August 19, 1880J 



NATURE 



373 



organisms was obtained, including, besides most of the species 

 described by English and Scandinavian naturalists, many new 

 animals not previously known. Some large Gorgoniaus of the 

 genus Isis, once brought up from 600 m., about midnight 

 presented a curious sight : the whole of the sarcosoma between 

 the zooids emitted a green phosphorescent light so strong that 

 on agitating these animals they seemed to produce a shower of 

 fire, and with the light emitted one could read the smallest 

 type. The collections are distributed thus : M. Vaillant examines 

 the fishes, nemertians, and sponges ; M. Fischer, the molluscs ; 

 M. Marion, the annelids, echinoderms, and other zoophytes ; 

 M. de Folin, the foraminifera ; M. A. Milne-Edwards, the 

 Crustacea ; while M. Perier has made thermometric observations, 

 and will analyse the samples of sea-bottom. 



Among our letters this week are some referring to the recent 

 remarkable displays of aurora:. Another correspondent writes 

 that similar displays were seen from Caithness-shire on the 

 evenings of Wednesday the illh, and Thursday the 12th inst. 

 The finer of the two displays «as on the Thursday, lasting from 

 about 10 p.m. to midnight. The outbui'st of streamers at 10. 15 

 p.m. was very fine, the streamers appearing like wavy swaying 

 curtains from the zenith to near the horizon, with a development 

 of tints of the loveliest green near the zenith. Tlie aurora of 

 the nth was to the north-west of Wick, but that of the 12th 

 chiefly to the north-east. From Kirkwall also fine displays were 

 seen on the 13th till past midnight. Reports in the daily papers 

 also show^that the plienomeua have been seen from many parts of 

 England as well as Scotland. Fine displays of this beautiful 

 meteor may very confidently be looked for during the next three 

 months, and if our spectroscopists bestir themselves a large 

 extension of our knowledge of the aurora is close at hand. 



Prof. Silvestri writes to the Daily News Naples corre- 

 spondent that in a short time the Observatory on Etna will be an 

 accomplished fact. The Itahan Government contributes half 

 of the expenses, the Province of Catania a fourth, and the 

 Commune of Catania the remaining fourth. The object of the 

 observatory is the study of vulcanology, and therefore it has 

 been built at the base of the central cone, exactly on the former 

 site of the well-known refuge called the " Casa degli Inglesi.' 

 It will be in connection with several small sismic stations posted 

 on the slopes of the mountain, and the whole will communicate 

 telegraphically with another vulcanic station which he proposes to 

 establish in Catania. In the central observatory, so favourably 

 situated about 3,000 metres above the level of the sea on the 

 isolated mountain, where the extent of view is unlimited, and 

 the sky peculiarly transparent, meteorological observations most 

 interesting to science will be carried on, and Prof. Tacchini, the 

 astronomer, proposes to make there experiments in physical 

 astronomy, particularly relating to the spectroscopical study of 

 the fixed stars. The Observatory will therefore be divided into 

 three scientific branches— vulcanologv, astronomy, and meteoro- 

 logy, connected witli the University of Catania, and dependent 

 on the Minister of Public Instruction. It was intended that the 

 inauguration should take place during the Congress of the 

 Alpine Club at Catania, but unforeseen delays in the execution 

 of the works will defer it to next year. 



The United States Government has taken prompt and vigorous 

 action on the basis of the recent conclusions come to by scientific 

 investigators as to the prevalence of colour-blindness. Both in 

 the army and the navy, and in the case of pilots, systems of 

 examination have been devised and are enforced to secure the 

 detection of colour-blindness in all cases in which such a defect 

 would be likely to le.id to incfhcient discharge of duty. As we 

 formerly intimated, also, the State of Connecticut insists that all 

 railway employes within its borders be tested for the same pur- 

 pose, and doubtless in time a similar law will be passed in all 



the other States. The following are the rules for conducting the 

 examinations in the State of Connecticut — Rule I. — For the 

 qualitative estimation of colour-blindness the follomng tests are 

 to be employed : Holmgren's worsteds, the tables of Stilling, 

 Bonders' colour-test patterns, Pfltiger's letters with tissue papers. 

 Diiae tests and Woinow's revolving cards may also be used. For 

 the quantitative test for colour-bhndness. Bonders' reflected 

 spots. Bonders' method with transmitted light, Holmgren's 

 shadow-tests shall be employed. Rule 2. — The following are 

 the requirements for a certificate in the first class : I. Healthy 

 eyes and eyelids without habitual congestion or inflammation. 

 2. Unobstructed visual field. 3. Normal visual acuteness. 4. 

 Freedom from colour-blindness. $. Entire absence of cata- 

 ract or other progresssive disease of the eyes. The second class 

 shall have : — I. Healthy eyes and eyelids without habitual con- 

 gestion or inflammation. 2. Unobstructed visual field. 3. 

 Visual acuteness at least equal to three-fifths without glasses and 

 normal with glasses in one eye, and at least one-half in the 

 other eye with glasses. 4. Freedom from colour-blindness in 

 one eye, colour-perception at least equal to three-fourths in the 

 other eye. Rule 3. — In the case of employes who have held 

 their positions five years or more, the standards required in each 

 class shall be determined under special instructijns from the 

 Board of Health. 



The third instalment of Br. Elliott Coues's "Ornithological 

 BihUography " is, we learn from the New York Nation, still in 

 the press, having been delayed by its unexpected extent. Mean- 

 time, extracted from the Proceedings of the United States National 

 Museum, we have the fourth instalment, being a " List of Faunal 

 Publications relating to British Birds." Such a list, of course, 

 could not possibly be made complete out of England, and the 

 compiler himself points out its inadequacy. Nevertheless, it 

 embraces something like a thousand titles, only in a compara- 

 tively few cases taken at second-hand, and is so accurate and 

 punctilious as far as it goes that to call it a "published proof- 

 sheet " is almost an excess of modesty. The titles are given in 

 full, and even, as in the first two (different editions of the same 

 book), with the typographic errors and inconsistencies of the 

 originals. Further, they are arranged chronologically, and 

 copiously annotated, not seldom with the aid of Prof. Alfred 

 Newton, of Magdalene College, Cambridge. 



" Pal/EONTOLOGIsts and naturalists generally," the Nation 

 states, " will learn with satisfaction of the appearance in connected 

 form of the results of a portion of Prof. Marsh's wonderful 

 pala:ontological discoveries in the Western Territories. The 

 series of explorations so successfully carried on by this distin- 

 guished naturalist in the Rocky Mountain region since 1S68, 

 undertaken at no inconsiderable personal risk and no less con- 

 siderable outlay of private capital, has resulted in the acquisition 

 by Yale College of the most extensive collection of fossil 

 vertebrate remains in the world. Huxley's visit to this country 

 in 1S76 was largely, if not mainly, brought about by his desire 

 to examine personally this collection. Some notion of its e.xtent 

 may be gleaned from the fact that of Pterodactyls (flying reptiles) 

 alone it embraces fragments belonging to at least 600 individuals, 

 and of Mesozoic birds— a class of remains wliich, as far as 

 number is concerned, has thus far yielded the most baiTcn results 

 in extra-American countries— fragments representing more than 

 100 individuals. The work before us, which is intended to form 

 vol. vii. of the geological reports of the Fortieth Parallel Survey, 

 deals with the Odontornithes, or extinct toothed birds of North 

 America. These, belonging to the middle-cretaceous period, 

 are the oldest ornithic remains as yet discovered on this con- 

 tinent, and, with the exception of the three specimens of the 

 Archceopteiyx unearthed from the Jurassic lithographic limestone 

 of Solenhofen, Bavaria, represent the oldest known form of 



