September 6, 1894J 



NA TURE 



45? 



also his levellings in the Transcaspian territory in the 

 region which is supposed to have been the Area Palus of 

 the ancients, promise to yield very interesting results. 

 The yearly reports of both the East and the West Siberian 

 Branches of the Geographical Society are also full of geo- 

 graphical information. In East Siberia, M. Prein has explored 

 the vegetation of the Olkhon Island in Lake Baikal, which 

 offers great interest for its curious mixture of species character- 

 istic of the steppes with purely forest species, and which also 

 contains a number of varieties, either unknown or intermediary 

 between different formerly known varieties. In West Siberia, 

 we notice the steady work of the Meteorological Committee 

 which opened last year, in connection with the Central 

 Meteorological Observatory, eight stations in different parts of 

 the territory ; M. Siyazoff 's work on the flora of the Ishim 

 Steppes, and its comparison with the flora of Tyumen, at the 

 eastern slope of the Urals ; M. Katanaeff's larger work on the 

 Kirghiz Steppes ; and Slovtsoff's, on the Pelym region and on 

 the .Siberian cedar — -all published in the memoirs of the West 

 Siberian branch — are also of interest. 



A REI'ORT, showing the distribution and production of some 

 of the most important minerals worked in India, has been 

 issued by the Department of Revenue and Agriculture of the 

 Indian Government. 



The principles of the manufacture of steel are ably described 

 in " Fabrication de la Fonte," by M. E. de Billy, the volume 

 lieing the latest addition to the Aide-Memoire series published 

 jointly by Gauthier-Villars and Masson. 



The fifth part of Kerner and Oliver's "Natural History of 

 Plants " (Blackie) has been published. Its contents refer to 

 metabolism and the transport of materials, and to the growth 

 and construction of plants. 



We have received a paper " On the Analytical Treatment of 

 Alternating Currents," read by Prof. A. Macfarlane before the 

 International Electrical Congress held at Chicago a year 

 ago, and reprinted from the Congress' Proceedings. 



A I.I. regulations referring to the registration and inspection 

 of classes held in connection with the City and Guilds of 

 London Institute are given in the" Programme of Technological 

 Examinations " just published for the Institute by Messrs. 

 Whittaker and Co. 



Under the title " Peregrinazioni Psicologiche," U. Hoepli, 

 of Milan, has published a collection of psychological papers by 

 Dr. Tito Vignoli, Professor of Anthropology in the R. 

 Accademia Scienze e Lettere di Milano, and Director of the 

 Museo Civico di .Storia Naturale. 



The September number of The Country Month by Month, 

 by Mrs. Owen and Prof. Boulger, appears to us to be better 

 than some that have preceded it.' The poet-naturalist will 

 find the authors' descriptions of autumnal plant and bird life 

 greatly to his liking. Some parts of the book are really very 

 fine. Messrs. Bliss, Sands, and Foster are the publishers. 



The Manchester Microscopical Society, with a membership 

 of 245, ranks high among provincial scientific societies. Several 

 interesting papers are printed in the Transactions of the Society 

 for 1S93. .\mong these we note the address of the presi- 

 dent. Prof. F. E. W'eiss, on recent researches and speculations 

 on the structure of protoplasm ; a paper on modern views of 

 the plant cell, by Mr. Thomas Hick ; and one on the organic 

 forms of silica, by Mr. W. Blackburn. A useful summary of 

 information on the plans of growth and the forms of Foramin- 

 ifera is contributed by .Mr. E. Halkyard ; and a survey of 

 typical examples of some ccmmon microscopic fungi is given i 

 by Mr. A. T. Gillanders. These papers show that interest in 

 the Society is still maintained. | 



NO. 1297, VOL. 50] 



The Meteorological Sub-Committee of the Croydon Micro- 

 scopical and Natural History Club is doinj good work by the 

 collection of rainfall statistics ; its report for 1893 contains daily 

 and monthly values for sixty-three stations in the counties of 

 Kent and Surrey. The Hon. Sec, Mr. F. C. Bayard, points 

 out that the smallness of the total rainfall during the year is very 

 remarkable. The average yearly fall for Greenwich for seventy- 

 five years (1816-90) is 25-11 inches; but in the year 1893 

 there was a deficiency of 5 02 inches, which quantity nearly 

 represents the deficiency of the district dealt with by the Club. 

 Most of this deficiency, viz. 477 inches, occurred during the 

 first six months of the year. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Diana Monkey (Cercopithecus dtana) 

 from West Africa, presented by Mr. Darent McDonald ; a 

 Pinche Monkey [Midas nJipiis) from New Granada, presented 

 by Lieut. W. N. Gordon, R..A. ; a Puma {Felts concolor) from 

 Argentina, presented by Mr. Pcnsonby Ogle ; a Stone Curlew 

 [CEdicnemus scolopax), British, presented by Colonel H. W. 

 Fielden ; two Poe Honeyeaters {Prosthemadcra noVc€-zealandite), 

 from New Zealand, presented by Mr. Reginald Moorhouse ; 

 an Elephantine Tortoise ( Testudo elephantina) from the Sey- 

 chelles, presented by Mr. Arthur Gladstone ; two Hawks-billed 

 Turtle (Chelone imOricata) from the East Indies, presented by 

 Captain E. Fleetham ; a black-headed Lemur (Lemur lirunneiis) 

 from Madagascar, five Meyer's Parrots {Paocephalus meyeri) 

 from East Africa; two Brown-throated Conures (Coniirus 

 irruginosus) from .South .\merica, deposited ; two Javan Wild 

 Swine {Sus vittalus) from Java, presented by Mr. E. J. 

 Kerkhoven. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Rece.nt Observation.s of Mars. — Mr. John Ritchie, 

 jun., has kindly sent us a cutting from the Boston Common- 

 weallh containing some observations of .Mars, made at the 

 Lowell Observatory, Arizona, since those recorded in our issue 

 of August 16. The staff of the observatory includes Mr. 

 Percival Lowell, Prof. W. H. Pickering, and Mr. E. A. 

 Douglass. Mr. Lowell himself communicated the following 

 observations to the Commonwealth : July 5. Both Pickering 

 and Douglass observed that the terminator was flattened in a 

 certain place. Light from the Sabacus Sinus was found 10 be 

 polarised. July 19. Douglass observed a protuberance on the 

 terminator, and a notch. The height of the former was 

 estimated at o"'i, which suggests an elevation of about five- 

 eighths of a mile. July 20. The notch seen by Dougla>s was 

 confirmed by Pickering. July 21. Douglass saw two notches 

 which were afterwards confirmed by Pickering, July 23. 

 Other notches on the terminator observed by Douglas?. luly 

 26. A large protuberance observed by Pickering. The light 

 from the larger "lakes" found to be unpolarised, even when 

 near the limb of the planet. (Mr. Ritchie points out that the 

 projection seen by Pickering was in all probability the one 

 seen by Javelle at Nice, on July 28). The first observa- 

 tion of a canal, Eumenides, was made on June 6 by 

 Pickering. The same channel was seen by the other 

 observers on June 7, and appeared persistently on June 9. 

 During the whole of June anrt July the snow-cap diminished in 

 size. On July 10, a minute patch of white, in the position of 

 the former star-like points, was seen as a difficult object, entirely 

 detached from the snow-cap. On July 18, Pickering reported 

 that the cap had materially diminished, and that the canals 

 were coming out more clearly. He had some views of clouds 

 and glimpses of some of his "lakes." Early in August he 

 reported that he had seen seventeen of these lakes, two of them 

 new. By the end of June the canal Ganges was seen twice, and 

 both times single. July 29, a light grey tint was seen on an 

 extended region. .Some canals were well developed, no duplica- 

 tion visible. July 30, early in the evening, with the scemg 4 

 and 3 on a scale of 10, Pickering thought he saw Ganges 

 double. Later in the evening, when the seeing had improved 

 to 8 and 9, it was evident that such was not the case. The 



