390 



NA TURE 



[Mar. 19, 1874 



The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, on their visit to the 

 Zoological Gardens on Sunday last, desired to have their atten- 

 tion specially directed to a deer sent from Manilla by his Royal 

 Highness as a present. When It arrived in this country, in 

 May 1870, Mr. Sclater, F.R.S., the Secretary to the Society, 

 immediately recognised that it belonged to a species hitherto 

 quite unknown, and he accordingly named it Cdi~'us alfredi 

 or Prince Alfred's Deer. It is a very interesting fact that this 

 specimen, and one of the opposite se.x subsequently purchased 

 by the Zoological Society, together with a young one bom in the 

 Gardens, are the only examples that have at any time been 

 obtained of this particularly well-marked species of deer. 



There will be an election at Worcester College, Oxford, 

 in June, to three Scholarships, one of which will be in Natural 

 Science. Particulars can be had on application to the senior 

 tutor. At the same time there will be an election at Magdalen 

 College to not less than four Demyships and one Exhibition. Of 

 the Demyships, one at least will be Mathematical, and one at 

 least in Natural Science ; the Exhibition will be in Mathematics. 

 The stipend of the Demyships is 95/. per annum, and of the 

 Exhibition 75/., tenable for five years. For particulars apply to 

 the senior tutor. 



The Board of Trade have been infonned by the Meteorologi- 

 cal Committee that they are now prepared to re-introduce the 

 use of Admiral Fitzroy's signals (cones and drum) with slightly 

 modified significations, and that the change will take effect on 

 and after March 15, 1S74. The signals to be used will consist 

 of: — 1°. Cone, point downwards for southerly gales : S.E. round 

 by S. to N.W. 2°. Cone, point upwards for northerly gales: 

 N.W. round by N. to S.E. 3°. Drum ivith cone, to indicate 

 the probable approach of a very heazy gale from the direction in- 

 dicated by the cone. The drum will not be used without the 

 cone. The signals are to be kept hoisted during the daylight 

 only, until 48 hours have elapsed from the time the telegram 7oas 

 despatched, unless countermanded. At night lanterns may be 

 used wherever the local authorities deem it advisable to do 

 so, as pointed out in an explanatory pamphlet, copies of 

 which are supplied for gr.ituitous distribution. It will be seen 

 from the pamphlet in question, that the meaning of the signals 

 is that an atmospherical disturbance exists (which will be ex- 

 plained in the telegram) and will probably, but not necessarily, 

 cause a gale at the place warned from the direction indicated by 

 the signal. The Meteorological Ofiice will supply the canvas 

 shapes and lanterns to such places as require them, on loan ; but 

 in all cases the local authorities must undertake the charges in- 

 cidental to the hoisting of the signal, such as flagstaff and gear, 

 oil, &c., and also to the keeping of the apparatus in- repair, 

 painting, &c. 



M. G. TissANDiER, the editor of La Nature, is com- 

 pleting a series of observations for calculating the amount of 

 atmospheric dust falling each day. The mean found is said to 

 be several pounds in twelve hours for a surface not larger than 

 the Champ de Mars, rather less than a half a square mile. 



Thirty-seven small planets have been discovered in the 

 years 1872 and 1873, or l8i for each year, making 1,850 per 

 century. From the days of Hipparchus to the present time we 

 may reckon 2,000 years ; had astronomers worked with the 

 same zeal and success during these 2,000 years, the number of 

 small planets known would have amounted to 37,000, only three 

 times the number given by Arago of stars up to the 7th 

 magnitude, and a very small proportion of the stars of the loth 

 magnitude. Although very minute, the latter are generally 

 much brighter than small planets as seen at the time of opposi- 

 tion. 



Prof. O. C. Marsh has made out some interesting points in 

 connection with the remains of equine forms in the North Ame- 

 rican tertiaries. Following up the genealogy of the horse, as 

 traced by Prof Huxley in the European remains, he has been 

 able to show that the American deposits present even a more 

 complete series of intermediate forms. Between Orohippiis 

 agilis of the Eocene, which was about the size of a fox, and had 

 four toes on the fore foot, wnth three behind, and Eqiiiis /rater- 

 nils of the Pleistocene, which is not osteologically distmguishable 

 from the existing Eqiius cabalhis, the following genera form the 

 connecting links in form, size, and antiquity, viz. Miohippus and 

 Anchithcrium of the Miocene, and Anchippus, Hipparion, Pro- 

 tohipptts and Pliohippus of the Pliocene. "Considering the 

 remarkable development of the group through the entire Ter- 

 tiary period, and its existence even later, it seems very strange 

 that none of the species should have survived, and that we are 

 indebted for our present horse to the old world." 



In continuation of his exquisite researches on the phenomenon 

 of flight {Comptcs Rcndus, January 12, 1S74), M. Marey has 

 made a series of observations which prove how important a part 

 the onward movement of a bird plays in increasing the efficiency 

 of each wing stroke. For supposing that in its descent the wing 

 did not continually come in contact with a fresh volume of air, 

 it would act at a disadvantage, because the downward impulse 

 which, at the commencement of each stroke, it gives to the air 

 below it, would make that air so much less efficient a resisting 

 medium ; whilst, by continually coming in contact with a fresh 

 body of air, the wing is always acting on it to the best advantage. 

 For this reason, when a bird commences its flight, it turns towards 

 the wind if possible, to make up for its lack of motion on 

 starting. 



The extension of the Cinchona cultivation in Darjeeling con- 

 tinues. Every year additional land is brought under Cinchona 

 culture, and it is calculated that 2,000 acres more will be cleared 

 and planted within the next four years. With regard to Ipeca- 

 cuanha, upwards of 20,000 plants and cuttings are now in hand, 

 all of which promise well. Another interesting fact relating to 

 the introduction of useful plants into India, is that of the success 

 in the Terai of the Cacao ( Theobronta cacao L. ) . The plants 

 that were planted out about a year ago, were sent from Kew at 

 the suggestion of Dr. Hooker, and they are now in a most 

 healthy and satisfactory condition. 



The French Academy has at last published the list of can- 

 didates for the seat rendered vacant by the death of the late 

 Dr. Nelaton. The issue is quite uncertain. M. Broca, the 

 celebrated anatomist, has obtained only a second rank, and 

 M. Marey is placed in the third. 



Father Secchi is preparing, at Gauthier Villars, a second 

 edition of his work on the Sun, on an enlarged scale. He ha 

 quoted so largely from Mr. Lockyer's "Solar Physics" thai 

 an intended translation of this work is abandoned for the 

 present. 



Quite a sensation was produced in the last sitting of the 

 Academic des Sciences, by the exhibition of photographs of 

 Spitzbergen scenery, sent by Prof. Nordenskiold. One of these 

 represented a meteorite nearly 18 tons in weight. 



A Belgian paper describes an immense petrified trunk of a 

 conifer discovered in the province of Lineburg in . perfect 

 preservation. Its length is about 33 feet, and its diameter about 

 20 inches. 



The Anniiaire of the Bureau des longitudes for 1874 has been 

 recently published. Although sold at 14 fr., it contains chromo- 

 lithographs showing solar protuberances, and an essay by M. Faye 

 on questions relating to the sun. 



