NA TURE 



- ■ >ist 7, 1884 



Lecoi ' : ' ■ 'inents of 



if different colours. panied by 



hich still better illu tieans adopted 



linous countries, and mu ceedingly 



I [en 

 order come I I in the variou 



transpo g die timber and 



.11 ; he bark Some of the axe ; am 



1 for the 

 es for which they are intend 

 ding to a printed table hung on the end wall, the 

 iic Japanese Empire is 58,563,71s chos (a cho = 

 res), the area of forest (excluding the islands of 

 and Hokkaido) beii 1 ■ chos, or rather 



less than one-third of the country. Of this area 5,259,182 

 worked by the Governme ',443 chos 



by private individuals. About a quarter of the Empire 

 been surveyed : the above figures, 

 :, only refer to the surveyed portion. A< 1 

 able is a map giving the distribution of trees in 

 'id marking out certain zones, each indicated by 

 some particular tree forming a prominent feature in the 

 Of these zones Fiats Wightiana character- 

 ises the lowest, Pin, is ThimbergU the second ; then fol- 



1 ad Pinus 



The extent of these zones i olours on 



the map, and on excellent coloured drawings representing 



lit of the five trees, and their foliage, flowers, and 



fruit in li 'e-size are presented at one glance. The less im- 



productions of the forests arc appropriately illus- 



smaller collections, a simple expedient by which 



if their relative consequen onveyed. 



ied lichen 

 3 of Gyroph : on of seeds of 



med, are 

 :cial trees, 

 ng to notes affixed to the tree-secti 



;ed in medicine are not so 

 '■presented as now tolerably 



well known in this country as a remedy for neuralgia, is 

 thibited. A beautiful ipecimen of insect wax re- 

 permaceti in appearance, but much harder, 

 1! with that used in ( 

 nt their guttering, is exhib insect produc- 



ing it is cultivated on Ligustrum Ibotu and Fraxinus 

 ' 



k is here 

 lit two-thirds 

 length ; on pulling the pieces apart, a wooden tooth- 

 pick is seen inclosed in the centre. As the wood has never 

 been entirely split, it is puzzling to know how the tooth- 

 inserted. This is clone by cutting it with a 

 o when the wood 1- wet and can be ex- 

 tended. The leaves of two other plants besides those of 

 i, the one made into and the 



r simply dried for smok ulia platanifolia 



The cooperage work seems to be carefully done, the 

 b 1 1 dished surfaces, and in some instances 



the binds are made of plaited bamboo. The polishing of 



ipears to be effected by the rough ' 

 of Aphananthe aspera and the -terns of a specie of 

 Equisctum. Japanese tooth-brushes are exhibited, made 

 of the frayed-out ends of a piece of white wood ; and 

 combs, and even tooth-combs, are made of similar mate- 

 rial of a harder character, such as the wood of Olea 

 ifolium and Hovenia dulcis. Dyeing and tanning 

 barks are comparatively few in number, and walking 

 sticks do not present any great variety, only a few being 

 engraved or ornamented. A simple flower-pot for the 

 of drawing-rooms consists of two joints of a large 

 b ' boo, with a piece cut out at the side of each joint so 

 permit of a fern or bouquet depending over it. 



In tl may be seen some bent wood 



furniture that might fairly compete with that of Austrian 

 ' icture. In one corner may be ies of 



young trees four or live years old, imported from France, 

 Germany, the United States, and other countries ; indi- 

 that acclimatisation of the useful trees of other 

 les has already been commenced in Japan. Wood- 

 ing and printing in one or more colours is illustrated 

 by the engravings placed side by side with the blocks. 

 The celebrated Japanese lacquer is exhibited in the crude 

 state, and also applied to knick-knacks and other articles, 

 if lacquered slabs having so high a 

 polish as to appear like glazed ornamental tiles. These 

 are accompanied by a coloured drawing of the foliage and 

 , of the lacquer-tree painted on the wood of the 

 same tree and framed, with other portions having the 

 bark attached. Several other useful timber-trees are illus- 

 trated in the same ingenious manner. The almost trans- 

 parent yet strong and tough paper made from the fibre of 

 the paper mulberry-tree [Broussonettia papyri fera) is 

 shown, but its manufacture is not illustrated by drawings, 

 the exhibits being limited to products. This paper rolled into 

 the form of a spill is strong enough to be used like sti 

 Exceedingly thin planed shavings of wood, scarcely thicker 

 than the paper above alluded to, occupy a conspicuous 

 position. These are used for packing butter or othi 

 goods of similar description. A cursory glance at the 

 notes appended to the sections of wood reveals many 

 interesting facts regarding some Japanese trees and shrubs 

 commonly cultivated in this country. Thus an oil is 

 obtained from the seeds of the common Camellia (C. 

 nd rope is made from the stems of 11 ~i 

 Charcoal, for the manufacture of gunpowder, is 

 prepared from the wood of Paulownia i//iperiah's,a.ndihe 

 of the deliciously -si ■ is is used for 



ing and combs. A shrub, also indigi 

 in this country, Viburnum opitlus, furnishes tooth-picks. 

 A very ingenious use of the trunks of trees is the hoi 1 

 them out into drain-pipes, each about 6 or 8 feet long, 

 and fitting into each other at the end. ( in the walls of 

 this court illustrations are given of the mode of preventing 

 the slippii iil on mountain-sides, and of the trees 



and shrubs and herbs useful for binding sandy soil or 

 embankments, &C. Altogether the Japanese section is an 

 exceedingly interesting one, and offers many useful sug- 

 gestions to the foresters of Western countries. 



PR A CTICA 1. TAXI DERM 1 ' 



AM 1 1 'ST the many criticisms which are passed by 

 visitors upon the collections in the new Natural 

 History Museum of South Kensington, there is always to 

 be found a word of praise for the improved appearance 

 of the mounted animals in that Museum, and it may fairly 

 be said that the encomiums which are heard on all side 

 have been justly earned by Dr. Gunther and the staff ot 

 the Zoolo D ment ; that is to say, if an honest 



ir to present to the public something better than 

 cm be seen in other museums counts for anything. The 

 Museum, in transferring the zoo- 

 logical collections from Bloomsbury to South Kensington, 

 were heavily handicapped, for it was impossible to com- 

 mence the mounting of the collections de novo, and they 

 therefore had upon their hands a vast number of interest 

 ing specimens unfit to exhibit to the public, but valuable 

 to the naturalist, and worthy of preservation as forming 

 a historical part of that great zoological collection which 

 is admitted by naturalists to be intrinsically the finest in 

 the world. For some time before the removal a careful 

 selection of duplicate specimens had been made, and 

 these had been distributed to various provincial museums, 

 but all those which possessed any scientific value, such 

 as types, &c, have been carefully unmounted and 

 added to the collection of skins, and it was curious 



