Oct. i8, 1877] 



NA TURE 



523 



Of the comet discovered by Dr. Tempel at the Observa- 

 tory of Arcetri, near Florence, on October 2, the following 

 elem^rts by Dr. Schur are also from Prof. Winnecke : — 



Perihelion passage June 27'97o M.T. at Berlin. 



Longitude of perihelion 83 300 



„ ,, ascending node 184 I7'8 



Inclination 64 54-2 



Log. perihelion distarce 000994 



Mol ion — retrograde. 



On June 28 the comet was in R.A. 5h. Sim., N.P.D. 34°'4, 

 distant from the earth 171 ; on August i in R.A. 4h. 47m., 

 N.P.D. 38~-8, distance i'35 ; and on September 3 in R.A. 

 2h. 36ni., N.P.D. 55'''4, distance 079, so that an earlier 

 discovery might have been e.xpected. 



The places subjoined are from these elements for 1 2h. 

 G.M.T. :— 



Distance Distance 

 RA. N.P.D. from the fromthe 



h. m. o , Eartli. Sun. 



Oct. iS ... 23 5-5 ... 112 54 ... i*24i ... 2-036 



,, 20 ... 23 20 ... 113 48 



„ 22 ... 22 58-9 ... 114 37 ... 1-350 ... 2-084 



,, 24 ... 22 560 ... 115 20 



„ 26 ... 22 53-5 ... 115 5$ ... 1-462 ... 2-133 



,, 28 ... 22 51-3 ... 116 3r 



,, 30 ... 22 49-4 ... 117 2 ... 1-577 .. 2-iSo 



Nov. I ... 22 47-7 ... 117 29 



3 - 22 463 - i'7 54 .. 1-695 ... 2-227 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES 



Boring Power of Magilus. — We have received 

 from Mr. Charlesworth a preliminary note giving brielly 

 a result of his study of the genus IMagilus, the remarkable 

 testaceous gasteropod that is found immersed in the 

 large hemispherical corals of the genus Meandrina. Tlx 

 current belief, as set forth by Sowerby, Owen, Woodward, 

 and other authorities in moUuscan biology who have 

 treated of this coral-inhabiting mollusc, is that Magilus 

 in its young state eftects a lodgment in a crevice of a 

 Meandrina, and that as the coral enlarges, the Magilus 

 extends the margins of the mouth of its shell in the form 

 of a cylindrical corrugated tube, the growth of this tube 

 and of the coral proceeding \.<:>%zX\itx pari passu, and con- 

 sequently that there is no penetration of the coral by the 

 Magilus at all. Mr. Charlesworth, however, finds that 

 Magilus not only drives through solid masses of coral in 

 any direction with apparently the same facility that the 

 bivalve Teredo tunnels masses of wood, but he finds that 

 it even surpasses Teredo in its power of suddenly 

 reflecting its shell and returning to the point from which 

 it commenced its advance ; and this bending back of the 

 shell upon itself is not accomplished in such natural 

 cavities as frequently prevail in large corals of the 

 Meandrina genus, but in the solid mass of the coral. 



Great Vitality of Ants. — Several interesting obser- 

 vations have been made by the Rev. H. C. McCook on 

 the endurance of extremes of heat and cold by ants. This 

 year a formicary of F. pcnnsyh'anica was cut from an 

 oak bough and exposed out of doors to the rigour of a 

 mountain winter, and survived. A number were dropped 

 separately upon ice, and were found alive after forty-eight 

 hours, each in a little depression. F. riifa was found 

 active in its formicary at 34" F., sluggish at 30°. The 

 extreme of heat seemed also to be endured by F. pcimsyl- 

 vanicaj they did not suffer at all from the heat of stones 

 walling in a camp fii-e, having been driven into this posi- 

 tion out of a burning stump. A community of agricultural 

 ants {M. molcfacicns) lived in a mound upon which some 

 smiths in Texas made their fires for heating waggon tires. 

 Numbers of ants were seen at work by Dr. Lincecum, 

 cleaning out the entrance to their city, before the entire 

 extinction of the fire just used for heating tiies. They 

 had learnt all about the fire, and knew how to work in 



and around the dying embers without injury. A quantity 

 of mason ants (variety of F. riifa) observed by Mr. 

 McCook were accidentally flooded under five inches of 

 water, and they appeared to be quite dead, and floated 

 about in this condition for many hours. But subse- 

 quently most of them recovered full activity. In Texas 

 Mr. Lincecum found that the agricultural ants are seen 

 irr great numbers in wells, forming a sort of floating mass 

 as large as an orange, clinging together. In this con- 

 dition they get drawn up in the bucket, and though they 

 may have been in the water a day or two, they are all 

 found alive. Yet individuals cannot survive under water 

 more than sis minutes ; and life in these balls can only be 

 preserved by the mass revolving, either by the continued 

 struggles of the individual insects, or by an instinctive 

 and orderly movement of the outer tier of ants {Proc 

 Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphra, 1877, p. 134). 



The Striped JNIuelet.— This fish, so abundant off 

 the coast of North Carolina, seems to suffer from several 

 serious drawbacks, which would appear to threaten its 

 extinction. It moves through the water so slowly that a 

 man may easily walk as fast. The young fry suffer from 

 a disease which gradually destroys the sight, and great 

 numbers perish ; they are also much infested with para- 

 sitic worms. To counterbalance these destructive agencies, 

 the female has an enormously distended roe. 



The Mediterranean Flora. — From personal obser- 

 vations in Italy and Greece, with the aid of literature 

 bearing on the subject, M. Fuchs comes to the conclusion 

 that the so-called Mediterranean flora, so far as represented 

 by evergreen woody plants, and plants of the sage, thyme, 

 lavender, and rosemary order therewith always associated, 

 occurs, at least in France, Italy, Greece, Southern Russia, 

 and Northern Asia Minor, exclusively on calcareous for- 

 mations, while soils with little or no lime (granite, gneiss, 

 flysch, sandy" and muddy alluvia of rivers) in the whole of 

 that region, and south to Sicily and Morca, bear exclusively 

 deciduous foliaceous trees, and in general, a vegeta- 

 tion hardly differing from the ordinary central European 

 flora. We are not, however (M. Fuchs says), to conceive 

 the phenomenon as if the former class of plants required 

 the lime as nutriment ; the correct view rather is, that 

 the southern ever-green flora is better able to press 

 northwards on the drier and warmer calcareous forma- 

 tion, than on the damper and colder clayey soil. And he 

 finds support of thi.s view in the fact that, in the Azores, 

 Madeira, and the Canary Islands, with a truly sub- 

 tropical climate, an evergreen shrub vegetation closely 

 agreeing with the Mediterranean flora flourishes on 

 various soils indifferently, even on basaltic and trachylic 

 rocks. The sarne appears to be the case in Algiers. 



FOX TALBOT 



T_TAD the photographic art never been invented, Mr. 



*■ A W. H. Fox Talbot, whose death we recently 

 recorded, would have a claim to take a good rank as a 

 scientific investigator. In the popular estimation his 

 work in connection with photography is what alone gives 

 him a claim to remenrbrance ; but we are sure there are 

 many of our readers who must be familiar with writings 

 by him in various departments of science. He was 

 indeed in many respects a wonderful man, and a glance 

 at the Royal Society Catalogue will show that he has left 

 behind him a great amount of varied work. In mathe- 

 matics, in physics, in chemistry, in astronomy, in botany, 

 in archaeology, in literature, Fox Talbot at various periods 

 of his life did substantial work, and in addition filled 

 faithfully and liberally the responsible position of an 

 English country gentleman on his estate of Lacock 

 Abbey, Wiltshire. 



Fox Talbot was the eldest son of Mr. William Davenpor 

 Talbot, his mother being a daughter of the Earl of llchester 

 He was born in February, 1800, and received his earl) 



