~ 7S 
Feb. 22, 1883] 
NATURE 
389 
17 ; and besides, the important observation of the disappearance 
of the comet at the sun’s limb is very valuable. Now then, if 
it will be possible to secure some observations in the remaining 
days the comet will be visible, I am sure we shall have a large 
amount of material to study upon. 
~ I may add that Mr. Common and I saw the comet a few days 
ago. With magnifying power of 120 and 150 we were not able 
to distinguish the division of the nucleus, but with a higher 
power we saw five bright points ; one of these, corresponding 
to that seen before, remains the brightest. The comet has all the 
appearance of a little curve convex to the horizon, and is still a 
very bright object, as Mr. Common was able to see it pretty 
well with only six inches aperture and in moonlight. 
13, Pembridge Crescent, Bayswater, W. E. RISTORI 
Aino Ethnology 
LET me hasten to assure Herr Rein that nothing could have 
been further from my intention than to question the ‘love of 
truth,”’ which is conspicuous in his work on Japan. I trust he 
will consider as absolutely withdrawn any expression of mine 
which he fancies might at all bear such a construction, His 
authorities I did not quote, because I attached much more im- 
portance to the weight of his name than to theirs. The almost 
unanimous opinion of original observers is opposed to their con- 
clusions, which I was certainly somewhat surprised to find 
adopted by Herr Rein. But as he has not himself visited the 
Aino people, the question of their affinities need not be further 
argued here. I may state, however, that to Steube and von 
Siebold must now be added Herr Kreitner, of the Szechenyi 
expedition, who emphatically removes them from the Mongolic, 
and ‘assimilates them to the Caucasic type” (‘‘Im Fernen 
Osten,” Vienna, 1881, p. 318). A, H,. KEANE 
Auroral Experiments in Finland 
In the note in NATuRE, vol. xxvii. p. 322, in which you 
refer to my telegrams from Sodankyla, there is a misunder- 
standing concerning the apparatus which I made use of in 
the experiments. This apparatus, which I call in Swedish 
“ Utfromningo-apparat ” (streaming apparatus), was constructed 
of uncovered copper wire, provided at each half-metre with 
fine erected points. That wire was led in slings to the top of the 
hill, and reposed on the usual telegraph insulators, From one 
end of this wire was conducted a covered copper wire on insu- 
lators to the foot of the hill (600 feet high), and there joined a 
plate of zinc interred in the earth. In this circuit was put a 
galvanometer. 
It was this apparatus which produced both the yellow-white 
halo at Oratunturi and the straight beam of aurora borealis at 
Pietarintunturi, as the positive current in the galvanometer at 
both places. The terrestrial current diminishes (or ceases) below 
the belt of maxima of the aurora borealis. S. LEMSTROM 
Helsingfors 
Flamingoes and Cariamas 
In NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 334, an account is given of the 
curious behaviour of a flamingo towards a cariama. May I 
point out that this habit of the flamingo was observed in 1869 
by Mr. Bartlett, and will be found in a P.S. to a paper of his 
entitled ‘‘ Remarks upon the Habits of the Hornbills,” read 
before the Zoological Society, February 25, 1869. The liquid 
Was examined by Dr. Murie, and is said to have consisted almost 
entirely of blood. A short notice of the habit, communicated 
by Mr. Bartlett, appears also in Buckland’s Edition of ‘‘ White’s 
Selborne.” JAMEs CURRIE 
Cambridge, February 19 
THE APPROACHING FISHERY EXHIBITION 
FROM the cheerful note of preparation which is now 
being sounded, we presume the opening of the 
International Fisheries Exhibition will take place punc- 
tually on the day which has been fixed for that event— 
May 1. That the Exhibition will be successful, both in 
a pecuniary sense and asan exposition of fishery economy 
and of the natural history of our food fishes, may, we 
think, be even now predicted. The two exhibitions by 
which it has been preceded, those of Edinburgh and 
Norwich, not only paid all expenses, but left a handsome 
surplus ; so that, with the vast population of London and 
the strangers who daily come within its gates to work 
upon, the promoters of the exposition are warranted in 
believing that it will provea success. It will undoubtedly 
be the greatest affair of the sort which has yet been 
designed, and will occupy a site twice as large as the 
Norwich and Edinburgh exhibitions joined together. 
The fishery exhibition which was held at Berlin three 
years ago was visited by nearly half a million persons, 
but it was only open for ten weeks, whilst the show to be 
held at South Kensington will remain open for six months, 
and as the population of London is more than four times 
greater than that of Berlin, we may calculate on the 
visitors to the Fishery Exhibition running into big figures ; 
—two million persons at a shilling each would represent 
a sum of one hundred thousand pounds. Already a large 
guarantee fund has been subscribed by corporations and 
private persons, and there is no reason why Parliament 
should not be asked for a grant in aid, although any 
money that might be granted may not be required. It is 
right to say that asa nation we play a rather “mean” 
part in such matters, and are quite outdone in libe- 
rality by other countries. America, for instance, is 
sending us an “exhibit” which will cost that country ten 
thousand pounds, and other foreign countries are acting 
in an equally liberal spirit. If we were asked on any 
occasion to reciprocate, what answer could we make? 
We have positively nothing that we could send. With 
the exception of the toy museum left to the country by 
Mr. Frank Buckland, we possess nothing in the shape of 
a national collection illustrative of fishery economy ; 
hence the Exhibition which is about to open assumes very 
much the shape of a commercial enterprise, and becomes 
a gate-money show. But that is better than nothing, 
and it is to be hoped that from the debris of the 
approaching exposition a substantial addition may be 
made to the Buckland Museum of economic fish culture, 
and if we may be permitted to make such a suggestion, 
the aquarium should, if that is possible, be so arranged 
that it could be left as a permanent attraction for all who 
are interested in the natural history of fish and in the 
proper ingathering of the harvest of the sea. 
Great expectations are entertained as to the value of 
the lessons to be taught at the approaching Exhibition. 
We are undoubtedly in need of knowledge of all kinds 
regarding the natural history of our fishes. From the 
whitebait to the whale we are singularly deficient in 
those details of fish life that would prove valuable to 
persons engaged in fishery enterprise. In the matter of 
well-planned investigation into the natural history of the 
British food fishes we are far behind America, where 
information of the most valuable kind is systematically 
collected and disseminated. As a matter of fact, we have 
(as a nation) done almost nothing in respect of adding to 
the knowledge of the public. Some individuals have been 
toying with the subject of Pzsczceu/ture, whilst in the seas 
that pertain to the United States fish-breeding on an ex- 
tended scale has been long in operation under the auspices 
of the Government. It will not be the fault of the 
promoters of the approaching Exhibition if attention is 
not aroused to our want of interest (as a people) in 
the sea-fisheries of the country. We have therefore 
every reason to be grateful to those who have stepped to 
the front in order to promote this enterprise; the men 
who have assumed the lead have nothing to gain person- 
ally by its success—they are working in the interests of 
the public, knowing well that the fisheries of the sur- 
rounding coasts contribute largely to the commissariat of 
the country. 
A portly prospectus, so far as its contents are concerned, 
has been issued, indicative of what will be shown in the 
Exposition, and from that document we gather that a large 
