554 



NA TURE 



[April 1 6, 1885 



cavities of the vesicular parts of the rock were often filled by 

 calcite or haematite. 



The apparent absence of any cone or tuff deposit, the com- 

 pact and columnar structure of the rock, and the vertical position 

 of the columns, seemed to show that the whole had been origin- 

 ally one continuous sheet of submarine lava-streams, which had 

 been subsequently elevated and cut up by the waves into the 

 several islands — a conclusion which was supported by two other 

 circumstances : the form of the islands and the shallow inter- 

 vening depths (6 to 9 fathoms). 



It is noteworthy that several of the islands sloped away gradu- 

 ally west-south-west to south-west, a direction coinciding with 

 that of the submarine slope in this part of the Formosa Channel. 

 From this circumstance it would seem that the succession of 

 lava-streams flowed in a south-west direction, and that their 

 source lay in the north-east portion of the group. 



17, Woodlane, Falmouth, April 11 H. B. Gurry 



A New Bird in Natal 

 Some months ago, Mr. Fereirra, a member of my congrega- 

 tion, informed me that lie had shot some time previously a bird in 

 the early morning which neither he nor any of his neighbours 

 had seen before. From his description of it I concluded that it 

 probably belonged to the goat-suckers, and on examination of 

 the skin I find that the supposition is correct. 



A day, or two ago he brought the skin to me : it had been 

 stretched against The wall of his room to display its plumage to 

 the greatest advantage. The measurements which I give cannot 

 therefore be perfectly accurate. One of its long plumes has 

 been broken by a pellet, but otherwise the skin is in tolerably 

 good preservation, and I trust that it may be well stuffed and 

 set up, for the bird is certainly not mentioned in the first edition 

 of Layard's "Birds of South Africa," nor yet in any of the 

 books or catalogues in my possession, and the bird is in itself so 

 very remarkable that one cannot help thinking that it would 

 have been described in the books I have had it been known. I 

 will deposit the skin in the Natal Museum, Pictermaritzburg. 

 The bill is that of a goat-sucker, strongly fenced with strong 

 hairs. The length of the body from tip of the bill to the inser- 

 tion of the tail is 6 inches ; length from tip of bill to tip of tail, 

 II J inches ; length between tips of wings — probably stretched 

 too much — 24 inches. 



The colour is the usual brown'of the family — bars on the tail 

 of brown black, and mottled bars of light and dark brown ; 

 feathers, eight in number, the longest on the outside of the tail. 

 Wings : Primarily, 9 in number. 



Length of the 1st feather, jl inches. 



, , 2nd , , about an inch shorter. 



,, 3rd ,, shorter than second ; the fol- 



lowing three about the same length as the 3rd. 



Length of the 7th feather, Jh inches. 

 8th „ ill .. 

 ,, 9th ,, 2j\ ,, 



The first seven of the primarise are tipped with white, the 2nd 

 and 3rd rather broadly, the 1st scarcely. The 8th becomes 

 greyish towards the tip, and the ribs of the 7th and 8th are 

 brown, while the others are black. Two-thirds of the length of 

 these feathers are black ; but a band of white, narrower on the 

 first and increasing to about 3 inches broad on the Sth feather, 

 extends along the roots and middle of them, and crosses over to 

 the 9th long feather, which, for 21 or 22 inches, is of a dullish 

 silver-gray. The secondaria: are tipped with white, with the 

 exception of the 1st and 2nd, which only give indication, ol 

 being so ; they are generally black-brown, with markings of 

 light brown. There is a reddish ring around lower back part of 

 the neck. 



The breast is light gray, generally with light brown markings 

 in bands. 



Its feet are those of a goat-sucker, but on comparing the foot 

 of the Cuprimulgus europteus, as drawn by Van der Hoeven 

 (vol. ii. plate 7, Fig. 9, ed. 1858) I find the teeth of the comb 

 of the middle toe much broader and stouter than that of the 

 former. There are only four teeth, with a smaller or false one 

 at the root of the nail. The length of the nail is about one- 

 eighth of an inch, and the breadth of tooth is therefore about 

 one-sixteenth of an inch. 



This bird is evidently very closely related to the pennant-winged 

 nightjar, or long-shafted goat-sucker (Macrodiplcyx afiicanus) ; 

 but the markings are very different, and the long-shafted feathers 



are not more than 17 inches long, while those of this bird are 

 more than 27 inches in length, and they do not display any 

 inclination to form a long naked shaft, but are clothed or webbed 

 on both sides from the root to the tip. 



It is very singular that this bird should only have become 

 known in this district in 1SS4. The farmers are close observers, 

 as also are the Kaffirs, but no one has ever seen it. It is the 

 more singular since it was shot on a farm that has been long 

 occupied, and that by a farmer who in his younger days was 

 accustomed to help collectors of birds for our European 

 museums. Perhaps the long and severe droughts, said to pre- 

 vail this year in the interior, may account for its presence in 

 Natal. James Turnbull 



Tastorie, Grey Town, Natal, March 2 



C. T. E. VON SIEBOLD 

 pARL THEODOR ERNST VON SIEBOLD was 

 ^ — born at Wtirzburg, in Bavaria, on February 16, 1S04. 

 His brother was the well-known traveller and philologist. 

 Carl was brought up chiefly, under the superintendence of 

 his father, for the medical profession, and he carried on a 

 practice for a few years as a physician at Heiisberg and 

 Konigsberg. In 1S35 he received the appointment of 

 Master of the Lying-in Hospital at Dantzic. Early in his 

 life he showed an interest in zoology, and in 1840 he 

 removed from Dantzic to Erlangen, where he taught 

 comparative anatomy, zoology, and veterinary medicine. 

 In 1845 he was appointed Professor of Zoology at Fri- 

 burg, and shortly afterwards he made a prolonged 

 sojourn on the Adriatic. At this time he worked with 

 immense zeal and ardour at the anatomy of the marine 

 invertebrates, and as the result of this work and his lec- 

 tures combined he commenced the elaboration of his 

 well-known " Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Anatomie der 

 Wirbellosen Thiere." In his preface to this work, which 

 has been translated into English and French, he insisted 

 on the importance of a knowledge not only of the minute 

 anatomy but also of the developmental stages of the forms 

 described. Generous aid in the completion of this at the 

 time most excellent treatise was given to him by C. Vogt, 

 H. Stannius, A. Krohn, H. Koch, and A. Kolliker, and in 

 1S49 he founded, in connection with the last-named of 

 these eminent biologists, the Zcitschrift fur luissenschaft- 

 lichc Zoologie, a journal which has ever held a leading 

 position among the scientific publications of our day, and 

 one which is still known and esteemed wherever zoology 

 is studied. 



In 1S50 von Siebold was appointed to the Professorship 

 of Physiology in the University of Breslau, and also 

 received the charge of the Physiological Institute of that 

 city. 



In 1853 he was appointed Professor of Zoology and 

 Comparative Anatomy in the UJniversity of Munich, and 

 Director of the Zoological and Zootomical Cabinet in that 

 city. These positions he filled during the remainder of 

 his life. 



Shortly after his appointment to the Munich Professor- 

 ship he commenced an elaborate series of investigations 

 into the vexed question of " Parthenogenesis," entering on 

 the subject with a belief that facts had been misunder- 

 stood ; and his treatise on this phenomenon, as found by 

 him to actually exist in bees and moths, was a genuine 

 contribution to science. This work was published at 

 Leipzig early in 1856, and was translated by Mr. Dallas 

 the following year into English. 



Somewhat earlier in date he published a memoir on 

 " Tape and Cystic Worms, with an introduction on the 

 Origin of Intestinal Worms," which was deemed worthy 

 of being translated into English, by Prof. Huxley, for the 

 New Sydenham Society. The good that this translation 

 effected by introducing some scientific facts to the notice 

 of our medical men it is not easy to calculate. 



In 185S the Royal Society elected him as one of their 

 honorary members. In 1867 he was made a correspond- 



