Jan. 21, 1875] 



NATURE 



237 



heartily wish it complete success. The prospectus is dated from 

 Lentini, in Sicily, where, we believe, the Review is to be pub- 

 lished. It seems rather strange to make such an out-of-the-way 

 place the head-quarters of £0 important an undertaking ; we 

 hope, however, its circulation won't suffer in consequence. 



There are many signs that Italy is really awakened from her 

 long dormancy and seems quietly dtlermincd to do her share of 

 the modern world's work. The above announcement may be 

 regarded as one, and we know that in more than one of the 

 sciences valuable work is being done by Italians. In geo- 

 graphy, especially, they seem inclined to revive the reputation 

 which of old their country had ; they have recently produced 

 one or two noteworthy explorers, and their geographical maga- 

 zine. Cosmos, is a model of typography and good editing. Only 

 on Monday last. Prince Humbert, in returning thanks for his 

 election as President of the Italian Geographical Society, spoke 

 with warm approval of the project of an expedition to the African 

 great lakes, and hoped that Italy would be worthily represented 

 at the forthcoming Geographical Congress at Paris. 



The Queensland Government have received information that 

 Plume, who proceeded in search of Classan, a supposed survivor 

 of the Leichardt Exploring Expedition, perished for want of 

 water fifty miles from Drynan's station on the Wilson River, in 

 the Warrego district. O'llea, another of the party, is also 

 supposed to be dead. The third man, Thompson, has reached 

 Drynan's station. 



As about forty ladies and gentlemen have signified their inten- 

 ion to become members of the proposed Natural History 

 Society at Watford, a meeting to found the Society and to elect 

 a provisional committee will be held at the Watford Public 

 Library on the 23rd inst., at seven o'clock. 



P. W. Wright, one of the late porters at the College of 

 Surgeons Museum, commenced duty as dissecting-room porter 

 at St. Thomas's Hospital about a fortnight ago. On last 

 Tuesday v^-eek he wounded himself in the hand with a knife 

 whilst assisting in a post-mortem on a child which had died of 

 pya?mia. We regret to hear that he died in consequence of the 

 wound, from the same disease, on Monday last, leaving a wife 

 and five young children quite unprovided for. 



M. J. Deby, in examining the contents of the stomachs of 

 mussels (H/y/ihcs tdulis) from the Brussels market, found thirty- 

 seven species of diatoms, including '//)'«/«/Ha<j sldliqcr, a 

 species found previously only in Florida. 



The death of the veteran Dr. Gideon Lincecum, of Long 

 Point, Texas (U.S.), is announced as having taken place at his 

 residence on the 28th of November last, in his eighty-second 

 year. Dr. Lincecum v/as well known to the naturalists of the 

 United States on account of his abilities as an observer and the 

 wonderful minuteness of his investigations into the habits and 

 peculiarities of American animals. His contributions in this 

 direction to the archives of the Smithsonian Institution, to the 

 American Naturalist, to the Academy of Natural Sciences, and 

 to the American Sfortsmaii, were very numeious and varied. 

 In addition to his contributions of notes. Dr. Lincecum was an 

 extensive collector of specimens, especially of insects and reptiles 

 of which he sent large numbers to the museums of the United 

 States. 



Prof. Marsh and his exploring party returned to New Haven, 

 U.S., on Dec. 12, after an absence of two months in the Rocky 

 Mountains. The object of the present expedition was to 

 examine a remarkable fossil locality, discovered during the past 

 summer in the "Bad Lands "south of the Black Hills. The 

 explorations were very successful, notwithstanding extremely 

 cold weather and the continued hostility of the Sioux Indians. 

 The fossil deposits explored were mainly of Miocene age. 



and, although quite limited in extent, proved to be rich 

 beyond expectation. Nearly two tons of fossil bones were col- 

 lected, most of them rare specimens, and many unknown to 

 science. Among the most interesting remains found were 

 several species of gigantic Brontothcrid^c, nearly as large as 

 elephants. At one point these bones were heaped together in 

 such numbers as to mdic.ate that the animals lived in herds, and 

 had been washed into this ancient lake by a freshet. Successful 

 explorations were made, also, in the Pliocene strata of the same 

 region. All the collections secured go to Yale College, and will 

 soon be described by Prof. Marsh. 



Dr. Hunt gives an account, in the Proceedings of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, of the contents of the stomach of a 

 mastodon lately tound in Wayland, New York. These con- 

 sisted of remains of both cryptogams and flowering plants, exhi- 

 biting distinctly the vegetable characters. No sphagnum was 

 found in the deposit. The evidence was that the animal had 

 eaten his last meal from the tender mosses and boughs of the 

 flowering plants growing on the banks of streams and margins 

 of swamps, and that pines and cedars formed no part of his 

 diet. 



Carrier pigeons have been employed for a new purpose. 

 When his Majesty of Spain was nearing Barcelona, a Spanish 

 steamer was sent to meet Los Navos on the high seas, and suc- 

 ceeded in doing so at the distance of 1 50 miles from the sea- 

 port. Carrier pigeons were then liberated so as to announce in 

 Barcelona the happy coming of Don Alphonso XII. The ex- 

 periment appears to have been successful. It is said that carrier 

 pigeons were in use among the old Roman navigators in the 

 time of the Cre-ars. The practice was discontinued for cen- 

 turies, and the quettion has been asked by some French papers 

 whether it is desnable to revive it for Transatlantic steamers. 



The Signal Service observer on the summit of Pike's Peak 

 (U.S.) reports that the local storms there experienced originate 

 over the parks to the westward on hot afternoons. On one 

 occasion he was favoured with an excellent view of the interior 

 structure of the clouds of a tornado, when he observed that 

 wliile the cloud-bearing currents of air float toward the centre, 

 they had a decided do«nwari movement, but that masses of 

 smoke-like vapour rapidly ascended through the interior funnel. 



In a paper read by Capt. Shaw, of the Metropolitan Fire 

 Brigade, at the Society of Arts on Tuesday night, an ingenious 

 apparatus was described for enabling persons to breathe in dense 

 smoke or poisonous vapours. It consists essentially of a close- 

 fitting hood, with a respirator, holding a filter, the invention of 

 I'rof. Tyndall, which consists of a valve chamber and filter tube 

 aliout 4 inches long, screwed on outside, with access to it from 

 the inside by a wooden mouth-piece. The charge for the filter 

 consists of the following materials, which are put in with the 

 tube turned upside down, and the lower valve removed : — Half 

 an inch deep of dry cotton-wool, an inch deep of the same wool 

 saturated with glycerine, a thin layer of dry wool, half an inch 

 deep of fragments of charcoal, half an inch deep of dry wool, 

 half an inch deep of fragments of lime, and about an inch of dry 

 wool. The whole can be put on and adjusted in a few seconds 

 by the wearer. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Pig-tailed Monkey {Macacus nemcstriiius) 

 from Java, presented by Dr. Cole ; a Crestel Porcupine (I/ystrix 

 cristala) from Mogadore, presented by Mr. Alfred Hay ; two 

 Chukar Partridges {Caccabis clutkar) from NL'rth-west India, 

 presented by Capt. Muiray ; a Sooty Mangabey (Cacocebiis fii/i- 

 i^inosits), and a Patas Monkey {Cercopit/!ectis ruber) from West 

 Africa; an Australian Goshawk (Astiir afp-roxiiiiaiis) from 

 Australia, purchased ; an Ocelot {Fdis fardalis) from America, 

 deposited. 



