Jan. 20, 1 881] 



NA TURE 



275 



the centre will be — , or '56 r' X 10-". In the case of 



a diameter of 6 centimetres this becomes 5'o X 10-". 



Five-millionths of a centimetre is certainly a small 

 amplitude, but it is probable that the sound would be 

 audible. In an experiment (made, it is true, at a higher 

 pitch) I found sound audible whose amplitude was less 

 than a ten-millionth of a centimetre." We may conclude, 

 I think, that there is at present no reason for discarding 

 the obvious explanation that the sounds in question are 

 due to the bending of the plates under unequal heating. 



January 13 Ravleigh 



NOTES 



We regret to learn of the death of the Rev. Humphrey Lloyd, 

 D.D., Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, on the 17th inst., at 

 the age of eighty-one years. Dr. Lloyd's contributions to 

 scientific literature have been many and important, and to these 

 and to his career generally we hope to refer at length in our next 

 number. 



Prof. Hu.xlev has been appointed to the Inspectorship of 

 Fisheries vacant by the death of Mr. Frank Buckland. 



The Queen has been pleased to confer a pension of 200/. 

 upon Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace. 



The election of Dr. B. A. Gould of Cordoba in the place of 

 the late Prof. C. A. F. Peters, director of the Observatoiy at 

 Kiel, as Correspondent of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, 

 completes the authorised number in the fection of Astronomy. 



York has already begun to make preparations for the 51st 

 meeting of the British Association in that city on August 31 next. 

 A meeting is to be held on the 26th inst. to appoint a reception 

 committee and take other steps in connection with the approach- 

 ing visit of the Association. The local secretaries are the Rev. 

 Thomas Adams and Dr. Tempest Anderson. 



The well-known collection of fossils formed by the late Mr. 

 E. Wood of Richmond, Yorkshire, has been purchased by Mr. 

 Willialm Reed, F.G.S., of York, and by him presented to the 

 Museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, York. The 

 collection consists of about io,oco specimens, and is specially 

 rich in fossils from the Carboniferous rocks. 



The great soiree of the Paris Observatory will take place on 

 February 5. One of the features of the display will be a series 

 of vacuum tubes exhibiting the spectral peculiarities of the 

 several gases inclosed. 



Dr. Fritsch, Professjr of Zoology at the University of 

 Prague, has sent us a spec! -uen of a cast, taken by the galvano- 

 plastic process, of a skeleton of one of the extraordinary Laby- 

 rinthodont reptiles, described by him in his work, "Fauna der 

 Gaskohle der Permfonnation Bcihmens." As the matrix in 

 which these skeletons are found contains much pyrites, it soon 

 crumbles away on exposure to the air. By this process of Dr. 

 Fritsch's the specimens however may be examined, even when 

 magnified twenty-fold, and all little minutite of the skeleton 

 can be seen. Complete sets of these galvano-plastic casts, re- 

 presenting all the more important reptile remains found, can 

 be had on application to Prof. Fritsch. 



In Siheria, a country so rich in gigantic fossils, the body of a 

 colossal rhinoceros has been discovered in the Werchojanski 

 district. It was found on the bank of a small tributary to the 

 Jana River, and was laid bare by the action of the water. 

 Similar to the mammoth \\ashed ashore by the Lena River in 

 1799, it is remarkably well preserved, the skin being unbroken 

 and covered with long hair. Unfortunately only the skull of 

 Proc. Roy. Soc. 1877. 



this rare fossil has reached St. Petersburg, and a foot is said to 

 beat Irkutsk, while the remainder was allowed to he washed 

 away by the river soon after it had been discovered. The inves- 

 tigation of the skull gave the interesting result that this rhinoceros 

 (R. Mcrckii) is a connecting form between the species now existing 

 and the so-called Rhinoceros iiehorrhinus^ remains of which are 

 not unfrequently found in the gravel strata of Eastern Prussia. 

 It is supp' sed that R, Merckii is the now extinct inhabitant of 

 the eastern part of Siberia. 



Herr Julius Gillis, a wealthy merchant of St. Petersburg, 

 offers a prize of 1000 florins for a popular work on "Kant's 

 Views on the Ideality of Time and Space." Htrr Gillis will 

 not only jiay the cost of publishing of the work which obtains 

 the prize, but will also let the author have the profits its sale may 

 realise. FJetails regarding this matter can be obtained from 

 Last's Literary Institute at Vienna. 



Mr. Warren De La Rue will, on Friday next, the 21st inst., 

 deliver his discourse at the Royal Institution on "The Pheno- 

 mena of the Electric Discharge with 14,400 Chloride of Silver 

 Cells." Prof. Schafer will give the first of a course of 

 twelve lectures on the Blood, on Tuesday next (January 2$) ; 

 Mr. Francis Ilueffer, the first of a course of four lectures 

 on the Troubadours, on Thursday next (January 27) ; and Mr. 

 Sidney Colvin the first of a course of four lectures on the 

 Amazons, on Saturday next (January 29). The next Friday 

 evening discourse will be given by Dr. Arthur Schuster, on the 

 Teachings of Modern Spectroscopy, on January 28. 



Mr. E. T. Sachs sends us some interesting notes from Bata- 

 via : — "Within the past month I have been so lucky as to make 

 what I hope is a very interesting if not remarkable discovery. 

 On the Island of Biliton, 200 miles from here, I found a fresh- 

 water fish which produces its young living from its mouth. I 

 am quite prepared for the cry of incredulity that will be raised ; 

 hut I conducted my observations with living fish and closed 

 doors, and what I assert is undeniable : the eggs are hatched in 

 the lower portion of the head of the fish, and are projected out 

 at the mouth and from nowhere else. I have secured several 

 specimens, which I shall send to Dr. Giinther, who will of course 

 at once set the matter at rest. I also got on Biliton a butterfly, 

 which is either a new Thecla or else it is the male of the pretty 

 Myrina nivea peculiar to the island. I fancy it must be the 

 latter. I was only three weeks on the island on other business, 

 and was never two miles from the shore, so I have reason to be 

 satisfied with my trip. I mean to go again next May or there- 

 abouts, and go into the interior, and also try to get some living 

 fish to breed from in Batavia. . . . There is a Dr. Schluyter 

 here who is working hard at invertebrates. He is just busy on 

 the tri-pang family, and will no doubt produce a fine monograph. 

 He gets some fine crustaceans from the Straits of Suuda. I 

 have shown him my fish, and he knows nothing of it." 



O.N the subject of crickets Mr. Sachs writes :— "These are 

 sold in the markets in Batavia, inclosed in small bamboos. 

 There is not much superstition about it, as little ticklers (pieces 

 of stick with a bunch of plants analogous to our broom tied 

 on the end) are sold with it wherewith to stir up the unfortunate 

 insect when it doesn't chirp. Only children buy them." 



A SHARF shock of earthquake was felt at Peshawur at 4 a.m. 

 on December 10. The atmosjihere was clear at the time ; small 

 drafts ard eddies of cold wind followed the shock. The 

 previous evening there had been a few drops of rain, the first 

 for three months. The temperature was rather warmer than it 

 had been, owing to the sky being more overcast. A smart 

 shock wai felt at the Bridge of Allan, near Stirling, on the 

 morning of the 12th, about seven o'clock. There was a severe 

 shock at Thurgau on the night of the 13th, accompanied by 

 underground noises. 



