Feb. 4, 1875] 



NATURE 



271 



a standard is many times repeated and multiplied in the 

 production of a weight or measure even for laboratory 

 use, such precision is absolutely necessary in the original 

 standards. For this reason all who value precision in 

 their researches should take care that at least their units 

 of measurement have been directly compared with the 

 standards. 



SCHREIBER'S EUROPEAN HERPETOLOG V* 



'"pHlS volume, issued by the publishers of Blasius's 

 ■^ well-known work on European Mammals, and illus- 

 trated in nearly the same fashion, with numerous excellent 

 woodcuts, will be very welcome to naturalists, as supply- 

 ing in a compendious form an account of an important 

 section of the Vertebrates of our Continent, on whicli 

 there has hitherto been no generally recognised authority. 

 In England, it is true, we have Bell's " British Reptiles," if 

 it is not out of print. But as regards the lower forms 

 of terrestrial vertebrates. Dame Nature has, we know, 

 treated the British Islands rather scurvily. The fact is, 

 these cold-blooded animals cannot stand a continuously 

 low temperalure, and the ice-sheet which so recently 

 enveloped us must have destroyed all traces of reptilian 

 and amphibian life, so that we have only what has been 

 received from the Continent subsequently to the •' Great 

 Ice Age." And this is the reason of our scanty allowance. 

 Europe generally, as we shall see from Dr. Schreiber's 

 pages, is much more liberally furnished with representa- 

 tives of these two orders of vertebrates. 



Dr. Schreiber commences his work with an account of 

 the European Amphibians, which naturally fall under the 

 two sections Urodcla and An lira. Of the Urodeles, or 

 Tailed Amphibians, two families are recognised, one con- 

 taining only the abnormal form Proteus, the other the 

 Salamanders, which are divided into seven genera, con- 

 taining altogether fifteen European species. The tailless 

 division of the order, which comprehends the frogs and 

 their allies, is not quite so numerous, only twelve species 

 being recognised as European, which are assigned to 

 eight genera. The account of these animals is followed 

 by a very interesting chapter on their distribution, 

 accompanied by many illustrations of it in a tabular form. 

 Genera and species of Amphibians are alike most 

 abundant in the south. While England only has eight 

 species belonging to three genera, Germany has fifteen 

 belonging to eight, and France twenty-one distributed 

 amongst nine genera. 



The second and larger division of Dr. Schreiber's 

 work treats of European reptiles, beginning with the 

 Snakes and proceeding through the series of Saurians 

 to the few European representatives of the order of 

 Chelonians. As in the former section, each species is 

 well described, and particulars are given as to its distri- 

 bution and habits. The variations in form and colour, 

 which in some of the lizards and snakes are very nume- 

 rous, arc likewise given, and the mean seems to have 

 been preserved between recognising too many species on 

 the one hand, and allowing too few on the other. Alto- 

 gether, twenty-four snakes, thirty-five lizards, and five 

 tortoises (sixty-four reptiles in all) are treated of as 

 occurring within the limits of the Continent ot Europe. 

 A full treatise on the range and distribution of these 

 sixty-four animals is appended to this portion of the 

 volume, which is concluded with remarks upon the collec- 

 tion, preparation, and transmission of specimens of these 

 animals. On the whole, we can cordially recommend 

 Dr. Schreiber's work as an excellent handbook and work 

 of reference for those who are interested in this branch of 

 natural history. 



* Herpetologia Europeea, eine Systematische Bcarbeitung der Amphibien 

 mid Repiihcn welche bisher in Europa .lufgefunden sind. Von Dr. Egid 

 Schreiber, Director an der Oberreaischule zu Gbrz. Braunschweig, F. 

 Vieweg und Sohn, 1S75. i vol. 8vo.,64o pp., and numerous woodcuts. 



BOTANY IN QUEENSLAND 

 T N his last report on the Brisbane Botanic Gardens 

 -•■ Mr. Walter Hill, the director, gives some interesting 

 details on the progress of the garden, and more especially 

 with regard to his trip to the Bellenden Kerr range, on 

 the north-east coast of Queensland, in November last. 

 Looking at the garden in a utilitarian point of view, rather 

 than as a place of recreation and enjoyment — for which 

 purposes, however, it is largely patronised — we find that 

 the experimental department still continues to prove its 

 utility in the introduction and distribution of plants yield- 

 ing products of commercial value ; frequent application is 

 made for plants yielding fibres, medicinal products, dyes, 

 &c. ; more especially among this group of plants are appli- 

 cations made for indigo for the planters upon the northern 

 rivers. Mr. Hill thinks that the growth and manufacture 

 of indigo will probably assume the proportions of valuable 

 and important interest in the tropical regions of the 

 colony, whenever labour can be obtained at a sufficiently 

 cheap rate. The experimental coffee plantation has 

 proved very satisfactory during the past year, and the 

 demand for sugar-cane continues, trials in its cultivation 

 having succeeded in several previously untried localities. 

 Amongst other economic plants distributed for experi- 

 mental cultivation in Queensland may be mentioned the 

 olive, tea, palm oil, lavender, senna, medicinal rhubarb, 

 cocoa, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, ginger, &c. 

 That trials in the acclimatisation of many of these valu- 

 able economic plants are intended in earnest will be 

 understood fi-om the following extract from the report. 

 Mr. Hill says : " I would beg to call attention to the expe- 

 diency of setting apart 400 acres upon both the Johnstone 

 and the Daintree rivers, these districts offering better 

 advantages as regards aspect and soil than the reserve at 

 Cardwell possesses for the cultivation of the Clove {Caryo- 

 pliyllus aroinaticiis), the Nutmeg {Myristica moscJiata), 

 the Vanilla {Vanilla aroinalica), the Cocoa {Thcobroina 

 iiicao), the Coca {Erythroxyloii coca), the Mangosteen 

 (Garcinia mangostana), the Durion {Durio ^Ibel/il/ins), 

 the Bread Fruit (Artocarpus incisa), &c., which require 

 some more degrees of heat and moisture to bring them to 

 perfection than can be had at Cardwell. In fact, with 

 the vast variety of climate and soil of Queensland, it must 

 of necessity be the case that each locality has a distinct 

 description of vegetation most suited to it." 



With regard to the ascent of Bellenden Kerr, we are 

 told that the first two miles of the course led through low 

 ground, which, after much wet weather, must become a 

 swamp. The vegetation consisted of Barringtonia carya, 

 F. Muell., Ptychospcrma alcxandricr, F. Muell., Calamus 

 auslralis, Mart. (Lawyer Cane), Bambusa ariindinacca:, 

 Retz., Pandanus aquaticus, F. Muell. ; whilst on the 

 higher portion of the ground were Worinia alata, R.Br,, 

 Dysoxylon oppositifoliuiii, F. Muell., Aglaia elaagnoidea, 

 Benth., lawyer cane, bamboo, screw pines, &c. A fine 

 watercourse was here crossed, which was referred to as 

 the Bellenden River. Along the banks of this river the 

 trees consisted of the genera Castanospcrjnuiu, Eus;eiiia, 

 Brucea, Xi>nenia, Elaocarpus, Owcnia, &c. The soil on 

 both sides was of a sandy nature, with a good admixture 

 of vegetable matter. It took about three hours to reach 

 this place, the distance of which was calculated at about 

 three miles from the point of departure, and having risen, 

 according to the aneroid, to an elevation of 160 ft. Having 

 found a spur, four hours and a half were consumed in 

 covering a distance of one mile and a half, through a 

 complete mass of bamboos, lawyers, and screw pines, 

 where the exploring party camped for the night on a 

 small incline between two ridges, at an elevation of 

 only 1,250 ft. The trees in this neighbourhood consisted 

 oi Erioglossum edulc, Bl., Cupania Robcr/sojiii, F. Muell., 

 Atalaya salkifolia, BL, Harpullia Leichardtii, F. Muell., 

 Castanospermum austrak, A. Cunn., Mimusops parvifolia, 

 R.Br,, Achras pohbnanniana, F. Muell, The thic 



