494 



NATURE 



\^March 24, 1881 



was awarded to Mr. E. J. Stone, director of the Radcliffe Obser- 

 vator)', Oxford, for his great catalogue of southern stars, involving 

 newly-determined places of all the stars observed by the Frencli 

 astronomer Lacaille during his memorable visit to the Cape of 

 Good Hope, in the years 1751 and 1752; the observations for 

 the catalogue having been made while Mr. Stone occupied the 

 position of Her Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape. The com- 

 mission to whom the consideration of the award was referred 

 consisted of MM. Faye, Mouchez, Lrewy, Janssen, and Tisserand, 

 who have called attention in their Report to the " fundamental 

 importance " of the Catalogue, in view of the study of the proper 

 motions, &c., of the stars in the southern heavens. 



At the same sitting the Valz Prize was adjudged to M. Tempel 

 of Florence for his numerous cometary discoveries. 



The Damoiseau Prize (10,000 francs) has been again proposed 

 for 18S2. It had been offered without response in l86g, 1S72, 

 1876, 1S77, and 1879 ; the subject on all occasions being the 

 same and a very important one in the actual state of astronomy, 

 viz., " To review the theory of the satellites of Jupiter, to discuss 

 the observations and to deduce the constants which it contains, 

 and particularly that which furnishes a direct determination of 

 the velocity of light ; and lastly, to construct special tables for 

 each satellite." 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES 



Alg.« of the Gulf of Finland. — M. Chr. Gobi made an 

 excm-sion along the borders of the Gulf of Finland in the 

 summer of 1879 with the object of investigating the algae of tliis 

 district. In spite of the weather being of the most unfavourable 

 character he was enabled to work out the whole south-west 

 coast of this district, from St. Petersburg to the comparatively 

 open sea at Hapsal. Along the southern coast of the Island of 

 Kotlin, on which Cronstadt is built, and also along the opposite 

 coast shore at Granienbaum, chlorophyllaceous algs were almost 

 exclusively met with, and these belonging to species to be also 

 met with in the fresh waters of the adjoining lands, for example, 

 three distinct species of Cladophora (among these C. glomcrata), 

 several forms of the genera Oedogonium, Spircgyra, Zygnema, 

 and other filamentous Mesocarpeje ; various Desmidiace«e (Cos- 

 marium, Closterium, Scenedesmus), a much-branched, very tine, 

 almost hair-like Euteromorpha (apparently E. salina), also 

 various oscillatoriaceous forms and diatoms. Besides at Cron- 

 stadt an Ulothrix, more commonly in the early summer months, 

 and a Merismopcedia (probably M. Ktilzingii) at Granienbaum, 

 the pretty S/iridiiia fcnncri, amidst various Oscillatoria, was 

 met VI ith, also Vaucheria, and in larger quantities Hydrodictyoii 

 utriculatum, in the various sta;es of development (middle of 

 August). About seven versts west of Granienbaum Tolypothrix 

 was met with in some quantity, forming floating ball-shaped 

 masses. By the end of July some excursions to the environs of 

 Hapsal led to the discovery of the interesting Phceospore, which 

 up to this had only once been found by Pringsheim at Heligo- 

 land, and called by him Streblonema ; in Hapsal Bay it 

 lived on Ruppia, several Charas, and in company on these « ith 

 Ulothrix cotfiivicola, which latter grew in great abundance 011 

 these plants and on Ct ramia and other red algce. It is inter- 

 esting to note that along with marine forms there grew some of 

 the fresh-water filamentous algje, such as Spirogyra, Zygnema, 

 and in large quantities that half fresh-water species Mono.'tiema 

 Balticuiii. Out in the bay towards the open sea the red alga- 

 increased in number, but the merging of the freshwater forms 

 into those of a truly marine type could be well studied in the 

 Bay of Hapsal. {Botanische Zdlioig, F"ebruai-y 20.) 



The "Blake" Ckuise. — Numbers i and 2 of volume S of 

 the Bulkiin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard 

 College contain preliminary reports on the Echini collected during 

 the cruises of the Blake, by Alex. Agassiz, and on the Crustacea 

 by Alphonse Milne-Edwards, have just reached us. The report 

 on the Echini contains descriptions of thirteen new species belong- 

 ing to such genera as E'orocidaris, Coelopleurus, Asthenosoma, 

 Phormosoma, Pala:otropus, and Schizaster. Perhaps no grou|j 

 of animals has received such marked additions to its ranks 

 through the deep-sea dredging expeditions. There was a time, 

 and that not long ago, w hen we remember that the prevalent 

 idea was that in this class new species were scarcely to be ex- 

 pected to turn up. Alphonse Milne-Edwards' report, of which 

 the first part only is published, treats of the Brachyurous Deca- 

 pods and of a portion of the Macrura. Many new genera and 

 species are described, and several are figured. One very re- 



markable new genus, Corycodus, is formed to receive a some- 

 what mutilated example, which however exhibits characters 

 different from any known Crustacea, belonging apparently to 

 the family Dorripedas. Its carapace is globular, and intimately 

 connected to (^oudee) the sternal plastron and between the 

 insertion of the articulations of the first and those of the second 

 pair of feet there is to be found a considerable space. Some 

 very interesting new genera belonging to the Paguridse are de- 

 scribed. Among the new species of the Galatheadje there are 

 no less than eleven belonging to the genus Munida ; and a new 

 genus allied to Munida, Galathodes is described with ten new 

 species. It is evident that the number of species belonging to 

 the Crustacea have been very largely increased by the deep- 

 sea exploration carried on by the United States Coast Survey- 

 steamer Blake. 



Food of Birds, Fishes, and Beetles.— The^ State Legis- 

 lature of Illinois authorised at its last session an investigation of 

 the food of the birds of the State, ^^ ith es] ecial reference to 

 agriculture and horticulture, and a similar investigation of the 

 food of the fishes, with especial reference to fish-culture. As a 

 result several Bulletins have been issued from the State Labora- 

 tory of Natural History, of «hich the last just received (No. 3) 

 contains a report on the food of fishes by S. A. Forbes, the 

 director of the Laboratoi-y, the class especially reported on being 

 the Acanthopteri, and another on the food of birds by the same. 

 A very interesting series of notes on the food of predaceous 

 beetles, by F. M. Webster, is added. Many species are proved 

 to be vegetarians, sometimes doing the growing crops a good 

 deal of mischief. 



Physiological Significance of Transpiration of 

 Plants. — Prof. Weiss concludes from experiments (Vienna 

 Acad. Anz.) that transpiration is only prejudicial to the 

 functions of plants, excepting the process of lignification of the 

 cell-walls, \\ hich it favoiu-s ; hence it is to be regarded as a 

 necessary evil for plants. Prof. Weiss also obtains striking evidence 

 in favour of Wiesner's theory of heliotropism ; and he seeks to 

 prove that through transpiration cei tain inorganic constituents of 

 the ground are carried to plants in excess, ,nnd are got rid of 

 on the fall of leaves in autumn, and consequently that transpira- 

 tion is also the cause of the influence exercised by the nature of 

 the ground on the quantitative composition of the ashes of 

 plants. The view that the stronger growth of non-transpiring 

 plants is due to mere ex[ansion of cells without simultaneous 

 over-production of organic substances, is controverted. 



Signs of Death. — Observations with regard to the last 

 manifestations of life in animals variously killed have been 

 lately made by Drs. Verga and Biffi [Real. 1st. Lontb. Rend.). 

 The following conclusions are arrived at : — i. in the higher 

 animals, when sensibility, circulation, and respiration have 

 ceased, the life of histological elements of the nervous centres, 

 especially of the ganglionic system and the spinal cord, remains 

 for a short time. 2. Contraction of the pupil aiid of the spleen 

 are effects of this reduced latent life, and more remarkable 

 effects, in guinea-pigs, rabbits, and cats, are the constant and 

 uniform movements of inward curvature, which have the signi- 

 ficance of respiratory efforts, presented under like conditions by 

 the dog and the a-s. 3. These movements appear in the animals 

 whether drowned in w ater, or hung, or bled to death. 4. They 

 indicate the point beyond which the organism loses the pon er of 

 recovery. , 



Classification of Statures. — In view of the increasing / 

 need of exactness in anthropological descriptions. Prof. Zoja / 

 has lately proposed in the Lombard Institute a system of classi- / 

 fication of human statures. He first constitutes three divisions, 

 denoting by the terms mesosoma, mcgasoma, and microsoma, 

 medium, high, and low stature respectively. At the ends of the 

 series are added divisions for gigantic and dwarfish statures, 

 gigaiitosoma and nanosoma. Each of these five classes is divided 

 into three parts, on this plan : medium mesosoma, hypermespsoma, 

 and hypomesosorna. To attach numerical values to all these fifteen 

 divisions is more difficult. The author makes 2'oo metres the 

 division between very high and gigantic stature, and gigantosoma 

 ranges from that point up to 2-51 m. or more (hypergiganto- 

 soma). On the other hand 1-25 m. is made the limit between 

 very low and exceptionally low stature ; and nanosoma ranges 

 from this to 074 or less (hyponanosoma). Medium stature (or 

 mesosoma) ranges from I '60 m. to 1 70 m. 



Equus Prjevalski.— The St. Petersburg .Geographical 

 Society has just published a pamphlet, by M. Poliakoff, on the 



