May 13, 1886] 
NATURE 39 
o 
which they are subjected. In contiguity to the tank is a minia- 
ture beach whereon the turtle rest when out of water. A con- 
signment of turtle eggs is expected this week, which will be laid 
out in the hatchery on arrival for the purpose of incubation. 
Some West Indian tortoises have just arrived, together with a 
selection of snakes and lizards, which form interesting exhibits. 
In consequence of the inability of the Royal Commissioners to 
obtain Indian and Colonial fishes, the National Fish Culture 
Association have taken the matter into their own hands, and 
have made arrangements with the Zoological Society in Calcutta 
and other bodies for supplies of tropical and other piscatorial 
specimens, so that the aquarium will be supplemented with many 
rare and important specimens. 
Mr. Oris T. MAson’s account of the valuable Guesne col- 
lection of antiquities in Point-a-Pitre, Guadaloupe, which ap- 
peared in the Smithsonian Report for 1884, has recently been 
issued in separate form. ‘ The collection originated with M. 
Mathieu Guesne, whose series of Carib stone implements 
attracted considerable attention at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. 
Since then it has been continued, and all but completed, by the 
son, M. Louis Guesne, who has devoted nearly twenty years of 
assiduous labour to the task of rescuing from destruction all 
existing relics of the ancient Carib race in the Island of Guada- 
loupe. He has also applied his artistic skill to the illustration 
of these objects, filling two large albums with aquarelles in 
natural size and colour of all the types in his museum. From 
these sources Mr. Mason has mainly compiled the present 
account, which is enriched with no less than 215 carefully pre- 
pared woodcuts of the Point-a-Pitre collection, and of a few 
others introduced for the purpose of comparison, and to supply 
omissions in West Indian archeology. The collection includes 
roughly-worked stones, indicating an industry in its infancy ; 
and others so perfectly finished that it would be difficult to im- 
prove upon them either in design or workmanship. But all 
alike belong to what would be called the Neolithic period in 
Europe ; all the stone implements are polished, and there is not 
a single object of this class formed solely by being chipped. In 
fact, the volcanic materials of which they are made cannot be 
worked by chipping, like flint, quartz, or obsidian. Some, 
especially, of the axes are so small that they seem to belong to 
a race of pigmies, while others are so large and heavy that they 
suggest a generation of Titans rather than of human beings. 
Besides the movable objects, mention is made of enormous 
stones carved with strange designs resembling those described 
by Mr. Im Thurn in British Guiana, some so high up as to be 
almost out of reach, others close to the ground or buried under 
the surface. Similar inscribed stones occur in the beds of rivers 
in the Island of St. Vincent, the last refuge of the Caribs in the 
West Indies. 
HERR SCHOYEN, ina paper recently reprinted from the Zyans- 
actions of the Scientific Society of Christiania, describes a 
form of disease affecting the roots of growing barley, through 
which the farmers in Norway have of late years been suffering 
extensive loss. Contrary to the common opinion that the ravages 
due to this blight—which is popularly known as ‘‘ Krog,” crook, 
from the form of the deposits—were produced by an insect, 
Herr Schoyen maintains that this special barley-pest is a micro- 
scopic round worm, of the genus Tylenchus. After describ- 
ing the appearance and character of the parasitic germs, 
which are deposited at the extremities of the roots, 
where their presence speedily manifests itself by the wither- 
ing and death of the stalk before the grain can be set, he 
draws attention to the fact that similar deposits have been 
noticed on the roots of Zlymus arenaria, the bind-grass so 
frequent on the Scotch, as well as the Norwegian, coasts. This 
observation derives special practical importance from the cir- 
cumstance that at Lom, in Norway, where the barley crops have 
suffered most severely from the ‘‘ Krog,” the affected fields are 
in close vicinity to extensive tracts of Alymus arenaria. He 
proposes to continue his observations next summer with special 
reference to this point, but in the meanwhile he recommends as 
the only remedy available for the present that barley should not 
be re-sown on ground where the disease had manifested itself in 
the preceding season, nor in any locality where Elymus abounds. 
He finds that the bladder-like egg-cases of Zy lenchus hordet 
can be thoroughly desiccated without destroying the inclosed 
worms. 
SOME interesting statistics of the Japanese press have lately 
been published in the Oesterreichische Monatsschrift fiir den 
Orient, in which the newspapers and periodicals of Japan are 
arranged according to the subjects with which they deal. It 
appears that 37 publications are devoted to matters connected 
with education, and that these have a total circulation of 42,649 
per month. There are 7 medical papers, with a monthly circu- 
lation of 13,514; 9 relating to sanitary matters, with a circula- 
tion of 8195 ; 2 on forestry ; and 2 on pharmacy. There are 7 
devoted to various branches of science, with a circulation of 
2528 ; but to these must be added 29 engaged in popularising 
science, with a total circulation of 70,666. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a Purple-faced Monkey (Semmopithecus leuco- 
prymnus 8) from Ceylon, presented by Mrs. Larkins; a 
Brazilian Tree Porcupine (Sphingurus prehen.ilis) from Brazil, 
presented by Mr. J. E. Wolfe; two Sloth Bears (A@lursus 
ursinus & 2) from India, presented by Mr. H. Mainwaring; a 
Burmese Squirrel (Sczzrus atrodorsalis) from Burmah, presented 
by Mr. C. Crofton Black ; a West Indian Agouti (Dasyprocta 
cristata) from West Indies, presented by Dr. A. Boon, F.R.C.S. ; 
an Orange-thighed Falcon (Falco fusco-cerulescens) from Chili, 
presented by Capt. W. M. F. Castle, R.N.; five Senegal 
Parrots (Fwocephalus senezalus) from West Africa, presented by 
Mr. R. B. Sheridan; two Kestrels ( 7tveusculus alaudarius), 
British, presented by Mr. J. S. Malcolm ; a Wedge-tailed Eagle 
(Aguila audax) from Australia, presented by Mr, R. B. Colvin ; 
a Tuberculated Iguana (/gvana fuberciulata) from West Indies, 
presented by Mr. D. Morris ; seven European Tree Frogs (Ayla 
arborea), European, presented by Mr. Thompson Hudson ; a 
Californian Quail (Cad/ipepla californica) from California, a Her- 
ring Gull (Zarus argentatus), British, presented by Miss Hodge ; 
a Two-banded Monitor (Varanus salvator), two Rat Snakes 
(Ptyas mucosa), an Indian Cobra (Nata tripudians) from Ceylon, 
presented by Mr. Carl Hagenbeck; a Moorish ‘load (Bu/o 
mauritanica) from Italy, a Green Toad (Bufo viridis) from 
Malta, presented by Mr. Alban Doran, F.R.C.S. ; two Greek 
Tortoises (Zesudo greca), European, presented by Admiral 
Mellersh ; two Common Vipers (Vigera éerus), British, pre- 
sented by Mrs. Mowatt ; a Small Hill-Mynah ( Gracula religicsa), 
from Southern India, deposited ; a Hog Deer (Cervus porcinus), 
seven Long-fronted Gerbilles (Gerdil/us lougifrons), born in the 
Gardens. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 
THE FLEXURE OF MERIDIAN INSTRUMENTS.—In a paper 
which forms Appendix III. to the ‘‘ Washington Observations 2 
for 1882, Prof. Harkness has made an exhaustive discussion. of 
the subject of flexure, and the means available for eliminating 
its effects from star-places. He discusses separately the flexure 
of transit instruments and of vertical circles. The former are 
divided into two classes, according as their telescopes are 
straight or bent, but it is in the latter form that the effects of 
flexure are by far the greatest, the flexure-coefficients being in 
some instances as much as 0’55s. Prof. Harkness shows that 
the effect of flexure cannot be satisfactorily eliminated from the 
concluded right ascension of a star by simply taking the mean of 
the four results obtained by observing it directly and by reflec- 
