March i, 1900J 



NA TURE 



423 



there with a velocity of about 4 km. per second. Diagrams of 

 great interest were obtained by means of the seismographs 

 erected in the cellar of the Collegio Romano at Rome. 



Much interest attaches to a short note, accompanied by a 

 plate, by Mr. D. le Souef, in the February number of the 

 Zoologist, on the mode in which the newly-born Kangaroo is 

 transferred to the maternal pouch and affixed to the nipple. 

 "When the young one is ready to be born," writes the author, 

 "the mother sits down on the ground, resting on the upper 

 portion of the base of her tail, and with that appendage resting 

 level on the ground in front of her ; she then holds her pouch 

 open with her two fore-paws, and, as the helpless mite is born, 

 it rests on the soft fur of the under side of the tail. The mother 

 immediately transfers it to her pouch with her lips only, and 

 evidently with great care attaches it to the nipple. The mouth 

 of the young one is apparently only a round hole, and it as yet 

 has no power of suction ; but the nipple is of a peculiar shape, 

 with the point hard, and the mother is thereby enabled to insert 

 it into the mouth of the young one. She then holds it in 

 position while she pours the milk into the nipple, which thereby 

 swells out and holds the young one on ; but if, after being once 

 firmly attached, it is pulled off, it cannot be replaced, even by 

 I he mother, for the end of the nipple now being flaccid instead 

 of hard cannot well be inserted into the mouth of the little 

 one." 



We have received from Messrs. G. H. Carpenter and W. 

 Kvans a reprint of their memoir published in the Proceedings of 

 the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, on the spring tails 

 (CoIIembola) and bristle-tails (Thysanura) of the Edinburgh 

 district ; a group of insects the study of which has hitherto 

 received somewhat scant attention. 



A PAPER by Prof. H. A. Kelly in the December number of 

 the Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, entitled " The 

 Recognition of the Poisonous Serpents of North America,'' 

 merits notice, if only for the sake of the beautiful photographs of 

 snakes' heads with which it is illustrated. In addition to these 

 life-like portraits, the author gives brief descriptions of some 

 of the leading features of the various species. 



To the January number of the American Naturalist Prof. H. 

 F. Osborn contributes an instructive paper on the intercentra 

 and hypapophyses in the cervical region of the backbone of 

 various groups of reptiles. In the same issue Mr. Ales 

 Hrdlicka publishes a plan for the best arrangement of large 

 scries of human bones intended for comparative study ; this 

 may be commended to the careful attention of museum curators. 



Last year, in an aviary in one of the wards at Caterham 

 Asylum, a wild rabbit turned a dove off its nest and sat on 

 two doves' eggs till they were hatched. A correspondent of 

 The Christian Globe (March i) states that this year the nurses 

 are trying another hatching operation. They have placed two 

 bantam's eggs in the same nest. The same rabbit has taken 

 to these eggs, and only leaves the eggs to take its food, re- 

 turning at once to the nest. The nest is six feet from the 

 ground ; the rabbit, in the presence of the correspondent, was 

 taken out of the nest and placed on the floor by the nurse, 

 but it very quickly climbed up again to the nest. 



The Transactions of the English Arboricultural Society, vol. 

 iv. part 2, contains several valuable papers on the pruning and 

 culture of trees, as also some interesting photographs. 



We have received a copy of the second edition of " Die 

 Moor- und Alpenpflanzen (vorzugsweise Eiszeitflora) des Alpen- 

 gartens Zcischen bei Merseburg, und ihre Cultur," compiled by 

 Dr. G. Dieck. The list occupies over 70 pages, and gives a 

 large amount of information respecting the habit and mode of 

 NO. 1583. VOL. 61] 



culture of a very great number ^i Alpine plants. Theyiare 

 offered for sale either singly or in assortments. 



Messrs. James Backhouse and Son, Ltd., of York, have 

 inaugurated a new department in their Nurseries, which may be 

 of great service to botanical lecturers and demonstrators, in 

 providing a supply of material especially for microscopic work. 

 They have issued an extensive priced cata ogue, comprising 

 objects in the Myxomycetes, Alga; (including diatoms), 

 Characere, Fungi, Hepaticoe, Musci, Pteridophyta (prothallia 

 and vegetative organs), Gymnosperms, and all the more im- 

 portant orders of Angiosperms. The department is under the 

 management of an experienced practical botanist. Dr. Arthur 

 H. Burtt, and seems likely to supply a long-felt want. 



Dr. Paul Topinard's volume on " Science and Faith " 

 was recently noticed in these columns (p. 270). We have now 

 received the French edition of the work, having for its title 

 " L'Anthropologie et La Science Sociale," and published by 

 MM. Masson and Co. Several sections are considerably larger 

 in the French than in the English edition, and the section oiv 

 social science is entirely different. The French title better 

 expresses the scope of the work than the English one. 



Prof. W. Johannsen, of Copenhagen, has issued, in German, 

 (Fischer, Jena) a pamphlet on the etherisation of plants, for 

 the information of practical nurserymen. He has devised an 

 apparatus for the exposure of growing plants to the action of 

 the vapour of ether, and states that, while killing the leaves 

 already on the plant, it promotes the rapid and luxuriant 

 development of the buds after removal from the ether-box. 

 The experiments were made chiefly on the lilac. 



The following lectures will be given at the Royal \'ictoria 

 Hall, Waterloo Road, S.E. , on Tuesday evenings during 

 March -.—March 6, Mr. A. Stanfield, "Money"; March 13, 

 Mr. S. A. F. White, "The Polarisation of Light"; March 20, 

 Prof. Frank Clowes, "Nature's Scavengers"; March 27, Mr. 

 Bennett H. Brough, " The World's Copper Mines." 



The fourth part of the sixth edition of Sir Michael Foster's 

 standard " Text-Book of Physiology" will be published imme- 

 diately by Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Ltd. In previous 

 editions this part has included Book HI., on the senses and 

 some special muscular mechanisms, and Book IV., on the tissues- 

 and mechanisms of reproduction. In the volume about to be 

 issued, only the senses are deal with ; and in the revision of 

 this part Sir Michael Foster has had the valuable a.ssistance of 

 Dr. W. H. R. Rivers, whose name appears upon the title-page. 

 Part V. of this work will consist of the subjects of Book IV 

 formerly included in Part iv. 



The ad litions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Pinche Monkey [Midas oedifus) fronv 

 Colombia, presented by Mrs. H. V. Holden ; a Marica Gazelle 

 (Gazella marica, <i ) Uom the Persian Gulf, presented by Mr. 

 B. T. Ffinch ; a Red-crested Cardinal [Paroaria cucullata) from 

 South America, presented by Miss Power ; a Jackal Buzzard (.5«/«<7 

 jacal) from Africa, presented by Mr. Douglas Mann ; a Nilotic 

 Crocodile {Crocodilus niloticus) from Africa, presented by Mr. 

 Rupert D'Oyly Carte ; an Indian Darter {Plotus melanogaster), 

 an Indian Hornbill (Anthracoceros malabaricus) from India,, 

 two Common Wolves [Canis lupus, 6 9 , white var.), a Four- 

 lined Snake {Coluber quatuorlmeatus), European ; a Serrated 

 l^xxz.'^vn {Chrysemys scripta), two Speckled Terrapins (C/f/w- 

 mys guttata), fifteen Mississippi Terrapins {Malacocleminys 

 geographica) from North America, four Black-headed Terrapitis 

 {Damonia reevesi unicolor) from China, deposited ; an Undu- 

 lated Grass Parrakeet {Melopstttacus undulatus) from Australia, 

 received in exchange. 



