304 



NA TURE 



[January 25, 1900 



measures of New South Wales, indicating a totally new 

 structural type. Fern-like in its general characters, this plant 

 presents the peculiarity of developing secondary wood in its 

 stem, so that we have the association of fern-foliage with a stem 

 characteristic of higher plant-groups. It is suggested that it 

 may prove to be allied to the so-called Cycado-filices of Dr. 

 Potonie — organisms that appear to be on the border-line between 

 the now well-differentiated groups of Cycads and Ferns. 



In the same journal, Mr. E. R. Waite records the occurrence, 

 on the poast of New South Wales, of an example of the rare 

 Ribbon-fish, or Oar-fish, of the genus Regalecus. Like all 

 other known specimens, the present example was imperfect, and 

 belonged to the female sex. As is well known, there is great 

 variation in the relative length and breadth of the body, as 

 well as in the number of the fin-rays, of the different specimens 

 of Regalecus hitherto obtained ; but Mr. Waite seems favour- 

 ably inclined to the view that such differences are only of 

 individual value. 



In the Atti dei Lined, viii. (2), 11, Prof. Pletro Tacchini 

 gives statistics of the earthquake which occurred at Rome on 

 July 19 of last year, and Dr. G. Agamennone discusses the 

 Emilian earthquake of the night of March 4-5, 1898, the epi- 

 centre of which was situated in the Apennines. Dr. Pericle 

 Gamba contributes a brief account of the magnetic properties of 

 bricks, &c., that have been struck by lightning, and his obser- 

 vations are in conformity with the theory that the singular points 

 and zones ("punti distinti e zone distinte ") observed in rocks 

 and bricks are only produced in a powerful magnetic field, such 

 as is due to violent discharges of atmospheric electricity, and 

 that their magnetisation is independent of the earth's magnetic 

 field. These conclusions accord with the views of Dr. 

 Folgheraiter. 



Among the various properties of multi-dimensional space, the 

 analogues of the five regular polyhedra are of interest. In the 

 Vethdndelingen of the Amsterdam Academy, M. S. L. van Oss 

 discusses the "regular 600-cell," i.e. the form bounded by 600 

 tetrahedra, which can exist in space of four dimensions. The 

 paper, which deals also with the self-congruent displacements of 

 the form in question, is illustrated by fourteen plates, showing 

 the figures of the 600, the 120, and other regular forms in four- 

 dimensional space, so far as these can be made visible by their 

 projections on two mutually independent rectangular co-ordinate 

 planes. 



We have received an elaborate memoir, by Dr. Wilhelm His, 

 on protoplasmic studies of the ova of the salmon, published in 

 the Abhandl. Sdchsischen Gesellschaft, 1899, No. 3. 



As we learn from the Report of 1899, the Bristol Museum 

 has been enriched by a fine series of Neolithic implements and 

 weaports presented by Mr. J. E. Pritchard, by whom they were 

 collected in Somerset and the adjacent counties. The same 

 institution has likewise received an unusually fine skeleton of an 

 Ichthyosaurus. 



FrOjM Rome we have received a copy of Fox urbis, a periodical 

 in Latin, mainly devoted to literature and fine arts, and pub- 

 lished fortnightly. The present number is illustrated by views 

 of Orvieto Cathedral, and the contents, which border most nearly 

 on science, are short articles by R. Spina, on " Telepathy," 

 and by A. Costaggini, on artificial gems. 



The first part for the current year of the Proceedings of the 

 Washington Academy of Sciences consists of a synopsis of the 

 Mexican and Central American Umbelliferse, by Prof. J. M. 

 Coulter andi Mr. J. N. Rose, illustrated by several plates and 

 numerous text-figures. 



NO. 1578, VOL. 61 j 



The number of La Nuova Notarisia for January contains a 

 biographical sketch, by Prof. G. B. De Toni, of the late Count 

 Abbe F. Castracane, together with a complete list of his con- 

 tributions to botanical literature. This occupies five pages 

 of close print, and comprises upwards of one hundred and 

 twenty separate papers, of which by far the larger number 

 refer to the structure, reproduction, and mode of life of diatoms. 



From Dr. A. Fock, of Berlin, we have received a pamphlet 

 of 128 pages, entitled " Ueber die GrundJagen der exacten 

 Nalurforschung." It is a philosophical dissertation dealing with 

 the fundamental conceptions of number, magnitude, length, 

 time, mass, force and energy, the doctrine of causality, the 

 atomic theory, the ether, and so forth, and it gives us the 

 general impression of being well written and clearly expounded. 

 Messrs. Mayer and Miiller, of Berlin, are the publishers. 



A FOURTH edition of the " Lehrbuch der Botanik fur Hoch- 

 schulen," by Profs. Strasburger, Noll, Schenck and Schimper, 

 has just been published by the firm of Gustav Fischer, Jena. 



A "Liverpool Mathematical Society" has recently been 

 established. At a meeting held on January 12, at the University 

 College, Prof. Sircom read a paper on some hydrodynamicai 

 problems. 



A NEW and enlarged edition of the Rev. James Gall's " Easy 

 Guide to the Constellations" has just been published by Messrs. 

 Gall and Inglis. The book provides a simple means to enable 

 any one to become familiar with the constellations and the in- 

 dividual stars represented upon the thirty small maps. 



Messrs. Henry Holt and Co., New York, announce for 

 immediate publication Atkinson's "Lessons in Botany" and 

 Barnes' "Outlines of Plant Life." Both books are simplified 

 and abbreviated editions of earlier books by the same authors, 

 and are adapted to the needs of pupils in secondary schools. 



A classified list of separate papers from the various 

 publications of the Smithsonian Institution, at present avail- 

 able at a nominal price, has just been distributed by the 

 Institution. The papers will be supplied, by preference, to 

 persons engaged in original research in the branch of science 

 to which the work asked for pertains, to those engaged ii> 

 educational work, and to collaborators of the Institution. 



The preface of the thirty-fifth volume of the " Zoological 

 Record " contains the important announcement by the editor, 

 Dr. David Sharp, F.R.S., that "This volume includes the 

 literature of the Coelenterata for two years, and brings the 

 indexing of all the branches of zoological literature up to date." 

 The volume was published towards the close of last year, and 

 relates chiefly to the zoological literature of 1898, 



Mr. William Crow, of Stratford, has issued a "century 

 chart," designed to indicate that the nineteenth century does 

 not end until the completion of this year. The chart shows 

 100 years njarked upon a dial, the zero point being at the place 

 where the figure XII. usually occurs on the face of a timepiece. 

 The zero thus represents the dividing line l>etween the end of 

 one century and the beginning of the next, and a hand drawn 

 upon the chart to indicate the position of the present year is 

 shown to have to reach the zero again to complete the nineteeri 

 hundredth year. 



Among the other scientific books in preparation at the 

 Clarendon Press, the following are noteworthy : — "The Struc- 

 ture and Life-History of the Harlequin Fly," by Prof. L. C. 

 Miall, F.R.S., and Mr. A. R. Hammond; "Physical Aspects 

 of Soils," by Prof. R. Warington, F.R.S.; "A Catalogue of 

 Eastern Lepidoptera Heterocera in the Oxford University 

 Museum (Part II. Nocturna)," by Colonel C. Swinhce ; Goebel's 

 "Organography of Plants," translated by Prof. J. Bayley 



