264 



NA TURE 



lAitg. 6, 1874 



a middle maximum, as a reference to my former letter (Nature, 

 vol. viii. p. 245) will show ; and I do not find any reference to 

 1S46 as a maximum in Prof. Tyndall's letter, or in that of Mr. 

 Symons, which alone I had seen when I last wrote. In both of 

 these 1S4S is named, and I demur to the changes to 1849 and 

 1S72 ; to the first because, apparently without any sufficient 

 re.ison, a dry year (48'io inches) is discarded, and a wet ye.ir 

 (67 'SS inches) is added, and to the second, not because it affects 

 my calculations, but because no reason is given. The change 

 appears to favour Mr. Meldrum's views, but it scarcely does so, 

 because the estimated quantity of 65 inches in 1S73 resulted in 

 an actual average of only 51 '26 inches, which would make a dif- 

 ference of 1374 inches in that year, and would change the 

 trifling excess of 2 '64 inches on the maximum side into a larger 

 exceiS of 1 1 'lo inches on the minimmn side. 



It is unnecessary, however, to go beyond the calcilation which 

 I have above submitted to show that Barbados does not bear 

 out Mr. Meldrum's theory. I am quite prepared to agree with 

 him that, if the preponderance of evidence drawn from a wider 

 area and from longer periods does support it, the opposite results 

 obtained in Barbados, although it is most iavourably situated for 

 observations of this nature, being fully exposed to the trade 

 winds blowing over the Atlantic during the greater part of the 

 yeir, and not apparently subject to any disturbing influences, 

 only show that no particular locality can draw a safe inference 

 as lo the manner in which the presence or absence of sun-spots 

 is likely to affect it. 



A further consequence presents itself to my mind. It appears 

 tr- me that the atmospheric influences entering into this ques:ion 

 — chiefly evaporation and rainfall — must balance one another 

 pretty equally over the face of the globe, either contempora- 

 neously or by seasons ; that the excess of rain received by some 

 plices has been drawn from others, which have consequently ex- 

 perienced the opposite effects of evaporation and drought. If 

 therefore certain solar influences, whose presence is indicated by 

 the appearance of sun-spots, have the effect of causing »n excess 

 of rain in certain years over so wide an area as Mr. Meldrum 

 supposes, whence does this excess come? If from some atmo- 

 spheric reservoir, independent of the globe, the excess w ould be 

 general ; the alternations of rain and drought might vary by 

 5 ears or by seasons, more or less long, but not Cjn'empora- 

 neously by, or in, localities. If, however, they be drawn from the 

 earth, or from atmospheric strata near the earth, there must be 

 e\aporat:on and drought in those parts whence the excess is 

 drawn. Barbados, as I have pointed out, is singularly free from 

 local influences wdiich would affect its rainfall diffisrently from the 

 rest of the globe. When therefore I find the experience of Bar- 

 bados differing from that of Mauritius, and of many other parts 

 of the world, i am driven to the conclusion that the influences 

 indicated by the existence of sun-spots are not universal, although 

 they may possibly operate on, and intensif)', other influences 

 already existing from other causes ; and that the absence of 

 those influences and the existence of different efl'ccts in Barbados 

 is not an exceptional result, but a necessary consequence, to be 

 expected in other parts of the globe also, and to be anticipated 

 from the ordinary operation of known physical laws. I shall not, 

 however, be dogmatic on the point, and shall hail further 

 pioof of the correctness of Mr. iSIeldrum's theory as a welcome 

 contribution to the " Meteorology of the future." 



Rawson \V. Rawson 



Care of Rabbits for their Dead 



Sevekal months ago you published, among others, a letter 

 of mine, on the "care of monkeys for their dead." Since then 

 I have been making observations upon a similar attention dis- 

 played by rabbits, although the considerations w-hich lead to its 

 exercise are apparently much more practical than in the case o' 

 monkeys. 



Most people are aware that if a rabbit is shot near the mouth 

 of its burrow, the animal will employ the last remnant of its 

 life in struggling into it. Having several times observed that 

 wounded rabbits which had thus escaped appeared again several 

 days alterwards above-ground, lying dead a few feet from the 

 mouth of the burrow, I wished to ascertain whether the wounded 

 animals had themselves come out before dying— possibly lor air, 

 —or had been taken out after death by their c mpanions. I 

 therefore shot numerous rabbits while they were sittmg near 

 their burrows, taking care that the distance between the gun and 

 the animal should be such as to ensure a speedy, though not an 



immediate, death. Having marked the lairrows at which I shot 

 rabbits in this manner, I returned to them at intervals for a fort- 

 night or more, and found that about one half of the bodies ap- 

 peared again on the surface in the way described. That this 

 reappearance above-ground is not due to the victim's own exer- 

 tions, I am now quite satisfied ; for not only did two or three 

 days generally elapse before the body thus showed itself — a period 

 much too long for a severely wounded rabbit to survive, — but in 

 a number of cases decomposition had set m. Indeed, on one 

 occasion scarcely anything of the animal was left, save the skin 

 and bones. This was in a large warren. 



It is a curious thing that I have hitherto been unable to get 

 any bodies returned to the surface, of rabbits which 1 inserted 

 into their burrows afler death. I account for this by supposing 

 that the stench of the decomposing carcase is not so intolerable 

 to the other occupants of the burrow, when it is near the orifice, 

 as it is when further in. Similarly, I find that there is not so 

 good a chance of bodies being returned from an extensive warren 

 of intercommunicating holes, as there is from smaller warrens or 

 blind holes ; the reason probably being, that in the one case the 

 living inhabitants are free to vacate the offensive locality, while 

 in the other case they are not so. Anyhow, there can be no 

 re.asonable doubt that the instinct of removing their dead has 

 arisen in rabbits, from the necessity of keeping their confined 

 domiciles in a pure condition. George J. Romanes 



Dunskaith, Ross-shire, July 26 



THE NEWFOUNDLAND SEAL FISHERY* 



''PHE vessels employed in this fishery are generally 

 -•- built for the purpose at Aberdeen, Greenock, or 

 Dundee ; but some obsolete inen-of-war have been 

 bought and strengthened to meet the requirements 01 

 the trade. Those steamers built for the purpose range 

 from 170 to 470 tons register, and have screw propellers. 

 The Bear, in which I went, belonging to Alessrs. 

 Walter Green and Co., and commanded by Captain 

 Alexander Graham, a sealing master of thirty years' 

 experience, was a new vessel of the largest class, built by 

 Messrs. Stephens, of Dundee, was barquentine rigged, 

 and had compound engines of no H.P. 



The smallest rod in the latter was 2i inches in 

 diameter, the minimum that has been found to stand the 

 shock of concussion with the ice. Propellers arc made in 

 one piece of cast-iron ; metal having been tried was found 

 to twist, and those made with separate blades to screw in 

 inevitably broke in the thread of the screw. They are 

 about 7 in. in thickness near the boss and about 2 in. at 

 the point, and should be made without a sling hole, two 

 propellers of the Bear having broken at that place. Over 

 the banjo frame are the " slip boards," pieces of hard wood 

 about 3 in. thick, that slide down the screw well on each 

 side of the Sampson posts to prevent ice getting in above 

 the propeller. They should be made to hoist up in one 

 piece with the banjo, otherwise considerable time is lost 

 in unbolting them. The brine from salt-meat casks is 

 kept and poured clown boiling to loosen the gear set fast 

 by frost and ice. The propeller may be known to be 

 broken by the great increase in vibration that inevitably 

 follows when in the ice. After watching for a long time 

 I found the effect produced on the engines by the ship 

 striking the ice was scarcely perceptible, and the stoppage 

 of the propeller by ice even at full speed only caused the 

 connecting rod to vibrate slightly. 



The bows for about 20 ft. from the stem are built nearly 

 solid viith the numerousbeams,timbers, and diagonals ; this 

 space is called " the fortification." The bows are sharply 

 built with a raking gripe, the advantage of which is that the 

 vessel does not strike the ice on all the stem at once, but 

 gradually meets the pan, and by the force of the way runs 

 on it as up an inchned plane, and thus adds weight to 

 momentum in breaking a passage. The stern should be 



* The following notes from personal experience were made in the present 

 year by Navigating Lieutenant Wra. Maxwell, R.N., and communicated to 

 the Hydrographer of the Admiralty. 



