ya,i. 4, 1872] 



NATURE 



191 



series to be used at the lectures and demonstrations given in the 

 College on Comparative Anatomy and other branches of Natural 

 History. The committee of niauagemeiit will only accept of 

 such specimens as can be classed under someone of these heads." 

 In the Botanic Garden attached to the College nearly a thousand 

 species of hardy herbaceous plants are now grown. 



We have received the Preliminary Report by Mr. Sidney I. 

 Smith, on the dredging in Lake Superior ; and a reprint from the 

 Aiiii-ricaii you met! of Science and Art for December, of Mr. S. 

 I. Smith and Mr. A. S. Verrill's notice of the Invertebrata 

 dredged in the same expedition. The main facts of these reports 

 are already before our readers. 



A Society of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, has just been 

 started at Winona, Minnesota, in connection with the first State 

 Normal School in that place, having for its [object the collection 

 of facts and materials looking toward the determination of the 

 natural history, arch.-vology, and general literature of the United 

 States. 



Dr. Hoy, in a paper read before the Wisconsin Academy of 

 Sciences, Arts, and Letters, remarks, in reference to the 

 mammals of Wisconsin, that the elk existed in that State as late 

 as 18O3, but is now probably extinct. Tlie moose is still found in 

 considerable numbers. The last buffalo was killed in 1832. 

 Antelopes were also found in Wisconsin in the time of Father 

 Hennepin, although now, of course, driven far to the west. 

 Most of the wild animals are diminishing very rapidly in number, 

 the panther and deer being almost exterminated. The otter and 

 beaver, however, are very persistent. The last wild turkey was 

 killed in 1846 near Racine. 



A SCIENTIEIC commission in tlie interest of the Government 

 of Peru has lately been investigating the guano deposits of the 

 Lobos Islands ; and it is reported that the result of their inquiries 

 lias been very satisfactory, and that immense quantities of very 

 rich guano, equal, if not superior, to that of the Chincha Islands, 

 have been observed. The analyses of samples are said to ha\'e 

 yielded over 13 per cent, of ammonia. Should this be the fact, 

 Payta, as being the nearest port, will probably become a place 

 of considerable importance. 



The Report presented to, and read before, the Board of Visitors 

 appointed by Government for the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, 

 after summarising the work done at the Observatory during ihe 

 year, calls attention to the very inefficient manner in which the 

 establishment is provided with funds for its necessary work, and 

 to the scanty salary of its director and assistants. The Board of 

 Visitors estimates tlie increased annual expenditure necessary to 

 ensure the efficient working of the establishment at 1,050/., in- 

 cluding 300/. increase in the salary of the Astronomer Royal. 

 The report is accompanied by a coloured plan of the Observa- 

 tory, showing the position of the various instruments, and diagrams 

 of the quarterly means of the earth thermometers from 1837 

 to 1S69 ; annual mean temperatures, for four several suli-annual 

 epochs, of the rock at the Observatory in the same years ; 

 annual means of Schwabe's sun-spots, the earth thermometers, 

 and others at Edinburgh ; and eleven-year means for every suc- 

 cessive year, from 1842 to 1S64, of Schwabe's sun-spots and 

 Edinburgh earth temperatures. 



The seventh Report of the Board of Visitors of the Observa- 

 tory at Victoria, with the Annual Report of the Government 

 Astronomer, is printed. The report of the buildings and instru- 

 ments is in every respect satisfactory. 



Mr. W. H. Archer has brought down his records of patents 

 and patentees for the colony of Victoria to the end of 1869 ; and 

 the Reports of the Mining Surveyors and Registrars for the same 

 colony are printed for the quarter ending June 30, 1 87 1, 



Thi; Report of the New Zealand Institute for its fourth session, 

 1 87 1 , contains the Annual Address, delivered by Sir G. F. Bowen, 

 and a list of donations and deposits in the Museum, and the 

 Laboratory Report for 1S70-71. Captain Hutton has prepared 

 a complete catalogue, with a diagnosis, of each species of bird in 

 New Zealand; and arrangements have been made for the pub- 

 lication of similar catalogues of the insects, fishes, and other 

 branches of zoology in the island. 



We have received the last two Annual Reports of the Plymouth 

 Institution and Devon and Cornwall Natural History Society, 

 forming together vol. iv. of its Transactions. Though many 

 of the papers and lectures reported refer to subjects which do 

 not come within our scope, the volumes bear evidence of the zeal 

 and success with which the natural and physical sciences are pur- 

 sued in the Western counties. Among the papers specially 

 deserving of mention, we may notice, "Degeneration of our 

 Deep-sea Fisheries," by Mr. J. N. Hearder ; " The Fulgarator," 

 a new electrical apparatus for producing electric sparks of very 

 great length, by the same; "Rain," by W. Pengelly, F. R.S.; 

 "Mistletoe on the Oak," by T. R. Archer Briggs ; "The 

 principles on which ships' sail-carrying power and steadiness 

 in a sea-way depend," by W. Froude, F.R.S. 



A Prospectus is issued of a third enlarged and improved 

 edition of Von Cotta's "Geology of the Present." Special re- 

 ference will be made in tliis edition to the bearing on geological 

 questions of the recent discoveries of Darwin, Mayer, and 

 Helmholtz. 



The first number lies on our table of " The Mining Magazine 

 and Review ; a Monthly Record of Mining, Smelting, Quarry- 

 ing, and Engineering," edited by Mr. Nelson Boyd. The prin- 

 cipal articles in tliis number are — "The Coal Commission," by 

 the editor; " Boiler Explosions," by E. B. Marten; "The Im- 

 portance of Nitro-glycerine Explosives for Underground Quarry- 

 ing Purposes," by S. J. Mackie;.and "The Progress of Mine- 

 ralogy," by F. W. Rudler. It contains also reviews, records of 

 scientific progress, and miscellanea. 



A LiTTi.E pamphlet by Mr. J. G. Fitch, entitled "Methods of 

 Teaching Arithmetic," a lecture addressed to the London Asso- 

 ciation of Schoolmistresses, and published at the request of the 

 Association, deserves a far wider circulation than among school- 

 mistresses only. We venture to say that if the admirable plan 

 suggested in the lecture were generally adopted by teachers, of 

 explaining in a rational manner the principles of the simple rules 

 of arithmetic, which are generally learned by rote without the 

 least exercise of intelligence on the part of either teacher or pupil, 

 the teaching of arithmetic would soon cease to be the drudgery 

 which it now is in both boys' and girls' schools, and the results, 

 as exemplified by the reports of the Cambridge examiners and 

 elsewhere, would be very different. 



The " Proceedings of the South Wales Institute of Engineers," 

 Vol. vii.. No. 4, contains an important paper by Mr. Thomas 

 Joseph, "Oh Colliery Explosions in the South Wales Coal 

 Field," which is also reprinted in a separate form. We find in 

 it also many other papers and discussions of value to tlie en- 

 gineering and coal interests. 



Mr. E. Parfitt reprints from the "Transactions of the 

 Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Litera- 

 ture, and Art" two interesting papers— "The Fauna of Devon, 

 Part vii, : Cirripedia," and "On the Boring of Molluscs, Anne- 

 lids, and Sponges into Rock, ■\\'ood, and Shells." 



We have received from Messrs. Nelson and Sons some speci- 

 mens of Pictorial Natural History, consisting of packets of cards 

 with coloured pictures of birds and some short account of each 

 appended ; they are as a series unusually good and~~elegant, 



