October 9, 1890] 



NATURE 



573 



tray covered with lighted lamps fell to pieces, while being 

 carried ; a lamp was upset, and, although the burning 

 mass was heroically carried towards the exterior by the 

 Sub- Curator and a caretaker, the building, its valuable 

 contents, museums, and books, were for the most 

 part destroyed. Prof. Wright has been for some 

 months on a tour of inspection in Europe, seeking, 

 among other things, gifts of specimens and books. Truly, 

 our Canadian brethren do not deserve these unless 

 better able to take care of them than in the past. Prof. 

 Wright assures us that such will be the case, and, on his 

 behalf, we appeal to specialists and others who may be 

 possessed of duplicates, and to those who may be other- 

 wise willing, to help. The position is one which threatens 

 to injure seriously the educational prospects of a rapidly 

 advancing country to which we, at home, are much 

 beholden ; and it calls for combined action, by which 

 alone a loss such as that we deplore can be made good. 



NOTES. 



At a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of Austral- 

 asia, held at Melbourne on August 22, a letter from Sir Thomas 

 Elder was read, in which he offered to bear the entire cost of an 

 expedition to the unexplored regions of Australia. A report on 

 the question of Antarctic exploration was also submitted to the 

 meeting. In this report it was stated that public interest in the 

 subject had been revived by the announcement that Baron A. E. 

 Nordenskiold, after a conference with his friend, Baron Oscar 

 Dickson, had consented to take the command of an expedition 

 to the South Polar regions, on the condition that the Australian 

 colonies contributed a sum of ^^5000 towards the expenses. 

 Baron Dickson having offered to advance the other moiety, or 

 whatever more might be necessary. " The offers were cordially 

 accepted, and the Antarctic Committee felt itself justified in 

 making the necessary arrangements without delay for collecting 

 the amount to be contributed by the Australasian colonies. The 

 Council of the Society had passed resolutions recognizing a 

 national duty in the exploration of the Antarctic regions, es- 

 pecially that portion lying opposite to Australasia, pledging 

 itself to use its influence in promoting the enterprise, and giving 

 authority to head a subscription list in aid of the Swedish- 

 Australian Exploration Fund with a donation of ;^200 from the 

 Society's funds. It would appear from the hearty reception 

 accorded to the proposals of the Antarctic Committee that the 

 latter might rely upon the energetic co-operation of all the 

 scientific societies of Australasia, and thus be enabled to collect 

 the amount of the contribution promised towards defraying the 

 expenses of the combined Swedish and Australian Exploring 

 Expedition to the South Polar Regions." The report on being 

 put to the meeting was " received with acclamation." 



An expedition to Greenland will start from Denmark next 

 year, under the command of Lieutenant Ryder, to investigate 

 the east coast between lat. 66° and 73°. 



Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S., has severed his connection 

 with the Geological Survey of Irelan d, of which he has been 

 Director for nearly 21 years. The one- inch geological survey of 

 Ireland having been completed, the staff has been reduced. The 

 Dublin Daily Express, commenting on Prof. Hull's retirement, 

 says he takes with him "the best wishes of his colleagues, who 

 will retain a vivid recollection of the consideration, kin dness, 

 and sympathy which he ever manifested towards them." 



The India Store Department lately sent to the Royal Gardens, 

 Kew, specimens of oak- staves which had formed part of a beer- 

 barrel. The barrel was made in the early part of 1889, filled 

 with malt liquor in the autumn, and shipped with others as 

 Government stores in March 1890 to Calcutta. The contents 



NO. TO93, VOL. 42] 



were spoiled, and the authorities at Calcutta reported that some 

 casks were found to have been attacked by wire-worm or 

 borer. Were the casks unsound when shipped from this country, 

 or had they been attacked on board ship during the voyage out ? 

 The matter was submitted to Mr. W. F. H. Blandford, Lec- 

 turer on Entomology at the Indian Civil Engineering College, 

 Cooper's Hill ; and his report, which embodies the results of 

 much ingenious labour, is published in the new number of the 

 Keiv Bulletin. "Notwithstanding the somewhat scanty mate- 

 rial that was available," says the Bulletin, " Mr. Blandford has 

 very skilfully traced the cause of the injury, and probably also 

 identified the particular insect concerned. Further, he has 

 shown that the injury to the wood had occurred before it was 

 worked up into barrels, although, owing to the very minute 

 holes made by the insects, it was almost impossible to detect 

 their presence. " Other subjects dealt with in this number of the 

 Bulletin are : prickly pear in South Africa, Jarrah timber, treat- 

 ment of mildew on vines, cultural industries in West Africa, and 

 economic plants of Madagascar. 



Mr. Cecil Carus-Wilson writes to us that he has recently 

 invented a luminous crayon for the purpose of enabling lecturers 

 to draw on the blackboard when the room is darkened for the 

 use of the lantern. He hopes that the invention may prove of 

 value not only to lecturers who use a lantern, but also (in an- 

 other form) to those students who wish to take notes. 



Mr. Robert Swordy, of Dryburn Cottage, Durham, sends 

 us a letter which has been printed in the Durham County Ad- 

 vertiser, giving an account of a toad {Buf(f vulgaris) which he 

 recently saw crawling out of the Pond Wood at Aykleyheads. 

 The muscles of the toad's body were (as usual) arranged in such 

 a fashion that the back of the toad looked like minute nodules 

 of dark gravel embedded in a damp path below trees ; but 

 what seemed to Mr. Swordy most remarkable was that on the 

 top of this gravel-like arrangement of muscles there was spread 

 a mesh or network of very fine lichen, with oval-shaped leaves 

 of a lightish green colour, connected more or] less to each other 

 by a hair-like process of stems. This lichen spread irregularly 

 over the toad's back, and odd sprays of it were also to be seen 

 on the legs and upper surfaces of the feet. " Now," says the 

 writer, " had the toad been in its regular haunts under the trees 

 and shrubs, with this wonderful counterfeit of gravel and pro- 

 tective colouring, it would have been almost impossible to 

 discriminate its form from the dark gravel, lichens, moss, wood- 

 sorrel, and dead leaves of the place, and I doubt not that this 

 animal's unobtrusive attire would aid it materially in capturing 

 the insects necessary for its sustenance." Mr. Swordy encloses 

 photographs of the toad sitting on a section of lichen-coloured 

 gravel path, taken from near the spot where he found it. 



Messrs. Thos. J. Syer and Co. inform us that they have, 

 at 45 Wilson Street, Finsbury Square, London, a class-room 

 in which are taught, practically, various trades, such as car- 

 pentry, cabinet-work, wood-carving, &c. The winter session 

 is said to have been very successfully opened, and Mr. Syer, 

 who acts as principal, invites anyone who may be interested in 

 the subject to visit the room, and see the work in progress. 



A wORKi on art among the Dayaks of Borneo, by Alois 

 Raimund Hein, has been issued at Vienna. The publisher is 

 Alfred Holder. 



Mr. William P. Collins, scientific bookseller, has issued 

 a Catalogue (No. 24) of miscellaneous scientific books. 



The next meeting of the Royal Microscopical Society will be 

 held on Wednesday, the 15th inst., at 8 o'clock, when the fol- 

 lowing papers will be read :— Note on a new type of Foramini- 

 fer, by H. B. Brady ; new method of demonstrating intercellular 

 protoplasmic continuity, by P. C. Waite ; and, simple form of 

 warm stage for the microscope, by F. Dowdeswell. 



