Dec. 17, 1874] 



NATURE 



135 



and would have been of the highest possible value. It is much 

 to be wished that with the existence of such opportunities as 

 tliese some one might be found to put in a word in aid of purely 

 scientific claims. Doubtless it is pleasant to think that the two 

 rival mountains will be a perpetual memory of frowns frowned 

 elsewhere, but how much more pleasant to know something of 

 the things that grow and live upon them. 



The Irish Times stales that one of the objects of Sir Staft'ord 

 Northcote's visit to Ireland is to "examine the sites proposed 

 for the eslabhshnient in Dublin of an extensive National Museum 

 of Science and Art, analogous in principle, although not in 

 extent, to that at Kensington. " 



After the Franco- Prussian war of 1S70-71, it is well known 

 that in many districts in France a new vegetation sprang up, 

 evidently the result of the invasion. It was believed that this 

 vegetation vfould become" acclimatised. It is not so, however, 

 1." Instilut informs us ; at least very few of the species introduced 

 in this way appear likely to continue to flourish on French soil. 

 In the departments of Loiret and Loir-et-Cher, of 163 German 

 species, the half at least have already disappeared, and the sur- 

 viving species diminish in vigour each year. .Scarcely five or six 

 species would appear to manifest any tendency to become accli- 

 matised ; these are, according to M. Nouel, Alyssum incanum, 

 Tji folium rcsu/inaiiiiii, Rapistnim rugosiim, Mclilotiis sulcata, 

 and Viilpia lignstica. On the plateau of Eellevue, v/here in 

 1871 many strange species were seen, M. Bureau has been able 

 to find only one — Trifohuin restipinatiim. M. Gaudefroy also, 

 who in 1 871 and 1872 found many adventitious plants, has been 

 able to collect only two this year — Ranunculus macrophyllus 

 and Linum angusli/olium. 



The Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Insti- 

 tute always contain a collection of papers of high scientific value, 

 and vol. vi. issued last June is no exception to this rule. It is 

 a bulky volume of some 454 pages, added to which is an ap- 

 pendix of 104 pages more. It may not be known to many of our 

 readers that the New Zealand Institute is composed of the fol- 

 lowing incorporated societies, each of which includes amongst its 

 office-bearersand members one or more names eminent in science 

 in the colony and well known in this country. The individual 

 societies are, the Wellington Philosophical Society, Auckland 

 Institute, Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, Otago Institute, 

 and the Nelson Association for the Promotion of Science and 

 Industry. On the council of these various societies occur such 

 names as Dr. Hector, F.R.S., Dr. Haast, F.R.S., Mr. \V. T. L. 

 Travers, F.L.S., Mr. T. Khk, F.L.S., &c. Each one of the 

 societies numbers amongst its members the scientific men of 

 its neighbourhood, and amongst the honorary members of the 

 incorporated Institute are such n.ames as Charles Darwin, Prof 

 Huxley, Dr. Hooker, Sir Charles Lyell, Prof. Owen, Prof. W. 

 H. Flower, &c. These facts are sufficient to show that New 

 Zealand is particularly foitunate in having amongst its resi- 

 dents men eminent in various bianches of science. No colony 

 has shown more aptitude for scientific work than New- 

 Zealand, and perhaps no other colony can boast of a society 

 approaching so near to our Royal Society, both as regards the 

 value of the papers contributed and the range of scientific investi- 

 gation. Zoology, Eotany, Chemistry, and Geology are all repre- 

 sented by numerous papers in each section. In the first. Dr. 

 Haast contributes an illustrated article "On Ilai-Jiai^oinis, an 

 extinct genus of gigantic raptorial birds of New Zealand ; " while 

 Dr. J. E. Gray, who is an hon. member of the Institute, supplies 

 a "List of Seals, Whales, and Dolphins of New Zealand," and 

 Capt. F. W. Hutton some " Notes on some New Zealand 

 Fishes." In Botany we find a " List of the Alga; of the 

 Chatham Islands, collected by II. H. Travers, and examined by 

 Prof. John Agardh, of Lund " ; " Notes on the Flora of tlie 



Province of Wellington, with a list of plants collected therein " 

 by John Buchanan ; and by Mr. W. T. L. Travers a few notes 

 " On the spread of Cassim- leptophylla." In Chemistry, Mr. W. 

 Skey talks about the Mineral Ods of New Zealand ; and in 

 Geology are papers " On the Formation^of Mountains," by Capt 

 Hutton ; "On the Extinct Glaciers of the Middle Island of New 

 Zealand," by W. T. L. Travers; "On the Fossil Reptilia of 

 New Zealand," by Dr. -Hector ; besides other interesting papers. 



The Cambridge Natural Science Club has held eight meetings 

 this term on Saturday evenings, and some good papers have 

 been read by the members at the meetings in their rooms, 

 usually followed by a discussion. The attendance has mostly 

 been under the average of other terms, on account of some of 

 the members being candidates in the Natural Science Tripos now 



being held. The following are some of this term's papers : 



" The Reniportal Circulation," by Mr. P. H. C-rpenter (Trin. 

 Coll.) ; " Vegetation as affecting Climate," by Mr. J. M. F. H. 

 Stone (St. Peter's Coll.); "Tides," by Mr. Arthur Buxton, 

 B.A. (Trin. Coll.) ; " Comparisons of Nervous Systems of 

 Vertebrata and Invertebrata," by Mr. T. W. Bridge (Trin. 

 Coll.) ; " The Influence of Molecular Structure upon some 

 Organic Bodies," by Mr. E. B. Sargant (Trin. Coll.) ; "The 

 Theory of the Identity of Matter," by Mr. P. R. Ogle (St. 

 Peter's Coll.); "The Development of Blood," by Mr. S. H. 

 Vines (Christ's Coll.) 



It is gratifying to see 'a growing tendency in the not pro- 

 fessedly scientific press to endeavour to account for the causes of 

 phenomena which it is called upon to notice ; thus, consciously 

 or unconsciously, treating occurrences in a scientific spirit. For 

 example. The Country, in speaking of the migration of birds, 

 states that woodcocks have been unusually scarce in Cornwall for 

 the past two or three yeirs, nor is the present season an excep- 

 tion to the rule, for, notwithstanding favourable ^^•inds and moon- 

 light nights, they continuc?(r/vs<Tt't"jin the county. In attempting 

 to account for this, The Country very pertinently suggests that 

 improved agriculture has more or less destroyed the feeding 

 grounds, though, as the same may be said of other parts of the 

 kingdom where such game is not scarce, this cannot be the only 

 cause. 



A TELEGRAM to Cairo, dated the 8th inst., from the Governor- 

 General of the Soudan, announces that the entire kingdom of 

 Darfour has accepted annexation to Egypt. 



The American Society of Paris proposes to hold an "Inter- 

 national Congress of Americanists " at Nancy, near Paris, on 

 the 22nd of July, 1875, the object being to bring together those 

 who are interested in the history of America prior to its dis- 

 covery by Columbus, and in the interpretation of the monuments 

 and of the ethnology of the native races of the New World. An 

 exhibition of American Archaeology is to be held at the same 

 time. Any American can be enrolled as a member of the Congress 

 by forwarding the sum of twelve francs to Mr. Lucien Adam, secre- 

 tary of the American Society of Arts, Rue Bonaparte, in Paris. 



A SERIES of experiments has lately been made by the Russian 

 Government with reference to the use of electricity for the head- 

 light of locomotives, a battery of forty-eight elements makingevery- 

 thing distinct on the railway track to a distance of over 1,300 ft. 



A CURIOUS phenomenon frequently met with in the Indian 

 Ocean, the real cause of which has not yet been ascertained, is the 

 existence off Malabar, and in certain spots along the Coromandel 

 coast, of vast mud banks, and of tracts of mud suspended in the 

 sea, wherein many kinds offish find abundance of food, immunity 

 from much disturbance in the surrounding element, and a locality 

 in which to breed. The exact cause of the existence of these large 

 tracts of sea wherein mud remains in solution is still a mystery, but 

 at any rate the ocean is so smooth that, even during the height 



