530 



NATURE 



\Ott. 29, 1874 



rejected as not having received a sufficient education. Tlie 

 repoit of the examiners shows an improvement in the mean 

 capacity of candidates. Many young men are admitted, without 

 having to pass previous examinations, Bachelors of Arts, 

 Sciences, or Letters, Pupils of Public Schools of Arts and Public 

 Works and Mines, and Leaux Arts, and a few other institutions. 

 The number of the volunteers of that class is about 4,000. 

 Each volunteer has to pay besides a sum of 60/. to the Govern- 

 ment. Education must be combined with money, in order to 

 shorten the service in the remodelled French army. 



The study of "seaweeds" is probably affected as much by 

 the general public as that of fish ; and whether or not the great 

 mass of people who visit the Brighton Aquarium and other 

 similar resorts really go there with any idea of becoming more 

 intimately acquainted with the wonders of the deep, there is no 

 doubt that the exhibition of varieties of ocean plants would be 

 as popular as that of fish. A seaweed growing in water is very 

 different from seaweed cast up on the shore, and a careful selec- 

 tion and arrangement of specimens would greatly enhance the 

 interest of the tanks, while at the same time their presence 

 would prove beneficial to the fish. We recommend the hint to 

 the notice of the authorities of the Brighton, Crystal Palace, and 

 Southport Aquariums. 



An Industrial Exhibition is to be held i.t Leighton Buzzard for 

 a short time about Whitsuntide 1875. The district to be repre- 

 sented is Umited to a radius of twenty miles around Leighton 

 Buzzard, and the proceeds of the exliibidon will be devoted to 

 the formation of a lecture fund for the purpose of securing courses 

 of high class (largely scientific, we hope) public lectures in con- 

 nection with the Working Men's Society, and the increase of tlie 

 Society's library. 



To increase the general inslructiveness of their Museum, the 

 Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society have published De- 

 scriptive Guides to the dilTerent collections of which it is com- 

 posed. That on the British Birds, by Mr. L. C. Miall, is before 

 us, containing a short and instructive account of each species 

 exhibited. This method of combining instruction with amuse- 

 ment is one which it would be well if other public institutions 

 were to adopt, instead of leaving their collections, often valuable 

 ones, for the idle gaze of the many uninitiated, and the careful 

 study of the but too few special studenlsjof special branches of 

 science and art. 



In many parts of the coasts of this country where fish are 

 abundant, enormous quantities are used as manure : in Corn- 

 wall and on the Eastern coasts this is particularly the case, but 

 no means are adopted to convert the fish into a manufactured 

 manure, and they are thrown, as caught, on the land. The same 

 remarks apply to America. But recently a system has been 

 adopted in ^certain localities by which the fish are prepared 

 specially for manuring the land. At Lucages, Long Island, a 

 iactory has recently been established, for preparing the surplus 

 quantities of "Menhaden" caught near there. The oil is first 

 extracted from the fish, andjthe ^residue is prepared in a certain 

 manner and converted into^ " fish guano," which has a good 

 reputation as a fertiliser. 



Arrangements have been made for placing on board one of 

 the steamers running between Liverpool and New York, one 

 of the " American Aquarium Cars," a newly invented con- 

 trivance for transporting live fish, which has succeeded very well 

 in long overland journeys, and by means of which it is hoped to 

 effect a uselul interchange of living fish of various kinds between 

 this country and America. Tliere are many American fish which 

 might with benefit be introduced into England, and we at the 

 same time might transport to the other side of the Atlantic 

 some varieties of fish whicli are not found there. 



The exhibition of insects in the Orangery of the Tuileries 

 Gardens, Paris, has been brought to a close. The distribution of 

 prizes took place on October 5. The higher medals were taken 

 by a Viennese savant for a magnificent atlas exhibiting all the 

 organs and forms of Fhylloxoa vaslatrix ; but the Phylloxera 

 question is left open, and no reasonable solution appears to have 

 been presented. Lectures were delivered daily on entonro- 

 logy, and every one of them was illustrated by projections with 

 the solar microscope. Almost every kind of insect was thus 

 presented to the public. The exhibition proved wonderfully 

 successful ; more than 20,000 persons paid the entrance fee, 

 and the immber of free tickets issued amounted to 30,000 in the 

 brief space of twelve days. 



We have received a lecture on " The Life and Works of Dr. 

 Priestley," dehvered in Paris at the time of the celebration of 

 the Priestley Centenary by M. W. de Fonvielle. It is published 

 by Auguste Ghio, and is dated 1S75. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Bengalese Leopard Cat (Felis bcngaleiisis) 

 and a Common Paradoxure {ParaJo.viirus typm) from India, 

 presented by Capt. W. Reynolds ; a Great Eagle Owl (Bubo 

 ma.xiinus), European, presented by Lord Londesborough j an 

 Indian Fruit Bat {PUropus iiudiiis) from India, presented by 

 Dr. Stafford; a Monleiro's Galago (GaIa«o monUiri) from 

 Angola ; a Tooth-billed Pigeon (Didunciihis strigiioslris) from 

 the Samoan Islands, deposited ; two Geoffroy's Doves {Peristera 

 gcoffroyi) from the Island of Fernando de Noronha, and a Gentoo 

 Penguin (Pygosteles tacniatiis) from the Falkland Islands, new to 

 the collection, purchased. 



KENT'S CAVERN* 

 "D EFORE entering on this, their tenth Report, the committee 

 desire to express their deep sense of the great loss they have 

 sustained in the decease of Prof. Phillips. No member was 

 more regular in his attendance at the meetings of the Committee 

 or felt a livelier interest in the investigation with which they are 

 charged. On March iS, 1S74 — little more than a nronth before 

 his lamented death — though suffering from a severe cold, he 

 visited the cavern, when he carefully inspected those branches 

 of it which had been explored, and expressed his admiration of 

 the clearness and imjiortance of the evidence bearing on the 

 question of human antiquity which had been obtained. 



The investigation has been pursued without iirtermission 

 during the eirtire period which has elapsed since the meeting a: 

 Bradford in 1S73 ; the mode of operation has been that described 

 in previous Reports and followed from the commencement ; the 

 work has been performed in the most satisfactory manner by 

 tlie same workmen ; and the superintendents have continued their 

 daily visits and carefully recorded the results from day to day. 



The interest felt in the exploration by the inhabitants and 

 visitors of Torquay lias suffered no abatement, and the super- 

 intendents have conducted a large number of persons thiougli the 

 cavern, including the members of the Soutli-western Branch of 

 the British Medical Association during a meeting of that body 

 held at Torquay, and also the members of the Birmingham 

 Natural History and Microscopical Society whilst on a scientific 

 excursion to South Devon. 



During May 1S74, an arrangement was made with the super- 

 intendents by Prol. A. Newton of Cambridge, for Mr. Slater, 

 one of tlie naturalistsjof the Rodriyues Transit Expedition, to 

 spend some time in the cavern, studying the mode of exploration 

 followed there ; it being probable that he might have to explore 

 some very interesting caves which exist in the island. Mr. 

 Slater reached ToKjuay on the ist of June, when everything was 

 done to facilitate his purpose, and he spent some days watching 

 the men at work. 



Live rats continue to present themselves in the cavern from 

 time to time, and prove occasionally to be very troublesome. 

 Thus, in October 1S73, one carried off six candles during the 

 afternoon from a spot selected because it was believed to be in- 



* Tenth Report of the Committee for Exploring Kent's Cavern, Devon- 

 shire. (Abstr.ict.) 



