108 
NATURE 
[ Dec. 8, 1870 


the bulk of my specimens greatly resemble those of the above 
fossil genus. Professor Agassiz has written to me to say that 
the discovery of the Ceratodus forsteri is of the greatest impor- | 
tance, and that he (Prof. Agassiz) is “amazed” at it. By this 
mail two of these interesting strangers (with intestines) will be 
shipped to England, as a present from Prof. A. M. Thomson 
to Prof. Owen, another by Mr. Ramsay to Dr. Sclater. I am 
glad to see that my friend Ramsay has complied with Dr. 
Sclater’s request, and ceased classing the Cevatodus as ‘‘ Salmon,” 
which he confesses to. have done frequently before. Mr. George 
Masters, the assistant curator of the Museum, is now at Gayndah, 
with appliances to catch the fish, and he will, if possible, send 
some alive to Sydney and to the Zoological Society of London. 
Sydney, Sept. 7 GERARD KREFFT 
The British Museum Collections 
Asitis proposed to remove the Natural History collections from 
the British Museum to Kensington, I hope care will be taken to 
make the collections as serviceable as possible to students. In 
particular the British Department might, with great gain to all, 
be extended and improved. ~There is now but one small room 
devoted to. British zoology, and this interesting branch of science 
is poorly represented by a selection of species not always well 
chosen nor even strictly indigenous. Still, imperfect as it is, I 
believe this is the only attempt to present a comprehensive view 
of the British fauna in London. In the new buildings it is much 
to be desired that a large and well-lighted gallery should be de- 
voted to the zoology of the British Islands, and as complete a 
collection as possible exhibited. The specimens should be 
labelled with local as well.as scientific names, and, when desi- 
rable, short interesting particulars might be given, as on the 
labels of the art collection at South Kensington. I think no 
part of the museum would be so well frequented or so generally 
appreciated by the public. When the labour of removing the 
collections is over, I hope we may be furnished with catalogues 
of different departments, with notes of the time and mode of 
acquisition, &c., of the most important specimens. If begun for 
the British collections, it might afterwards be extended to the rest 
of the museum. The nation, which possesses such truly choice 
and‘ extensive collections, ought to take care that the advantages 
to be reaped from them are fully developed and placed within 
the reach of all. A.W.L. 

Glass Floats off the Isle of Lewis 
Tue glass globes to which you refer as having been found on 
the shores of Lewis, are no doubt fishing floats. The Bergen 
fishermen have recently begun to use such balls as floats for their 
nets, and they are occasionally picked up in the North Sea. 
Those which have been brought to this office were empty, ze, 
contained no liquid, and bore no distinguishing mark at all. They 
were picked up about 100 miles S. W. of the Loffoden Islands. 
116, Victoria Street, London, S.W. Rosert H. Scorr 
P.S.—If any of the globes are sent to me, I shall be happy to 
inquire in Norway about them, and return them, after inspection, 
to their owners. 
Fhe Milky Way 
Your correspondent, Mr. Jeremiah, after quoting the words 
of the Llangadock ‘‘ Oracle,” adds, ‘‘ meaning that the wind will 
blow from that quarter.” Did Mr, Jeremiah interpret the man’s 
meaning correctly? If so it is at variance with a popular belief 
in Hampshire, 7/2., that in whichever way the Milky Way may 
be seen over night, the wind is sure to blow across it, or at right 
angles to it on the following day. ~ Henry REeks 

The Cockroach 
In some ships infested with these insects, sailors frequently 
complain of having their toe and finger nails, and the hard parts 
of the soles of the feet and palms of the hands, nibbled by them. 
The men have exhibited to me their nails and skin, which had 
the appearance of haying been attacked. I can youch for the 
following, as I was the unhappy subject of it. On returning 
from a shooting excursion in salt swamps in tropical Australia, 
with my feet blistered and sodden, I was put to sleep in a room 
swarming with cockroaches (the small species). The night was 
intensely hot, and my feet were exposed. I had slept soundly 
for some hours, when an intolerable itching and irritation about 
my feet awoke me. I felt these objectionable insects running over 


and gnawing at my feet. On striking a light, I found they had 
attacked the skin, and entirely eaten it away froma large blister, 
leaving a raw place as large asa shilling. Islept again, and in 
the morning found they had completed the work, and established 
a painful sore. The whole of the hard skin on the heel was also 
eaten down to the pink flesh. The nails were not attacked. T 
have now, at a distance of four years’ time, bluish scars on 
the skin 
Mill Hill, Nov. 11 ARTHUR NICOLS 

T HAVE to thank the Rev. W. Houghton for his references on 
this subject, and to explain that I wrote Aristotle inadvertently 
for Aristophanes. My only objection to adopting ofApq as the 
Greek equivalent for our cockroach is that the unpleasant smell 
which is mentioned as a characteristic of the former, is not par- 
ticularly marked in the latter. If we adopt the view that the 
cockroach was known to the ancients, we must, of course, reject 
Gilbert White’s story of its American origin, and, as he thought, 
its recent introduction into England. C. Jade 


"ATETEUR WATERFALL, DEMERARA 
abe: great Kaieteur Fall, recently discovered by Mr. 
Brown, has a clear descent, according to baro- 
metrical observations, taken simultaneously by Mr. Brown 
at the bottom, and by Mr. Mitchell, at the top, of 750 
feet. Aboye, the Potaro glides smoothly in a slight 
depression of the table of conglomerate sandstone, and 
disappears over the edge in a body, which is estimated 
at eighty yards in width, and of depth uncertain in the 
centre, but shallowing rapidly towards either bank. 
When the Fall was discovered in April, the rocky channel 
was completely covered, and the stream must have had a 
width of, at least, 100 yards. During the summer it is 
diminishing in volume, and, as the Indians state that it 
will continue to do so till October, only the central and 
deeper portion, about one-third of the whole, will then 
remain. ‘The best time, therefore, for a visit is in spring, 
at the end of what appears to be the rainy season of this 
elevated tract. 
As the Fall was seen.by the exploring party who dis- 
covered it, nothing can be imagined more beautiful. 
The central portion, which is never dry, forms a small 
horse-shoe, or re-entering angle, and the water in this 
part preserves its consistency for a short distance from 
the edge. But everywhere else, and here also at a few 
feet from the top, all semblance of water disappears ; 
it breaks up, or blossoms, into fing foam or spray, which de- 
scends in the well-known rocket-like forms of the. Staub- 
bach and similar waterfalls, but multiplied a thousand 
times, into a small dark pool, over a semicircular curtain. 
The cavern behind the Fall is the home of thousands of 
swallows, whichissue from it in the morning, and may 
be seen returning in their multitude at night. The Fall 
itself is one vast descending column of a fine, dry-looking, 
snow-white substance, bearing a resemblance in colour 
and consistency to the snow of an avalanche, but sur- 
passing all avalanches in size and in the beauty of the 
forms taken by the material as it falls, Rainbows of 
great splendour were observed, one from the front of the 
Fall in the morning, one from the summit in the after-— 
noon ; but this last reverted, forming a coloured loop or 
ring, into which the whole mass seemed to precipitate 
itself, and disappear and dart out underneath, black and 
foaming at the gorge and outlet of the pool. 
Eleven days were spent in ascending the Essequibo, 
which was heavy in flood, and detained the party double 
the time anticipated ; five days brought them from Toma- 
tomari, the lowest fall on the Potaro, to the Patamona 
village. In this stage there are five cataracts, two of 
which, at least, are inaccessible. Two days were occu- 
pied in visiting the foot and summit of the Fall, and in 
descending to the Settlement, leaving Messrs. Brown and 
King to complete the survey and sketches of the country 
in four days and a half, ; 
a 
