NA TURE 



[May I, 1890 



of material which has accumulated during the last 13 years, 

 the Government has wisely given a grant for the discussions of 

 the more important series to be carried out by distinguished 

 meteorologists in Europe. Several important investigations by 

 the Indian staff are in a more or less advanced state of prepara- 

 tion, including an account of the cyclonic storms of August 1888, 

 and of September 13-20, 1888 ; a paper on the relation of sun- 

 spots to weather, as shown by meteorological observations in the 

 Bay of Bengal from 1855-78 ; and an account of the storm in the 

 Arabian Sea in June 1887. At the commencement of the year 

 under report, there were 161 observatories contributing regular 

 observations. 



M. P; Lafourcade, in a paper on the great bustard {Revue 

 des Sciences Naturelles Appliquhs ), says that this bird is becom- 

 ing very scarce in France, as it can flourish only in large un- 

 cultivated spaces. In Champagne and Provence it is never 

 found. The small bustard is less rare. 



Some observations on the brain-weight of new-bom infants 

 are given by Herr Mies in a Vienna medical paper. From 203 

 weighings he found the brains of male children to weigh on the 

 average 339'3 grammes (say 11 "9 oz.), and those of females 330 

 grms. (say 1 1-6 oz.). The lightest was 170 grms., and the heaviest 

 482 grms. The brain-weight of the new born infant is to the body- 

 weight as I : 7 to 8 "5. Only children living at the time of 

 birth were considered. 



At the meeting of the Royal Society of Queensland on 

 February 17, Mr. W. Saville-Kent presented some interesting 

 notes on the embryology of the Australian rock oyster {Ostrea 

 glomerata). He mentioned that in connection with the investiga- 

 tion of this subject he had been carrying on a series of experiments 

 with the view of accurately determining the influence upon the em- 

 bryonic brood that is exercised by the advent of fresh-water floods 

 or other sudden changes in the salinity of the water. Some im- 

 portant results had been obtained. From a series of oysters 

 recently purchased in the market a fully matured male and female 

 were selected for experiment. Portions of milt and ova from 

 these two individuals were abstracted and commingled under 

 precisely the same conditions, and placed respectively in water 

 of three different degrees of salinity. The first admitted was 

 placed in sea-water of the full ordinary strength. In the second 

 there were equal proportions of salt and fresh water, and in the 

 third one part of salt water to three of fresh. As a result, the 

 ova placed in the equal admixture of salt and fresh water ex- 

 hibited active vitality, and were quickly speeding in their develop- 

 mental career. Of the ova placed in pure sea-water, but few 

 were fructified, and these developed very slowly. Those, finally, 

 placed in the water containing only a one-fourth proportion of 

 sea-water were entirely deprived of life, and soon began to 

 disintegrate. To this last circumstance Mr. Saville-Kent called 

 special attention. It indicated, he said, the pernicious effect 

 upon breeding oysters that might be exercised by heavy floods, 

 and opened out a wide field for further inquiry. 



A PAPER on the fossil butterflies of Florissant, Colorado, by 

 Mr. Samuel H. Scudder, is' included in the eighth Annual Report 

 of the Director of the United States Geological Survey, and has 

 now been reprinted "separately. The specimens were found 

 "in presumably Oligocene beds." There are altogether seven 

 species, and they all belong to extinct genera. Their genera^ 

 aspect is "distinctly sub-tropical and American, while the 

 Tertiary butterfly fauna of Europe is derived in the first place 



rom the East Indies, in the second from sub- tropical America, 

 and in the third from home." With regard to one interesting 

 point Mr. Scudder writes as follows : — " In living butterflies, as 

 we ascend the scale of families we find an increasing atrophy of 



he front legs. In the two lower families, Hesperidce and 



Papilionidce, they are similar in structure to the other pairs, being 

 normally developed. In the LyccenidcB (including in this the 

 sub-families Ixmoniince and Lyccenincs) they are atrophied in the 

 male to a greater or less extent, with the loss of the terminal 

 armature, while still perfect in the female. In the highest 

 family, NymphalidiC, with the single exception of the little group 

 Libytheimr, which agrees with the Lyccenidce, they are aborted 

 in both sexes, often to an excessive extent. Now, in Prolibythea 

 we have the forelegs of the female preserved, and vaNymphalites 

 the foreleg of the male ; in both cases they agree in all essential 

 points with what we should expect to find in living forms 

 belonging to the same groups, showing that at the earliest epoch 

 at which butterflies are yet known these peculiar differences, 

 marking the upward progression of forms, were already in 

 existence. We must therefore look for the proofs either of great 

 acceleration in development when butterflies first appeared, or 

 of the existence of butterflies at a far earlier period than we yet 

 know them." 



In the yearly report of the East Siberian branch of the Russian 

 Geogi-aphical Society, it is shown that the Miocene deposits in 

 the middle parts of the provinces of Tomsk and Yeniseisk are 

 much greater in extent and thickness than has hitherto been 

 supposed. They contain, besides thin layers of coal, a rich 

 flora, samples of which have been secured by M. Klementz. 

 Leaves and needles of Acer, Betula, Pinus Lopatini, Segusia, 

 Sternbergi, Glyphostrobus, Magnolia, Ulmtis, Populus, and so 

 on, are found in great quantities, and it seems probable that 

 the Miocene flora of Siberia will prove as abundant and as 

 suggestive of changes of climate as that of Switzerland. 



An interesting and successful experiment in technical educa- 

 tion is described in a resolution of the Indian Education Depart- 

 ment, granting an increase of over 16,000 rupees in expenditure 

 on schools in Sind. Appended to the resolution is an extract 

 from a letter of Mr. Jacob, Inspector of Schools, in which he 

 gives some details of the practical system of technical education 

 which has been instituted, in the Naushahro schools by Khan 

 Bahadur Kadirdad Khan. The industries taught embrace Sind 

 embroidery, tailoring, joining, and cabinet work, smith's work 

 in iron and brass, electro-plating, mason's work, pottery, &c., 

 and the attendance at all the classes is continually increasing. 

 The boys in the workshops are divided into " gangs," each headed 

 by a senior boy who has displayed exceptional skill. The 

 schools are in close touch with the market ; and, as orders 

 come in, they are distributed among the gangs, and the profits 

 of the work are divided among the members of the gang 

 in proportions fixed by the teacher, and regulated by the degree 

 of skill possessed by each individual. The industrial school for 

 girls is most popular, and suggests new possibilities in the 

 extension of female education ; for it is found that the oppor- 

 tunity of earning money keeps the girls at school up to a later 

 age than has hitherto been usual. Mr. Jacob says that the 

 schools have created an extraordinary interest among the 

 industrial classes, both Mahomedan and Hindu. 



In a paper on the aborigines of Australia, printed in the 

 current number of the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal 

 Society of New South Wales, Mr. W. T. Wyndham speaks of 

 the skill with which the natives use stone implements. '"They 

 turn out work," he says, " that you would hardly believe possible 

 with such rough implements. They show great ingenuity, par- 

 ticularly in making their harpoon heads for spearing dugongand 

 fish ; instead of shaving the wood up and down with the grain as 

 a European workman would do, they turn the piece of wood for 

 a spear-head round and round, and chip it off across the grain, 

 working it as wooden boxes are turned on a lathe. I have often 

 sat and watched them doing this." 



