J J' 



NATURE 



[August r, 1901 



and a half, and to three inches within forty-eight hours. In 

 some parts of the metropolis much damage was caused by flood- 

 ing, and railway traffic was suspended for a considerable time. 

 As late as Sunday last this same shallow storm area was still 

 lingering over the southern portion of the country, the centre 

 being in the morning in the south-west- Heavy thunderstorms 

 were still occurring in those parts which lay near the path of the 

 disturbance. On Saturday there was again exceptionally heavy 

 rain in parts of London, an inch falling in less than an hour in 

 the southern suburbs. The midland districts of England have 

 e.\perienced very heavy rains, the fall at Oxford amounting to 

 4 33 inches in the four days ending last Sunday morning. 



We have received from Dr. W. Doberck, director of the 

 Hong Kong Observatory, a copy of the observations made there 

 during the year 1900. The work contains, in the same form as 

 in previous years, a very valuable series of hourly meteorological 

 observations and mean results deduced from them, as well as 

 magnetical and astronomical data. In addition to the usual 

 work of a well-equipped observatory, much attention is given to 

 various researches, including the collection of observations at 

 about forty land stations and from ships' logs, with the view of 

 contributing to our knowledge of the climatology of the Far 

 East and of the destructive typhoons of the eastern seas. The 

 total number of days' observations collected from difterent ships 

 during the year amounted to nearly 20,000 ; these are regularly 

 entered in degree squares for the construction of trustworthy 

 pilot charts. Weather forecasts are also issued daily about llh. 

 a m., and a comparison with subsequent weather shows that the 

 amount of total or partial success reached the high figure of 93 

 .per cent, during the year in question. 



The Meteorological Office Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic 

 and Mediterranean for the month of August shows that there 

 has been a very decided increase in the quantity of ice in the 

 neighbourhood of Newfoundland, the reports, which are as late 

 as July 3, being too numerous to admit of all being given on 

 the chart. The bergs crowd mostly from Cape Race eastward 

 to the Flemish Cap, but there are a good many scattered about 

 down to 42° N., 49' W. and 43° N., 43" W. In the notes on 

 the winds, further information is given relating to West Indian 

 hurricanes, some of which, there is reason to believe, originate 

 in the neighbourhood of the Cape Verde Islands, where the 

 prevailing winds for August exhibit a cyclonic circulation. To 

 the mean path of these hurricanes is added an indication of the 

 southern and the eastern and northern limits within which they 

 have been experienced in this month, the South American coast 

 westward to ?Ionduras being practically free from actual hurri- 

 canes, but experiencing very disturbed seas, occasioned by the 

 distant gales. In Trinidad, the hurricane months are marked 

 by violent squalls and heavy rain. The region of ordinary 

 gales has commenced to work southward after having nearly 

 disappeared northward in July. After steadily extending east- 

 ward from the American coast until the Bay of Biscay was 

 reached in July, the fog area has suddenly shrunk, the main 

 area being now to the westward of the 30th meridian, only a 

 small patch being shown off the English Channel ; but it is 

 stated that while there is this diminution off our south-western 

 coasts there is an increase in progress up the east coast of 

 Britain and about the Clyde and Irish Sea. Other notes deal 

 with the salient features of the ocean currents ; with British 

 thunderstorms which form locally ; and with the winds of the 

 Sea of Marmara, and currents of this sea and the Dardanelles 

 and the Bosporus. 



The Report of the Council issued in the ProceeJiiigs of the 



South London Entomological and Natural History Society for 



1900 discloses a satisfactory state of the roll of members and of 



the finances of that energetic body. The average attendance 



NO. 1657, VOL. 64] 



at the meetings has been about 30, which is remarkably good 

 for a society whose members number only 170. Mr. R. Adkin 

 communicates an interesting article on the life-history of the 

 goat-moth, in which it is shown that the change from caterpillar 

 to chrysalis does not take place in the stems of the living willows 

 tunnelled by the former, but rather in dead trunks or any other 

 situation where soft, friable matter is to be met with. 



A VIEW of M. Fagel's statue of Chevreul, unveiled at Paris 

 on July II, is given here by the courtesy of the Chemist and 

 Druggist. The moimment stands in the Cour d'Honneur of the 

 Paris Museum of Natural History, and is an excellent repre- 

 sentation of the eminent chemist, whose investigations have 

 greatly assisted in promoting the commercial prosperity of 

 France. The base of the statue bears inscriptions recording the 

 principal events of Chevreul's life, the front one being as fol- 

 lows : — "Chevreul, Michel-Eugene, ne a Angers le 31 aout 

 17S6 ; mort a Paris le 7 Avril 1SS9. Professeur de Chimie 



Organique, 1S30-1SS9; Directeur du Museum d'Histoire 

 Naturelle, 1863-1SS4." Upon the occasion of the unveiling of 

 the statue, M. E. Perrier, the present director of the Paris 

 Museum of Natural History, delivered an address which is given 

 in full in the Revue Scientifique of July 20, with discourses by 

 M. A. Gautier, who represented the Academy of Sciences, and 

 M. Arnaud, who succeeded Chevreul in the chair of organic 

 chemistry at the Museum in 1S90. 



The latest issue of Notes from the Leyden Museum con- 

 tains an article by Dr. F. A. Jentink on the collection of 

 antelopes in that institution, in the course of which the author 

 pays a tribute to the value of the " Book of Antelopes," by 

 Messrs. Sclater and Thomas. The Leyden collection appears 

 to be very rich in antelope skins from the Cape, many of these 

 belonging to species which are at least locally extinct. The author 

 believes the white-tailed gnu to be quite extinct as a wild species. 



