July 5, 1906] 



NA TURE 



229 



vincl vanes are well known to lln' public. 'Ilic informalion 

 ici|i.iirfd may be found in any good text-book of melpor- 

 ology, and the letter asking for it is characteristic of the 

 general lack of knowledge with regard to meteorological 

 matters. There are, of course, many recording anemo- 

 graphs which give wind direction, and our correspondent 

 should apply to instrument makers, such as Messrs. Lander 

 and Smith, of Canterbury, or Messrs. Negreiti and Zambra, 

 <if Holborn Viaduct, K.C, for a price-list. Recording 

 direction anemographs can be seen at work at many 

 observing stations, such as Greenwich, Kew, Oxford, 

 I'almouth, Kleelwood. Holyhead, Manchisii-r, Slonyluir^l, 

 .md other places. 



.Many men of science will be i^lad to Ic^arn tb.ti il is 

 proposed to establish some permanent memorial of the late 

 Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, not only of the man himself, but 

 ■ dso of the movement with which his name is especially 

 associated, the application, that is, of exact methods of 

 •tatistical inquiry to the study of variation and kindred 

 problems in zoology. It has been suggested that the 

 memorial should consist of a portrait — medallion or bust — 

 in the museum at Oxford, a cast of which might be placed 

 in L'niversity College, London, and of a prize to be 

 awarded periodically to the author of the most valuable 

 liiometric publication of recent date. The committee will 

 .irrange that subscribers may eventually purchase a repro- 

 iluction of the portrait. Contributions may be sent to Dr. 

 G. C. Bourne. Savile House, Oxford ; Dr. G. H. Fowler, 

 S8 Bedford Gardens, W. ; Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., 

 University College, W.C. ; Mr. Adam Sedgwick, F.R..S., 

 Trinity College, Cambridge ; or to the Weldon Mi-mori.il 

 .\ccount, at the Old Bank, Oxford. 



.\ Rov.AL Commission has been appointed to consider 

 certain questions affecting the erosion of the coasts of the 

 L'nited Kingdom. The commission is to inquire and re- 

 port : — (n) As to the encroachment of the sea on various 

 parts of the coast of the United Kingdom and the damage 

 which has been, or is likely to be, caused thereby, and 

 what measures are desirable for the prevention of such 

 damage. (6) Whether any further powers should be con- 

 ferred upon local authorities and owners of properly with 

 a view to the adoption of effective and systematic schemes 

 for the protection of the coast and the banks of tidal rivers. 

 (c) Whether any alteration of the law is desirable as re- 

 gards the management and control of the foreshore. 

 (A) Whether further facilities should be given for the re- 

 clamation of tidal lands. Science is represented upon the 

 commission by Dr. T. J. Jehu, lecturer in geologv nl ihe 

 l'niversity of St. .\ndrews. 



.\ LIST of Paraguay locusts (AcrididEe), with descriptions 

 of new species, by Mr. L. Bruner, forms the subject of 

 No. 1461 of the Proceedings of the U.S. Nal'onal Museum. 



\Vk have received copies of two papers, by Mr. H. H. 

 Iiloomer, on the anatomy of certain species of Solenidse, 

 reprinted from vol. xii. of the Journal of Malacology. We 

 note that the familiar name Solen eiisis is replaced by 

 Knsis cnsis. 



The articles in the June issue of the Zoologist are all 

 devoted to birds, Mr. E. Selous discussing sexual selec- 

 tion, as exemplified by the breeding-habits of the ruff, 

 while Mr. Wesch^ contributes notes on the habits of cage- 

 birds, and Mr. G. W. Kerr continues his notes on the 

 birds of the Staines district. 



NO. 1914, VOL. 74 



.•\n interesting report on the leading zoological gardens 

 of Europe has been issued by the Egyptian Department of:. 

 Public Works as the result of a mission undertaken last 

 year by Captain Stanley Flower with the view of obtaining 

 information and hints which might prove of use in the 

 establishment under his charge at Giza. While avoiding 

 invidious comparisons, the author has pointed out some 

 features in connection with buildings 'where particular 

 menageries excel their fellows, and has likewise published 

 lists of some of the. more notable animals which came 

 imder his observation. 



Siiizoi'Oi) crustaceans from the .\llantic slope, by .Messrs* 

 Holt and Tattersall, and fishes from the Atlantic slope, by 

 Messrs. Holt and Byrne, form the subjects of the latest 

 issues of Scientific Investigations, Fisheries, Ireland (i()04, 

 v.; and 1905, ii.), both published this year. The former' 

 adds five species to the British list, of which one is new. 

 Although, as the authors remark, the addition of new 

 species of deep-sea fishes to the British fauna is a matter 

 of no real importance, they are enabled to increase the 

 list by no less than sixteen species, of which one is new. 

 The most interesting among these is the salmonid Balhy- 

 lagus atlanticus, previously known only by a single speci- 

 men taken off Patagonia by the Challenger. 



Trudui St. Peterburghs. Obshch. (Trav. Sac. Imp. Nat. 

 St. PHersbourg) for March and April, (vol. xxxvii., part i.) 

 contains an illustrated account, by Mr. D. D. Pedaschenk, 

 of a wonderful new pelagic coelenterate from Java, for 

 which the name Dogiclia malayana is proposed. Measur-, 

 ing only from one to one and a half millimetres in length, , 

 the organism is remarkable for the possession of a comple.x 

 .system of paired branching outgrowths. It is considered 

 to be a highly-specialised member of the Ctenophora. 

 The other papers include notes on glaciation in the western 

 Urals, on a case of artificial formation of sillimanite, 

 and on regeneration in the polychsete worm Spirographis 

 .spallanzanii. 



In addition to an obituary notice, with portrait, of the • 

 late Dr. Max Kaeck, and a report on the museum and 

 gardens ■ for the past year, the contents of the Boletim do 

 Museu Goeldi (Para) include a continuation of Dr. J. 

 Huber's account of the Brazilian flora, a synopsis by the 

 same author of the plants of the genus Hevea, a supple-' 

 ment by Mr. A. Ducke to his papers on the social wasps 

 of Para, and a paper by Dr. E. Goeldi on the chelonians 

 of Brazil. Exclusive of the marine forms, the author 

 recognises twenty-one species of the latter as indigenous 

 to the country, all but four of these belonging to the 

 Pleurodira. Perhaps the most important part of this paper 

 is an account of the habits of the great arrau turtle 

 (Podocnemis expansa) of the .Amazon, from observations 

 made by Major J. M. da Silva Coutinho In i86,S. 



With its second (June) number, of w-hich we have 

 received a copy, the Haslemerc Museum Gazette has 

 changed its title to the Museum Gazette. There are several 

 excellent illustrations in this part, among them figures of 

 the two common British snakes and a reproduction of a 

 photograph of the historical department in the Haslemere 

 Museum, and a number of short articles, dealing chiefly . 

 with natural history subjects from an educational point of 

 view. Certain items in these will be read with some' 

 surprise by naturalists. We , are told, for instance, on 

 p. 65, that " all the gnus are South .'\frican, and would 



