January 12, 1905] 



NA TURE 



255 



order on an income of 176/. 14s. id. Apparently, however, 

 there must be some other fund for the up-keep of the build- 

 ing, as there are no items in the account for caretaker's 

 wages or for repairs. The committee has been unfortunate 

 In losing several influential friends and supporters, among 

 them Dr. Isaac Roberts, during the past year, and regret 

 Is expressed that it becomes increasingly difficult to find 

 men of the same stamp among the younger generation to 

 fill their places. The report is illustrated with figures of 

 the early stages of the development of the lobster and of 

 the plaice. Although plaice-hatching was fairly successful, 

 results were by no means so good as regards the rearing 

 of lobsters. After one failure 5000 larv^ were successfully 

 ■hatched ; but of these, despite every care, very few attained 

 the " lobsterling " stage. It is incidentally recorded that 

 the female spiny lobster (Palinuriis vulgaris) destroys her 

 ■eggs in captivity. The general intsrest of the report is 

 much enhanced by an illustrated account of Manx (or 

 ■" Manks ") antiquities, inclusive of fossil mammals, by 

 Messrs. Kermode and Herdman. 



In the Sitzungsberichte, No. 22, of the Imperial Academy 

 ■of Sciences in Vienna, Mr. J. Dorfler gives an itinerary of 

 -a six months' tour in the island of Crete, undertaken for 

 the purpose of collecting botanical specimens. From this 

 point of view the journey was very successful, as 1200 plants 

 were obtained, including Triadenia Sieberi, Scnecio 

 gnaphalodes, and the tiny Bellium tninutum. 



Two rare seaweeds, Rhipidosiphon and Callipsygma, both 

 referred to the Codiacese, form the subject of a short article 

 contributed by Mr. and Mrs. A. Gepp to the journal of 

 Botany (December, 1904), and Mr. Salmon presents a second 

 instalment of his notes on Limonium. The second supple- 

 ment (1898-1902) to the biographical index of British and 

 Irish botanists, compiled by Mr. J. Britten and Mr. C. S. 

 Boulger, is concluded in the same number. 



In addition to the maintenance of the more ornamental 

 gardens, the director of the Public Gardens, Jamaica, in 

 his report for the year 1903-4, describes a number of experi- 

 ments which have been carried on at the Hope Experiment 

 ■Station. With the view of combining the good qualities of 

 •different varieties of pineapples, a number of hybrid 

 ■seedlings have been raised by crossing the Cayenne, Ripley, 

 and Queen varieties. The method of growing Sumatra 

 wrapper-tobacco under tent-cloth, as practised in the 

 Connecticut valley in America, was tried with good results. 

 Taut the climate at Hope was found to be too dry for curing 

 the leaf satisfactorily. Considerable success has attended 

 the budding of mango, nutmeg, cocoa, and other trees, and 

 the process is strongly recommended, both as a means of 

 rapid propagation and also with the object of improving 

 the fruit. 



We have received a further instalment of the States 

 gazetteers, already noticed, in the " Gazetteer of West 

 Virginia," by Mr. Henry Gannett, published by the United 

 ■States Geological Survey. 



The August and September (1904) numbers of the 

 Bollettino of the Italian Geographical Society contain an 

 .extremely interesting and suggestive memoir by Prof. 

 •Gustavo Coen on the supposed decadence of Great Britain 

 .and the awakening of eastern Asia. The conclusions of 

 the paper, which cannot be briefly summarised, are 

 obviously the result of wide study and research, and should 

 ■be of great value to geographical and political students in 

 this country. 



In a paper published recently in the Hungarian Mathe- 

 tnatischen und naturwissentschaftlichen Berichte Dr. von 

 Kalecsinszky gives an account of further observations and 

 NO. 1837, VOL. 71] 



experiments on the warming of different layers of liquid 

 by the sun's rays. Observations in lakes in which salt 

 water is covered over with a stratum of fresh water show 

 that the salt water may be warmed to a much higher 

 temperature than the overlying fresh water. Experiments 

 with solutions of magnesium sulphate, sodium sulphate, 

 ammonium chloride, and sodium carbonate, and with fresh 

 water covered with petroleum and with olive oil, gave 

 similar results. It is concluded that the phenomenon is of 

 general occurrence, and that it is a factor of geological 

 importance in the formation of certain deposits. 



The United States Weather Bureau has reprinted Mr. 

 W. L. Moore's article on climate, written for the " Encyclo- 

 pedia Americana," as No. 34 of its Bulletins. It embraces 

 only thirteen pages of large octavo size, and is written in 

 clear, simple language that can be understood by all. It 

 contains in this small space a large amount of useful in- 

 formation relating to the effects of solar energy, distri- 

 bution of land and water, and mountain ranges. With 

 regard to secular variations, the author is of opinion that 

 there has been no appreciable change in the climate of any 

 large area within the period covered by authentic history. 



We have received from the observatory of the University 

 of Odessa a copy of its Annals for the years 1901-3. The 

 observatory having then completed the tenth year of its 

 existence, the volume in question includes, in addition to 

 observations taken thrice daily, and the monthly and yearly 

 results for 1901-3, a valuable series of means for the ten 

 years 1894-1903. The observatory is situated in latitude 

 46° 26' N. ; the mean temperature is given as 28''-8 in 

 January and 72''i in July. The absolute maximum was 

 94°.3, and the minimum — io°-3 F. ; the temperature of the 

 ground is observed at various depths. The annual rainfall 

 is only 13 inches ; the wettest month is June (2.3 inches). 



We have received a copy of the report of the International 

 Meteorological Committee's meeting at Southport in 

 September, 1903. The meeting was well attended, and 

 various subjects of interest were discussed, including the 

 valuable reports by subcommittees and by individuals ; these 

 reports are printed in extenso in the appendix. Five of them 

 refer to the arrangements existing or proposed for the 

 exploration of the upper air by means of balloons and kites, 

 and to the results hitherto obtained. Much credit is due 

 to M. Teisserenc de Bort, who, in addition to the stations 

 he has established at Trappes and Itteville, near Paris, has 

 been chiefly instrumental in establishing similar stations at 

 Moscow and Viborg (Denmark). This latter enterprise is 

 acknowledged to be a most important contribution to 

 meteorological science. Appendix vii. is a very valuable 

 report by Sir Norman Lockyer on simultaneous solar and 

 terrestrial changes, which may have an important influence 

 on the meteorology of the future. After summarising the 

 investigations made from earliest times, he points out the 

 considerable advances made during the last quarter of a 

 century. Among the other appendices we may specially 

 mention two by Prof. Pernter (chief of the Austrian Meteor- 

 ological Service) and by M. Rykatcheff (director of the 

 Russian Service) on the use of the hair hygrometer instead 

 of the wet-bulb thermometer. This instrument is found to 

 be of much service in times of severe frost. M. J. Violle 

 contributes a valuable report on radiation. The author 

 points out that the question is exceedingly complex, and 

 demands a complete study of each of the simple radiations 

 which go to make up the total solar radiation. The Inter- 

 national Meteorological Committee voted for the convening 

 of a conference of all directors of meteorological offices, to 

 be held at Innsbruck in September, 1905. 



