468 
NATURE 
| Marcu 18, 1897 
stomach of the sun-fish (Ovthagoriscus mola), which 
Grassi believes to be a deep-sea species. In the Straits 
of Messina this fish rarely appears, except in the months 
from February to September, and the occurrence of Z. 
brevirostris is limited to that period. The eggs, which 
evidently belong to Murenidz, are found in the sea 
from August to January ; the adult eels in an advanced 
stage of sexual development have been obtained from 
November to July; while, lastly, the migration of eels 
from fresh waters to the sea takes place from October 
to January. Thus Grassi traces backwards the succes- 
sion of events in the origin and development of young 
eels, and reaches the conclusion that the elvers or eel- 
fare which ascend rivers are already about a year old. 
The metamorphosis occupies one month. The eels 
which descend to the sea in winter take some months 
to ripen their sexual products. The eggs are fertilised 
in August and following months, and the larve are 
found in the following spring and summer. This agrees 
with the facts that have been established concerning the 
conger, the female of which takes about six months to 
develop her ovaries, and during this period takes no 
food. The eels which migrate to the sea in autumn have 
the generative organs in a quite immature condition, 
and, therefore, could not well be the parents of the 
elvers, whith begin to ascend rivers in the following 
February,» It would appear, however, from Grassi’s 
paper, that he considers the metamorphosis to take place 
In winter, and that by one year old, he means derived 
from the larve of the previous summer; so that two 
years would elapse between the descent of the adult 
eels and the ascent of their progeny. 
J. T. CUNNINGHAM. 
NOTES 
THE death of Prof. J. J. Sylvester, on Monday, deprives 
mathematical science of a most brilliant mind, and the scientific 
world in general of one of its foremost workers. The greatness 
of his genius has long been recognised wherever pure mathe- 
matics is studied ; for his works command admiration by their 
originality and breadth of treatment. Eight years ago, Prof. 
Sylvester was added to the Nature Series of ‘ Scientific 
Worthies,” and an account was then given of his career and of 
his more important contributions to mathematical science. We 
merely call attention to this article now, deferring until our next 
issue a fuller notice ot the life and work of the esteemed 
investigator just lost to science. 
M. G. BONNIER has been elected a member of the Section 
of Botany of the Paris Academy of Sciences, in succession to 
the late M. Trécul. 
THE library of the late Prof. Kekulé, of Bonn, containing 
eighteen thousand volumes, mostly on chemistry, has been 
purchased by the firm of Messrs. Friedrich Bayer and Co., 
dye manufacturers, Elberfeld. 
Tue Russian Government has conferred the Order of St. 
Stanislas upon M. Moureaux, the director of the magnetic work 
at the Pare St. Maur Observatory. M. Moureaux has also 
been awarded a gold medal by the Geographical Society at 
St. Petersburg. 
A ‘DISCUSSION ” meeting of the Royal Society will be held 
on Thursday next, March 25. The subject for discussion is 
the chemical constitution of the stars, and it will be introduced 
by Mr. J. Norman Lockyer, C.B., F.R.S., with a communication 
“On the Chemistry of the Hottest Stars.” 
THE annual meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute will be 
held on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 11 and 12. At this 
meeting the Bessemer gold medal for 1897 will be presented to 
NO. 1429, VOL. 55] 
Sir Frederick A. Abel, Bart., K.C.B., F.R.S. The autumn 
meeting of the Institute will be held at Cardiff, August 10 to 13. 
A REUTER telegram from Christiania states that the Financial 
Committee of the Norwegian Storthing has unanimously adopted 
a proposal in favour of granting 4000 kroner to each of Dr. 
Nansen’s twelve.companions, and 3000 kroner yearly during a 
period of five years to Captain Sverdrup, who will be at the 
head of the next expedition in the “vam planned by Dr. Nansen 
for 1898. 
Tue Howard Medal of the Royal Statistical Society, together 
with a cheque for 20/7, was presented to Dr. James Kerr, at 
the meeting of the Society on Tuesday, for his essay on ‘‘ School 
Hygiene, in its Mental, Moral, and Physical Aspects.” 
THE Berlin Academy of Sciences offers a prize of 2000 m. for 
the best treatise on the origin and characters (Ztstehung u. 
Verhalten) of the varieties of cereals during the past twenty 
years. The essays, which may be written in German, French, 
English, Italian, or Latin, must be sent in by December 31, 
1898. 
Tue American Commission for the selection of a site fora 
Tropical Botanical Laboratory has now been constituted as 
follows :—-Prof. D. H. Campbell (Leland Stanford University), 
Prof. J. M. Coulter (University of Chicago), Prof. W. G. Far- 
low (Harvard University), Prof. D. T. MacDougal (University 
of Minnesota). 
CONSIDERABLE damage to gas and water pipes by electrolysis, 
due to the escape of the electric current used to propel trolley 
cars, is noted in Brooklyn. An illustration of the action of 
electricity was shown in a gas pipe two feet below the rail; the 
pipe having been found with a gap an inch wide in it, and the: 
edges eaten down to the thickness of a sheet of paper. 
PRESIDENT CLEVELAND celebrated the one hundred and 
sixty-fifth anniversary of the birth of George Washington on 
Monday, February 22, by setting apart thirteen forest reser- 
vations, on the recommendation of Secretary Francis and a 
forestry commission of the National Academy of Sciences 
appointed by Prof. Wolcott Gibbs, President of the Academy. 
The reservations have an aggregate area of 21,379,840 acres. 
Tue Bertillon system of anthropometrical measurements is 
now applied to criminals in New York City. 
THE veteran Italian botanist, Prof. T. Caruel, has retired 
from the professorship of Botany at the University of Florence. 
On Thursday next, March 25, Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, 
F.R.S., will begin a course of three lectures at the Royal 
Institution on ‘‘ The Relation of Geology to History.” The 
Friday evening discourse on March 26 will be delivered by Sir 
William Turner, F.R.S., his subject being ‘‘ Early Man in 
Scotland.” 
WE regret to have to record the death of Prof. Henry 
Drummond, the author of ‘ Natural Law in the Spiritual 
World,” ‘*The Ascent of Man,” and other works aiming at 
the reconciliation of theological revelation with science and 
evolution. Fle travelled in many parts of the world, and his 
“Tropical Africa” contains a very readable account of his 
journeys in the interior of that continent. With Sir Archibald 
Geikie he went on a geological expedition to the Rocky 
Mountains, and he more recently visited Australia, Java, Japan, 
and China. He was only forty-six years of age at the time of 
his death. 
THE Report of the Meteorological Council for the year 
1895-96 has just been presented to Parliament, and is, as usual, 
