Dec. 24, 1885] 



NA TURE 



183 



at the next Exhibition. The tanks are to be erected at the back 

 of the present aquarium, which will be maintained as heretofore, 

 but as the fish to be exhibited require careful and special treat- 

 ment no connection can exist between the two aquaria, which 

 will be quite separate. It is to be hoped that the collection, 

 when formed, will not be allowed to collapse at the termination 

 of the forthcoming Exhibition, but that it will be maintained as 

 a permanent institution, for an aquarium of foreign fish is much 

 needed in London. 



The last issue of the l-jesiia of the Russian Geographical 

 Society contains a very interesting communication, by M. 

 Yadrintseff, on the beginnings of settled life, being a contribu- 

 tion to the history of the rise of civilisation among the Ural 

 Altayans. The paper is a rhutne of an elaborate work on the 

 subject which we hope soon to see published in the Mimoirs of 

 the West Siberian Geographical Society. M. Yadrintseff has 

 had at his disposal very extensive materials, derived both from 

 his own intimate acquaintance with the life of the native 

 Siberians, and from a careful study of their history. Siberia is 

 really one of the best fields for studying those intermediate 

 phases of life which ultimately lead to the nomads becoming 

 settled. Not only do the inhabitants of Siberia show us all 

 possible stages in the transition from a nomadic life to that 

 of settled agriculturists, but all these stages may also be 

 studied under the varied aspects they assume when the modifi- 

 cation goes on in different physical and geographical con- 

 ditions, for example, in the forest regions, in the steppes, in the 

 narrow valleys of the hilly tracts, and on the broad sm-faces of 

 the plains. It is easy to foresee what a valuable mass of infor- 

 mation could be gathered in Siberia on this subject by an 

 observer so well acquainted with his mother-countiy as M. 

 Yadrintseff is ; but it would be impossible to sum up in a few 

 words the varied results to which the study has brought the 

 author. The disappearance of entire civilisations like those of 

 the Ural Altayans who immigrated into the plains of Siberia 

 from the hilly tracts of the Altay, only add to the already great 

 interest of the subject. We notice, moreover, the importance 

 justly attached by the author to those intermediate phases which 

 the nomad goes through when he abandons his former mode of 

 life, and, by narrowing the region of his migrations, by 

 staying at a permanent wintering place, and by merely mi- 

 grating from a permanent summer dwelling to a winter dwelling, 

 finally becomes a settled agriculturist ; the relative facility with 

 which this modification is undergone by the inhabitant of 

 a forest region as compared with the difficulties met with by 

 an inhabiiant of the steppes; the similarity between many 

 Siberian indigenes now passing through these intermediate 

 phases of civilisation and the Germans at the time of 

 Tacitus ; and very many minor conclusions, all possessing great 

 interest. 



American papers state that an aerolite or meteoric stone, 

 which caused a loud detonation, heard throughout the greater 

 part of Washington and Alleghany counties. Pa. , on Saturday, the 

 3rd inst., fell upon the farm of Mr. Buckland, in Jefferson town- 

 ship, Washington county, near the West Virginia line. A mail 

 carrier states that looking up he saw, moving high above him, 

 a huge mass, which he described as resembling a great coal of 

 fire as large as the largest barn he ever saw. There appeared 

 to be attached to it an immense flame of a deep red colour, 

 which tapered off into a darker tail. Instantly the noise which 

 accompanied it ceased ; the fire-like appearance, the flame, and 

 the tail disappeared, and in their stead the stone assumed 

 a whitish liue, which it retained until it passed out of sight. 

 When the stone ftU it broke into three pieces, but did not pene- 

 trate the earth to any great depth, as two-thirds of it remained 

 above ground. It is grayish in colour, with a succession of red 

 streaks, is irregular in form, and at least fifty feet In diameter. 



A CORRESPONDENT of the Times, referring to Sir John Lub- 

 bock's discovery of much greater longevity of ants than has 

 hitherto been believed, thinks that the same may be true with 

 regard to the butterfly, although the common notion is that the 

 butterfly's life is a short and merry one. The correspondent, 

 who writes from Bournemouth, then relates the following 

 incident :— " On August 15 last a fine peacock butterfly flew into 

 our house through the garden door, and was caught and put 

 under a large bell glass. On the following day another came in, 

 and was also put under the glass. They were supplied daily 

 with fresh flowers and a few drops of new honey, which they 

 evidently much enjoyed. No. I died during a suddenly cold 

 night, No. 2 lived until yesterday, December 14. Whenever 

 the sun shone upon their cage, which was placed on a table near 

 a large window of plate glass, they opened their beautiful wings 

 and flew about vigorously, occasionally resting on a flower to 

 thrust their trunks deeply into its corolla, or standing over and 

 sucking up the drops of honey. The extraordinarily sensitive 

 nervous system of these little beauties was indicated by the most 

 rapid vibratile trembling of the wings directly the sunlight or 

 the scent of fresh flowers reached them. When the sun was not 

 out they usually remained perfectly still, with their wings closed, 

 especially selecting to hang on the under side of a leaf. They 

 showed great intelligence in distinguishing the freshly-gathered 

 flowers and in deciding that honey was the right thing to eat, 

 and I have seen one of them scramble with considerable diffi- 

 culty across his cage through a tangle of leaves and stalks, de- 

 termined to get to a particular leaf on which he wished to hang. 

 After some unsuccessful attempts to reach it, he hooked it down 

 with one foot, then held it with another, until he could get the 

 rest of his legs upon it, having done which he appeared satisfied, 

 shut up his wings, and hung himself upon it, topsy-turvy, to 

 rest. Ifhe failed to do what he wished with one leg, he im- 

 mediately tried another, appearing to think that, having six at 

 his disposal, it was foolish to waste much time on any one. But 

 he only used his most anterior pair on very special occasions. 

 How long each butterfly had lived before it was caught I do not 

 know, but No. 2 lived in its glass cage 121 days." 



The amount of carbonic acid in the air has recently been 

 measured by MM. Spring and Roland in a series of 266 deter- 

 minations in the course of one year, the place being at Liege, 

 in Belgium, having on one side a busy centre of the iron 

 industry and on the other an agricultural district. The average 

 obtained was 5 '1258 parts by weight and 3 '3526 parts by volume 

 in 10,000 parts of air. This is considerably more than the air 

 of Paris contajns (4'83 and 3"i6S respectively). Besides the 

 plentiful carbonic acid from those iron-works, there is a large 

 emission of the gas from the ground, which is rich in coal ; in- 

 deed, cases of local heating often occur, with withering of the 

 plants. To the relative abundance of carbonic acid the authors 

 attribute the greater heat of Liege as compared with the sur- 

 rounding regions, as the gas strongly absorbs heat-rays and 

 limits radiation by night. A return of cold in May is thought 

 to be due to the unfolding leaves diminishing the amount of 

 CO„, so that the nightly radiation is increased. The amount of 

 CO., is considerably increased by a fall of snow (to 3761 ten- 

 thousandth parts by volume), except when the earth is already 

 covered with snow. Cloud also gave an increase (3 '571). The 

 winter months gave a greater amount than the summer. The 

 difference between day and night was but slight, nor had tem- 

 perature nor rainfall a decided effect ; but the rain in thunder- 

 storms increased the amount. As to wind there were three 

 maxima — viz. with north, north-west, and south-south-west 

 winds, corresponding, apparently, to the directions of industrial 

 centres. The COj diminished in high winds and increased with 

 a high barometer. These researches are the subject of a recent 

 memoir to the Belgian Academy. 



