276 
NATURE 
[Fuly 22, 1886 
ning and smothered in mud and stones, and two hotels were 
reduced to ruins. Twenty bodies were recovered. For about 
six miles north of Te Awamutu the whole of the surrounding 
country was covered with blue mud 3 feet deep. It was re- 
ported that all Rotomahana had disappeared. Many natives 
lost their lives; but the exact number is not known. The 
sounds of the explosion were heard at Hamilton, about eighty 
miles distant, early in the morning. They were like great guns 
at sea. The windows of houses in Hamilton were shaken. At 
Maketu there was darkness until 10 a.m. The earthquakes 
lasted from 2.30 a.m. till 8.15, with very strong lightning and 
earth-currents. Four volcanoes were going at Wairoa, The 
Tikitapu bush has been uprooted. All the country down to 
Tauranga was in total darkness, with thick clouds of sulphurous 
matter and gypsum in the air. The following description of the 
scene was given in a message from Taupo :—“ At 3 a.m. a 
terrific report aroused the sleeping inhabitants of Taupo, when 
an immense glare of a pillar-shaped light was observed to the 
north-north-east. A great black cloud hung over this pillar, 
concave on the under-side, and convex on the upper, whilst 
meteors on all sides shot out from the cloud in every direction, 
shedding an unearthly bluish light. Loud reports, accompanied 
by very heavy shocks of earthquake, followed in quick succes- 
sion, and kept on unul 6 o’clock, when the daylight and the 
clouds of ashes rendered the sight invisible. At 2.15 a.m. the 
two extinct volcanoes of Ruawhai and Tarawera threw an 
immense column of flame and smoke into the heavens. Molten 
lava and hot mud were rained abroad, while huge rocks and 
masses of fire went up and around in all directions. The earth- 
quakes were terrible. Tongariro is quiet. Heavy snow is 
falling on the ranges and the cold is intense. The rumbling 
still continues at Maketu, and dust is still falling. The whole 
country is covered from I to 6 inches with dust.” 
THE series of anthropoid apes at the Zoological Society's 
Gardens at the present time is well worthy of attention. Besides 
“Sally,” the bald-headed chimpanzee (Anthropopithecus calvus), 
which has now been two years in the Regent’s Park, there is a 
second chimpanzee of the ordinary species (4. trog/odytes), which 
enables these two forms to be compared side by side. A young 
orang (S%mza satyrus) has likewise recently arrived, and a white- 
handed gibbon ( //yobates dar), from Malacca, deposited by Mr. 
Dudley Hervey, Resident Councillor of the Straits Settlements, 
exemplifies the third type of the highest division of the Quadru- 
mana. It is much to be wished that the long-talked-of plan of 
building a new compartment by the side of the existing monkey- 
house for the Anthropoids could be carried out. At present 
these highly interesting animals are not very conveniently lodged 
along with the sloths and ant-eaters, on the other side of the 
Gardens. 
THE half-yearly general meeting of the Scottish Meteorological 
Society will be held to-day, when the following papers will be 
read :—‘‘ The Extent of the Areas of the different Mean Annual 
Rainfalls over the Globe,” by Mr. John Murray ; ‘‘ On the Tem- 
perature of the Water in the Firth of Clyde and connected 
Lochs,” by Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, F.R.S.E. 
Mr. FRANK E. BEDDARD, Prosector of the Zoological Society, 
has been appointed Lecturer on Biology at Guy’s Hospital. 
ACCORDING to the programme of the approaching celebration 
of the 500th anniversary of the foundation of Heidelberg Uni- 
versity, a grand historical procession designed and to be per- 
sonally directed by Prof. Carl Hoff, of the Karlsruhe School of 
Art, will march through the town on August 6, starting at 
ga.m. More than goo persons with 300 horses and 14 state 
coaches will take part in the procession, which is to give a pic- 
torial representation of the five centuries which have succeeded 
the foundation of the University, and to comprise the following 
groups :—(a) Founding of the University by Elector Ruprecht I., 
1386; (4) public entry of Frederich the Conqueror after the 
battle of Seckenheim, 1462; (c) nurture of science and art by 
Elector Otto Heinrich, 1556-59 ; (@) life among the people of 
the Merry Palatinate at the end of the 16th century : procession 
illustrating the vintage of the Palatinate; (e) entry of the 
Elector Frederick V. with his consort, Elizabeth of England, 
June 17, 1613 ; (f) Bohemian Embassy, 1619; (g) time of the 
Thirty Years’ War (1618-48), and of the War of the Orleans 
Succession (1688-97) ; (Z) Elector Karl Ludwig, with retinue, 
1632-80 ; (2) time of the Elector Karl Philipp, 1716-42: hunt- 
ing cavalcade ; (£) Elector Karl Theodor, 1742-99 ; (7) Restora- 
tion of the University by Karl Friedrich of Baden, 1803: the 
students of the nineteenth century ; (7) the Burschenschaften ; 
(72) the Corps ; (c) the new German Empire. Judging by the ar- 
rangements now nearly completed, the procession may be expected 
to surpass all previous exhibitions of the kind in the splendour of 
its equipage and the historical truth of its representation, 
which will be carried into even its minutest details. For the 
sake of a proper view of the procession, stands are to be erected at 
all convenient points along the line of the procession, and the sale 
of tickets for the numbered seats of the stands has already begun. 
A plan of the procession, issued by the firm Koester, Heidelberg, 
(price 20 Pfennige) shows the arrangement of the stands, with 
the prices of the various seats, and gives information respecting 
hotel accommodation, &c. A very considerable number of 
lodgings, we learn, have already been engaged by strangers 
intending to be present at the ceremonies connected with the 
celebration. All intending visitors who have not yet secured 
accommodation in respect of board and lodging are invited to 
make early application to the Commission specially appointed 
for the negotiation of such business—Wohnungs Commission, 
Rathhaus, Heidelberg. Beds are still to be had at the moderate 
price of 15 marks for the whole term of the celebration, while 
hotel-keepers, &c., have publicly engaged to keep their prices 
within strictly reasonable limits. 
At the Conference of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 
held on the 3oth ult., Prof. Fream read a paper on ‘‘ Colonial 
Forestry,” dealing with the present condition of forestry in the 
larger colonies. In Canada there is need of conservation and 
of tree-planting, and everything now seems ripe for the esta- 
blishment of a department of forest conservancy in the 
Dominion. In New South Wales such a department is at work 
H under the Ministry of Mines ; in Victoria a considerable area is 
reserved, but even this is not commensurate with the demand 
for timber for industrial purposes. In South Australia, Queens- 
land, and New Zealand, efficient forestry departments exist. In 
Australia and the Cape Colony, English forest trees are being 
successfully cultivated, and ‘‘in all the colonies the reckless 
waste and wanton destruction of former days have given place 
to wise systems of conservancy, such as are worthy of a tree- 
loying people.” 
A series of photographic views from a balloon has been 
taken by M. Nadar, of Paris, whose father, twenty-five years 
ago, was the first to attempt photographing from a balloon, 
with only partial success. The stereotype plates of the views 
taken were presented to the Academy of Sciences at their 
meeting on July 12. 
SEVERAL attempts have lately been made by the Marquis of 
Lorne to transmit live whitefish (Coregonus albus), which have 
been reared by the National Fish Culture Association, to the 
Isle of Mull, where his lordship is endeavouring to acclimatise 
this valuable American species. After several futile attempts 
two consignments of them have reached their destination in 
safety. Great difficulty attends the operation of removing white 
2 em, eee ce 
