400 
THE fifth volume of the Journal of Malacology, founded by 
Mr. Walter E. Collinge, and now edited by Mr. Wilfred Mark 
Webb, has been received. A valuable feature of each number 
is a descriptive bibliography of current malacological literature, 
compiled by Mr. E. R. Sykes and Mr. S. Pace. 
THE Bulletin de ? Herbier Boissiex, edited by Prof. Chodat, 
of Geneva, publishes a very interesting account, by the Belgian 
botanist Crépin and MM. Autran and Durand, of the plants 
cultivated by Boissier in 1885, the year of his death, in the 
gardens at Valleyres and Chambésy. The number of species 
enumerated is nearly 5000. 
WE have received an important excerpt from the sixteenth 
annual report of the U.S. Geological Survey (1894-95). The 
subject is “‘ Some Analogies in the Lower Cretaceous of Europe 
and America,” and the author, Mr. Lester Ward. Mr. Ward 
devoted four years to a somewhat careful study of the Lower Cre- 
taceous of America, especially of the Potomac formation ; and 
he also spent a year or so in examining the structure of Port- 
land, the Isle of Wight, and other typical localities. His own 
observations, and the work done by others, lead him to claim 
that certain general resemblances do exist between the Lower 
Cretaceous strata of America and those of Europe. 
L. Lorenz’s ‘‘(Euvres Scientifiques,” with notes by H. 
Valentiner, are being published at the expense of the Carlsberg 
Foundation. The first part of the first volume has just been 
issued by the firm of Lehmann and Stage, Copenhagen. It 
contains papers on the determination of the direction of vibra- 
tions of ether by polarisation of diffracted light, and also by 
reflection and refraction ; on the reflection of light at the separat- 
ing surface of two transparent isotropic substances; on the 
theory of light (two memoirs); and on the identity of the 
vibrations of light and electricity. The editor’s notes on the 
papers are very full. 
In the years 1889, 1892, and 1896, Prof. Carl Rabl contri- 
buted three important memoirs on the ‘‘Theorie des Meso- 
derms” to the Morphologisches Fahrbuch. These papers have 
now been brought together and published in volume form, under 
the same title, by Wilhelm Engelmann, of Leipzig. The volume 
deals with the development and differentiation of the mesoderm, 
a subject to which Prof. Rabl has devoted much attention. To 
complete the work, a second volume, dealing with the differ- 
entiation of the mesoderm in the higher vertebrates, from 
amphibia upwards, will be published in the course of this year. 
We propose to review this important contribution to vertebrate 
morphology when it is completed, and content ourselyes now 
with announcing the publication of the first volume. 
THE scheme which the late Emperor of Russia set on foot 
for constructing a canal through Russia from the Baltic to the 
Black Sea, and which has been in abeyance since his death, has 
lately been revived. M. Flourens, the French Minister for 
Foreign Affairs, who in his private capacity was commissioned by 
Alexander III. to investigate the practicability of constructing 
a water-way for the passage of men-of-war from one sea to 
the other, has recently been to St. Petersburg, and had a con- 
ference with the present Emperor, and has been directed to 
consult the Ministers of Finance and Communication as to its 
practicability. The ‘proposed canal would be 994 miles long, 
and would have a depth of 29 feet. It would start from the 
Gulf of Riga, follow the course of the Duna, the Beresina, and 
the Dnieper to the Black Sea, thus placing the naval dockyards 
of Libau in the north and Nikolaief in the south in direct com- 
munication. The estimated cost is £20,000,000. There is at 
the present time a navigation for sn:all vessels and timber rafts 
NO. 1426, VOL. 55 | 
NATURE 
[FEBRUARY 25, 1897 
along this route, but the way is interrupted by a long series of 
cataracts on the Dnieper, and very expensive works would 
have to be carried out to overcome these and the other obstacle 
in the way. 
THE following lectures will be given at the Imperial Institute 
during the month of March, on Monday evenings, at 8.30 p.m. : 
—March 1, ‘‘Ceylon in Ancient and Modern Times,” by Mr. 
H. W. Cave ; March 8, ‘‘Imperial Aid to Solar Research, 
with an account of recent Eclipse Expeditions,” by Mr. J. 
Norman Lockyer, C.B., F.R.S.; March 15, ‘‘ Some Indian 
Dye-stufis,” by Prof. J. J. Hummel; March 22, ‘* The Timber 
Supply of the British Empire,” by Dr. W. Schlich, Professor of 
Forestry at the Royal Indian Engineering College, Cooper’s 
Hill. In addition to these lectures, which are open to Fellows 
and persons introduced by them, a popular lecture, to which the 
public will have free admission, will be given at 8 o’clock p.m. 
on March 2, on ‘‘ Queensland of to-day: some Notes on itS 
Progress and Resources,” by Mr. C. S, Dicken, C.M.G., Acting 
Agent-General for Queensland. 
INTEREST in science is encouraged by the scientific societies 
connected with many of our public schools. The twenty-seventh 
annual report of the Wellington College Natural Science Society 
shows that varied and instructive meetings were held during 
1896. Phenological observations were made, meteorological 
observations continuously recorded, and collectors of insects, 
plants, shells and eggs, showed enthusiasm in collecting and in 
determining species. The late Sir John Pender left a bequest 
in his will to permanently establish the Pender Prize, annually 
given by the Society for an essay on a subject connected with 
any branch of science. Preference is given to essays containing 
original work of any kind. Prizes of this kind are far more 
likely to create investigators. and thus extend a knowledge of the 
true inwardness of nature, thanare prizes based upon the results 
of examinations, 
THE tenth annual report of the Liverpool Marine Biology 
Committee and their Biological Station at Port Erin, by Prof. 
W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., is an excellent record of results. The 
large green 7halassema, of which several specimens, all more or 
less mutilated, were trawled from the deep water to the south- 
west of Port Erin at Easter, seems to be an undescribed form. 
Prof. Sherrington and Dr. Noél Paton have independently investi- 
gated the green pigment spectroscopically. They report that it is a 
very remarkable and apparently unknown pigment, which is not 
allied to hemoglobin or chlorophyll. It is not a respiratory 
pigment, and is apparently nearer to ‘‘ bonellein,” described by 
Dr. Sorby from the Gephyrean Sone//ia virtdis, than to any 
other known pigment ; but differs markedly in some respects, and 
cannot be identical with it. This is only one of the many 
interesting items in Prof. Herdman’s report on work accom- 
plished under the auspices of his Committee. 
Pror. S. P. LANGLEy’s report on the operations of the 
Smithsonian Institution for the year ending with June 1896, has 
just been distributed. As has been already announced, the 
Institution has now completed its first half-century of existence. 
To commemorate this event, arrangements have been made for 
the publication of a memorial volume, which will give an 
account of the Institution, its history, its achievements, and its 
present condition. The volume will be a royal octavo of about 
750 pages. It has been prepared under the general editorship 
of the late Dr. Goode, and will be found as worthy of the 
Institution as was every other task entrusted to his hands. The 
division is into two parts: one on the history of the Institution, 
and the other containing appreciations of the work of the 
Institution in different departments of science, written by various 
