January 17, 1895] 



NA TURE 



2S1 



indicate " that two great centres of habitation have influenced 

 the dispersal of the species : an earlier one in the Shetland-;, 

 Orkney, and the Outer Hebrides, and north coasts and 

 north-east of Caithness, from north-east towards south-west ; 

 and a later one, entering Scotland in the south and passing 

 north through the south and central districts of Scotland. 

 Moray appears to have drawn its supplies from the northward, 

 in comparatively recent years ; but the districts to the south of 

 the Grampians mostly, if not entirely, from the southwards. 

 ... It might not, perhaps, be too rash to predict that the 

 day may yet arrive when the starling having increased still 

 more prodigiously, and every crevice and cranny having be- 

 come populated by these cosmopolites, a great struggle for 

 existence even amongst themselves may become necessary to 

 preserve the balance of nature. Before this can take place, 

 however, the probability exists that some other weaker species 

 may have to go to the wall. Indeed, there are already indica- 

 tions of such a fact in at least one instance and locality — by 

 sheer force of numbers." 



In the eighth annual report of the Liverpool Marine Biology 

 Committee, edited by Prof. Herdman, there is an interesting 

 account of the work carried on during the past year at the 

 biological station at Port Erin. A number of important addi- 

 tions to the fauna already known in that neighbourhood are 

 recorded, including Dicorync ctmfcrta, Crisia ramota, Amphi- 

 codoii fritillaria, and some forms of Copepoda new to science, 

 Pseiidocyclopia stephoiJes and several species of the genus 

 Ectiiiosonta. Many observations have been made on the sub- 

 marine deposits of the Irish Sea, and a preliminary general 

 account is given in the report. The bottom, down to the 

 depth of 10 fathoms, is chiefly covered with sand ; at a greater 

 depth, between lo and 20 fathoms, there is a large admixture 

 of mud ; from 20 to 50 fathoms the bottom deposits are greatly 

 varied, and here the richest fauna occurs ; below 50 fathom i is 

 found a bluish-grey tenacious mud, with a peculiar and charac- 

 teristic fauna. Prof. Herdman very justly points out the im- 

 portance of a thorough investigation of the submarine deposits 

 round our coast ; he regards the nature of these deposits as 

 probably the most important of the various factors that deter- 

 mine the distribution of animals over the sea-bottom within 

 one zoological area. " In practically the same water, identical 

 in temperature, salinity, and transparency, at the same depth, 

 with, so far as one can see, all the other surrounding conditions 

 the same, the fauna varies from place to place with changes in 

 the bottom — mud, sand, nullipores, and shell-beds, all have their 

 characteristic assemblages of animals." The concluding part 

 of the report contains a short account of a plan for the distri- 

 bution of drift-bottles in order to obtain information with 

 regard to the currents in the Irish Sea which afl'ect small float- 

 ing bodies ; this experiment is based upon the plan employed 

 by Prince Monaco in the Atlantic a few years ago. The 

 observations made on the course of the drift-bottles up to the 

 present have already been described in our columns by Prof. 

 Herdman (Nature, December 13, 1894, p. 151). 



With the January Journal of the Chemical Society, we have 

 received a supplementary number, containing title-pages, con- 

 tents, and indexes of volumes Ixv. and Ixvi. (parts i. and ii.) 

 of the Journal. 



The resolutions accepted by the International Congress of 

 Hygiene and Demography, held at Budapest in September 

 last, have just been published in the form of a pamphlet. They 

 are printed in four languages — Hungarian, French, German, and 

 English. 



Thi-; first part of a new catalogue of entomological works 

 offered for sale, has been issued by R. Friedlander and Son, 



NO. I316, VOL. -^l] 



Berlin. The list, which is No. 416 of the " Biicher-Verzeich- 

 niss," published by Friedlander, is devotel to fossil insects, Co- 

 leoptera, and miscellaneous works on entomology. 



We regret to announce that, owing to the death of Father 

 Denza, the publication of the BolUlihio Mfiisuale, issued by 

 the Moncalieri Observatory for the last fourteen years, is to be 

 discontinued, and that the Italian Meteorological Society is to 

 be dissolved. We hope that some other pioneer of Italian 

 meteorology will take up the good work left by Father Denza. 



The publication of " The Cambridge Natural History " will 

 shortly be commenced by Messrs. Macmillan and Co. The 

 first volume to appear will co itain '• Molluscs," by the Rev. A. 

 II. Cooke; " Brachiopods (Recent)," by Mr. A. E. Shipley; 

 and " Brachiopods (Fossil)," by Mr. F. R. C. Reed. This will 

 be followed, in the course of a few months, by two other 

 volumes in the same series, on " Insects," by Dr. David Sharp, 

 F. R.S. The whole series, which will include ten volumes, 

 fully illustrated, is intended, in the first instance, for those who 

 have not had any special scientific training ; but an attempt will 

 be made to combine popular treatment and popular language 

 with the most modern results of scientific research. 



Referring to the announcement that ten Surinam water- 

 toads had been received at the Zoological Society's Gardens 

 (Naiure, p. 85), Dr. C. Kerbert, the Director of the 

 Koninklijk Zov>!ogisch Genootschap, informs us that a number 

 of these interesting animals were received at -Amsterdam in 

 October 1893, and are still living. 



The Royal Horticultural Society has been established for 

 ninety years, and there are at present three thousand Fellows on 

 its roll. It works in various ways " for the improvement of 

 horticulture ir all its branches, ornamental as well as useful." 

 The Jourital of the Society usually contains much valuable 

 information on scientific and practical gardening. In the 

 January issue, there are a number of papers read at a conference 

 on trees, and others read at a conference on British-grown fruit. 

 Perhaps the most important section of the Society is the strong 

 Scientific Committee appointed to examine and report upon 

 instances, submitted by the Fellows, of diseases and injuries of 

 plants, caused by insects or otherwise. The Committee give 

 their advice on all matters connected with the prevention or cure 

 of disease, and are glad to receive specimens of malformation, 

 or other subjects of horticultural or botanical interest. 



A DEi-"lNrriv and trustworthy answer appears at last to be 

 given to the long-standing question of the closely approximating 

 atomic weights of nickel and cobalt, in a communication from 

 Prof. Winkler to the Zeitschrifl fiir Ano)ganisc/u Chemie. The 

 great difficulty in deciding the actual values of the atomic con- 

 stants of these interesting metals has been largely owing to the 

 f.xct that the methods of analysis hitherto adopted have not been 

 free from all source of error. During the last few years, how- 

 ever, very considerable progress has been made in the chemistry 

 of the compounds of nickel and cobalt, and the sources of error 

 are now more correctly appreciated, and consequently more 

 amenable to elimination. It is inconceivable, in the light of the 

 ample verification which the periodic generalisation associ.ited 

 with the names of Newlanjs and .Mendelceft" has received since 

 its inception, by the subsequent accumulation of cvperimental 

 facts, that the atoms of nickel and cobalt can both be endowed 

 with the same relative weight, as was for so long supposed to be 

 the case. A short time .ago. Prof. Winkler carried out a series 

 of analyses of the chlorides, prepared from the electrolytically 

 deposited metals, and obtained the numbers Ni = sS'go and 

 Co = 5967. Having, however, still some doubts as to the 

 absolute accuracy of the decimal places, owing to the possibility 

 of a minute source of error in the preparation of pure neutral 



