356 



NA TURE 



IFcb. lo, 1887 



the staff of llie Scottish Marine Station on board the Medusa; 

 the trips having been made in April, June, August, September, 

 and November. The observations were made at all depths of 

 the sea, from the surface to 107 fathoms. The novelty and, 

 in not a few cases, the unexpectedness of the results render it 

 advisable to delay a full discussion till more observations have 

 been made and the densities worked out. In the meantime a 

 provisional report on the results of the April and June trips, hy 

 Dr. IT. R. Mill, will be read with interest. Among the unex- 

 pected results was the discovery in June in Loch Fyne of a 

 lenticular mass of water with temperature below 43° fliating 

 between two warmer strata, the cold area being most definite at 

 its upper surface and more diffused below. The greatest thick- 

 ness of the mass of water colder than 43° was 180 feet, off 

 Inveraray. Its lower bounding plane ran along the bottom 

 from the head of the loch to Ounderave ; then where the water 

 deepens it dipped down again at the same angle until off 

 Inveraray, where it lient up again and met the upper bounding 

 surface at Furnace, 120 feet under the surface of the loch. 



In a paper by the secretary on the meteorology of Ben Nevis, 

 it is shown from the three years' observations at the low-level 

 station and the high-level observatory that the mean decrease of 

 temperature with height is at the rate of 1° F. for every 270 feet 

 of ascent, the lowest monthly rate being 1° for every 284 feet in 

 winter and the most rapid rate 247 feet in spring. A table of 

 the barometric corrections for height for the different sea-level 

 pressures and air temperatures that occur has also been prepared 

 directly from the observations themselves. The importance of 

 the results of these two inquiries rests on the fact that the Ben 

 Nevis pair of stations alone supply, owing to their great differ- 

 ence in height, close proximity horizontally, and the positions of 

 their thermometers, the physical data of observation which 

 satisfy with sufficient closeness the requirements of these funda- 

 mental problems of meteorology. The science has now passed 

 that stage when Greit St. Bernard with Geneva, Mount Wash- 

 ington with Portland and Burlington, Hochobir with a station in 

 one of the neighb niring deep valleys, or brief continued observa- 

 tions with balloons or at different heights on the slopes of the 

 Faulhorn, can be accepted as affording the data required for 

 dealing seriously with these questions. 



REPORT ON THE BOTANICAL GARDEN, 

 SAHARUNPUR 

 lyrR. DUTHIE'S " Report on the Progress and Condition of 

 the Government Botanical Gardens at Saharunpur and 

 Mussoorie for the Year ending March 3t, 1886," which has 

 recenily reached us, contains, besides the usual routine matter, 

 inseparable from such Reports, on the state of the Garden 

 itself, much that has a wider range of interest. As usual, the 

 cultivation of new plants of economic value appears to have 

 occupied a considerable amount of attention during the year. 

 Where so many useful plants have been introduced and reported 

 upon, it is not an easy matter to select one or two for an 

 example of the work in which Mr. Duthie is engaged. The 

 character of this work is now, however, pretty well known, 

 though the following extracts will show that plants of very 

 varied character and uses are yearly being experimented with in 

 our Indian and colonial botanic gardens. 



Under the head of New Zealand spinach, a quantity of the 

 seed of this vegetable is reported to have been received and 

 planted, germinating freely and yielding a continuous crop of 

 leaves, which, when cooked, is said to much resemble in flavour 

 that of English spinach. The plants, Mr. Duthie says, seed 

 freely, and he has no doubt that it will readily acclimatise ; 

 though, as he says, the introduction is not one of much import- 

 ance, except for variety, as it cdmes into Iseasjn at the same 

 time as English kinds, and it can hardly compete with them in 

 popular estimation. This so-called New Zealand spinach many 

 of our readers will remember as Tdragonia cx/:aiisa. 



The Oca-quina {UUiuhs iuberosus) is another food-plant upon 

 which experiments in cultivation have been made. It is a native 

 of South America, and the tubers, which are about the size of a 

 walnut, and similar in appearance to a potato, are eaten, when 

 cooked, by the people. Its cultivation in this country as a sub- 

 stitute for the potato was at one time proposed and attempted. 

 Mr. Duthie says that twenty-eight tubers were received by him 

 from the Royal Gardens, Kew, four of which were sent to the 

 Arnigardh Garden, and the remainder were planted at Saharun- 

 pur. Up to within a few weeks of the date of the Report, 



these latter plants had made good growth, but after the com- 

 mencement of the hot weather they became sickly, so that it is 

 evident it will not suit the plains of India, but may succeed very 

 well in the climate of Arnigardh, where it was intended that the 

 majority of the plants should be sent. 



Of tire Japanese varnish-tree {Rhus vernicifera) the seedlings 

 are stated to be makinj^ rapid progress. The growth for the 

 two years after germination did not average more than a foot, 

 which, however, has been doubled since the commeacement of 

 the hot season, and there is now no reason to doubt th.at this 

 useful tree will thrive in the climate of Sahirunpur. Mr. Duthie 

 further says a small plantation will be made next rainy season, 

 and it will then be a question of time as to when the plants will 

 be ready for tapping. 



Mr. Duthie makes the following interesting report on the 

 subject of spider silk, which had previously attracted some 

 attention. He says : — " I arrived from Brilish Garwhal just in 

 time to superintend operations at the commencement. The men 

 employed on this work were provided with small sticks about a 

 foot long, and they were told to collect as many clean webs as 

 possible during the day. There was not much to show at the 

 end of the day, as the silk takes up very little space when wound 

 round these sticks, and the weight is inappreciable. The total 

 weight of webs collected during the season did not exceed 10 lbs., 

 the bulk of which was despatched to Mr. Wardle, of Leek. The 

 cost of collecting the above, and the carriage from Bhim Teel to 

 Saharunpur, and from Saharunpur to Bombay, amounted to 

 Rupees 33-7-0. At this rate the export of spider silk to 

 England would, of course, never pay, but expenses might be 

 reduced very considerably : for instance, this first consignment 

 included the weight of the sticks round which the silk was 

 wound. The silk is removable after immersion in hot water. 

 During my stay at Indalpur, in the Shahjahanpur district, I saw 

 some fine clean webs of the same kind in a forest about eight 

 miles to the north of Indalpur." 



Judging from the remarks of Mr. Duthie, there seems but 

 little chance of spider silk ever becoming an article of com- 

 mercial value. 



The Report includes some interesting notes on some official 

 tours made by Mr. Duthie during the year, and a valuable list of 

 plants collected, the names of which have been verified at the 

 Royal Gardens, Kew. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Bulletin dc V Academic dcs Sciences de St. Petershoiirg, tome 

 xxxi. No. 3. — Corrections and additions to the Syrian-German 

 and Votyak-German dictionaries, published in 1S80, by F. J. 

 Wiedemann. These emendations are based on the following 

 recent works : "The Land and Language of the Syrians," by 

 Lytkin ; the publications on the Votyak language issued by the 

 Kazan Mission ; "Votyak Tales and Proverbs," collected by 

 Dr. AminolT, and published in the works of the recently insti- 

 tuted Finnish- Ugrian Society; Dr. Max Buch's ethnographical 

 sketch of the Votyaks in the " .A.ctK Societatis Sclent. Fennic.-e," 

 vol. xii. ; and M.M. Koshurnikoff and Miropolsky's monographs 

 on the Votyaks. — On the Ornis of the western spurs of the 

 Paiiiirand Alai, by V. Bianchi — On " Claudii Galeni Pergameni 

 Scripta minora," by L. Nauck, 



Nyt Magaziit for Naltirvidenskaberne, vol. xxx. Nos. 3 and 4, 

 Christiania, 1886. — Thisnumber of the Uorv/egmn New J'owiial 

 of Sciences contains : — Continuation of Herr Brogger's paper on 

 the geological history of the Christiania Fjord. According to 

 the writer, it may be assumed that the bed of the fjord has been 

 raised by eruption to the surface of an older bed, which consists 

 of depressed strata of the earth's crust, whose depression had 

 been connected with active processes of dislocation, crumpling, 

 and folding in the post-Silurian period. The evidences of 

 erosion and eruption are considered at length, with special 

 reference to the action of gl.aciers in the formation of the fjord. 

 — Dr. Lang concludes in an exhaustive paper his contributions to 

 the study of the eruptive rocks of the .Silurian beds of Christiania, 

 and thus completes an important chapter in the geological 

 history of South Scandinavia. — Notice of Regaleeus glcsue 

 ascanius, hy Herr J. Grieg. This specimen, a female, with well- 

 developed ovarium, is the fourteenth that has been taken off the 

 Norsvegian coasts since 1740. — Report of the various attempts 

 made within the last four years to introduce new plants into 

 Iceland, by Dr. Schierbeck. The results of these efforts to 



