December 7, 1893] 



NATURE 



During the summers of 1891 and 1892 Mr. W. P. Hay took 

 the opportunity, while visiting the caves of Southern Indiana, 

 to observe the habits of the bUnd crayfish, Cambariis pellucidus. 

 In some of the caverns, as at Shiloh Cave, the crayfish were 

 extremely abundant. When observed in an undisturbed state, 

 they were found resting quietly in some shallowj part of the 

 underground streams on the clay banks. They lay with all 

 their legs extended, and their long antennae gently waving about 

 to and fro. They were easier caught by the hand suddenly 

 seizing them than with a net. Noise did not seem to affect 

 them. When first taken out of the water they were of a trans- 

 lucent pinkish white colour, with the alimentary track showing 

 through as a blue body, but they soon lost these hues. The 

 variation in the general spininess is very great. As a rule, the 

 farther north the specimens were taken the smoother they 

 were. At Mayfield's Cave, in Monroe County, a variety was 

 found entirely without spines ; this is described and figured as 

 a sub-species. (Proc. U.S. Nat. Museum, No. 935, 1893.) 



In Wundt, Philosophische Studicn, ix. Bd., I Heft., Herr 

 Bruno Kampfe brings together all the values of the integral for 

 the probable error, i.e. 



</>(7)= -r -P^-''^^ 



fj-^ J a 



which gives the whole number of errors, both positive and 

 negative, whose numerical magnitude falls between the given 

 limits. The number of errors between any two given limits 

 will be found by taking the difference between the tabular 

 numbers corresponding to these limits. Since the total number 

 of errors is taken as unity in the table, the required number of 

 errors in any particular case is to be found by multiplying the 

 tabular numbers of the actual number'of observations. Thus, to 

 take an example, if there were 1000 observations, and we wish 

 to employ the limits o'o and o'5, then looking in the column 

 giving the values of y, we find against them the numbers 

 0*0000 and 0'5205, which when subtracted from one another, 

 and multiplied by 1000 give 520"5 or 520 errors. If the limits 

 had been i'5 and 2 'o, then we should have found the corre- 

 sponding values 0"966i and o'9953, which i subtracted give 

 •0"0292, and multiplied by 1000 give 29, i.e. 29 errors that lie be- 

 tween these limits out of 1000 observations. This table is 

 published also as a separatabdruck by Wilhelm Engelmann, 

 Leipzig, which is in a more useful form for computation. The 

 values of 7 can be read directly to three places of decimals. 



We have received a report of the meteorological observations 

 made during 1893 at the Royal Alfred Observatory, Mauritius. 



The new issue of Mr. Edward Stanford's compendium of 

 geography and travel includes a revised and partly rewritten 

 edition of " Australasia." Under this title Dr. A. R. Wal. 

 lace's excellent description of Australia and New Zealand has 

 been published, and a second volume, embracing Malaysia 

 and the Pacific Archipelagoes, by Dr. F. H. H. Guillemard, 

 is in preparation. 



MM. J. B. Bailliere et Fils have added to their library 

 of contemporary science a (volume entitled " Peches et 

 Chasses Zoologiques," by the Marquis of Folin. The book is 

 well illustrated, and, though much of the matter it contains is 

 only of local interest, a large portion will be read with profit by 

 students of natural history. 



It is very doubtful whether any useful purpose is served by 

 the issue, from Mr. Edward Stanford's, of the series of maps 

 ■edited by Captain A. Staggemeier, of Copenhagen. The maps 

 show very little except the configuration of the land surfaces, 

 the editor's idea being that they will be of service to physical 

 geographers for placing observed facts of natural history, 



NO. 1258, VOL. 49] 



meteorology, &c., in their proper geographical position. There 

 are five maps in the portfolio before us, two showing the Polar 

 regions down to 30°, and three the zone between 45° of North 

 and South latitude, on Mercator's projection ; hence the zones 

 between latitudes 30° and 45" are represented on both projec- 

 tions. It is intended to issue other maps on a larger scale, 

 the whole series to comprise twenty-five plates, which will be 

 published in six parts. 



It is encouraging to learn, from the forty- first annual repor 

 of the working of the Manchester Public Free Libraries, tha 

 during the year 1892-93, 77,878 volumes dealing with science 

 and art were issued from the reference library, and 67,456 were 

 referred to in the reading-room. The total number of books 

 issued to borrowers by the nine branch libraries was 872,655, 

 of which 45,526 are classified under science and art. Of the 

 100,123 volumes consulted in the reading-rooms of the branch 

 libraries, 7869 were on science and art subjects. The record is 

 a good one ; but if the committee were to classify science separ- 

 ately from art, we should be better able to estimate from the 

 figures the growth of interest in natural knowledge. 



Dr. Arthur Gamgee has just completed the second volume 

 of his text-book on the Physiological Chemistry of the Animal 

 Body, upon which he has been engaged for some years. Like 

 the first volume, it constitutes an independent and complete 

 treatise, dealing with the physiological chemistry of the digestive 

 processes. It has been the author's aim to give the reader a 

 very full and, so far as possible, independent account of the 

 state of knowledge on the subjects discussed. Messrs. 

 Macmillan and Co. will publish the volume immediately. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co. are also about to publish a 

 revised and enlarged edition of " Elementary Lessons in Steam 

 Machinery and the Marine Steam Engine," by Messrs. Lang- 

 maid and Gaisford, Instructors on H.M. S. Britannia. It will 

 be followed by other works constituting a Britannia Science 

 Series. Among those already in hand may be mentioned 

 "Physics for School Use," by Mr. F. R. Barrett, Mr. A. E, 

 Gibson, Rev. J. C. P. Aldous, and others ; a " Physics Note- 

 Book," by Messrs. Gibson and Aldous; "Trigonometry for 

 Practical Men," by Mr. W. W. Lane; and "Geometrical 

 Drawing, Perspective, and Mechanical Drawing," by Mr. J. 

 H. Spanton. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Mozambique Monkey {Cercopithecus 

 pygerythrns, i ) a Sykes's Monkey {Cercopithecus albigtdaris, t, ) 

 a Bell's Cinixys {Cinixys belliana) from East Africa, presented 

 by Mr. T. E. C. Remington ; a Red Tiger Cat {Felis chryso- 

 thrix) from the Gold Coast, West Africa, presented by Mr. 

 William Adams ; a Common Otter {Liitra vulgaris) from York- 

 shire, presented by Mr. C. B. C. de Wit ; a Herring Gull 

 {Larus argentatus) British, presented by Mr. J. G. Goodchild ; 

 a Northern Mocking Bird {Mitnus polyglottus) from North 

 America, presented by Miss Dorothy Williams ; a Viperine 

 Snake {Tropidouotus viperinus) European, presented by Miss 

 Ffennell ; five Barbary Partridges {Caccabis petrosa) from North 

 Africa, deposited. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 The Variation of Latitude. — In the Astronomical 

 yournal, No. 19 (November 14), Prof S. C. Chandler gives 

 the eighth of the important series of articles that he has been 

 contributing on the variation of latitude. The special part of the 

 subject which is referred to deals with the direction of the 

 rotation of the pole and is accompanied by an explicit demon- 

 stration which includes all the data bearing upon it. Owing to 

 the insufficient extent of series of observations in widely dif- 

 ferent longitudes to furnish independent values of the constants 



