174 



NATURE 



{June 21, 1883 



the sky, which had been generally overcast, was rapidly breaking 

 up into masses of cumulus clouds separated by wide spaces of 

 blue. About a dozen waterspouts were seen in all, the ship 

 passing right through one of thern and thus enabling me to 

 estimate its diameter by direct comparison with the known beam 

 of the Scrvia. 



The swirls of spray rose from the sea in a cup-like shape, and 

 revolving rapidly in a direction opposite to that of the hands of 

 a watch. It was only af cer such a swirl had become well denned 

 that the lower surface of the cumulus cloud above it began to 

 descend as if to meet it, spinning at the same time. Indeed, so 

 inconspicuous was this feature of the phenomenon that many of 

 the passengers, intent on watching the spray-cups sparkling 

 brightly in the sunshine, failed to notice it at all. In no case 

 did the cloud swirl nearly meet the sea swirl, nor did the double- 



J) CUP SHAPED ? 



SWIRL OF SPRAY 



RFVOLVINCAGAIHSt 



THE HANDS OF A 



WATCH. 



<iSP. 



funneled stem of whirling mist, so generally shown in books, 

 appear. Sone spray fell heavily on deck from the swirl through 

 which the Senna passed, but the wind, which struck us at one 

 moment on this, at the other on that, side of the face was not 

 brisk enough to carry off any one's hat. The sight was remark- 

 ably beautiful whether closely or di.tantly viewed. In the one 

 case the spray-cup seemed made of rustling jewels which 

 sparkled in the bright sunshine; in the other, the sea horizon 

 appeared as if here and there set with boiling and steaming 

 caldrons, wh se rope-like handles hung from the dark under- 

 sides of white billowy cloud,. D. Pidgeon 

 Hartford, Mas-., U.S.A., May 22 



Meteors of June 3 



The large meteor seen by Mr. Hall and others (Nature, 

 vol. xxviii. pp. 126, 150) was also observed hero by Mr. Paul 

 Mathews and myself. We estimated the length of its path 

 while visible as 120° with the middle part due east, the direction 

 of its motion as parallel to the horizon, elevation as 20 r , and 

 length of tail as 25° ; its apparent brilliance I put at six times, 

 Mr. Mathews at twice, the greatest brilliance of Venus, and the 

 pieces into which it broUe up (a'nout six in number) as equal to 

 the brightest planets. The time I should have put at 10.50, but 

 did not note it (Mr. Mathews 10.40 to 10.45). l' ne colour was 

 golden. This was moreover in a very clear and brilliant sky, 

 as about 10 we had observed that the light in the east was so 

 intense that it cast quite a dark shad j%v as we passed through a 

 somewhat shady part of the road. 



Ripon W. W. Taylor 



In the correspondence on the large meteor seen on June 3 I 

 have not seen any notice of another curious meteor seen later on 

 the same night. A (lash of light it the sky drew attention to it, 

 and when first seen it was moving in nearly a straight line from 

 102 Herculis to a Aquil.e. In five seconds it travelled slightly 

 more than half the distance to the latter star, and then disap- 

 peared without any out'nurst. It was about a lunar diameter in 

 length, and between 3' and 4' wide at the widest part, a point 

 distant one-third of its entire length from the head. In fact it 

 was njt at all unlike a comet with a bushy tail tapering off to a 

 point. The colour was a pale yellow. P. F. D. 



London, W. 



Intelligence in Animals 



Some years since, when calling on the late Hon. Marmaduke 

 Maxwell of Terregles, our conversation happened to turn on the 

 subject of intelligence and instinct of animals. Mr. Maxwell 

 said if I would walk down to the stables with him he would 

 show me a curious instance. On reaching the stable he pointed 

 out an empty stall in which five well grown young rats were 

 running about — a board had been fixed at the end of the stall 

 to prevent the rats getting out. Some time before the cat had a 

 litter of five kittens, three were taken from her and drowned ; 

 the following morning it was found she bad brought in three 

 young rat-, which she suckled wi'h the two kittens that had 

 been left ; a few days afterwards the two kittens were destroyed, 

 and the next morning it was found the cat had brought in two 

 more young rats. While we were looking at this strange foster 

 family the cat came into the stable, jumped over the board and 

 lay down, when the rats at once ran under her and commenced 

 sucking. What makes the matter the more singular is, the coach- 

 man toid me the cat was a particularly good ratter, and was 

 kept in the stable for the purpose of keeping down rats. 



Cargen, Dumfries P. Dudgeon 



AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 1 



UNDER the able management of Major J. W. Powell 

 the Bureau of Ethnology, recently attached to the 

 Smithsonian Institution, has already done much useful 

 work in the wide field of American anthropology. This 

 first annual report, however, of its proceedings for the 

 year ending July, 18S0, appears to be somewhat behind 

 time for, although bearing on the title-page the date of 

 1 88 1, it was not issue 1 to the public till the beginning of 

 the present year. But the delay is doubtless due to the 

 large amount of preliminary work required to be got 

 through in organising the department, and future reports 

 may be expected to appear more punctually. The title, 

 " Annual Report," is itself somewhat misleading, the 

 actual report of the director reilly occupying no more 

 than thirty-three introductory pages, and consisting 

 mainly of a digest of the rich materials filling a large 

 quarto volume of over 600 pages. Hence this is, 

 strictly speaking, a first volume of the Proceedings or 

 Transactions of the Bureau, and as such gives fair 

 promise of a long and useful career in an anthropo- 

 logical domain which may be regarded as practically 

 unlimited. 



From the director's introductory remarks we gather 

 that, after the fusion in 1S79 of the various geological 

 and geographical surveys in the general " United States 

 Geological Survei ," the Bureau of Ethnology was created 

 and attached to the Smithsonian Institution for the 

 purpose of continuing the anthropological work which 

 had hitherto been prosecuted in a somewhat desultory 

 way by those Surveys. The management of this newly- 

 organised department was intrusted to Major Powell, 

 who, as former Director of the Survey of the Rocky 

 Mountain Region, had already shown special aptitude 

 for ethnological investigation. The direct object of the 

 Bureau, we are told, is to systematise anthropological 

 research in America, and this it is proposed to effect both 

 by the prosecution of research through the direct employ- 

 ment of students and specialists, and by the general 

 encouragement and guidance of original observers co- 

 operating throughout the continent. " It has been the 

 effort of the Bureau to prosecute work in the various 

 branches of North American anthropology on a syste 

 matic plan, so that every important field should be culti- 

 vated, limited only by the amount appropriated by 

 Congress" (xiv.). 



How closely this wide programme has been so far 

 adhered to is evident from the varied contents of this 



* " First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, Smit hs o nian Institu- 

 tion, 1879-80." By j. W. Powell, Director. (Washington Government 

 Printing Office, 1881). 



