Dec. 15, 1881] 
NATURE 
151 
Haliburton mentions in his letter. But when his contemplated 
book is published, he may be sure of his facts being appreciated 
— and his theories fairly dealt with. Though, as I have just said, 
this cannot be done here, I may be allowed one suggestion. 
Mr. Haliburton is good enough to speak of me as being a 
cautious person. May I in that capacity express a hope that 
verbal coincidences, when not close enough really to prove con- 
nection, may be kept out of an argument which ought to go on 
amore solid footinz, Why should the name of the star 4/iyone 
have anything to do with the name of A/kinz0s, king of Corfu? 
They look indeed rather more alike in Mr. Haliburton’s letter, 
where the latter name is misspelt with a y, but doubtless this is 
a slip of the writer or printer. 
A word about my remarks on the Pleiades-myth which has 
led to this correspondence. The question is only a small one, 
belonging to comparative mythology, whether a particular 
Australian tale about the Pleiades, one of a dozen such known 
in that quarter of the world, is a genuine native myth or a 
spoilt version of a story borrowed from the white men, I 
doubted its being genuine, because it says that the lost one of the 
seven was the queen or chiefess. This is hardly according to 
nature, for we should expect the star supposed to have gone 
away to be one of the insignificant ores of the group, not such a 
bright one as a story-teller would call the queen. Of the many 
Englishmen who have heard of the ‘‘ Lost Pleiad ” it is curious how 
few know the probable explanation of the classic tale, as a nature- 
myth derived from the difficulty of making out more than six stars 
with the naked eye. It has been suggested by some that there 
may have been a loss of brilliancy in one of the smaller stars of 
the group since ancient times. If any of your astronomical 
readers think there is anything whatever in this supposition, it 
would be interesting to have their judgment on it. 
EpWaArp B, TYLOR 
J 
: 
Fumifugium 
IN justice to Evelyn it cught, I think, to be made known that 
Mr, Shaw Lefevre was entirely wrong in stating at the opening 
ceremony of the Smoke Abatement Exhibition that ‘‘ Kyelyn 
proposed as a remedy for the smoke of which he complained, 
that the use of coal should be prohibited in the City and neigh- 
bourhood of London,” ‘‘ Fumifugium” (which was printed in 
1661, and not in 1644) is of course extremely rare, and even the 
editor of the reprint which was issued in 1772, and is now rare, 
calls the origin] ‘this very scarce tract,” so that the way in 
which the blunder in question has been repeated, is perhaps not 
to be wondered at. 
As amatter of fact Evelyn only mentions the idea of sup- 
planting coal by wood to call it ‘‘madnesse,”’ and he then goes 
on to say: ** But the Remrdy, which I would propose has nothing 
in it of this difficulty, requiring only the Removal of such 77ades 
as are manifest /Vazsances to the City, which I would have placed 
at further distances, especially such as in their Works and Four- 
naces use great quantities of Sea-Coale, the sole and only cause of 
those prodigious Clouds of Swcake which so universally and so 
fatally infest the dev, and would in no, city of Zwrofe be per- 
mitted, where men had either respect to Health or Ornament,” 
thus recogni-inz the two points of view so well represented by 
the cooperation of the National Health and Kyrle Societies, 
‘*T propose, therefore,” he continues, ‘‘that by an Acé of this 
present Parliament, this infernal Nuisance be reformed; en- 
joyning that all those /Vorks be removed five or six miles 
distant from London, below the Riv2r of Zhames, &c., &c.” 
Although this has been done to a considerable extent, we may, 
I think, on a foggy day, agree with Evelyn when he says that 
“the City of London resembles the face rather of Mount Aina, 
the Court of Vulcan, Stromboli, or the suburbs of /e//, than an 
assembly of rational creatures and the imperial seat of our 
incomparable A/onxarch.” W. H. CorFIELD 
Jamaica Petrel 
Tuis bird, known locally as the ‘‘ Blue Mountain Duck” or 
“Booby Duck,” appears in a carefully compiled lict of the 
birds of Jamaica, by Prof. A. Newton and his brother, the 
Hon. Ed. Newton, Colonial Secretary of Jamaica, published 
in the ‘‘ Jamaica Handbook, 1881, p. 117, as follows :—‘‘ PRo- 
CELLARIIDE— Cstrelata jamazcensis, Bancroft, Jamaica Petrel. 
Procellaria jamaicensis, Bancroft, Zool. Fourn. v. p. 81; Blue 
Mountain Duck, Gorse, ‘‘ Birds of Jamaica,”’ p. 437 (Hill); 
Pterodroma caribbea, Carte, P.Z.S. 1866, p. 93, Pl. x.” During 
certain seasons of the year it is remarkable that this sea-bird 
should be found in holes under treesjand in burrows on the Cin- 
chona plantations and in the unfrequented woods of the Blue 
Mountain range, at elevations from 6000 feet to 7000 feet. The 
natural inference was that the birds make their nests on these 
places, But, although careful search has been made during the 
last two years, anda reward offered for nests, eggs, or any signs 
of nidification, nothing whatever has been found in that direc- 
tion, It is therefore very probable that the birds use these holes 
and burrows simply as resting-places during the day, from 
whence they sally forth at night to their feeding-srounds at sea. 
The latter is distant only, as the crow flies, about twelve or four- 
teen miles. The birds are found in their burrows chiefly during 
the months of November, December, January, and March. 
Sometimes two lie in one hole, and dogs easily find them; but 
it has been noticed that the birds are always full grown, and 
with no apparent nest. I have been led to send you these 
remarks in the hope that possibly some of your readers with a 
wider knowledge of the habits of petrels might be able to give 
some clue as to the locality and general character of their 
nesting-places, D. Morris 
Botanical Department, Jamaica, November 14 
Biology in Schools 
‘Any eminent biologists seem to think that there are insuper- 
able difficulties in the way of sound biological instruction in 
public schools. Possibly my experience in this connection may 
be of interest. I began to teach biology some ten years ago. 
Two years’ experience satisfied me ‘‘that the power of repeating 
a classification of animals with all the appropriate definitions 
has any thing to do with genuine knowledge is one of the com- 
monest and most mischievous delusions of both students and 
their examiners.” For the third year I prepared a series of 
laboratory notes sufficient for the dissection of a few plants and 
animals, Since the publication of Huxley and Martin’s admir- 
able text-book of biology we have used that as a laboratory 
guide. Through the liberality of the School Board we are pro- 
vided with eight of Beck’s students’ microscopes. We begin 
with the study of the torula; we then take in succession the 
following organisms :-—Protococcus, amoeba, bacteria, mould, 
stone-wort, ferns, flowering plants, infusorian fresh-water polyp, 
clam lobster, and frog. We devote to laboratory work one hour 
daily for seven months. At the end of the course come morpho- 
logical and physiological generalisations. Our classes number 
about eighty, and are divided into working sections of sixteen 
each, The average age of the students is sixteen years, rather more 
than half of them being girls. I have found the students eager 
and enthusiastic, and a large majority of them regret the untimely 
end of their study of biology. To enter college a lad needs 
between four and five years’ work in Latin, and, if a scientific 
student, about five weeks in botany. Most of our high schools 
accept this estimate of the value of a scientific training, and 
only do the little that is necessary for the pass examination. 
Gro, W,. PECKHAM 
Biological Laboratory, Milwaukee High School, 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 
A Natural Ant Trap 
LAsT June I was staying at Husum, in the Lerdal Valley, 
Norway, and observed on the almost precipitous sides of the 
valley facing the south, immediately behind the station-house, a 
considerable number of the red German catchfly (Zychnis vis- 
caria), The plants were growing luxuriantly at analtitude of some 
1000 feet above the bed of the river, and were just then showing 
a gorgeous array of blossoms. On plucking some of the flowers 
I became aware of a most unpleasant stickiness around the 
stems ; in some instances the glutinous secretion being powerful 
enough to support the whole weight of the stem when I inverted 
and opened my hand. ‘Thereupon I- carefully examined more 
than a hundred plants, and was somewhat surprised at finding, 
on quite 95 per cent., either the dead bodies of a large species 
of ant, or individuals in all stages of dying, Some flowering 
stems had only one dead or dying ant upon each; others had 
two ; others three; whilst others again had as many as seven or 
eight. Some ants had, as it were, simply lain down in the 
glutinous matter and succumbed without further struggling. 
The heads of others, firmly imbedded in the treacherous stuff, 
