256 



NA TURE 



SJan. 13, 1887 



of Sciences, for professorships and seats in the Institute of 

 France. Many superannuated professors have been removed, in 

 consequence of the enforcement of a recent law ; others have 

 died. In the Medical School, Prof. Sappey's place his been 

 given to M. Farabeuf, a distinguished anatomist, although en- 

 tirely devoid of philosophical tendencies. Prof. Gavarret, 

 whose well-known researches, conducted many years ago with 

 Audral, have been of the utmost importance for the physiology 

 of respiration, has seen his place filled by M. Gariel, who has 

 been his assistant for a long time. Prof. Peter has taken the 

 place of M. Hardy, in the Professorship of Clinical Medicine. 

 He is an obstinate opponent of M. Pasteur's theories, but, never- 

 theless, a good physician, well trained, and skilled in his part of 

 science. Prof. Pagot, the well-known Professor of Obstetrics, 

 resigned his appointment on the day of his seventieth anniver- 

 sary, and it is likely that M. Pinard will be his successor. M. 

 Pinard is an able obstetrician, a good teacher, an original 

 worker, and is much liked by students and professors. The 

 vacancy caused at the Sorbonne by the death of Milne-Edwards 

 has been filled by the appointment of M. Yves Delage, who 

 has been for a short time Professor of Zojlogy in Caen. 

 M. Yves Delage, although a very young man, has done a good 

 deal of excellent personal work. His principal investigations 

 bear upon the circulatory system of Crustacea, the life-history 

 and anatomy of Sacculina, a parasitic Crustacean, and the ana- 

 tomy of the whale. In the Academy of Sciences, M. Sappey 

 was elected soon after his removal from the Medical School. 

 His personal work has been good, and bears upon human ana- 

 tomy, upon the anatomy of the lymphatic vessels, of the air- 

 reservoirs of birds, and many other points of comparative ana- 

 tomy. M. Ranvier, the able histologist of the College de 

 France, will very likely be elected to the seat of Ch. Robin. 

 One of the competitors for Paul Bert's seat is M. Ch. Rochet, 

 the physiologist, and editor of the Revue Snentifiqiie. 



A VERY good little guide to the most picturesque streets and 

 buildings in the capital of Egypt, by Major E. T. Plunkett, 

 R.E., has just been published. It is entitled "Walks in 

 Cairo." Major Plunkett's object is to call attention to "sights" 

 which have hitherto been neglected by the writers of guide-books, 

 — out-of-the-way mosques, in which the mist graceful Arabesque 

 forms may be found, with choice bits of marble mosaic and fine 

 specimens of cabinet-work, and street corners made picturesque 

 by minarets, overhanging stories, and windows of lace-like 

 lattice-work. If any visitor is in doubt whether he would or 

 would not enjoy the " Walks " described, he is advised to try 

 one of them, and if he finds that uninteresting to try no more. 



On July 28 last. Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod, F.E.S., Consult- 

 ing Entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society, received 

 from Revell's Hall, Hertford, specimens of injured barley, 

 which on examination precisely corresponded with the condition 

 caused by attack of the Cccidomyia destructor, commonly known 

 as the Hessian fly. A paper setting forth the results of her 

 observations, with the opinions of high authorities in England 

 and America, was read at the Entomological Society of London 

 on December i last. An abstract of this paper will be found in 

 the Entomologist for January. 



In the January Zoologist there is a very good representation 

 of the Greater Horse-shoe Bat [Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum). 

 It illustrates an article on "Horse-shoe Bats" by the editor, 

 who remarks that as few really good figures of bats are acces- 

 sible, those in Bell's work being almost too small to be of much 

 use, it is very desirable that no opportunity should be lost of 

 obtaining correct drawings of the rarer species whenever they 

 can be procured alive or in a fresh condition, so as to secure an 

 accurate delineation of the natural features before they become 



distorted or shrunk in the process of drying. The plate which 

 he offers as a first contribution to such a series is from a living 

 specimen obtained by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson in South 

 Devon in August last. This specimen weighed little more than 

 half an ounce the day after death. 



Several Arctic species of birds, which do not breed in 

 England or Ireland, breed in Scotland. This fact is explained 

 by Mr. Henry Seebohm in an article in the January Zoologist. 

 Most, if not all, of the species in question breed in July, and, 

 roughly speaking, they draw the line a few degrees below 60° F. 

 They do not breed in any locality where the mean temperature 

 for July is as high as 60', the reason probably having relation to 

 the supply of food. Now, in a map of the world, in Keith 

 Johnston's " Physical Atlas," giving the mean temperature for 

 July in various parts of the earth, the isothermal line of 59° is 

 drawn. This line separates England and Ireland from Scotland, 

 passes north of the Gulf of Bothnia, through the town of 

 Archangel, extends nearly straight across Russia and Western 

 Siberia, but, east of the valley of the Yenesei, again rises until 

 it almost reaches the coast near the delta of the Lena. Farther 

 east in Siberia it plunges south again, much more rapidly than 

 it rose in Western Europe, and, passing south of Kamchatka, 

 it embraces the Kurile Islands in the latitude of the Pyrenees. 

 This line is almost exactly parallel with what is known of the 

 southern breeding-ranges of the various Arctic birds under con- 

 sideration. It is not, therefore, surprising that these birds 

 should breed in Scotland ; and there is no reason, Mr. Seebohm 

 concludes, for attempting to explain by any other causes than 

 the ascertained climatic cause, the interesting fact that British 

 ornithologists are able to study the breeding habits of so many 

 species which their Continental fellow-students can only observe 

 by travelling 500 miles or more farther north. 



The Journal of the Society of Arts prints an interesting letter 

 from Mr. T. F. Peppe, on the cultivation of the so-called wild 

 silks of India. Mr. Peppe points out that in many parts of India 

 the jungle consists of the plants on which the tussur worm feeds, 

 and that the supply of labour is practically unlimited. At present 

 the work is carried on only by a few tribes who have been accus- 

 tomed to it from time immemorial ; but nearly all the aboriginal 

 tribes of India might be available, if their services were in 

 demand. The chief obstacle to the rapid development of the 

 industry is the difficulty of procuring seed-cocoons, which have 

 to be sought for in the wild state in the jungles. This difficulty, 

 however, Mr. Peppe thinks, will be gradually overcome, since 

 in every cultivated tract there are always a few cocoons which 

 escape detection and collection, and which add to the number 

 of wild cocoons found in the next brood. The industry is pre- 

 carious, but there are several crops in the season, and if one 

 fails the others may succeed. Mr. Peppe has cultivated tussur 

 for three years, yet he is not prepared to say how many broods 

 are possible in a year. Each brood so overlaps the succeeding 

 one, that it is very difficult to distinguish one brood from 

 an ither. 



A COURSE of five lectures on " Molecular Forces " will be 

 delivered by Prof. A. W. Riicker, M.A., F.R.S., at the Royal 

 Institution, beginning on Thursday, the 23th inst. The remain- 

 ing lectures will be delivered on the 27th inst. , and on February 

 3, 10, and 17. 



Messrs. W. Wesley and Son have issued the seventy-ninth 

 number of their " Natural History and Scientific Book Circular." 

 The most important part of the Catalogue appears under the 

 heading "Ornithology." 



We have received the "Year-book of Photography and the 

 Topographic News Almanac for 1S87,'' edited by Mr. Thomas 

 Bolas, F.C.S It contains, besides a calendar for the year 

 and lists of photographic societies, a large numb.'r of notes and 



