234 



NATURE 



[July 3, 1890 



adds, " Crockery was heard to shake, and some of it was broken. 

 Those who had retired to bed felt their houses and beds shaking, 

 and rushed into the street. . . Those who were abroad in the street 

 had to lay hold of something to keep them from falling." 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co. have nearly ready for pub- 

 lication two works of great interest to students of ornithology, 

 both of American origin. The first is a treatise on the " Myology 

 of the Raven," intended as an introduction to the study of the 

 muscular system in birds, by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, The second is a revised re-issue, in one 

 volume of convenient size, of the very valuable monographs on 

 field ornithology and on general ornithology which were prefixed 

 to Dr. Elliott Coues's monumental "Key to North American 

 Birds." Part I., on field ornithology, contains the necessary in- 

 structions for the observation and collection of birds in the field, 

 and for the preparation and preservation of specimens for scien- 

 tific study. Part II. is a technical treatise on the classification, 

 the zoological characters, and the anatomical structure of the 

 class of Birds, in which the examples cited in illustration of the 

 principles of ornithology have for the most part been re-drawn 

 by the author from British instead of American birds. 



Messrs. D. Marples and Co., Liverpool, have issued the 

 presidential address delivered by the Rev. Henry H. Higgins 

 at the meeting of the Museums Association, lately held at Liver- 

 pool. In the course of the address he gives an interesting 

 account of the principal kinds of fittings and apparatus used in 

 the Liverpool Museum. 



Messrs. Mawson, Swan, and Morgan propose to issue a 

 lithographed facsimile of an old manuscript volume of apothe- 

 caries' lore and household recipes, which was discovered some 

 years ago amongst the papers belonging to the old firm of Gilpin 

 and Company, chemists, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle. Careful 

 examination, in which some of the curators of the British 

 Museum have assisted, shows that the manuscript dates from 

 about the time of Queen Elizabeth, additions having been 

 made from time to time, in various handwritings, up to the 

 middle of last century. 



Under the auspices of the Royal Dublin Society, and partially 

 aided by the Government, a scientific investigation of Irish fish- 

 ing grounds is now being carried on upon the south-west and 

 west coasts of Ireland. The Rev. W. Spotswood Green, 

 Her Majesty's Inspector of Fisheries, Dublin, and Prof. A. C. 

 Haddon, of Dublin, organized the expedition, which is expected 

 to last four or five months. The screw steamer Fingal, of 

 Glasgow, 160 tons register, chartered for the cruise, left Queens- 

 town on May 7, having on board Mr. Green, Prof. Prince, Mr. 

 T. H. Poole, of Cork, special surveyor to the expedition, 

 and a crew of seamen experienced in trawl, net, and line fishing. 

 Prof. Prince, who has conducted elaborate investigations upon 

 the embryology of food-fishes at St. Andrews, and later on, 

 Mr. E. W. L. Holt, also of St. Andrews Marine Laboratory, 

 superintended the zoological department until Prof. Haddon was 

 able to join the steamer. Dr. R. Scharff, of the Science and 

 Art Museum, Dublin, and other gentlemen have temporarily 

 assisted on board. The Fingal has been specially fitted up for 

 the work. Several beam trawls (including patent forms), a quantity 

 of mackerel nets, thirteen miles of long lines, large tow-nets 

 (after Prof. Mcintosh's pattern), microscopes ana instruments for 

 zoological and physical research, are included among the appli- 

 ances. The coast from Cape Clear to Killybegs Bay (Donegal) has 

 already been traversed, and about thirty stations have been 

 tested and results of value obtained. In the open sea and in 

 inshore waters the eggs and larval stages of mackerel, ling, 

 gurnard, haddock, turbot, witch, and other species of food-fishes 

 have been obtained, and a great variety of invertebrates, includ- 

 ing some rare echinoderms, annelids, molluscs, &c., have been 

 NO. 1079, VOL. 42] 



brought up in the dredge and trawl, the greatest depth tested up 

 to this time being about 100 fathoms. The estuary of the 

 Kenmare river. Dingle Bay, Smerwick, Birterburg, and 

 Roundstone Bays, and the harbour of Clifden, proved to be 

 very rich in invertebrate forms, specimens of Synapta inhwrens, 

 being abundant, while Bonellia, Priapulus, and many rare 

 molluscs, Lyonsia, Philine, and various nudibranchs were 

 procured. Copepods, larval crustaceans, medusa?, echinoderms, 

 and ascidians occurred in such quantities as to frequently cause 

 great inconvenience. A fine example of Orthagoriscus mola, 

 nearly 9 feet in dorso-ventral measurement, was shot by Mr. 

 Green and secured, and the rare Pleuronectid, Arnoglossus 

 grohmanii, was obtained in Clifden Harbour, the second speci- 

 men captured in British seas. Deep-sea dredgings will be taken, jtj 

 and it is expected that the reports, to be presented at the end of V 

 the cruise to the Royal Dublin Society, to the Irish Fishery 

 Department, and the Government, will be of unusual scientific 

 interest. 



Some valuable notes on the progress of the coloured people 

 of Maryland since the American civil war have been printed in 

 the series of "Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical 

 and Political Science." The author is Dr. J. R. Brackett. He 

 takes a more favourable view of the subject than is adopted by 

 many American observers, and deprecates the idea of good 

 citizens allowing "the coloured people to be condemned before the 

 testimony is all in, at a fair, unbiassed trial." There are now a 

 good many schools for coloured children, and conventions of 

 coloured teachers are held. The most discouraging fact in 

 connection with the progress that has been made is that every- 

 thing has been gained by the energy of a few leaders. The 

 coloured people, according to one of themselves, are " too 

 spasmodic" ; they are "too prone to grow tired in well doing." 



The Town Gardening Committee of the Manchester Field 

 Naturalists' Society, to which we lately alluded, has been 

 vigorously prosecuting its work. The esplanade in front of the 

 Manchester Infirmary and Albert Square, in which the Town 

 Hall stands, are now decorated with seventy- five beautiful 

 specimens of holly and aucuba, whose bright green leaves show 

 up with good effect against the darkened stone of the neigh- 

 bouring buildings. The plants have been placed in substantial 

 but movable boxes 3 feet square and 4^ feet in height. The 

 Parks Committee of the Manchester Corporation, of which 

 Mr. Chesters-Thompson is chairman, has shown a laudable 

 anxiety to carry out the plans suggested, and has contributed 

 the greater part of the ;^5oo already spent by the two com- 

 mittees on plants. It is hoped next year to carry on tree- 

 planting on a large scale in the open spaces and streets of 

 Manchester, and with a view to ensuring success under the ex- 

 tremely unfavourable atmospheric conditions peculiar to the city, 

 the Town Gardening Committee is occupied in collecting all 

 information relating to the subject, and will shortly issue a -' 

 pamphlet of recommendations to those actually engaged in the 

 work. Dr. Bailey, of Owens College, will contribute an essay 

 on the effect of noxious gases on plants, and Dr. Poisson, of the 

 ! Museum in Paris, will send a detailed account of the progress 

 I and experience gained in tree-planting in French towns. 

 i Several of our most distinguished botanists have also consented 

 j to act as corresponding members of the committee. It is prob- 

 able that the movement will spread rapidly over the north of 

 England, as the committee has already received official and 

 unofficial requests for information about the work from Liver- 

 pool, Carlisle, Leek, and many other towns. The honorary 

 secretary, Mr. C. J. Oglesby (16 Kennedy Street, Albert 

 Square, Manchester), will be glad to receive additional in- 

 formation from anyone who may have had experience in the 

 cultivation of trees and plants in manufacturing towns. 



