486 



NA TURE 



[September ii, 1890 



gives descriptions of many plumages of birds of prey not pre- 

 viously recorded. The nestlings described have been preserved 

 for the Museum by Mr. K. H. Bennett, and include those of 

 the rarest of the Australian accipitres. The colours of the soft 

 parts have been most carefully noted, and are deemed in one 

 instance {Aquila morp/moiJes , p. 7) to be worthy of a duplicate 

 reproduction by Dr. Ramsay. 



The Rev. Dr. Norman has just returned from a dredgingex- 

 pedition in the Varanger Fiord and Sydvaranger. He has been 

 absent nine weeks, and has brought home extensive collections 

 in all branches of Marine Invertebrata. The fiords of Syd- 

 varanger were found to possess a rich fauna, with depths 

 descending to 120 fathoms. These fiords had never before been 

 scientifically investigated, though Baron de Guerne took a few 

 hauls of the dredge there in 1 88 1 when on board the French 

 vessel Coligny as a member of the Mission Scientifique en 

 T.aponie, and published a list of the Mollusca obtained. 



Dr. Ramsay has also compiled a catalogue of the Striges in 

 the Australian Museum, which appears to possess a good series 

 of every species known to inhabit Australia and the adjacent 

 islands, with the exception of Nhtox ocellata and Ninox rufa, the 

 latter being a good species in Dr. Ramsay's opinion, though 

 Mr. Sharpe considered it to be the young of N. connivens. It 

 is to be hoped that Dr. Ramsay will continue his useful cata- 

 logues of the specimens of birds in the Australian Museum. 



Dr. J. B. Steere has just published his preliminary descrip- 

 tions of new species discovered by the 'members of the expe- 

 dition to the Philippine Islands. It is to be hoped that a com- 

 plete memoir on this important exploration will be published 

 later on, as the diagnoses set forth in the little brochure just 

 issued are, in many cases, worse than useless. 



In the Times for September 9 we read the following note on 

 "How to keep salt dry" — "The Dutch Indian Government 

 offers a prize of 10,000 fl. for the best practical answer to the 

 question in what manner the salt which is sold in Dutch India 

 in small packets should be packed up so as to keep dry." 



We have received the general Guide to the Science and Art 

 Museum, Dublin, under the directorship of V. Ball, LL.D., 

 F. R. S. The Museum is divided into two parts. Part I., 

 which is in the old museum buildings, deals with natural history, 

 while Part II. treats of arts and industry, and is in the new 

 buildings. In this Museum there are short printed labels 

 attached to the specimens, and for the more important objects, 

 descriptive tables containing "greater detail than even an 

 ordinary hand-book could conveniently contain " are added. 

 In some cases small maps are attached, indicating the localities 

 where the objects were found. In this edition, which by the 

 way is the first issued, the several branches of the collections 

 are dealt with generally, and we are told that "hand-books will 

 be prepared later on for some of them," which will add greatly 

 to the interest of the objects concerned. 



The Observatory of Zi-ka-Wei, near Shanghai, has published 

 vol. XV. of its Bulletin Mensuel, for the year 1889. This Obser- 

 vatory is equipped with the best self-recording and other instru- 

 ments, and the volume in question contains, in addition to the 

 usual tables of hourly observations, diagrams of the mean 

 diurnal variations, and of the tracks of typhoons, as well as 

 comparisons of the monthly means of magnetical and meteoro- 

 logical observations for the year 1889, and those of the previous 

 17 years. An appeal was made to the missionaries of the 

 province of Kiang-nan to record thunderstorm observations, and 

 some interesting results are published for each month. These 

 storms occur most frequently between noon and midnight, and 

 generally proceed from west to east ; they mostly occur in July 

 NO. 1089, VOL. 42] 



and August ; there is also a second maximum in April ; they 

 most frequently occur with a falling barometer, and are generally 

 accompanied with rain, but very rarely with hail. The work 

 also contains interesting general remarks upon the depressions 

 and cyclones of the coast of China. 



The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, three numbers 

 of which we have received, contains some interesting papers on 

 various subjects. In No. I, Part 2 of vol. lix. there is a paper 

 by John Eliot on the occsional inversion of the temperature 

 relations between the hills and plains of Northern India. 

 Alfred Alcock, Surgeon-Naturalist to the Marine Survey, con- 

 tributes a paper on observations on the gestation of some sharks 

 and rays, made on board H.M. Indian Marine Survey steamer 

 Investigator, Commander Alfred Carpenter, R.N., while from 

 the same ship we have descriptions of seven additional 

 new Indian Amphipods by G. M. Giles, late Surgeon- 

 Naturalist to the Survey. Asutosh Mukhopadhyay contri- 

 butes three paper.«, as follows : — Note on Stokes's theorem 

 and hydrokinetic circulation ; on Clebsch's transformation of 

 the hydrokinetic equation ; and on a curve of aberrancy. 

 The supplement to No. i of this part consists of a catalogue 

 of the Insecta of the Oriental region and the order of Coleo- 

 ptera, family Carabidse, by E. T. Atkinson. The third 

 pamphlet contains the title-page, index, &c., to vol. Ivii. Part 2, 

 1888. 



The American Meteorological Journal for August contains 

 the conclusion of M. Faye's articles on Trombes and Tornadoes. 

 The author considers that the facts adduced show (i) that there 

 are no centripetal movements, either at the foot of trombes or 

 tornadoes, or toward the base of cyclones ; (2) that these are 

 descending whirls with vertical axes, originated in the upper 

 currents of the atmosphere, and follow the diiection of these 

 currents. The same journal contains the tornado prize essays. 

 The first prize has been awarded to Lieutenant J. P. Finley. 

 The following are some of the general results arrived at: — 

 Tornadoes generally accompany an area of low barometer. 

 Their progressive motion to the north-east arises from the fact 

 that as they always form in the south-east quadrant of an area 

 of low barometer, they must come within the influence of the 

 general drift of the atmosphere on that side of the low barometer 

 which is always to the north-east. A hailstorm is an incipient 

 tornado in the cloud-region of an area of low barometer. As 

 the area of low barometer progresses eastward, the region lying 

 on an average about 350 miles to the south and east of the centre 

 of the general storm, is the region within which tornadoes may 

 be expected. Tornadoes, with hardly an exception, occur in 

 the afternoon, just after the hottest part of the day ; the destruc- 

 tive power of the wind increases rapidly from the circumference 

 of the storm to its centre. The months of greatest frequency, as 

 determined from a period of over 200 years, are April to July ; 

 the average frequency of the storms does not appear to have 

 changed within that time. The shortest time occupied by the 

 tornado-cloud in passing a given point varies from an instant to 

 about twenty minutes, the average time being 74 seconds. The 

 second prize was awarded to Mr. A. McAdie. 



A new method of measuring the inductive power and con- 

 ductivity of dielectrics has been recently described by M. Curie 

 in the Annates de Chimie et de Physique ; it is based on the use 

 of an apparatus he calls the piezo- electric quartz. He has studied 

 with it those qualities in various crystalline dielectrics ; and he 

 enunciates a latu of superposition, which shows the independence 

 of the effects produced by different variations of electromotive 

 force. Quartz shows a difference of conductivity in the direction 

 of the optic axis (where it is strong), and at right angles (where 

 it is insensible) ; and this gives rise to striking phenomena. 

 Plates parallel to the axis, and with the extremities of the axis 



