234 



NA TURE 



{Jan. 7, 1886 



been abandoned. It has been decided instead to forward for 

 exhibition in the Victorian Court upwards of 100 water-colour 

 drawings of the fishes of the colony, which have been executed 

 to the order of the Trustees by a competent artist, and which, it 

 is hoped, will be of interest to ichthyologists and others. It is 

 also the intention of the Trustees to request the Government to 

 assist them in the production of a descriptive work on Victorian 

 fishes, the illustrations of which will be taken from these draw- 

 ings. Prof M'Coy has promised his assistance, and Mr. J. E. 

 Sharrard, the Secretary to the Tiustees, is already engaged in 

 collecting materials for the work. 



It is announced that the seventh Congress of Orientalists will 

 be held at Vienna in September next. The sittings will take 

 place in the lecture-hall of the new University. It is hoped 

 that the Archduke Renier will act as honorary president. 



Among the additional lectures announced at the Society of 

 Arts are: — "The Experiments with Lighthouse lUuminants at 

 the South Foreland," by E. Price Edwards; "Magnetism of 

 Ships and the Mariner's Compass," by Mr. W. Bottomley, 

 jun. ; " Photography and the Spectroscope in their Application 

 to Chemical Analysis," by Prof. W. N. Hartley ; " The Scien- 

 lifi.; Davelopment of the Coal-Tar Industry," by Prof. R. 

 Meldola. 



Reports reachel London on Tuesday that a severe shock of 

 earthquake was felt on Monday morning at 10.20, all along the 

 route between Dartmouth and Kingsbridge, Devonshire, as well 

 as at other place; lying more inl.and. Just after leaving Dart- 

 mouth the driver of an omnibus which runs daily to and from 

 Kingsbridge experienced an oscillation of the ground, which 

 lasted some seconds. On arriving at Stoke Fleming a number 

 of persons stated that they felt the shock. A house at Stoke- 

 penny is stated to have "rocked." In the " Green Dragon " 

 public-house the shock caused a quantity of plaster to fall 

 down from the ceilings. At Street the oscillation was similarly 

 felt. At Blackawton the shock is reported to have been very 

 conspicuously felt. It appears, however, to have been most 

 severe at Torcross. The occupants of the *' Fisherman's Arms '' 

 public-house, which stands on the beach, were so frightened 

 that they rushed out of the place, thinking, as they said, that 

 the building was going to fall. Mr. T. R. Vickary, of the 

 Torcross Hotel, gives several particulars of the severity of the 

 shock. It appears to have been felt by almost every one in the 

 village. At Stoneham, Chillington, and Frogmore the oscillation 

 was also experienced. 



A .SLIGHT shock of earthquake, lasting seven seconds, was 

 felt in Venice at 11 o'clock on the night of the 29th -ult. No 

 damage was done. 



TiiK volcano of Colinia, on the Pacific coast of Mexico, 

 exhibited a violent eruption on the 27th ult., which caused 

 great alarm. The streams of lava completely covered the sides 

 of the mountain. At the date of the last report flames were 

 ftill darting from the crater, and clouds of smoke overhung the 

 summit. 



Mr. Blanford's theory of the winter rains of Northern 

 India, based on a study of the ineteorological registers, is as 

 follows :- -We have, he says, in the first instance, steady evapo- 

 ration over an extensive moderately humid tract, at a compara- 

 tively low temperature, it is true, but in an atmosphere the 

 stillness of which allows of the steady difiusion of the vapour 

 to high levels, and the consequent formation of cloud. The 

 slight disturbance of the baric equilibrium which follows (since 

 the vertical decrease of temperature in a cloud-laden atmosphere 

 is slower than in a clear atmosphere) is 'succeeded by a gentle 

 indraught of warmer and more humid air from the south ; for 

 the Himalaya bars access to northerly winds. A vortex is then 



rapidly formed, accompanied with'an increased nloud-formalion, 

 and speedily followed by precipitation, which takes the form of 

 snow on the hills, and of rain over the river plains. The rain- 

 fall is invariably followed by a cool wind, and a wave of high 

 barometric pressure from the west, which Mr. Blanford attri- 

 butes to a drainage of cool heavy air from the valleys of the hills 

 surrounding the Punjaub and the high lands of Beloochistan and 

 .'Vfghanistan — air cooled by precipitation on the mountains. If 

 this theory be correct, the stillness of the atmosphere, combined 

 with the presence of a moderate evapoi'ation, must be accepted 

 as the condition which primarily determines the formation ot 

 barometric minima and the winter rains of Northern India. As 

 this stillness is due to the presence of lofty mountain-ranges in 

 the north, it follows that, if the Himalayan chain were absent, 

 these rains would probably cease, for any local evaporation in 

 the Punjaub and the valley of the Ganges would be swept away 

 by strong dry north-east winds blowing from the seat of high 

 pressure, which in the winter months lies in Central Asia. 



The electric lighting of the French Opera House is almost 

 complete. The number of incandescent lights is 3000. 



M. JoUBERT, the director of the Trocadero popular Observa- 

 tory, has made arrangements with the several telegraphic stations 

 in Palis, so that the public may be warned when the sky is 

 deemed sufficiently clear for conducting observations and 

 demonstrations. 



Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein and Co. announce for early 

 publication a Pocket Handbook to the Flora of the Alps, 

 specially adapted for botanical tourists, and edited by Mr. A. W. 

 Bennett. 



According to the Report for the past year of the Superin- 

 ten lent of the Royal Botanic Garden at Calcutta, further 

 attempts to introduce into Bengal the kind of plantain [Miisa 

 textilis) from which Manilla hemp is derived have proved 

 failures, owing to the low temperature of the cold weather ; but 

 the plant {Sanstuiera Zeylinica) from which bow-string hemp is 

 obtained grows very well. The Japan paper- mulberry, which 

 has lately been introduced, has also been a success. Efforts are 

 being made to introduce other plants of economic value, the 

 principal being the coca plant, from which the important alka- 

 loid cocaine is derived. The additions to the hei'barium during 

 the year appear to have been unusually large and comprehensive. 

 As an example of the public utility of the Garden, it may be 

 mentioned that 23,433 living plants were distributed to public 

 institutions in India, while those sent abroad were proportion- 

 ally numerous. In the same way 2,979 packets of seeds were 

 sent out. The Report of the Lloyd Botanic Garden in Darjeel- 

 ing is also included in the paper, which concludes with the 

 usual statistical returns. We are glad to notice at the end a 

 copy of a resolution conveying the thanks of the Lieutenant- 

 Governor of Bengal to those concerned in administering the 

 Gardens. 



We have received the nu ubers of the Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal {Science Section) for 1885, so far as they 

 liave been published. They contain in all eleven papers, some 

 being continuations of papers previously published. Mr. Lionel 

 de Niceville contributes a fom-th list of butterflies taken at Sik- 

 kim in October 18S4, with notes. The mmiber of species 

 already recorded was 2S4, which is now raised to 313, or about 

 twice the number of species found throughout the year in Cal- 

 cutta ; but even this number does not exhaust the region, for 

 some valleys and the higher elevations were not explored. The 

 same writer describes some new Indian Rhopahceya, and also a 

 list of the butterflies of Calcutta and its neighbourhood, with 

 notes on their habits, food-plants, &c. Mr. Atkinson publishes 

 the second and third instalment of his notes on Indian 



