March 22, 1900] 



NA TURE 



49 



\2) Near long. 80° E., is the co-tidal hour ix. ? 



(3) Near long. 135° E., is the tide chiefly solar? If so, is the 

 ■co-tidal (solar) hour xii. } 



(4) On the western coast of Graham Land, is the co-tidal 

 hour vi. ? 



Although it seems that no observations have been made 

 farther south than Kerguelen, South Georgia, and Cape Horn, 

 there are reasons for believing that the above questions can be 

 answered in the affirmative. If so, then certain logical connec- 

 tions between the tides in this region and elsewhere would be 

 fairly well established. At any rate, such observations would 

 be valuable ; and it is believed that the results would compare 

 favourably in importance with those obtained in almost any 

 one of the lines of inquiry alluded to by the leader of the 

 expedition. R. A. Harris. 



Washington, D.C., February 28. 



CraD Ravages in China. 



In the " Kwoh-Wu," or "Good Words from the States," 

 attributed to Tso Kiu-Ming (6th century B.C.), a king of Yueh 

 (now the province of Cheh-Kiang) is said to have been advised 

 by his counsellor to postpone his warlike preparation with 

 " good words," in which the officer adverts to the " Rice-Crab 

 { Tau-Hiai) that spared for man not a seed [of rice] in late 

 years." A Japanese naturalist, Aoki Kon-yo, quoting a Chinese 

 work, " Ping-Kiang Ki-Sze,'^' speaks of a crab-devastation 

 which took place in the Wu District (now Kiang-Su) in 1297 

 A.D. , " when all plains were full of crabs, wasting all crops of 

 rice." (" Kon-yo Manro Ku," written 1763, ed. 1891, p. 164.) 



Twan Ching-Shih (died 863 A.D.) briefly speaks of this crab, 

 thus : " In the eighth moon of the year, the crab has in its belly 

 an ear, really that of rice, about an inch long, which it carries 

 eastwards as a present to the ' God of the Sea ' ^ ; before the 

 carriage is accomplished, the crab is not edible" ("Yu-Yang 

 Tsah-tsu," Jap. reprint, 1697, bk. xvii. fol. 4, a). Contempor- 

 aneously, Luh Kwei-Mung (diedc. 881 a.d.), in his "Notes on 

 the Crabs" {ap. " YuenKien-lui-han," 1701, bk. 444, fol. 18) 

 narrates: — "These crabs live in holes, which they dig in 

 bogs, until the season that intervenes the autumn and 

 winter, when they emanate from their homes. The people 

 of Kiang-Tung say, when rice is ripening, the crabs take 

 each one ear in order to pay court to their chief. Every 

 morning and every evening they all run towards the river, 

 when men fish them by setting weirs across the affluents. Yet 

 six or seven out of ten crabs would pass over the dams, and in 

 the river they grow larger ; whence they proceed to the sea in 

 the same manner as their previous march, also being persecuted 

 as before, which, however, they escape with more skill than in 

 former occasions." Later, in the dynasty of Sung (961 — 1279 

 A.D.), appeared a "Monograph of Crabs," by a certain Fu 

 Kwang, who relates in it : — "In the crevices on rocks along 

 mountain streams occurs a small crab, red and hard, and so 

 named Shih-hiai (Stone Crab). When still young, in mid- 

 summer, owing to absence of any edible cereals, it feeds on the 

 root of reed, whence its name Lu-kan-hiai (Reed-root Crab), 

 and is meagre in size and taste. About the eighth month it 

 grows larger after moulting, and, when rice or millet is mature, 

 every one crab bellied with one spike of the cereal runs to the 

 river, when it is termed Loh-Hiai (Merry Crab), and is very fat 

 and best to eat. Thus it goes to the sea where it presents the 

 spike to its chief" (_ibid. fol. 19, a). These are very good 

 samples of the celebrated celestial whims, which once expressed, 

 no literatus doubts ; for, to me, it is too clear that the tribute 

 which these so-called "grain crabs " are said to pay to their 

 king is nothing but their spawn, which they carry under the 

 abdomen to lay down in the sea. 



I do not know whether the rice-carrying crab is the same with 

 what devastates the plantations, as is supposed by Aoki (/.r.), 

 although very probably so. And I shall be very much obliged 

 if, through your medium, some one will answer my questions : 

 (i) What species of crabs is the cause of such stories? and (2) 

 Is such a crab-ravage reported in modern times from China ? 

 From De Rochefort's " Historic . . , deslles Antilles," Rotter- 

 dam, 1665, p. 255, I gather the renowned- Violet Land-Crabs 

 of the West Indies to make some damage to tobacco farms, but 

 not to grain as is so vastly attributed to the Chinese crabs ; 



1 The Japanese who worship the deity of Kotohira (the patron-god of 

 mariners) taboo the eating of crabs. 



1586, VOL. 61 J 



while F. Legnat, about the end of ftie 17th century, described 

 a land-crab of Rodriquez, whose destructive power during its 

 emigrating period appears to equal that of its Chinese kin (see 

 his "Voyages," ed. 1891, p. 92). 



Yu Pau (4th century a.d.) writes in his " Sau-shin-ki " : — 

 "In the year 283 a.d. all crabs in the District of Hwui-Ki 

 were turned into rats, whose group covered the rice-farms and 

 made an extensive devastation. When yet immature, these 

 rats had hair and flesh but no bones, and unable to pass over 

 the ridges in the farms, but became vigorous after a few days." 

 This erroneous exposition, to account for the origin of rats or 

 field-mice, would seem partly to originate in some similarity of 

 the fur of rats with that of the so-called Hair-Crab (see Stebbing, 

 "Crustacea," PI. III.), but more in the people's familiarity 

 with the land-ravaging crabs - in ancient times. 



Kumagusu Minakata. 



I Crescent Place, South Kensington, S.W. 



Leonid Meteor Showers. 



I HAVE nowhere seen an account of a very remarkable dis- 

 play of these meteors visible here (in Shanghai) on the morning 

 of November 15, 1886. Though the date is distant, it may be 

 of use to record it, as it may throw light on the conditions of 

 the orbit. 



I was sleeping in a room with an almost due north exposure 

 looking into an open compound, and chanced to wake up about 

 three in the morning, when I saw a number of meteors flashing 

 across the window. I got up on recollecting the date, and for 

 about an hour witnessed the most brilliant pyrotechnic display 

 I have ever seen. 



The meteors were flying in every direction from the radiant 

 point in numbers past all calculation, and the intensity of the 

 shower was keep up without intermission the whole of the time 

 I was gazing. 



I expected to hear from other quarters an account of the 

 phenomenon, and was much surprised to find it had apparently 

 not been noticed elsewhere. I had to leave shortly after for 

 •the interior, where I was practically cut off" from communication 

 with the outer world for some months, and hence did not at 

 the time report the fact. 



As much stress is laid on the appearance of the meteors in 

 Europe in 1833 and 1866, the shower may be some of interest. 



Shanghai, February 12. Thos. W. Kixr.s.viiLL. 



The Capture of Butterflies by Birds. 



Concerning the capture of butterflies by birds, permit me to 

 relate an incident which I witnessed in the summer of 1899 at 

 the Deserted Village, near Scotch Plains, N.J. 



My attention was attracted to a maple tree on a lawn by a 

 violent fluttering of the wings of a robin among the leaves. 

 Presently a large brown butterfly, evidently wounded, but still 

 attempting to fly, fell from the branches. The robin pursued 

 the butterfly eagerly, and attacked it upon the ground, alter- 

 nately striking with its beak, with lowered wings, and running 

 off" a short distance to observe developments. Finally, the 

 butterfly ceased to move. The robin thereupon tore the body 

 from the wings and devoured it. I picked up the mutilated 

 wings and showed them later when narrating the incident. 



29 Broadway, New York. George A. Soi'ER. 



The Smell emitted by Quartz when Rubbed. 



When two quartz pebbles are rubbed hardly, or ground 

 together, so as to give an electric spark, that seems under their 

 surface, and then smelt, they emit a very peculiar smell, which 

 some people call a sulphurous smell, but I cannot trace any 

 resemblance to sulphur, or ozone, or phosphorus. What is it 

 supposed to be ? E. L. Garbett. 



25 Claremont Square, N., March 7. 



2 The " Hair-Crab " of Japan is caught in the same way as the Chinese 

 mode of fishing the rice-carrying crab. The Japanese well know its descent 

 down the river in autumn, and have well noticed it never to reascend it 

 afterwards as some fish do (Kaibara, " Yamato Honz6," 1708, bk. xiv. 

 fol. 48), but never possessed a belief in a crab carrying grain to the sea. 

 Only one case that slightly appro.iches that of the latter, I find in " Hokusd 

 Sadan," where it is narrated that near the end of the bst century the river 

 Yodo, near Kyoto, was one day so swarmed with small crabs that every 

 handful of water was full of these creatures. 



