540 



NA TURE 



[April 3, 1884 



and only a few e»gs succeeded in fixing themselves to 

 the objects introduced. When the currents were strong, 

 the miles were seen not only to swim nearer the b.ittoai 

 but to expel longer ribbons of milt, which reached the bottom 

 before getting dispersed and remained visible sometimes for ten 

 minutes. On gently expre-sing a male under the water it was 

 never pes ible to expel so fine or so short portions of milt as 

 escaped naturally, but it was extremely easy expelling a ribbon 

 from 18 inches to 3 feet in length, measuring 2 lines across and 

 I line in thickne^s. Such ribbons fell to the bottom and remained 

 almost unchanged for nearly two hours ; they then assumed a 

 segmented appearance, and in about three hours and a half had 

 all but disappeared. 



Eggs were allowed to escape into a vessel containing fine sand, 

 and into another containing mud. The eggs after being ferliii ed 

 underwent the early stages of development, but either owing to 

 their moving freely about with the sand particles or owing to 

 their getting coated over with the sand and mud their develop- 

 ment was arrested. I have not yet determined finally if the 

 development is arrested when the eggs are detached \\Inle 

 develo|iment is proceeding, but this seems extremely probable. 



When at Ballantrae I noticed that the trammel nets secured 

 often more males than females. Mr. Wilson, fishery ollicer 

 at Girvan, informs me that the ripe-t fish are caught in 

 the trammel net-, while mo,t of the unripe fish are obtained 

 in the drift nets, and that at the end of the fishing 

 season there are about three males taken for every two 

 females, indicating not necessarily th.at the males are more abun- 

 dant than the females, but rather that the males remain longeron 

 the spawning ground ; and Mr. Wilson believes that herring 

 prefer quiet water free from strong currents when spawning, and 

 that when the weather is fine the herring remain long upon the 

 bank and deposit their spawn leisurely, but when there are 

 strong currents they either hurry the spawning process or dis- 

 appear into deep water. 



As to artificial fertilisation and hatching I found, after many 

 experiments at Ballantrae, that the best results were obtained 

 when both the male and female were held under water while the 

 milt and ova escaped, i.e. when the natural process of spawning 

 is followed. 



An ordinary wooden tub was obtained and filled with sea- 

 water. Into this a small quantity of milt was expressed, the 

 male being held completely under water while the milt escaped. 

 A glass plate w.as then held about four inches beneath the surface 

 of the water, and, the female herring being held about one inch 

 beneath the surface, by gentle pressure the eggs readily escaped 

 in the char.icteri-tic narrow beaded ribbon, and, by moving the 

 fish over the surface of the glass, either a close or an open net- 

 work could be formed. At first, where one loop crossed an- 

 other, the eggs were two or more layers thick, but, either owing 

 to the weight of the eggs or the gentle currents set up in the 

 water, before a few minutes had elapsed, the eggs formed a 

 single and almost continuous layer, the network arrangement 

 having disappeared. The plate was then allowed to rest for two 

 or three minutes at the bottom of the tub, and a few short 

 ribbons of milt were again introduced. After moving the plate 

 once or twice across the top of the tub in order to wash off any 

 scales that were adhering, it was placed either in a hatching or 

 a caiTying box. Many thousands of ova treated in this way con- 

 tain extremely active embryos, which are expected to hatch on 

 March 22 or 23. 



Prof. Ewart exhibited a number of specimens showing herring 

 eggs attached to stones, seaweeds, and sea-firs, and some of the 

 herring fry hatched on March 24 from the eggs artificially fer- 

 tilised on March 8. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 

 O.XFORD.— The electors have awarded the Radclilfe Travel- 

 ling Fellowship after examination to Mr. J. E. Blomfield, B.A., 

 late Natural Science Demy of Magdalen College, and now of 

 Univer-ity College Hospital, London. The Fellowship is of 

 the annual value of 200/., and tenable for three years provided 

 that the Fellow travels abroad for his improvement in the study 

 of medicine. This is the fourth time in the last five years that 

 this prize Fellowship has been ^\■on by a student of Magdalen 

 College. 



Cambridge.— From the report of the last Local Examina- 

 tions tt appears that the answers in pure mathematics exhibited 



considerable improvement, whde in applied mathematics the 

 work was inferior, and much of the teaching in statics was im- 

 perfect, and not based on mathematics. In chemistry great 

 inequality was shown, some centres sending uniformly good work, 

 others being very inferior. The practical work is better done 

 than the theoretical. The teaching of experimental physics is 

 still very ineffectual in its results. In the senior paper in elec- 

 tricity and magnetism only two of the candidates showed any 

 proof of accurate knowledge or scientific training. 



In biology the answers were, on the whole, not good, yet at some 

 centres candidates did extremely well. In botany vegetable 

 physiology showed improvement, but floral diagrams are not 

 sufficiently used. In zoology the candidates seemed to have no 

 idea of the relative value of facts. In physical geography a 

 marked absence of scientific method was noticeable in the 

 answers ; great ignorance of meteorological terms used in most 

 daily papers was manifested. 



The Cambridge Local Lectures have made good progress in 

 the past session, much good having resulted from the conference 

 of local committees and lecturers held last year. In a number 

 of centres local associations have been formed for putting the 

 lectures on a permanent basis. At Derby an Artisans' Higher 

 Education Society has been formed, the subscription being very 

 low. At the Midland Railway works the large mess-rooms have 

 been utilised in giving short lectures to arouse interest among the 

 men. Prof. Teall lecturing on chalk, Mr. Bemrosc on the transit 

 of Venus, Mr. Heycock on digestion, respiration, &c., and the 

 men have always been appreciative. In the Newcastle district 

 much eagerness has been shown by pitmen to attend the lectures, 

 often at great personal cost and inconvenience. The cost, in- 

 deed, is s:) great as to form an obstacle of serious magnitude, 

 and it is found that the desire for lectures is such that the over- 

 coming of financial difficulties would lead to an enormous ex- 

 tension of the work. Efforts are being made to get the rules of the 

 Trades Unions altered so as to enable them to contribute towards 

 the cost of the lectures. 



It is now proposed to constitute an examination in French or 

 in German as the additional subjects required of candidates for 

 honours degrees, unless the candidates choo-e rather to pass the 

 General Examination for the B.A. degree. This change would 

 be welcomed by the large number of students to whom the study 

 of works in French and German would be an important aid in 

 their Tripos subjects. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The JoKvnal of Botany for March contains the conclusion of 

 Mr. T. Hick's valuable paper on protoplasmic continuity in the 

 Florideje. In quite a number of distinct genera belonging to this 

 class he has now traced connecting threads between the proto- 

 plasm from cell to cell. He regards these threads as permanent 

 and essential structures, normally present in all parts of the 

 thallus from the oldest to the youngest, not restricted to special 

 localities and special cells. — Some details of the life-history of 

 a rare and little-known British plant, Liihospermttm furptireo- 

 carulnim, are contributed by Mr. Jas. W. White. 



American yournal of Science, March. — Experimental deter- 

 mination of wave-lengths in the invisible prismatic spectrum, with 

 plate, by .S. P. Langley. — The Quaternary gravels of Northern 

 Delaware and Eastern Maryland, with map, by Frederick D. 

 Chester. From a careful survey of this region the author infers 

 that the peninsula became depressed at least 350 feet towards the 

 close of the Glacial period, when the estuary thus formed re- 

 ceived the discharge of the Delaware River, which pushed its 

 way across the present States of Delaware and Maryland to the 

 head of the Chesapeake. By this current and the subsequent 

 distributing action of the waves the red gravel was deposited. 

 Later on the land began to rise, the violence of the flood was 

 .abated, and the northern glacier gradually broke up. During 

 this period the Philadelphia Clay was deposited, and the 

 boulders distributed over the estuary by the icebergs from 

 the glacier. The land continuing to rise, the shoal gravels 

 were piled up by the waves and tides, the river began to 

 assume its present channel, and the Delaware and Chesa- 

 peake were finally parted. — On the identity of scovillite with 

 rhahdophane, by G. J. Brush and S. L. Penfield. — A theory 

 of the recent sun-glows, by H. A. Hazen. The author at- 

 tributes the phenomena to the presence of watery vapour, ice 



