Dec. 28, 1871J 



NA TURE 



169 



of a typhoon, a theory which has always been advanced, 

 but, so far as I know, has never hitherto been substan- 

 tiated by any actual observations. The case of the Siam 

 is a strong argument in favour of the truth of such a 

 theory, for in point of fact it may be said to have scarcely 

 felt the effects of the typhoon at all. 



Should any of your readers be disposed to sift the various 

 evidences which I have adduced, the papers are in my 

 possession, and access can be had to them at any time. 

 Frank. Armstrong 



NOTES 

 We have received full intelligence of the English Eclipse 

 Expedition from Mr. Lockyer, under date Galle, November 29. 

 At that date the expedition had been detailed into various 

 parties for service at different stations in Ceylon and the main- 

 land ; the instructions to these several parties are reprinted in 

 another column. Mr. Lockyer, Dr. Thomson, and Captain 

 Maclear were to observe at Ootacamund, Mr. Davis being 

 detached to photograph at Gunote ; Messrs. Abbay and Friswell 

 were to go to Manantawaddy, Signor Respighi and Mr. HoUiday 

 to Poodacottah ; while Captains Tupman and Fyers and Messrs. 

 Moseley and Lewis were to proceed to Trincomalee. The Indian 

 and Cingalese authorities and the officers of the jS[i!-zaporc and 

 Glasgaw had exerted themselves to the utmost to assist the expe- 

 dition, and the Ceylon p.irty acknowledge great obligation to 

 Captain Fyers, the Surveyor-General. In another column will 

 be found an account of the voyage out. 



We hear with great satisfaction that Mr. Edgar Leopold 

 Layard, C.M.Z.S., has received the appointment of H.B.M. 

 Consul at Para. Mr. Layard has already done good service to 

 science in Ceylon and South Africa, and will now have the 

 pleasure of investig.ating the fauna and flora of a third and not 

 less interesting region. Before leaving England we understand 

 that Mr. Layard will publish a new and revised edition of his 

 work on " The Birds of the Cape Colony," which is now nearly 

 ready for the press. 



We are informed that Mr. Leighton is preparing for publication 

 a conspectus of all the Lichens hitherto discovered throughout 

 the world, with diagnoses, &c., and also a second edition of the 

 Liclien Flora of Great Britain, Ireland, and the Channel 

 Islands, which will combine an Introduction, Glossary, and 

 Index, and which, it is hoped, will be ready for the press early 

 in 1872. The Glossary, &c., will be printed separately, so as to 

 enable possessors of the first edition to purchase separately. 



Mr. T. K. Salmon, of Guildford, is making preparations to 

 start on a collecting expedition to thehiglilands of tlie Columbian 

 republic. Mr. Salmon's head-quarters will be at MedeUin, in 

 the State of Antroquia, whence he will explore the Cordillera of 

 Quindin, and upper valley of the Cauca. Mr. Edwin Gerrard, 

 jun , of College Street, Camden Town, acts as his agent, and 

 will be happy to receive subscriptions in aid of the expedition. 



Wf. are glad to hear that the well-known naturalist, Mr. W. 

 T. Blanford, of the Indian Geological Survey, is appointed a 

 member of the British expedition for the survey of the boundary 

 between Persia and Beloochistan. Commencing on the coast of 

 Mekran the party will pass northward to Seistan and Herat. 

 In Seistan they will enter a most interesting region, of which the 

 geology and zoology are quite unknown. The river Helmund, 

 and Lake of Seistan, in which it loses itself, will certainly present 

 many features eminently worthy of scientific investigation, of 

 which no one is more qualified to take advantage of than the ex- 

 geologist of the Abyssinian Expedition. 



The recent death of Dr. Seemann, who for nine years has 

 conducted the Journal of Botany, has caused a change of editor- 



ship. A new (2nd) series will be commenced in 1S72, under 

 the management of Dr. Trimen, of the British Museum, for the 

 last two yenrs a sub-editor, with .Mr. Baker, of Kew, who will 

 continue to be associated with Dr. Trimen in the conduct of the 

 new series. We are also requested to state that unavoidable 

 circumstances will delay for a few days the publication of the 

 January number. 



The Edinburgh papers record the death of Mr. J. B. Davies, 

 assistant-keeper of the natural history section of the Museum of 

 Science and Art in that city. Mr. Davies was appointed to his 

 position in tlie museum, while it was in its old place in the Col- 

 lege, by Edward Forbes during the brief period that gifted natu- 

 ralist occupied the Chair of Natural History ; and in the discharge 

 of his duties he was as mucli distuiguished by the extent and 

 accuracy of his knowledge as by his readiness to assist all students 

 of his science, and by his courteous bearing. In addition to his 

 appointment in the museum, Mr. Davies held the lectureship on 

 zoology in the Royal High School, was assistant-secretary to the 

 Royal Physical Society, and an Associate of the Botanical Society. 

 He was the au hor of a little manual of practical natural 

 history termed "The Naturalist's Guide." 



The following have been elected office-bearers of the Edin- 

 burgh Botanical Society for the ensuing year : —President, Prof. 

 Wyville Thomson, LL.D. ; Vice-Presidents, Dr. M'Bain, R.N., 

 Prof Dickson, Mr. Buchanan, Dr. T. A. G. Balfour ; Secretary, 

 Prof. Balfour ; Foreign Secretary, Prof Douglas Maclagan ; 

 Treasurer, Mr. P. N. Eraser; Auditor, Mr. Tod; Artist, Mr- 

 Neil Stewart ; Assist. Sec. and Curator, Mr. John Sadler. 



In connection with the Gilchrist Education Trust, arrange- 

 ments have, we understand, been made for the delivery at the 

 Lambeth Baths of a series of lectures, chiefly of a scientific 

 character. The names of Prof. Huxley and Dr. Carpenter are 

 mentioned among the probable lecturers. 



MM. Delaunay and Ch. St. Claire-Deville have presented to 

 the French Academy of Sciences some further interesting notes 

 of the cold of November and the early part of December. AL 

 Delaunay remaiks that the cold advanced, as is usually tlie case, 

 from north-east to south-west. The minimum temperatures were 

 recorded at Groningen, in Holland, on Dec. 7 ( - 10° C. = 

 14° F.) ; at Brussels {- i2°-6 C. = 9-5° F.) on the 8th ; and at 

 Paris ( - 2i°-3 = - 6° F.) on tlie 9th. This extremely low tem- 

 perature appears to have been limited to a very small tract of 

 country between Paris and Cliarleville. On tlie same day the 

 temperature was above the freezuig-point in Scotland as far nortli 

 as Nairn, and in the greater part of England, falling only at 

 Greenwich as low as - 2' -3 C. ( = 28" F.). The severity of the 

 frost was considerably mitigated at Paris on the loth and nth ; 

 but on the latter date it was agam as low as - 22° '6 C. 

 (= - 8° 5 F.) at Haparanda, on the Gulf of Bothnia, - 15' C. 

 (= 5° F.) at Stockholm, and - i4"-i C. (= 6°-5 F.) at St. 

 Petersburg. 



Some of our readers will recollect the controversy which took 

 place in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society " and the 

 Athourum, some six months ago, respecting a tortoise's skull in 

 the British Museum, upon wliich Dr. Gray had established a new 

 genus and species, Scapia fakoneri. Mr. Theobald maintained 

 that this skidl (received by the British Museum from the 

 executors of the late Dr. Falconer) had originally belonged to 

 one of the two typical specimens of Mr. Blyth's Tcstiuio P/uiyni,. 

 in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, and that consequently Scapia 

 falconeri, Gray = Tcstudo phnvni, Blyth. Dr. Blyth maintained 

 the contrary. We understand that the director of the Indian 

 Museum has recently claimed the skull in question, and that it 

 is now on its way back to Calcutta, so that the authorities of the 

 British Museum must have given up their view of the question. 



