7o 



NA TURE 



[Nov. 2o, 1884 



4° and 6°, and even on some days not lower than zero (= 32 F.). 

 This was particularly the case whilst the north-east " Fohn " 

 wind prevailed, to which East Greenland is indebted for its 

 comparatively mild winters ; but there are places where the 

 ice lies firm throughout the winter. On December 5, during a 

 "Fohn" wind, the thermometer rose to + 10° C. After the 

 beginning of the new year, however, the cold became more 

 severe, and the "Fohn" winds less frequent. 



Towards the end of January and in February the thermometer 

 sometimes registered 20 C. of frost, and on March 9 it fell to 

 - 2i°"5, the lowest temperature registered during the winter. 



Some interesting particulars are also given of the almo-t un- 

 known district in which the Expedition wintered. The station 

 Namortalik is described as situated on an island, and as having 

 a population of 250 souls. The island, which bears the same 

 name, is surrounded by several others, which, lying further out 

 to sea, are visited during the spring by the native-, who catch 

 seals and eider-ducks there. To the north the scenery of Green- 

 land is seen in all its grandeur and beauty ; wild mountains with 

 lofty cones rising above the clouds. These are on the beautiful 

 but almost unapproachable island of Sermerok. If the air be 

 clear, and the weather calm and sunny, the little island lies so 

 peacefully in the ocean that one feels tempted to climb the lofty 

 mountains ; but when the storm hovers around the peaks, half 

 hidden in drifting clouds, and the Polar Sea is a mass of foam, 

 the giant forms of the mountains deter even the boldest. The 

 mainland is rugged, like the island just mentioned ; in fact, the 

 ■whole southern portion of Greenland is a region of wild moun- 

 tains, furrowed by tremendous ravines, and rising to a height of 

 nearly Sooo feet, from which enormous glaciers descend to the 

 sea. The landscape produces by its wildness and desolation 

 very striking impressions. 



There are thirty little turf-covered houses at Namortalik, 

 including a bakery and a brewery. The so-called " Royal 

 Commerce of Greenland,"' a Danish Company, has also a depot 

 here. There is, besides, a Lutheran mission, a church, and a 

 school attended by half-caste Greenlanders. 



The Expedition has erected two observatories on the rocks, 

 about 1000 feet from the dwelling-houses, but connected by 

 telephone. 



Close to Namortalik is the Tasermint Fjord, some fifty miles 

 in length, one of the loveliest in South Greenland. On its 

 shores the vegetation is very luxuriant in summer, and the heat 

 and mosquitoes are so troublesome that one could imagine 

 one's self in the tropics. This fjord is of great importance to 

 the Namortalik people, as its shores provide them with fuel, its 

 streams and waters with salmon, seals, and herrings, and its 

 mountain-slopes with ptarmigans, Polar hares, and foxes. 



When the summer commenced, the Expedition intended to 

 leave their quarters, and continue the exploration of the east 

 coast ; but there is at present no news of their achievements 

 this summer. The programme is, however, to explore the east 

 coast by sea and land as far north as possible, and to get into 

 communication with the natives whenever opportunity offers, 

 in which latter attempt nearly all previous Expeditions have 

 been disappointed. 



At the beginning of this winter one half of the Expedition 

 was to return to Namortalik, while the second endeavoured to 

 spend the winter as far north as possible. The Expedition will 

 leave Greenland in the autumn of next year. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Journal of Botany, August to November. — The most import- 

 ant article in the recent numbers of this magazine is Mr. Charles 

 Bailey's paper on the structure, &c, of Naias graminea, Delile, 

 var. Delilei, Magnus, illustrated with four plates and many 

 woodcuts. This interesting addition to the British flora — first 

 found in 1SS3 in a canal in Lancashire — is a native of warmer 

 climates, not being indigenous anywhere in Europe, and has 

 probably been introduced with Egyptian cotton. Mr. Bailey 

 gives an exhaustive account of the morphology of its various 

 organs, and especially of its mode of fertilisation. The Naias 

 belongs to a class of plants that may be called "protozoophi- 

 lous," the pollen being carried to the stigma by aquatic animals 

 of low organisation, in this instance by the currents caused by 

 the rotating cilia of species of Vorticellidoe — Most of the other 

 articles in these numbers are of more limited interest, being 

 topographical papers on the flowering plants or cryptogams of 



particular districts, or descriptions of new or little-known species. 

 — Additional instalments are also given of Mr. J. G. Baker's 

 synopsis of the genus Selagiiiella, which is still uncompleted, the 

 species now described amounting to I So. 



Nuevo Giornale Botanico Italiano, July to October. — The 

 greater part of the space in the July number of this magazine 

 is occupied by descriptive papers. The paper of most general 

 interest is that by A. Piccone, on the algfe of the Red Sea. 

 He shows that the algal flora of this sea shows much closer 

 affinities to that of the Indian Ocean than of the Mediterranean. 

 It is characterised by the small number of diatoms and of green 

 algae generally, by the entire absence of Laminariea:, and, above 

 all, by its extraordinary richness in species of Sargassum, many 

 of them endemic. — In the October number are a synopsis of the 

 flora of Sicily, and a list of the " pronubi " or insect-fertilisers 

 of flowering plants in Calabria and Piedmont ; also a note by 

 R. Pirotta, showing, from an examination of the oospores, the 

 identity of Cystopus capparidis, parasitic on the caper, with 

 Cyslopus candidus, the common parasite of cruciferous plants. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Linnean Society, November 6. — Sir J. Lubbock, Bart., 

 President, in the chair. — A letter was read intimating that their 

 late President, Mr. G. Bentham, had bequeathed in his will a 

 legacy of 1000/. to the Society. — A notice of invitation for tiie 

 Fellows to attend the centenary (December 4) of the Royal 

 Bohemian Society of Natural History in Prague was also read 

 from the chair. — Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer "exhibited the fol- 

 lowing plants and their products : — (1) Vaccinium arctostaphylus, 

 from which the Trebizonde tea (" The-du-Bu-Dagh ") i^ pre- 

 pared at Amassia and Tokat. The tea has a pleasant odour, 

 but a somewhat harsh taste when drank. (2) Pueraria T/inn- 

 bergiana, specimens of this Corean plant and of the cloth made 

 from it. (3) Pachyrhyza sinensis, with the native name of " Ko- 

 poo," a leguminous plant from the fibres of which the yellow 

 and more expensive summer cloth is made. — Mr. Thos. Christy 

 showed and made remarks on a specimen of Kola acuminata. — 

 Mr. R. A. Rolfe afterwards exhibited examples of British oak-galls 

 produced by Cynipidean insects of the genus Neuroterus. These 

 were the silk-button gall formed by N. numismatis, the globose 

 gall produced by JV. ostreus, the smooth- spangle gall formed by 

 N. fumipennis, the scarce-spangle gall formed \>y N. Irvinscu- 

 lus, and the common spangle gall produced by N. lentu ularis, 

 as also a purple variety of the latter gall. He stated that the 

 plan and details of the galls depend on the nature of the 

 irritating fluid deposited by the insect ; but on the other hand 

 the different species of oak seem to have an influence in deter- 

 mining certain variations as to colour, and, it may be, general 

 growth, of the galls. — Mr. Geo. Brook read a paper on the 

 development of the Five-bearded Rockling {Motella mustela) in 

 which the following points were enunciated : — (1) Whereas there 

 is only one large oil globule in the normal egg of Motella, some- 

 times this is subdivided into from two to eight or even more ; 

 but in these cases there is always an abnormal development 

 which often results in the death of the embryo. In those that 

 survive, the small oil globules always coalesce to form "tie large 

 one before the embryo hatches. (2) In the further development 

 of the newly-hatched embryo there is a cranial flexure produced 

 which is analogous to that so characteristic of Elasmobranchs. 

 This is caused by the rapid development of the dorsal portion 

 of the head, while the ventral portion remains comparatively 

 quiescent. Later, the ventral portion plays its part, and, with 

 the development of the jaws the brain is pushed back to its 

 normal position. (3) As in other pelagic Teleostean eggs, there 

 is no circulation observable either in the embryo or in the 

 vitellus up to the time of hatching, nor indeed for some days 

 afterwards. (4) In Motella the anal gut does not open on the 

 ventral surface for at least a week after hatching. Ryder has 

 shown the same to be the case with the cod-fish, so that the 

 young Gadida would not appear to be in a position to take solid 

 food at nearly so early a period in their existence as is usual with 

 Teleosteans. Mr. Brook also called attention to the influence of 

 temperature on the rate of development of pelagic eggs, and sug- 

 gested that, until we know the temperature at which the various 

 observations are made on these forms, no true comparison can 

 be established. — The next communication was on a collection of 



