402 



NA TURE 



[August 21, 1890 



Icindred tribes of Central Australia, by Mr. A. W. Howitt. 

 There are also papers on characteristic survivals of the Celts in 

 Hampshire, by Mr. T. W. Shore ; skulls dredged from the 

 Thames in the neighbourhood of Kew, by Dr. J. G. Garson ; 

 and a new spirometer, by Mr. W. F. Stanley. In the paper on 

 Celtic survivals in Hampshire, Mr. Shore refers to the feeling 

 with which the May-day sunrise was regarded by the ancient 

 Celts. "This May-day sunrise," he says, "was certainly rever- 

 enced in mediaeval Christian time as well as in pagan Celtic 

 time, for the line of about 20° north of east is the line of orien- 

 tation of a large number of the oldest churches in Hampshire, 

 and of many in other counties. It is a common orientation 

 among the oldest churches of Hampshire, in which county there 

 are as many as seventy examples of it. I cannot explain this 

 on any other ground than the survival of a reverence for the 

 May-day sunrise from Celtic pagan time to Saxon Christian time, 

 and under a modification to a later date. It appears to me that, 

 as there is evidence of the survival of part of the Celtic people, 

 it is not surprising to find that traces of their May-day customs 

 have survived also. It is of course possible that in this common 

 line of orientation of many old churches we may see all that 

 remains of one of the customs of the old British Christianity 

 which existed before the coming of the Saxons." 



According to the Journal de la Chambre de Commerce de 

 Constantinople, quoted by the Board of Trade Journal, the silk 

 section of the Agricultural Society of Moscow has offered a prize 

 of 500 roubles for the best work on the anatomy and embryology 

 -of the silkworm. Works on this question must be sent not 

 later than January I, 1892. 



The Rio Negro Salt Company seems to have had an interest- 

 ing stall at the Rural Exhibition recently held at Palermo, near 

 Buenos Ayres city. The Buenos Ayres Standard, in ^ article 

 quoted by the Board of Trade Journal, thus calls attention to 

 the subject : — " Here, in an unpretending but exhaustive 

 manner, are displayed the products of those vast salinas or 

 salt lakes which lie some few miles north of the town of Pata- 

 gones, and which this company has recently commenced to 

 work. There are large blocks composed of big crystals taken 

 in the rough from the salinas ; barrels of natural brine ; com- 

 pressed cakes for cattle ; coarse salt for hides and meat curing ; 

 ground salt for kitchen use ; and refined salt, dazzling as snow, 

 and in every way equal to the English bottled salt, for use at the 

 domestic table ; in short, salt in every form that can be desired 

 either for practical wants or the dainty demands of luxury. 

 Pamphlets are distributed containing analyses by eminent men 

 of science, which demonstrate the excellence and purity of its 

 quality, and its adaptability for all known purposes. As regards 

 quantity, we were informed that a calculation had been made 

 that in a given year it would be possible to take from the Rio 

 Negro lakes, occupying an extension of about nine square 

 leagues, upwards of two millions of tons, and that, in the 

 ensuing season an equal quantity of salt would be found, owing 

 to the fact that every winter the lakes became filled with a brine 

 of a density of from 25° to 32^ which in due time becomes a 

 solid cake of salt." 



A Zeitschrift fiir Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinncs- 

 organe {i.e. organs of sense), has been recently started in 

 Germany (April), under the editorship of Herren Ebbinghaus 

 and Konig, the former of whom is known for some remarkable 

 researches on the memory, and the latter for his studies in 

 physiological optics. Among the contributors are Herren 

 Aubert, Exner, Helmholtz, Hering, and other eminent men 

 of science. The following are some of the subjects that have 

 been dealt with : disturbance of the perception of very small 

 differences of brightness by the proper light of the retina : 

 simultaneous contrast ; disappearance of after-images in eye- 



No. ic86, VOL. 42] 



movements ; memory of regularly successive and equal sound- 

 impressions. 



In the Victorian Naturalist for June, Mr. G. Lyell, Jun., of 

 South Melbourne, notes that while walking along the edge of a 

 mountain stream in Gippsland last January he observed a 

 peculiar habit of the Victorian butterfly, Papilio macleayanus. 

 One of these butterflies was seen to alight close to the water, 

 into which it backed till the whole of the body and the lower 

 part of the hind wings were submerged, the two forelegs alone 

 retaining their hold of the dry land. After remaining in this 

 position for something like half a minute it flew away, apparently 

 refreshed. " During the morning," says Mr. Lyell, " I noticed 

 quite a number doing the same thing. In one instance no less 

 than four were to be seen within a space of not more than three 

 yards, and to make sure that I was not deceived I captured 

 several as they rose from the water, and found in each case the 

 body and lower edge of the hind wings quite wet. While in the 

 water the fluttering of the wings, so noticeable at other times, 

 was suspended, and so intent were the butterflies in the enjoy- 

 ment of their cold bath that they would hardly move, even when 

 actually touched by the net. Apparently the heat of the weather 

 drove them down to the water, as immediately they emerged 

 they flew up again to the hill-sides. I have often noticed butter- 

 flies of the Nymphalidcc family settling near the pools, and 

 apparently imbibing the moisture from the damp sand round the 

 edges, but never before have I seen butterflies enter the water. 

 Possibly it may be a peculiar habit of this particular species or 

 genus. Numbers of the white butterfly, Pieris harpalyce, were 

 flying about at the same time, but I noticed none alight near the 

 water." 



Some interesting observations on the growth of vegetation in 

 the numerous lakes to the east of the Baltic have been lately 

 made by Herr Klinge {Englers Bot. Jahrb.). This growth 

 depends on the mean direction of the wind during the period of 

 vegetation. As south-west winds prevail in that region, the 

 south-west border of a lake is protected, and the grassy and 

 mossy growth naturally begins there, and spreads by degrees 

 round the north and south ends. The north-east bank, on 

 which break the waves from the south-west, shows hardly any 

 trace of vegetation. It is generally steep, and tends to 

 retire under the action of the waves. Something similar is met 

 with in the Baltic : shore-meadows occur in the islands only 

 on the east, wind-protected coasts. Further, rivers are displaced 

 in the direction of the prevailing winds, eating away their 

 eastern tanks, while the western grow. The dead arms of 

 the lower Embach are, with few exceptions, on the south side 

 of the river, which, under the action of the wind, has been 

 displaced northwards, i.e. (with reference to its direction) to the 

 left, and so, contrary to Baer's law of river-courses. Indeed, the 

 author rejects this law, and holds the principle of displacement 

 according to prevailing winds to be universal. It is noteworthy 

 that this relation has of late been pointed out by several 

 Continental observers independently. Herr Klinge further finds 

 that in the region east of the Baltic, hygrophilous (or moisture- 

 loving) plants grow on the south-west side of the hills, and 

 xerophilous plants on the north-east side. 



The Marjeien Lake, which lies in Upper Valais, lately 

 burst the glacier dam which lay across the valley. Ac- 

 cording to the Swiss Vaterland, a peasant who was close 

 to the lake at the time declares the scene was most terrible 

 and indescribable. When the ice dam gave way, the vast 

 mass of water came tumbling out, sweeping away the huge 

 fragments of the glacier, with the rocks upon it, tumbling into 

 the crevasses, bursting them up in turn, and rising over tl'e 

 glacier in gigantic waves, again to carry all before it. Just at 

 the end of the glacier the valley had narrowed into a little defile. 



