Bs ae 
 Fune 5, 1873] 
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be the one produced by striking a circle of ten miles’ radius, 
having the Leeds Town Hall for its centre. 3. That, as far as 
practicable, the lists should be complete, and as fuli as possible 
in detail as to the distribution of the species; and that they 
‘should be prefaced by a good outline sketch of the physical con- 
formation and geological structure of the district, In con- 
formity with these recommendations, the sub-committee would 
be glad to receive lists, as complete as possible, from all persons 
willing to co-operate in the work. These lists, to be available 
for immediate use, must be sent in before the Ist of July, 1873. 
Should the amount of information received up to that date 
warrant the Council in so doing, the lists will be placed in the 
hands of small committees of revision, whose province it will be 
to construct general catalogues combining all the information in 
the possession of the Society ; and it is then hoped that during 
the first week in August, a small work may be published. The 
sub-committee will be very glad to receive all suggestions that 
may be made ; and would be glad also to learn the names of 
all persons likely to be able to supply information. All com- 
munications to be addressed to the Secretaries, 9, Sunny Bank 
Terrace, Leeds. 
WE have received the Report, for 1872, of Mr. B. A. Gould, 
superintendent of the Argentine National Observatory at Cor- 
doba, and a very creditable report itjis, both to Mr. Gould and 
his assistants, as well as to the [liberality of the Argentine 
Government, which seems to have done all in its power to pro- 
vide the necessary buildings and instruments. The buildings 
are not yet quite complete, though a number of excellent instru- 
ments have been acquired, and others are being provided. The 
principal work of the observatory has been the preparation of a 
Uranometry, which will contain a larger number of stars than 
the recently published one of Heis for the northern heavens ; 
Heis’s contains 5,421 stars. In the Uranometria Argentina, the 
brilliancy of the stars will be determined to single tenths of a 
limit of magnitude. There now remains nothing of importance 
to be done in the way of observation, since each star has been 
observed upon the average at least four times, and the degree of 
its brilliancy determined with the greatest precision possible. 
To prepare these results for publication, the position of every 
_ star will be computed for the commencement of 1875, a part of 
which labour has already been accomplished, and then to prepare 
the maps for reproduction by the engravers. The observation of 
the zones for the formation of an extended catalogue of stars 
between the 23rd and 80th degree of south declination, was com- 
menced in September last, and is being carried on satisfactorily ; 
as also is the photographic work of the observatory, a very con- 
siderable number of photographic impressions of clusters of 
stars having been made, which only need a knowledge of their 
zero of position to render them serviceable. Means are also 
taken to spread a knowledge of the exact time at regular inter- 
vals throughout the Confederation. 
Observatory appears to be exceedingly efficient. 
WE have received from Prof. A. Kerner, of Innsbriick, several 
interesting contributions to systematic and physiological botany 
—‘* Ueber die Schafgarben-Bastarte der Alpen,” an account of 
the hybrid yarrows found in the Tyrolese Alps ; ‘‘ Nove Plan- 
tarum Species, Decas iii.,” containing descriptions of new Rubi 
of Austria and the Tyrol; and ‘‘Chronik der Pfanzen-wan- 
derungen,” in which he narrates the curious circumstances con- 
nected with the spread of a North-American plant, Rudbeckia 
laciniata. This plant first became known in Europe early in 
the seventeenth century, when it was introducediinto the gardens 
of Paris ; during two centuries and a half it has gradually spread 
over the gardens of nearly the whole of Europe, but appears only 
within the last twenty or thirty years to have escaped, and within 
that short space of time has become completely naturalised in a 
“NATURE 
Altogether the Argentine 
1 wf 
great number of places. In a communication to the Scientific 
and Medical Society of Innsbriick, Dr. Kerner states, as the 
result of his observations on Alpine plants, that the growth of 
the stem and even of the flowers of many species proceeds at 
the temperature of zero C. ; the flowers may in some cases open, 
and even mature their pollen, beneath a thick covering of ice, 
the surface of the glacier being penetrated in innumerable places 
by their stems. 
Dr. A. KERNER reprints from the Proceedings of the 
Scientific Society of Innsbriick an interesting paper on the 
means of protection of the pollen of plants against prema- 
ture displacement or damp. As the vitality of pollen is imme- 
diately destroyed by exposure to the action of either rain or dew, 
he finds in nature a variety of contrivances to protect it against 
these injurious influences during the interval between its escape 
from the anther and its being carried away by insects, these cons 
trivances being generally absent in those plants where fertilisa- 
tion is effected by the pollen being conveyed at once to the stigma 
by the wind. In plants with coherent pollen, fertilised by insect 
agency, where some of the anthers are so placed as to be neces- 
sarily exposed to the weather, these are generally found to be 
barren, or destitute of pollen, and where they would interfere 
with the entrance of insects into the flower, they are altogether 
abortive or rudimentary. Plants with coherent pollen, which 
require insect agency for their fertilisation, Dr, Kerner believes 
to be of more recent geological occurrence than those with 
powdery pollen, which require only the wind to convey it to the 
stigma. 
THE proceedings of the Asiatic Scciety of Bengal contain re- 
marks on winds, typhoons, &c., on the south coast of Japan, by 
Commander H. C. St. John, H.M.S. Sy/via. The most preva- 
lent winds in the southern parts of Japan are from the north-east. 
Throughout an entire year the proportion was as follows, taking 
1,000 hours as an index: —Between N. and E., 500; between 
N. and W., 200; between S. and E., 100; between S. and W., 
o’99. During April, May, June, July, August, and September, 
N.E. winds prevail, hauling more easterly in June, July, and 
August. In August and September S.E. winds are more fre- 
quent than during any other months. In October variable winds 
prevail, and the N. W. wind begins. During November, Decem- 
ber, January, and February the N.W. winds prevail and blow 
hard. In March the N.W. and N.E. winds are equally distri- 
buted. The S.W. winds most frequently occur during the early 
parts of September. It appears the winds on the southern 
coasts of Japan are easterly during April (spring), and hauling 
to the S. as the summer approaches, pass through S. and W. 
to N.W. during winter, coming again through N. to N.E. and 
E. in spring and summer. Typhoons occur between June anl 
October, inclusive. From the middle of August to the middl: 
of October they may be expected to occur most frequently. The 
usual tracks of these storms on the Japan coasts appear very 
regular; approaching from the S.E. travelling about N.W. 
On reaching the hot stream in about the latitude of the Bonin 
Islands, or between here and the Foochoo Islands, they begin 
to curve to the north, and following the course of the Kuro Siwo, 
strike the south coasts of Nipon. Owing chiefly to the high 
land along the coast, the northern disc of the storm becones 
much flattened in, causing more easterly wind than would occur 
if the storm were in mid ocean. Retaining the course of the 
stream, they pass along in a north-easterly course, and, if not 
broken up previously, pass out into the Pacific Ocean on reach- 
ing Inaboya saki. 
Mr. JAMEs Woop-Mason has sent us a description of a 
Macrurous Crustacean, which he has made the type of a new 
genus, Neshropsis Stewarti, The specimen (a female) he 
