Dec. 30, 1886] 



NA TURE 



205 



Under the title of a " Descriptive List of Native Plants of 

 South Australia recommended for Cultivation," Mr. J. G. Otto 

 Tapper, F. L. S., has reprinted in pamphlet form some notes 

 that apparently appeared periodically in Adelaide. As a reason 

 for publishing the list Mr. Tepper says : — " At the rate South 

 Australia and its sister colonies are progressing in civilisation, 

 the time can easily be foreseen when for long distances from any 

 centre of population not a mark would be discoverable where 

 any one could view the native vegetation in its natural state. 

 Owing to the very local distribution of many Australian herbs, 

 shrubs, and trees, there is even the possibility that they may be 

 entirely extirpated, caused by ruthless and ill-judged clearing, 

 depasturing of domestic animals, choking by introduced weeds, 

 and the diminution of the moisture in the soil by the first two 

 causes. Few attempts are made to cultivate any, so far as we 

 know, though a few (for example Kcnnedya monophylla) have 

 already found their way to the favour of gardeners, who, 

 perhaps, do not even know that these plants are indigenous." 

 The list consists of a number of plants belonging to very dif- 

 ferent natural orders and of very different characters, such as 

 herbs, trees, slirubs, &c., as may be instanced by species 

 of Mesembt yanthemutn^ Viola, Acacia melanoxylon, &c., &c. 

 To each plant its habit and size are given, a short description of 

 the leaves and flowers, time of flowering, and nature of locality 

 where found. The descriptions, however, are by no means 

 equal in point of detail, some being considerably longer than 

 uthers. To some of the plants the natural orders are stated, 

 while to others no mention whatever is made. No references 

 are made to the uses of the plants, and no kind of arrangement 

 of genera has been adopted, either scientifically, alphabetically, 

 or in any other way. The list may be of use to those for whom 

 it has been written, but it would have been more valuable if 

 some arrangement had been adopted by which any given plant 

 could have been found without wading through the whole nine- 

 teen pages. 



Mr. Stevens, the Queensland naturalist whose visit to the 

 Veddas of Ceylon we have already mentioned, addressed a 

 recent meeting of the Asiatic Society of Ceylon on this little- 

 known people. He found the time at his disposal on his first 

 visit too short to investigate satisfactorily the problem of their 

 origin, but he intends going amongst them for another six 

 months on his approaching return from India. He has offered to 

 live with them for a year or two if such a long absence from his 

 other duties can be arranged. He regards the popular notion in 

 Ceylon of the Veddas as a cruel, vindictive, suspicious people as 

 wholly erroneous. He found them truthful, hospitable, and 

 honest, but they exhibit a marked aversion to Singhalese and 

 Tamils. They are very peaceful, and hence a European can 

 travel amongst them in perfect safety and freedom. They have 

 a language of their own which the Singhalese do not understand, 

 and of which he collected a considerable number of words for 

 examination by Oriental scholars. They are expert archers, and 

 can send an arrow completely through a wild animal. Mr. 

 Stevens would prefer to face a rifle in the hands of an experienced 

 person at fifty yards' distance rather than a Vedda armed with 

 his bow. They have no idea of bjiling anything ; they use the 

 fire-drill, and they appear to have had sufficient knowledge of 

 working in metals to supply themselves with weapons. He 

 questions whether there are 500 Veddas in all Ceylon, so that 

 soon it will be difficult to find a real one. Hence he urges the great 

 importance to science of a thorough study now of their language 

 and habit?. Demonology is, he thinks, an incorrect term to apply to 

 their religion ; it is, rather, " Kapuism." They do not believe in 

 the existence of any injurious or malevolent spirits. Once a year 

 the whole of a Vedda encampment make a propitiation ; it is 

 not worship, but simply a propitiation to the eight or nine gods 

 of their pantheon. They divide themselves into eight clans, 



which rank in a kind of social gradation, depending, in some 

 instances, apparently on their traditional origin. He obtained 

 skulls of rej resentatives of seven of these clans. Throughout 

 the addres--, Mr. Stevens constantly insisted on the tentative 

 nature of his investigations so far. His facts, "or, rather, sup- 

 posed facts," are entirely unverified. They require assortment 

 and further examination, and he urges societies and students in 

 Ceylon to undertake the work. It is greatly to be hoped that 

 Mr. Stevens himself may be able to carry out his project of 

 residing amongst the Veddas for a prolonged period, and study- 

 ing them from the inside, and, in a certain degree, as one of 

 themselves. One of his facts requires no verification, viz. that 

 he can live and travel amongst them with safety, and that he 

 has the capacity for making friends of them. 



M. DE QuATREFAGES, at a recent meeting of the Geographi- 

 cal Society of Paris, advanced the theory with regard to the 

 migration of peoples at a remote period of antiipiity, which, at ^/ 



a subsequent meeting, was discussed and approved by M. H. 

 Chevalier. The theory is that these migrations were due essen- 

 tially to the gradual increase of cold in the northern regions, 

 which forced the inhabitants to wander to the south in search of 

 a more temperate climate. M. Chevalier quoted certain pas- 

 sages from the Zend Avesta, which, he argued, corroborated 

 this theory. 



A PROSPECTUS has been issued by the Council of the ' ' Loch- 

 buie Marine Institute " on the Isle of Mull, recently established 

 under the auspices of the National Fish Culture Association, 

 setting forth their objects. One of these is to incubate herring- 

 ova to re-stock such locations in Scotland as have been depleted 

 of that fish through the action of fishermen in exhausting the 

 supply under the belief that they were general instead of local. 

 Meteorological and other observations are also to be carried out 

 under the direction of Mr. Anderson Smith. 



Dr. Forel sends us the following list of recent earthquakes 

 in Switzerland: — December 16, l6h. om., at Sarnen (Unter- 

 walden) ; 22, oh. 3m., 4h. 20m., and 5h. 30m., at Pontresina 

 (Grisons), all Greenwich time. 



We have referred on several occasions to the extraordinary 

 number of rats which emerge from various parts of the building 

 when the late Exhibitions at South Kensington have closed and 

 the supply of food is cut off. This year their number has been 

 larger than ever, and shortly after the termination of the late 

 Colonial and Indian Exhibition the rats, desperate with hunger, 

 invaded every part. During the summer nothing would induce 

 them to enter traps, whereas now they rush in as fast as they are 

 set, and not until they have devoured the bait do they seem to 

 realise the fact that they are prisoners, when they seek deliver- 

 ance in their usual wild fashion. During last week their cravings 

 for food culminated in a fierce onslaught upon one another, 

 which was evidenced by the piteous cries of those being devoured. 

 Their method of seizing their victim is to suddenly make a raid 

 upon one weaker or smaller than themselves, and after over- 

 powering it by numbers, they tear it in pieces. At the present 

 time there cannot be found a single young rat in the building. 

 So far this is satisfactory, as the large numbers bred during the 

 summer will thus become exterminated. 



At present the city of Worcester possesses a public free library 

 and natural history museum in one building, and a Government 

 school of art in another. It is proposed to celebrate the Queen's 

 Jubilee by establishing an institution to be called the Victoria 

 Insthute in a central position in the city, in which the existing 

 library, museum, and school of art will be placed, and to unite 

 with them in the same building a school of science and 

 an art gallery. The cost is estimated at 18,000/., of which 

 the Corporation have voted 7000/., and the old site and other 

 sources of income will leave only about 5000/. to be raised by 



