December 14, 1899] 



NATURE 



157 



We have recently received the annual report for 1898-99 

 «.)f the Bacteriologist of the Government of India. The report 

 deals chiefly with experiments on Rinderpest carried on in 

 the laboratory at Muktesar, a preliminary note of which appears. 

 The methods of protective inoculation that are used in South 

 Africa are not convenient for a country like India ; Koch's 

 method of using bile from an animal just killed, requiring the 

 slaughter of mai ' ^;ii>nals, is contrary to the religious suscepti- 

 ilities of the people. The disease, which has been in India for 

 centuries, seems to be of an endemic character, and not liable 

 to spread with the same alarming rapidity as it does in South 

 Africa, so it does not seem all -important to produce a very last- 

 ing immunity to check the disease in any particular locality. 

 Since the disease will probably have been going on for some 

 time in a place before measures can be adopted, a rapidly 

 immunising agent is desirable. The serum method seemed to 

 be the most fitted to the purpose, and it is this that is being 

 tried. It is a great loss that the laboratory at Muktesar, the 

 only Government laboratory anything like properly equipped, 

 has recently been burnt down, but we trust no time will be lost 

 in rebuilding it ; India at the present time can ill-afford to do 

 without laboratories. 



Whether ants can hear is a question which has for some 

 time been engaging the attention of Mr. Weld, of the Iowa 

 University, who has published an account of some of his experi- 

 ments, and the conclusions he draws from the same, in Science 

 of November 24. He states that for many years it has been 

 the accepted opinion amongst naturalists that these insects are 

 not endowed with an acoustic sense, at least within the 

 range of sounds perceptible to the human ear. This opinion 

 is based upon the failure of experiments to show thtt 

 even the loudest and shrillest noi.ses produce the slightest 

 effects on ants subjected to their influence. This, how- 

 ever, is not the result of Mr. Weld's experiments upon 

 several American species of these insects. In one case an 

 ■ant confined in a test-tube was brought near a milled disc 

 rotating in the air. At each sound from this apparatus the ant 

 showed unmistakable signs of agitation, quickly moving its head 

 and antenna;. Again, when shrill sounds were produced close 

 to a colony protected under glass, the ants instantly showed by 

 their rapid movements signs of excitement and alarm. This 

 leads the experimenter to conclude that at least some (and 

 possibly only American) species of ants are capable of perceiving 

 vibrations, conducted through the air or other media, which 

 are audible as sound to the human ear. He is, however, careful 

 to add that this does not necessarily demonstrate that they hear 

 in the strict sense of the word, but merely that they are 

 capable of perceiving ordinary sound vibrations. 



In the course of an article on the late Mr. P. H. Gosse, 

 published in the March number of \.\\t Journal of the Jamaica 

 Instiltite, Mr. Duerden has some interesting observations on 

 recent changes in the fauna of that island. He first of all 

 states that in spite of its being less abundant around country 

 residences, the Indian niungoose appears to be as common as 

 ever in the island, over 1400 head having been trapped on two 

 estates in eight weeks. His next subject is ticks, which have 

 become a terrible plague in certain districts. Although they 

 always existed, originally there appears to have been but one 

 species in the island, but many others have been introduced on 

 foreign cattle and sheep. A few years ago a virulent disease 

 broke out in the cattle, which was at first diagnosed as being 

 allied to the well-known " Texas fever." Subsequently the 

 characteristic symptons of that disease were found to be 

 absent, as were the well-known parasitic organisms by which it 

 is accompanied ; but there still seems no doubt that the bovine 

 NO. 1572, VOL. 61] 



epidemic is in some way connected with the presence of 

 myriads of introduced ticks."^ 



In a second communication to the same journal, Mr. Duerden 

 gives the results of the attempts to improve the sea-fisheries of 

 Jamaica. Unfortunately these attempts have not met with the 

 success that was hoped for. The two chief reasons for the 

 failure — and they are amply sufficient — are, firstly, the amount 

 of coral on the sea-bottom, which renders trawling imprac- 

 ticable ; and, secondly, a general scarcity of fish, especially 

 those of the valuable flat-fish group [Pleuronectidae) On one 

 place where trawling is practicable, it was considered a remark- 

 able feat that a dozen small soles were taken in a day. There 

 are no shoals of fish corresponding to those of the herring, 

 mackerel, and cod of other seas ; so that the whole outlook is 

 gloomy in the extreme. 



The American Naturalist for November contains the fifth 

 instalment of Messrs. Cowstock and Needham's important con- 

 tributions to the study of the structure of the wings of insects, for 

 the details of which we must refer our readers to the memoir 

 itself. 



Messrs. Friedlander and Son, Berlin, have just issued a 

 catalogue (No. 439) containing classified lists of books and 

 papers on crystallography. 



Messrs. Dawbarn and Ward have published the third 

 edition of Dr. P. IT. Emerson's " Naturalistic Photography." 

 The first part is concerned with the aesthetic side of photo- 

 graphy, but in the second part technique and practice are 

 treated, and from it both amateur and professional photographers 

 may derive sound philosophy and serviceable hints. 



In the part just received (1899, ite Hiilfte) of the Sitztings- 

 berichte of the Niederrheinische Gesellschaft fiir Natur und Heil- 

 kunde zu Bonn, the most important papers are by Dr. Max 

 Koernicke on the spiral thickening bands in the conducting 

 tubes of plants ; and by Prof. W. Voigt on artificial regener- 

 ation in Planaria. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Rhesus Monkey {^ Mac acus rhesus, 9 ) from 

 India, presented by Mr. F. G. Stenning ; a Lesser White-nosed 

 Monkey (Cercopithecus pelaurista) from West Africa, presented 

 by Mr. R. Caton Woodville ; two Hobbys (Falco subbuteo), 

 captured in the Indian Ocean, presented by Mr. J. H. Ingram ; 

 a Fieldfare ( Turdus pilaris). British, presented by Mr. Herbert 

 Goodchild ; a Delaland's Gecko ( Tarentola delalandii) from 

 Teneriffe, presented by Mr. J. Chappell ; a Mozambique 

 Monkey {Cercopithecus pygerythrus) from East Africa, a Bee- 

 eater (Merops apias'er). a Partridge (Perdix cinerea), European ; 

 two Brown's Parrakeets ( Platycercus browni) from North 



Australia, a Tortoise {Testudo nigrita) from the Galapagos 



Islands, three Blanding's Terrapins (Emys blandingi) from 

 North America, denosi'ed ; a Yellow-footed Squirrel (Sciurus 

 ludovicianus) from Texas, a Tufted Duck {Fuligula crista/a), 

 European ; two Common Scoters (CEJe/nia nigra), British, 

 purchased. 



0[/R ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 Orbit of Fifth Satellite of Jupiter.— Prof. E. E. 

 Barnard has had the fifth satellite of Jupiter under close obser- 

 vation for some considerable time during the oppositions of 

 1898 and 1899. Although the increasing southerly declination 

 and the bad season in which the oppositions now occur make 

 the satellite a difficult object, good measures have been secured 

 on several dates. Tisserand having drawn attention to the fact 

 that the measures previously given provided evidence of the 

 eccentricity of the satellite's orbit {Comptes rendus, vol. cxix.. 



