June 8, 1905] 



NA rURE 



139 



upon tht cockle industry are both interesting and 

 important. 



'ihe volume contains several plates and woodcuts, and is 

 in paper covers. The education committee of the 

 Lancashire County Council provided funds for the in- 

 struction of fishermen at the Piel hatchery, and forty-five 

 fishermen attended the class which was held in the spring 

 by Mr. James Johnstone. A " Syllabus of the Lessons in 

 Marine Biology given in the Practical Classes for Fisher- 

 men " has been revised, and is now published as a separate 

 volume. It is difficult to estimate the value to the fisher- 

 men of the benefit to be derived from a superficial 

 knowledge of marine biology, but the value to the labor- 

 atory no doubt lies in the fact that the men send in speci- 

 mens of animals and plants taken in the course of their 

 fishing operations. 



The Danish fishery and hydrographical contributions to 

 (he international North Sea fisheries investiijations,' lately 

 issued, include two papers dealing with fishery matters, 

 one by Mr. Jobs. Schmidt being concerned with the pelagic 

 post-larval stages of the two species of halibut Hippo- 

 glossus vulgaris, Flem., and H. hipp())>lossdidcs (Walb.). 

 Mr. Schmidt points out that the best distinction between 

 these two species is not in the number of fin-rays, but in the 

 number of vertebra, and he found certain post-larval fishes 

 off Iceland and the Fjeroe Islands which agreed in the 

 nuinber of vertebr;c with the adults of H. vulgaris. The 

 material from which he determined the young stages of 

 //. hippoglossoides was taken by the Danish Ingolf E.\- 

 pedition. 



The other fishery paper is by Dr. .\. C. Johansen, and 

 is entitled " Contributions to the Biology of the Plaice 

 with Special Regard to the Danish Plaice Fishery," and is 

 the first report published upon the subject. The paper is 

 e.\ceedingly interesting, the results, chiefly in regard to the 

 growth and migrations of the plaice, having been obtained 

 by recording the length of a number of fish, marking 

 them with a label, and returning them to the sea to be 

 caught later on by one of the numerous fishing boats. 

 A fair percentage of the fish have been recovered, and by 

 re-measuring these fish their rate of growth during the 

 time between their marking and re-capture has been deter- 

 mined. An interesting part of this experiment was the 

 transplanting of fish from one ground to another, by which 

 it was found that on some grounds they would grow three 

 or four times as rapidly as upon other grounds. Experi- 

 ments upon the same lines have been carried out by the 

 English staff with similar results, but the official English 

 report is not yet published. The marking experiments 

 have also shown that in Danish waters there are decided 

 migrations of plaice at different times of the year, the 

 tendency being for the fish to work into shallower water 

 during the spring and into deeper water during the 

 autumn. 



Dr. Martin Knudsen contributes a paper upon the hydro- 

 graphy of the North Atlantic Ocean, while Mr. J. N. 

 Nielsen writes upon the hydrography of the waters of the 

 Fjvrbe Islands and Iceland during 1903. In both these 

 papers we should have liked to see either an introduction 

 stating the objects of the investigation or a summary of 

 results, as, to those who are not hydrographers, the results 

 obtained are not very clearly set forth. It is perhaps too 

 early to attempt to connect the observed physical pheno- 

 mena with the movements of the fish, but no doubt, as 

 more material comes to hand, the biological results of the 

 international investigations will be shown to be closely 

 dependent upon the physical conditions observed by the 

 hydrographical staff. 



A paper by Mr. Neils Bjerrum, on the determination of 

 oxygen in sea-water, is bound in with Mr. Nielsen's paper 

 already referred to. Mr. Bjerrum has adopted a method of 

 " preserving " the water samples taken in mid-ocean until 

 they can be accurately analysed on land, and it appears 

 that his method of adding to the water samples a solution 

 of manganous chloride and caustic soda containing iodide 

 of potassium has been very satisfactory. 



Fr.ank B-M.fol'k Browne. 



1 Meddelelsi 

 1904-5.) 



fra Kon 



for Havunde 



(Copenhage 



1858, VfiL. 72] 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxi-ORL).— .\ Statute was brought before Congregation 

 on June 6 to provide a delegacy to superintend the in- 

 struction of candidates for the Indian Forest Service, and 

 to grant diplomas in forestry. The proposal to establish a 

 diploma in forestry in the university has arisen from the 

 recent decision of "the Secretary of State for India to send 

 the Indian forestry students', hitherto trained at the 

 Coopers Hill Engineering College, to receive their special 

 training in luirsir\ .it Oxford. Those students under the 

 regulations jusi issued by the India Office will be selected 

 by a competitive examination held by the Civil Service 

 examiners every summer. They must be natural born 

 British subjects' of net less than eighteen or more than 

 twenty years of age on the January i before their selection. 

 They will be required, before becoming candidates, to have 

 passed Responsions or an equivalent examination. The 

 subjects of the competitive examination will be : — 

 (i) mechanics and physics; (2) chemistry; (3) zoology; 

 (4) botany. 



After selection the stlidents will be probationers for 

 about three years. F'or the first two years they will be 

 required to study at Oxford, and their course will include 

 theoretical and practical forestry, and subjects auxiliary 

 to forestry, viz. organic chemistry and the chemistry of 

 soils, geology, forest botany, forest entomology, mathe- 

 matics, German, and book-keeping. During the third year 

 of probation they will receive practical instruction, visiting 

 Continental forests under suitable supervision. The first 

 competitive examination will be held on August 2q 

 for the selection of not less than nine candidates. .Appli- 

 cations for admission must be made to the India Office by 

 July I. 



The Junior Scientific Club gave a conversazione in the 

 museum on Tuesday, May 30, at which more than a 

 thousand visitors were present. Lectures and demonstra- 

 tions were given by Prof. Poulton, Dr. Tutton, Dr. 

 Brereton Baker, and Mr. E. P. Poulton, and there were 

 a large number of scientific exhibits. 



The Robert Boyle lecture for 1905 was given by Sir 

 \'ictor Horsley on Monday, June 5, in New College Hall. 

 The subject of the lecture was "The Cerebellum." 



Cambridge. — A little pamphlet has just been published 

 on the authority of the Vice-Chancellor containing the 

 names of all those who voted on the report of the examin- 

 ations and the way they voted. An analysis of the poll 

 shows that amongst the resident members of the university 

 288 voted in favour of allowing a substitute for Greek in 

 the previous examination and 240 against. Thus the resi- 

 dents had, out of a total of 528 votes, the substantial 

 majority of 48 ; they were, however, swamped by the non- 

 resident vote. Only four colleges. King's, Christ's, 

 Trinity, and Downing, showed a majority amongst both 

 residents and non-residents in favour of the proposed 

 change. 



Prof. Lewis gives notice that a course of lectures and 

 demonstrations in crystallography will be given in the 

 mineralogical lecture-room during the long vacation, 

 beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday, July 7. 



The observatory syndicate has reported upon the manage- 

 ment of the sum of 5000/. bequeathed by the late Mr. 

 Frank McClcan for " improving the instrumental equip- 

 ment of the Newall Observatory." It recommends that 

 the sutn be invested, and that the disposal of both the 

 interest and, if advisable, the capital, be in the hands of 

 the syndicate, and that the accounts be annually audited 

 and published with the university accounts. 



The special board of medicine has drafted ordinances 

 which, if they pass the Senate, will allow a candidate for 

 the M.B. or M.D., if resident abroad, to take his degree 

 in absentia. 



The annual conversazione of University College, London, 

 will be held on the evening of Wednesday, June 28. 

 There will be scientific and other exhibi.ts illustrating the 

 work of the various departments of the college. 



