;98 



NATURE 



[October i6, 1890 



The greater part of the new number of the Mineralogical 

 Magazine consists of a most careful and interesting paper, by 

 Mr. L. Fletcher, on the Mexican meteorites, with especial 

 regard to the supposed occurrence of wide-spread meteoritic 

 showers. The number includes also the following papers, all of 

 which are short : — A visit to the calcite quarry in Iceland, by J. 

 L. Hoskyns-Abrahall ; sanguinite, a new mineral, and Kren- 

 nerite, by H._^A. Miers ; notes on Bowenite, or pseudo-jade 

 from Afghanistan, by Major-General C. A. McMahon ; on the 

 relations between the gliding planes and the solution planes of 

 augite, by Prof, J. W. Tudd. 



It is reported from India that Mr. John Eliott, Meteorological 

 Reporter to the Government, starts this month on tour, and will 

 first visit Quetta and then go down the Indus to Kurrachee and 

 Bombay, and finally make his way to Calcutta. 



We learn from La Nature that on September 21 Marseilles 

 was visited by a severe thunderstorm accompanied by torrential 

 rain and hail. The storm began about 6 a.m., and lasted 

 2 J hours. Everything that was in front of the shops was carried 

 away, and the port was filled with debris of all kinds. Many of 

 the hailstones were of the size of walnuts and even of fowl's 

 eggs ; several places were struck by lightning, and many animals 

 were drowned. Such atmospheric disturbances are said to be 

 very rare at Marseilles. 



The Agricultural Department of Bohemia has published, in a 

 quarto volume of 138 pages, the results of the rainfall observa- 

 tions made in that country during the year 1889, in continuation 

 of the work formerly undertaken by the Hydrographic Com- 

 mittee, under the direction of Dr. Studnicka. The stations now 

 number 707 ; the rainfall is measured at 6 a.m. daily, and the 

 amount set down to the previous day. For a large number of 

 stations the daily rainfall is entered in the tables. The yearly 

 results are shown upon a map, by means of reference numbers to 

 the tables and curves for each loo mm., and the various water- 

 sheds are also shown by red outlines. The tables show the 

 number of wet days, and the maximum daily falls at each 

 station. This rainfall service is now one of the most complete 

 in Europe, 



The Annual Report of the Director of the Royal Alfred 

 Observatory, Mauritius, for the year 1888 shows that the tem- 

 perature of the air was o°'5 below the average of the last fourteen 

 years, and below the average in every month except August and 

 November, The greatest rainfall in one day was 4*5 inches, on 

 March 19, on which day i'3 inch fell in fifty minutes. The 

 island has not been visited by a hurricane since March 21, 1879, 

 but the Observatory continues its useful work of examining the 

 logs of ships traversing the Indian Ocean, and synoptic charts 

 have been prepared for eighteen days on which tropical cyclones 

 were experienced. The upper clouds, when visible, generally 

 travelled from the westward. The number of unusual sky glows 

 was less than in 1887, but were observed in all months except 

 September, October and December. There seems to be some 

 connection between mortality from fever and rainfall ; the 

 maximum mortality occurs about two months after the maximum 

 rainfall, and the minimum mortality about two months after the 

 minimum rainfall. The report contains monthly rainfall values 

 for eight stations, and results of the meteorological observations 

 at Seychelles and Rodrigues. 



Four interesting phenological maps of Finland appear in the 

 Meteorologische Zeitschrift for September. In these. Dr. Ihne 

 shows the date of flowering of Ribes riibrum, Prunus padus, 

 Syringa vulgaris, and Sorbus Aucuparia in different parts of 

 the country, by a series of zones, embracing each five days. Ribes 

 and Prunus begin to flower earlier than the two others, and, 

 accordingly, the zone for a given date is further north in the 

 case of the former ; their maps also present more zones. The 

 isophanes (or lines of the same due of flowering), bordering the 

 NO. 1094, VOL, 42] 



zones, are approximately parallel to the parallels of latitude 

 The regions from June 9 to 20 have more regular boundari^ 

 than those from May 26 to June 4, more equable weather havir. 

 then set in. The presence of ice, and its cooling effect on wale, 

 (even after melting), and so on wind, delays the time of flower 

 ing. Thus it is that islands and the land north-west of Lake- 

 Ladoga, &c., show retardation. The unequal breadth of the 

 zones is remarkable ; Dr. Ihne supposes the cause to lie in an 

 irregular progression of the wave of heat, due to the arrangement 

 of land and water. 



A REPORT from Nicaragua states that an earthquake occurred 

 at Granada on September 30. No damage was done, nor did 

 any volcanic eruption of the Mombacho take place. 



A GIGANTIC pendulum has been suspended from the centre of 

 the second platform of the Eiff"el Tower. It consists of a bronze 

 wire, one hundred and fifteen metres long, with a steel globe 

 weighing ninety kilogrammes at the end. The object is to 

 demonstrate visibly the motion of the earth. 



In the course of archaeological explorations lately carried on 

 in the Crimea, Prof Vasselovski found painted human bones in 

 two graves — six skeletons in one grave, and one in another. 

 Prof. Grempler, of Breslau, is of opinion that these graves 

 belonged to the original inhabitants of the Crimea, the Cim- 

 merians of Herodotus. They laid their dead on elevated spots, 

 so that the birds might consume the flesh. When quite bleached, 

 the skeletons were painted with some mineral pigment. Several 

 graves containing such painted skeletons have been found in 

 Central Asia. Only three had been previously found in the^, ij 

 Crimea. I 



We learn from the Botanical Gazette that the Cornell Uni- 

 versity Experiment Station is making a large and important 

 collection of cultivated plants ; collectors being sent to leading 

 nurseries, and botanists employed in many parts of the country 

 to collect the cultivated plants. 



The rich algological herbarium collected by the late Prof. 

 F^Hauck, of Trieste, has been purchased by Mme. Weber 

 van der Bosse, of Amsterdam. 



The Victorian Naturalist learns from Mr. Tisdall that the 

 English foxglove has established itself on the slopes of the 

 Stringer's Creek Valley, near Walhalla. Last season in some 

 parts the banks were purple with them. 



Nautilus shells are being picked up by fortunate hunters at 

 Portland, Victoria, The Portland Guardian says the search 

 after the shells is very keen, and that before daylight numbers 

 of enthusiasts visit the beaches ready to prosecute their searches 

 as soon as the morning breaks. 



The Museum Committee of the Leicester Town Council, in 

 their twelfth Report, just issued, are able to give a most satis- 

 factory account of the institution under their charge. The , 

 building of the Town Museum has lately undergone extensive 

 repairs, and many important additions have been made to the ' 

 various departments. We may note that a very ingenious 

 method for the exhibition of coins is in use. The pulling of a 

 lever rotates a frame — containing cards in which the coins are 

 inserted — in such a manner that the obverse and reverse, with a 

 full description of each coin, are shown at the will of the 

 observer. This method has been devised by Mr. Montagu 

 Browne, the Curator. 



A VALUABLE paper, by Mr. E. Wilson, on fossil types in the 

 Bristol Museum, has been reprinted from the Geological Magazine 

 for August and September 1890. The Bristol Museum, it 

 seems, contains 186 distinct fossil forms ; and many of them 

 " posses^ for the student of British palaeontology a very high 

 interest, not only on account of the remarkable nature of the 

 fossils themselves, but also from the fact of their having been 

 described by some of the most distinguished of palaeontologists." 



