December 20, 1894] 



NATURE 



181 



the numerous experiments made by ihe authors since the year 

 1885 will be found in the Proceedings of the Royal Institute of 

 Lombardy of July 19 last. 



The Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean shows that 

 the weather over that ocean during November was very severe. 

 From the glh to the 23rd of the month there were only two 

 days of good weather between Newfoundland and this 

 country. An appendix to the chart gives the synoptic weather 

 condilions of the North Atlantic north of the 35th parallel for 

 six consecutive days (Sejitember 28 to October 3) for the hour 

 of Greenwich noon, showing the positions and behaviour of 

 the various storms which were prevalent at that time. The 

 excellent system adopted by the United States authorities for 

 the collection and discussion of observations made at sea has 

 enabled Ihem to produce this synoptic chart so soon after 

 date. We notice, however, that in the description of the 

 storm signals used in various countries the "cylinder" or 

 " drum " is referred to as now being employed by this country, 

 but as a matter of fact it has not been used for many years. 



In La Natto-e of the ist instant, M. de Nansouty gives an 

 account of some interesting experiments by M. Kcechlin on the 

 Eiffel Tower, with the view of measuring the force rf the wind 

 by the use of metal blocks whose resistance had been previously 

 tested in the laboratory by means of compressed air. During 

 the storm of November 12 last, the velocity anemometers 

 registered 100 miles in the hour, and according to the formula 

 used for the conversion of velocity into pressure, the blocks 

 indicating a pressure of 200 kilograms ought to have been over- 

 turned, but only those indicating a pressure of 100 kilograms were 

 displaced. From this, M. Kcechlin concludes that the formula 

 gives results about 40 per cent, too high. It appears to us that 

 the experiments afford a remarkable confirmation of Mr. W. H. 

 Dines's recent investigations of anemometrical constants, in 

 which he found that the usual theory of the cups moving with 

 one-third of the wind's velocity gave values which were about 

 30 per cent, loo high. Experiments very similar to those of 

 M. Ktachlin were made by Mr. G. Dines ■^ome years ago, under 

 less favourable conditions, but with nearly similar results. 



-V PICTURE-PUZZLE of a remarkable kind appears in the 

 Zoologist for December. It is a reproduction of two photo- 

 graphs of a Little bittern, showing the strange attitudes assumed 

 by the bird to favour its concealment. One of the figures shows the 

 bird standing in a reed-bed, erect, with neck stretched out and 

 beak pointing upwards ; and in this position, it is difficult to dis- 

 tinguish the bird at all from the reeds. The eye is deceived in a 

 similar manner when the bird is crouching against a tree-stump 

 at the river-side. Mr. J. E. Harting thinks that ' the curious 

 attitudes adopted by the bird, on finding itself observed, are 

 assumed in the exercise of the instinct of sel f-preservation. Me 

 mentions a similar habit, observed and described by Mr. W. H. 

 Hudson, in the case of a .Sjuth American Little Heron, which 

 frequents the borders of the La Pl.nta, and is occasionally 

 found in the reed-beds scattered over the pampas. Without 

 the aid of dogs, it w.as found impossible to secure any speci- 

 mens of this bird, even after marking the spot where one had 

 alighted. 



The architecture and sculpture of Gastropod shells has often 

 arrested the attention of naturalists, for, in spite of the infinite 

 variety of form assumed by the shell, it is in most cases ex- 

 tremely difficult to perceive any special utility in the nature of 

 the modifications. A paper by Mr. W. II. Dall, however, in 

 a recent number of the American Naturalist (No. 335). cer- 

 tainly tends to clear up two sets of these phenomena, viz. the 

 Tidges or plications of the columella, and the lira; or teeth of the 

 outer lip. The author shows that among the fusiform rachi- 



NO. 131 2, VOL. 51] 



glossathe retractor orcolumellar muscle is longer, and attached 

 deeper within the shell in the plicated (e.g. .Mitra) than in the 

 non-plicated forms [e.g. Fustts). The result of this is that in 

 the former the mantle during contraction is withdrawn into a 

 part of the shell too narrow to admit it in its normal shape. 

 The mantle must wrinkle longitudinally ; and the longitudinal 

 shelly ridges on the pillar and towards the aperture of the shell 

 are the mechanical consequences of this plication of the secret- 

 ing surface. Similarly in forms possessing a very extensive 

 mantle ( Volutidu:, CyprieiJu-) it may be noticed that the outer 

 lip of the shell is toothed chiefly in those types in which the 

 aperture is small, and that the denticulation is less marked as 

 the aperture becomes larger. This is attributed by Mr. Dall 

 to the (act that as the aperture becomes reduced the mantle mast 

 become increasingly wrinkled at its exit from the shell, thus 

 causing the deposition of teeth and lirs on the outer Up [c /. 

 Cypma). If these features fall under Prof. Lankester's cate- 

 gory of " responsive characters," the question arises whether the 

 whole molluscan shell, so far as its shape and sculpture is 

 concerned, is not simply a combination of such characters. 



The first number of a series of hand-lists of the collections 

 of living plants cultivated in the Royal Gardens, Kew, has just 

 been received. This part, which contains a list of Polypetahr, 

 shows that the complete catalogue will be of the highest service 

 in helping to establish a uniform system of nomenclature, .•^n 

 immense number of "trade" or "garden ' names have been 

 reduced to their proper synonyms, and as the woody plants 

 (shrubs and trees), grown in the open air, are particularly liable 

 to contusion in gardens, and in nurserymen's catalogues, the 

 present list is most acceptable. It can easily be understood that 

 the list " represents the work of many years, and has only been 

 accomplished with considerable labour." From the preface 

 we learn that, of the twenty thousand species and distinct 

 varieties of plants cultivated at Kew, three thousand are hardy 

 shrubs or trees. Tbe first catalogue of plants cultivated at Kew, 

 published in 1768, contained 33S9 species, of which 4SS were 

 hardy trees and shrubs. The two Alton's published similar lists, 

 but that issued by the younger .\iton early in this century, and 

 containing about eleven thousand species, was the latest com- 

 prehensive list of plants in cultivation at Kew, though lists of 

 special collections have been published from time to time. The 

 great importance of the series of hand-lists, which Mr. Thiselton- 

 Dyer has instituted, will therefore be at once understood. 



The twenty-sixth volume of the Memoirs of the Russian 

 Geographical Society (General Geography) contains an i n- 

 portant work by Prof. Mushketoff and A. OrlolT, being a cata- 

 logue of all the earthquakes which are known to have taken 

 place in the Russian empire and the adjoining territories of 

 China, Turkestan, Persia, and .-Vsia Minor from the year 596 

 li.c. till the year 1SS7. The list comprises no less than 2400 

 separate earttiquakes, of which 710 took place in China, 

 569 in East Sioeria, 36 in West Siberia, 202 in Central Asia, 

 590 in Caucasia, 121 in North Persia and Asia Minor, and 

 1 88 in European Russia and Finland. These figures alone, if 

 compared with those for China in the catalogues of R. Mallet, 

 A. Perrey, and Fuchs, give an idea of the richness of 

 the Russian catalogue. As to Russia, Siberia, and Turkes- 

 tan, the catalogue is replete with entirely new data. Most of 

 the earthquakes of the last two centuries, for which we possess 

 full accounts, given by careful observers, are described at some 

 length, and some of the descriptions, especially for the earth 

 tremors of Shemakha, Lake Baikal, and Turkestan, are of great 

 value. A map showing the distribution of the earthquakes 

 over the territory, and diagrams showing their frequency during 

 the different months, accompany this most valuable work. 



