtain a very 

 valuable collection of corals from the deeper slopes of the bank, 

 special attention being paid to the zone lying between the 

 depths of 30 to 40 fathoms, from which he was able to prepare 

 a highly interesting report on his investigations. The col- 

 lections have been sent to the British Museum. The SolomoB 

 Islands, Queensland, Tasmania and the New Hebrides, and the 

 Mediterranean were also the centres of marine surveys during 

 1893. The marine survey of India was carried out under the 

 direction of officers of the Investigator. 



An ethnographic expedition to the islands of Inishbofin and 

 Inishshark, County Galway, was made by Dr. C. R. Browne in 

 the autumn of last year, and the results of his observations, com- 

 municated to the Royal Irish Academy in November, have now ■ 

 been published. \ similar expedition was made to the Aran 

 Islands in 1892, and both were undertaken in connection with 

 the Dublin .Anthropometric Committee. These local investi- 

 gations in selected parts of Ireland are as important as the 

 results arc interesting. The people visited, on the whole, much 

 resemble the inhabitants on the opposite coast of Connemara, 

 and their appearance testifies to a mixed origin. The average 

 height is 5 ft. 6.;. in., which falls short of the Irish mean stature ' 

 as found by Gould, and the Anthropometric Committee of the 

 British Association, by about two inches. Sight and he.iring 

 are very acute, and Dr. Browne says that the disl.ince al which 

 the islanders can make out a sail or a bird on the wing is am.iz 

 ing. The proportional measurements of the face and upper 

 limb with reference to the stature differ in some respects, not 

 only from those of the Aran islanders, but also from the 

 accepted canons, and form the proportions obtained by (Juetelet, 

 Gould, and others, in their investigations on several European 

 peoples. Though a large proportion of the marriages arc consan- 

 guineous unions, the uniformity of strain does not appear to have 

 produced any effect except a great similarity of appearance ; no 

 cases of malformation or congenital diseases are ascribed to it. 

 Marriages are arranged by the parents from considerations of 

 suitability of families, not, as in many other places, by money 

 bargains. If the bridegroom be the eldest son, who usually in- 

 herits the parent's house, &c., the bride goes to live with his 

 family. Sometimes, on the occasion of a wedding, "straw- 

 boys" go round with long straw masks on, and if they do not 

 get either money or liquor will threaten to break the windows 



