3°4 



NA TURE 



[July 26, 1883 



times the common usage in Iceland, as we have 

 already observed, was to count by the weeks of each 

 of the "misscri" instead of referring to months. Ac- 

 cording to Prof. Munch, the Northmen originally divided 

 the week into five days, the so-called Fimt (Fifth), the 

 later hebdominal week having been borrowed, like the 

 names of the days, from the south. The latter, in spite 

 of their apparent northern character, are in point of fact 

 mere adaptations of the names of the Roman deities 

 Mars, Mercury, Jove, and Venus, which reappeared in 

 the old northern calendar as Ty, Odin, Thor, and Freja. 

 Saturn alone failed to find a representative in this system 

 of nomenclature, for to the genuine Northman it would 

 seem that the last day of the week could have no other 

 designation than that of " Laugar-dag," or " Thvott-dag," 

 washing or bathing day. And this name has been re- 

 tained through the intervening ages, being the only one 

 that escaped the ban of the Church, when a century after 

 the establishment of Christianity an episcopal ordinance 

 interdicted the application of the names of heathen gods 

 to the several days of the week, which were thenceforth 

 known in accordance with their order of sequence, 

 although Sunnudag and Mdnadag in course of time re- 

 placed the older designations of " First Day" and 

 " Second Day." 



The new style was introduced into Iceland at the same 

 time as in the foster- and mother-lands of Denmark and 

 Norway, and in accordance with a royal edict, the day 

 after February 18 in the year 1700 was reckoned as 

 March 1. From that period to the present time the Ice- 

 landic calendars have given double tables based on the 

 Gregorian, and the locally modified Julian system. A few 

 modifications have, however, been made in modern times 

 in the older national methods of intercalation, " summer 

 day " falling on the Thursday between April 19 and 25, 

 while in strict accordance with the past methods of com- 

 putation it should fall on the Thursday between April 21 

 and 27. The intercalated week of the old " Sumar-auke " 

 has also been shifted from midsummer to the close of the 

 summer measure, and thus falls partly in September, 

 " Haustmanadr," and partly in October, " Gorrminadr." 



THE ORFE, A FISH RECENTLY ACCLIMA- 

 TISED IN ENGLAND 



"THE fine specimens of the " Orfe " presented by his 

 •*■ Grace the Duke of Bedford to the International 

 Fisheries Exhibition, and exhibited in one of the tanks of 

 the Aquarium, fully deserve the notice of all interested in 

 the culture of our freshwater fishes. They are some of a 

 number which Lord Arthur Russell succeeded in import- 

 ing from Wiesbaden in March, 1874, and which were 

 placed in a pond at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire. 

 Owing to the succession of cold summers these " ( rfes '' 

 did not breed until last year, and we may hope that this 

 season will also prove favourable. This species may now 

 be considered as acclimatised, and will become a perma- 

 nent acquisition to our ornamental waters. 



The Orfe, whose bright yellow or golden colours re- 

 semble those of the Goldfish or Golden Tench, is, like 

 these two latter fish, a permanent variety of a wild and 

 much less brightly coloured race, belonging to the same 

 genus as, but specifically distinct from, the Chub, with 

 which it was confounded by some writers. Its systematic 

 name is Leuciscus idusj of vernacular names those of 

 "Aland'' and " Nerfling" are those most generally used 

 in Germany, whilst the Swedes know it by the name of 

 "Id.'' The name " Orfe" refers to the gollen-coloured 

 variety only, which has been cultivated for centuries in 

 inclosed waters in Bavaria. Willughby knew it well ; 

 he says in his " Historia Piscium " (Oxon, fol. 16S6), 

 p. 253: — "At Augsburg we saw a most beautiful fish, 

 which they call the ' Root ocrve,' from its \rermillion 

 colour, like that of a pippin apple, with which the whole 



body is covered, except the lower. side, which is white." 

 As in the Golden Tench, individuals of pure golden-yellow 

 tints are scarce, the majority retaining marks of their 

 origin from a plain-coloured ancestry in brownish spots or 

 blotches on some part of their body. The ordinary size 

 of this species is ten or twelve inches (and this is about 

 the size of those at the Exhibition) ; but it is known to 

 have attained to double that size and to a weight of six- 

 pounds. 



The Orfe will thrive in all inclosed waters suitable to 

 Roach and Goldfish ; as an ornamental fish it is prefer- 

 able to the latter on account of its larger size, livelier 

 habits, and rapid reproduction ; it takes the bait, and is 

 eaten in Bavaria. As an ornamental domestic fish the 

 Goldfish will always hold its own, but for waters of any 

 extent and free from Pike and Perch we know of no more 

 ornamental fish than the Orfe, a worthy rival of the 

 Golden Tench, which has been so successfully acclima- 

 tised by Lord Walsingham ; and we trust that his Grace 

 will soon rear a sufficient number to secure to the Orfe a 

 home in many different parts of the country. A. G. 



SNOW AND ICE FLORA 1 



THIS work, which is included in Baron Nordenskjold's 

 studies and investigations arising out of his travels 

 in the extreme north, is quite as interesting and important 

 as regards the snow and ice flora pf the Alps and Arctic 

 regions, as the great traveller had led us to expect (see 

 Nature, vol xxviii. p. 39). It is, as far as the materials 

 on hand permit, an exhaustive account of the subject 

 of which it treats. 



As might be expected, the first pages of the work are 

 devoted to '' red snow," than which there are few subjects 

 that have more engaged the attention of scientific tra- 

 vellers in the Arctic districts. This little plant has been 

 found in the Arctic regions of Europe and America, there- 

 by suggesting, as Prof. Wittrock observes, the former 

 union of the two continents. It also appears in the 

 north of Scandinavia, on the high Alps, the Pyrenees, 

 and the Carpithians. Various were the opinions as to 

 whether it belonged to the animal or vegetable world, 

 and many the names by which it was designated. The 

 prettiest of these names is certainly that given to it by 

 C. Agardh — " the snow-flower." While, however, " red 

 snow" will probably continue to be its trivial name, Prof. 

 Wittrock has restored to it the scientific name of Sphm- 

 rella nivalis, bestowed or. it by Sommerfelt in 1882. 



LTnlil Nordenskjold's expedition to Greenland in 1870, 

 this alga was thought to be the only living plant on the ice 

 and snow ; but during their wandering on the inland ice. 

 Nordenskjold and Berggren discovered several algae, 

 among which was one new to science, namely, Ancylo- 

 nema Nordenskjoldii, which was seen in such abundance, 

 that it gave to the adjacent ground a peculiar purple- 

 brown colour. Other algae seemed to be mixed up with 

 the fine sand (ice-dust, kryokonit), which here and there 

 spreads a thin covering on the ice, or lies in a thick 

 layer at the bottom of the funnel-shaped holes which are 

 formed in it. Baron Nordenskjold lays great stress on 

 the important part which these algae, and especially 

 Ancylonema, play in the melting of ice. " The dark 

 mass (algae)," he says, "absorbs a larger portion of the 

 sun's rays than the white ice, and therefore produces 

 deep holes in the ice, which in a great degree conduce 

 to its melting." He even thinks that this Ancylo- 

 nema once performed the same office in Scandinavia, 

 adding, "We have, perhaps, to thank this plant that the 

 ice deserts which formerly covered Europe and America 

 with a coating of ice, row give place to shady woods and 

 undulating fields of corn." 



1 " Om SnBns och Isens Flora, Sirskildt i de Arktiska Trakterna. " Af 

 Veit Brecher Wittrock. Ur "A K. Nordenskjold, Studier och forsk- 

 ningar fSranledda af minaresor i hiiga Norden." (Stockholm, 1883.) 



