Oct. 2, 1884] 



NA TURE 



539 



found on comparing notes that this one, which they both said 

 was large and extremely brilliant, had appeared about twenty- 

 five minutes past six. 



At night we attended the Governor's last "reception," prior 

 to his leaving the colony. He was handing my wife to her 

 carriage — I was unfortunately in the house — when another fine 

 meteor illumined the sky. It must have been in the west, or, 

 from the position of the carriage and the buildings, my wife 

 could not have seen it. She says it fell straight down from the 

 zenith, and broke into several pieces. This occurred at 10.45; 

 I had just previously looked at my watch. I also heard of other 

 sm-iller, though bright, meteors, but did not see them myself. 

 What are we doing, Mr. Editor? Are we going through ihe 

 tail of a comet? or is cosmic dust igniting? or are the e "dire 

 and bl ody " portents? Whatever they are, I record them, in 

 the hope that others may hive seen and noted them. 



British Consulate, Noumea, July 21 E. L. Layard 



The Milleporidae 



Special intere-t is attached to any direct evidence as to the 

 nature of the reproductive organs in the Milleporidae, the more 

 especially as no traces whatever of such organs have hitherto 

 been discovered. In the absence of any direct evidence it has 

 been concluded that, from the apparent absence of ampulla;, the 

 gono] hores probably develop free of the ccenosteum ; and this 

 seemed partly borne out by the general resemblance between 

 the zooids of the Milleporidae and those of the gymnoblastic 

 Hydroids. 



On some dry specimens, however, of a new species of Mille- 

 pora (Millepora murrayi, characterised by its extremely lamin- 

 ated and coalescent frond , much and palmately divided at their 

 extremities, and by its minute gastropores, '25 mm. wide, and 

 its still more minute dactylopores and even surface) from the 

 Philippines, there occur, irregularly and numerously distributed 

 among the young branchlets of the ccenosteum, large receptacles, 

 which, though the absence of the soft parts prevents any ab-o- 

 lute confirmation thereof, can leave no doubt as to the true 

 ampullate nature of the generative organ; in this family. These 

 receptacles occur either closely, or widely apart, as circular 

 cavities in the superficial reticulations of the ccenosteum, and 

 are covered above by a very thin and porous laye r , which is 

 often broken away. When it is thus laid open, the cavity is 

 seen to be about 75 mm. in diameter. The receptacles are seen 

 on the surface as white, circular, scarcely raised areas about 

 •5 mm. in diameter, with a small pore in the centre; and they 

 are generally rather numerously placed on one or both faces of 

 the palmated branchlets. 



By the discovery of the ampulla; in the Milleporidae, a com- 

 plete confirmation is given to the relationship which Prof. 

 Moseley has shown to exist between this family and the Stylas- 

 teridae ; and it is seen that the two families are even more 

 closely related than had been imagined. The presence of such 

 a structure seems to bring the Milleporidae into relationship 

 rather with the calyptoblastic than with the gymnoblastic 

 Hydroids, in spite of the general resemblance of its zooids with 

 the latter. John J. Quelch 



Natural History Museum, South Kensington 



To Find the Cube of any Number by Construction 



The following graphical construction for finding the cube of a 

 number may interest more than the mere mathematician : — 



Take a triangle A B C, in which suppose A to be the vertical 

 angle and B greater than C. Draw the perpendiculars A D, 

 BE, C F, thus obtaining the pedal triangle D E F ; take H 

 the middle point of the perpendicular E G on D F. Then 

 tan C D H ' = tan 3 CD E = tan 3 A. If then we take a triangle with 

 vertical angle A such that tan A = ;;, we see that tan CDH= « 3 . 



The proof of the above result is quite elementary. 



September 22 R. Tucker 



The Failure of the Parsley Crop 

 WOULD you permit me to ask some subscribers to your paper 

 if it be possible to account for the total failure of the crop of 

 parsley this and last year. Is it owing to any known insect or 

 what ? The parsley comes up well, grows to about one inch in 

 height, then begins to dwindle and get yellow, and the whole 



summer remains about half an inch high, the only green part 

 being the crown. All the market gardeners are in the same 

 position as myself, only one having a crop, and this was sown in 

 freshly cultivated earth. I have carefully examined leaves and 

 roots unler the microscope, but can discover no cause for this 

 disease. Have any of your subscribers been troubled in the same 

 manner, and can any one suggest a remedy? W. H. C. B. 

 Cheltenham, September 23 



Wasps as Fly-Killers 



Yuri; correspondent at p. 385, vol. xxx. , may be informed 

 that in this part of the world wasps enter dwellings by the open 

 windows in summer-time, and hunt house-flies unmercifully, 

 leaving the dead flie^ in hundreds on the floors, ready to be 

 swept into a dustpan. This occurs only in the country, and 

 isps' nests are near by. Westwood quotes from St. 

 John's " Letters to an American Farmer" that : "The Ame- 

 ricans, aware of their (wasps') service in destroying flies, some- 

 times suspend a hornets' nest in their parlours" (Introduction to 

 " Modern Classification of Insects," ii. p. 246, foot-note). 



■ George Lawson 



Dalhousie College, Halifax, Nova Scotia, September 8 



GEORGE BENTHAM 



\ \ ' E iecently announced the death of the veteran 

 botanist, George Bentham, when within a few 

 days of his eighty-fourth birthday. His life, from a 

 verv early age, was one of incessant mental activity, and 

 of much change and vicissitude during its three or four 

 first decades. Through his birth, connections, and various 

 residences on the continent of Europe, as well as in 

 England, he became acquainted with many men famous 

 in literature, science, and art, and his career is rendered 

 especially notable from its intimate association with bis 

 uncle Jeremy, the jurist, in the arrangement of whose 

 papers and preparation of whose works for the press he 

 was actively engaged for not a few years, and with whom 

 he resided on the most intimate terms as companion and 

 secretary till the death of that relative in 1832. This and 

 the scientific value now attached to the "pedigree" have 

 suggested the expediency of entering with some detail 

 into the family history and early life of Mr. Bentham (for 

 most of which we are indebted to information imparted 

 by himself) before detailing his botanical career and 

 writings. 



About the year 1750 Jeremiah Bentham, an attorney or 

 solicitor, one of a family of scriveners who, as fathers and 

 sons, had inhabited the Minories since the beginning of 

 the seventeenth century, migrated to the West End of 

 London, purchasing property in Queen's Square Place 

 and Petty France (now York Street, on the south side of 

 Birdcage Walk, St. James's Park). He had two sons : 

 the elder, Jeremy, the well-known writer on Jurisprudence, 

 the younger, Samuel (subsequently Sir Samuel), father to 

 George, the botanist. Samuel devoted himself to the study 

 of naval architecture, and at the age of twenty-two visited the 

 arsenals of the Baltic for the purpose of improving himself. 

 From thence he travelled far into Siberia, and became 

 intimate with Prince Potenkin, who induced him to enter 

 into the service of the Empress Catherine, at first in a 

 civil, and afterwards in a military, capacity. In the latter 

 he took a distinguished part in a naval action against the 

 Turks on the Black Sea. For this he received the Cross 

 of St. George, and was given the command of a regiment 

 quartered in Siberia, which enabled him to penetrate 

 eastward to the frontier of China. After ten years of 

 absence he returned to England, and was shortly after- 

 wards promoted to the rank of general. The death of 

 Catherine followed soon after, when he was offered em- 

 ployment in England by his friend Earl Spencer, then 

 First Lord of the Admiralty, who was anxious to avail 

 himself of Gen. Bentham's ingenuity and experience in 



