I12 
describes was dredged in from 250 to 300 fathoms,"about twenty- 
five miles off Ross Island on the Eastern coast of the Andamans. 
It is clearly allied to Vephrops Norvegicus of Northem European 
seas, its main difference being the absence of the squamiform 
appendage of the Antennze. One of the most interesting points 
about the new crustacean is the loss of its organs of vision by 
disuse, a characteristic of several recently discovered crustaceans ; 
this is compensated for by the great length and delicacy of the 
antenne, and the great development of the auditory organs, the 
animal's habits being to burrow in the mud at the depth of about 
300 fathoms. 
It may be recollected that M. Alphonse Pinart, the French 
philologist, visited the Aleutian Islands and Alaska in the sum- 
mer of 1871, for the purpose of collecting the vocabularies and 
the photographs of the different tribes. This material he carried 
back with him to Paris, where he has been engaged in working 
it up. We learn thathe expects to revisit the United States this 
month, with ample funds in his hands from the French govern- 
ment, in order to effect an exhaustive collection of the antiqui- 
ties of Alaska, his excursions to the different islands being made 
in a vessel especially fitted up for his use. Alaska is one of the 
finest fields in the world for ethnological and prehistoric re- 
search, 
PROFESSOR WYMAN has concluded, as the result of ex- 
plorations among the shell mounds of Florida, U.S., during the 
past winter, that the aborigines by whom they were constructed 
must have been decided cannibals, as in eight different instances 
he has found considerable quantities of human bones in the 
shell heaps, the bones themselves being broken up and split, just 
as in the case of the bones of other animals. This, he is satis- 
fied, was not the result of burial, but was done for the purpose 
of obtaining the marrow, probably after the flesh had been 
devoured. 
Unper the auspices of the Society of Biblical Archeology 
it is intended shortly to publish a series of translations of all the 
important Assyrian and Egyptian texts which exist in the various 
collections of England and the Continent, and thus place before 
the English student the remains of undoubtedly the oldest and 
most authentic literature in the world. Nearly all the principal 
translators have offered their services for this purpose, and while 
each author will be alone responsible for his portion of the work, 
the general arrangement of the materials will rest with the presi- 
dent of the society. The selection of the records will embrace 
the entire range of Egyptian and Assyrian history and literature. 
Each translation will quote the authorities {upon which it is 
based, or the monument from which it is taken, and all other 
notes will be as few and brief as possible, to avoid controversy 
and expense. ‘The first volume will be issued by Messrs. 
Bagster and Sons, at a price to bring it within the reach of all 
interested in such subjects. 
THE conversazione of the Society of Arts will be held at the 
South Kensington Museum on Friday evening, June 28. 
THE late distinguished chief of the U.S. Coast Survey, by 
his will, established a fund to be placed in the hands of exe- 
cutors, by whom the income is to be expended, under the direc. 
tion of a committee of the National Academy of Science, for 
the advancement of some branch of physical research. The 
first report of results achieved through this bequest was recently 
made to the Academy by its President, Professor Joseph Henry. 
The committee had decided that in view of the great interest 
that Professor Bache had throughout his life manifested in ter- 
restrial magnetism, it would be highly proper to further this 
science by gradually extending over the country the magnetic 
survey which, during his own lifetime, he had carried out in the 
Middle States. In the execution of this design they had been so 
NATURE 
fortunate as to secure, at small expense, the services of Dr, Hil- 
gard, of St. Louis, by whom, in 1872, chiefly in the season 
most favourable for travelling, quite a large number of stations 
were occupied for the determination of the magnetic elements. 
These stations are mostly in the Southern States, and it is the 
intention of the committee to extend the work annually, north- 
ward and westward, as the income frgm the fund may allow. 
THE U.S. Army Signal Office has made preparations for a 
great extension of its valuable system of reports of the heights of 
rivers, particularly of all those opening into the Mississippi. Over 
twenty-five stations are now established at suitable points on 
these rivers, especially, of course, on the Ohio, Missouri, and 
Mississippi. They are provided in some instances with auto- 
matic self-recording apparatus, and at all other places the obser- 
vation of the height of the water is taken eight times daily when 
floods are apprehended. By this most beautiful system every 
wave of high water is accurately followed in its course down 
stream, and the approach of dangerous high floods is easily 
foretold by the repeated telegraphic reports. The system of 
river reports, which has been in operation during the past year, 
has given such universal satisfaction to those navigating the 
Western waters that the demand for increased facilities can only 
be met by this new and far more elaborate system of stations, 
THE results of the explorations in the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
prosecuted during the months of July and August, 1872, by 
Messrs. Whiteaves and Bulger, have just been published. The 
area examined extended from a little above Cape Rozier to the 
Magdalen Islands. 
fathoms was found near the centre of the mouth of the St. 
Lawrence, between Cape Rozier and the south-west point of 
Anticosti ; the greatest depth actually met with was 313 fathoms» 
about half-way between the east point of Anticosti and the Bird 
Rocks. Large collections were made, embracing several species 
new to science. Among the novelties discovered was a sponge 
belonging to a genus but recently indicated in the ‘‘ Depths of the 
Sea.” About thirty-five species of corallines were obtained, 
large numbers of them being new. Numerous fine specimens of 
Virgularia were procured, the same kind having been found by 
Dr. Packard on the Georges Bank, and three species of sea- 
anemones were secured in addition to those of last year’s collec- 
tion. Two undescribed specimens of a coral (both dead) were 
also gathered at a considerable distance from each other. The 
relations of these new species are rather to the tropical forms 
than to those which we already know on the coast of the 
North Atlantic, | 
A sHock of earthquake, lasting for several seconds, was felt 
at Attok on the morning of Sunday, April 27. 
WE have been favoured with a copy of the Yapan Gazelle, 
from which we take the following notes:—A huge cephalopod 
is now being shown in a house near the temple at Asaka, Yedo. 
It seems that a fishing-boat was seized by its tentacles whilst off 
the village of Kononoto, in the district of Kisaradzou, and that 
the boatmen killed the creature by repeated blows. Its 
length from the tail to the insertion of the tentacles is about 
sixteen feet; one of the arms is from its junction with the 
body to the sucker at its point nearly five feet. The 
polypus has shrunk since its death, so that living, it 
would probably measure considerably more.—The anoma- 
lous absence of earthquakes during the past winter has ex- 
cited some speculation as to the causes of such quiet, in a 
country usually very tremulous towards the coming of spring. 
Whatever may be the real causes, the remarkable volcanic 
activity in Japan, during the past winter, and at present, is an 
interesting collateral phenomenon. From nearly all parts of 
the empire, during the last two months, have come tidings of © 
A depth of water somewhat over 200 — 
