July 26. 



rSS 3 j 



NA TURE 



291 



Brassey collection. Some of the specimens appear to 

 belong to a dealer, Mr. Bryce- Wright, and to these and 

 others he his assigned names as though he were a serious 

 zoologist. This travesty of science should not have been 

 permitted. The names attached to the specimens are 

 cither incorrect applications of existing names or are 

 gratuitous inventions (as for instance that of Brasseya 

 radians)) which can only mislead persons not specially 

 acquainted with the history of corals. 



Amongst the gigantic lobsters, clams, and stuffed fish 

 there are some few small collections of scientific merit in 

 the British exhibit. Dr. Francis Day shows a series of 

 British fishes (alcohol specimens), Prof. Mcintosh of St. 

 Andrew's some coloured drawings of marine animals 

 admirably executed by his sister, and a series of speci- 

 mens of the salmon at various stages of development. 

 Dr. Traquair of Edinburgh shows some exquisite draw- 

 ings of fossil fishes, and H.R.H. the Duke of Edin- 

 burgh a collection of shells, scientifically named and 

 arranged. 



The parasites of fishes are not well represented in any 

 part of the Exhibition. Dr. Spencer Cobbold shows a 

 small collection of internal and external parasites, and a 

 still smaller series (having, however, some special interest) 

 is to be seen in the Russian court, where also the natu- 

 ralist should not fail to study Dr. Grimm's important col- 

 lection illustrating the fauna of the Caspian Sea. The 

 most remarkable exhibit in the way of parasites is that of 

 Dr. Antonio Valli of Trieste, who shows (in the Austrian 

 Court) a collection of eighty-five specimens of Copepod 

 Crustacea parasitic on the fishes of the Adriatic, accom- 

 panied by drawings and descriptions. 



Curiously enough there is next to nothing in the Exhi- 

 bition illustrating the diseases of fish. Some stuffed 

 salmon with cotton-wool attached in patches to the head 

 and fins do duty for the " Saprolegnia disease," and a not 

 too accurate drawing of the Saprolegnia itself is exhibited 

 in a part of the building which is about a quarter of a 

 mile distant from the stuffed specimens. In a third 

 locality is a cast of a salmon with cotton-wool also 

 gummed on to represent "the disease," and near it an 

 insufficiently stuffed skin of an old Kelt, which is offered 

 as an example of the effects of " the arrow-headed 

 parasite." 



In the space occupied by Chili, China, and the Straits 

 Settlements some specimens of fishes, and of shell-fish, 

 corals, &c, are shown, which are not however scientifically 

 named. 



Finally, we would direct the reader's attention to two 

 peculiarly interesting branches of fishery which are repre- 

 sented, though very poorly, in the present Exhibition. These 

 are the sponge fishery and the coral fishery : the pearl 

 fishery appears not to be represented at all. Collections 

 of economic importance, showing the mode of diving for 

 sponges in use in the Levant, and samples of Turkey sponges 

 are shown in the Greek Court by Messrs. Marks and Son. 

 L!y mistake (as seems probable) a specimen of Hyalo- 

 nema, from another locality, has been placed in the case 

 containing this fine collection of officinal sponges. From 

 the Bahamas samples of commercial sponges are sent, 

 and also (of very similar quality) from Florida (in the 

 American Court). The propagation of sponges by cutting 

 is illustrated by two specimens in the American collec- 



tion, but no attempt is anywhere made to show the 

 officinal sponge in its natural state, or to illustrate its life- 

 history and distribution. 



Similarly as commercial products we have the precious 

 coral exhibited in the Italian Court by Signor Criscuolo. 

 This exhibitor, however, also shows the method of 

 dredging employed in the Gulf of Naples for obtaining 

 the coral, and displays a number of the wooden cross- 

 bars with stone weights attached, and hempen tangles 

 depending, which constitute the instrument used in this 

 fishery. Specimens of other corals and shell-fish found in 

 association with the red coral are also exhibited. 



In no exhibit is there any attempt to illustrate the natu- 

 ral history of the precious coral, although its interest is 

 no less than its value. 



A strange illustration of the chance uses of such an 

 exhibition as the present may be foun.d in the Japanese 

 department. Nothing could be worse or more unworthy 

 than the Japanese exhibit. It consists of some sardines, 

 a large crab (Macrockeird), three pieces of red coral, and 

 some silks and lacquer work. The three pieces of coral 

 are the first commercial examples of a new species of 

 precious coral which will henceforward form an important 

 article of trade for Japan. They have been purchased by 

 Signor Criscuolo at a high price, and are said to be of the 

 very finest quality. The new Japanese coral fisheries are 

 destined to make the fortunes of those who first set them 

 going, and will very possibly seriously injure, if they do 

 not ruin the Neapolitan fishermen. Similar precious 

 coral may in all probability be discovered by dredging 

 operations on the shores of one or more of the numerous 

 British colonies. 



On a future occasion we shall publish some notes by 

 Prof. Giglioli of Florence, on the whales, seals, birds, and 

 fishes now to be seen at the Exhibition. 



PRECAUTIONS AGAINST CHOLERA 



EARLY in the month the Local Government Board 

 issued an Order to Port Sanitary Authorities con- 

 ferring upon them special powers with a view of prevent- 

 ing the importation of cholera into this country. But 

 cholera is a disease having many degrees of severity, and 

 although " choleraic-diarrhcea " is to be regarded by the 

 Port Authorities as synonymous with the fully developed 

 affection, yet it is at times so mild that it may at any 

 moment escape detection, and those suffering from it may 

 make their way into our towns and villages. To meet 

 such emergencies, and byway of aiding inland authorities 

 and private individuals to rid their districts and their 

 homes of the conditions favourable to the propagation of 

 the cholera infection, a Memorandum on the Precautions 

 against the Infection of Cholera has just been issued by 

 Dr. Buchanan, F.R.S., the chief medical officer of the 

 Local Government Board. The document, whilst ex- 

 pressing no opinion as to the channels of infection and 

 the means of favouring the spread of the disease in other 

 climates, declares with confidence that in England cholera 

 is not infectious in the same degree and manner as are 

 small-pox and scarlet fever, but that the matters which 

 the patient discharges from his stomach and bowels con- 

 tain the poison, and that their peculiar infectiveness is 

 favoured by special local conditions which give the disease 



