July 2, 1896) 



NATURE 



205 



respiration of Miis iniisculus is greatly aftected by strong sun- 

 lighi, even when all heat-rays have been screened off ; and the 

 effeC. is the same for rays from all parts of the spectrum. 

 (3) Artificial lights, such as the electric light or incandescent 

 gas, r;Ct like sunshine when concentrated on the animals, but 

 have no effect when merely used to light a room. (4) The light 

 from Geissler's tubes has no effect. (5) Riintgen rays have no 

 action on the quantity of CO., eliminated from the animal, what- 

 •e\-er be the conditionof the latter ; that is, whether fasting or after 

 feeding, whether previously kept for several hours in darkness, 

 ■or vice vi-rsd. (6) What was observed with each of the six 

 moles experimented on was strong excitement, which continued 

 for several hours after the experiments with Rontgen rays had 

 ceased. The moles, after being exposed to Rontgen rays for 

 one hour, ran about in a nervous and excited way, and would 

 «iot eat. (7) This excitement Prof. Capranica attributes to the 

 electrical effects of the Rontgen rays. (8) Experiments on cold- 

 blooded animals (Coronella) give, as yet, no appreciable results. 



The meteorological and astronomical ivork accomplished 

 <luring 1895 in the Observatory of the Mersey Docks and Harbour 

 Board, are stated by Mr. W. E. Plummer in a report just 

 receive<l. Appended to the general tables is a catalogue and 

 short discussion of all the gales of wind that have been auto- 

 matically recorded with velocities equal to, or exceeding, fifty 

 miles per hour. Several interesting points are brought out by 

 the catalogue. It appears that the average length of a storm at 

 Liverpool, as defined by the condition that the wind velocity 

 shall exceed fifty miles per hour, is about six hours ; while the 

 average number of stormy hours in a year does not greatly 

 exceed sixty. With regard to the time of year in which these 

 <listurbances occur, general experience points to a connection 

 between them and the observed temperature. This agreement 

 is very clearly shown by Mr. Plummer in a diagram having a 

 curve exhibiting the number of stormy hours in each month, and 

 an inverted temperature curve. The two curves very markedly 

 coincide with one another. By means of two other diagrams 

 Mr. Plummer shows the connection between barometric height 

 and wind velocity ; the variation of the barometer being taken 

 from the time when no indications of a gale were apparent to 

 the lime when the disturbance ceased. There is a distinct 

 <lifference between these variations and the wind velocity in the 

 cases of winter and summer storms. In the winter, the fall of 

 (he barometer coincides with some approximation to the increase 

 in the severity of the storm, but on the average the time of 

 minimum barometer precedes the time of maximum velocity by 

 about four hours. The mean length of time from the beginning 

 to the end of the storm is twenty-six hours, of which twelve are 

 occupied in the increase, and fourteen in the decrease of violence. 

 The rise in the barometer after the time of maximum velocity is 

 more marked than in the fall, and the mercury stands considerably 

 higher at the end than at the beginning In the summer, the 

 average length of time embracing the whole of the disturbance is 

 reduced to twenty-two hours. The fall of the barometer as the 

 storm gathers force is very slight, and on the average only 

 amounts to 004 inch, while the minimum barometer occurs five 

 hours before the maximum wind velocity. In nearly half the 

 storms examined the barometer rose steadily throughout the 

 whole of the disturbance. Mr. Plummer could find no instance 

 of a storm occurring in the summer months when the barometer 

 stood above 30 inches : in winter, 10 per cent, of the storms 

 were developed at that pressure. 



The seventh volume of the Geographual Journal (nev; series), 

 containing the monthly numbers from January to June of this 

 year, has been published with commendable promptitude. The 

 volume is a wonderfully interesting record of travel and dis- 

 covery, and, with its notes, descriptive lists of geographical 

 NO. 1392, VOL. 54] 



literature, new maps, and illustrations, it is an invaluable publi- 

 cation to geographers. 



A SERIES of sixteen reproductions of photographs obtained by 

 means of Rontgen rays, together with text (in Japanese) 

 explanatory of the methods by which they were obtained, has 

 been received from Prof. V. ^■amaguchi and T. Mizuno, of Tokio 

 University. The photographs are much less distinct than those 

 obtained since the introduction of the focus tube, but they 

 nevertheless show that Japan means to keep in the van of 

 scientific progress. 



A CONTRIBUTION to the theory of warning colours and mimicry 

 appears in \.\\<i Journal o'i the Asiatic Society of Bengal (vol. lx\. 

 Part ii. No. i, 1896). Mr. Frank Finn, Deputy Superintendent 

 of the Indian Museum, has tested the taste of the common 

 garden lizard of India (Calotes versicolor) for various insects, 

 and especially for butterflies protectively coloured and plain. 

 Mr. Finn thinks the behaviour of the reptiles at liberty does not 

 afford support to the belief that the butterflies, at any rate, 

 usually considered nauseous, are distasteful to them. 



We understand that the next instalment of the " System of 

 Medicine," which Prof. Clifford Allbutt is editing for Messrs. 

 Macmillan and Co. , will deal with Gynaecology, and will appear 

 in the course of September. Dr. Playfair is associated with 

 Prof. Allbutt as editor of this volume, which, though uniform 

 with the system, will be complete in itself. The second volume 

 of the " System of Medicine" proper may be expected by the 

 end of the year. Messrs. Macmillan and Co. will also shortly 

 issue a work on " Deformities," by Mr. A. H. Tubby. It is a 

 comprehensive treatise on orthop.iedic surgery, and is fully 

 illustrated by two hundred original plates and figures, and notes 

 of one hundred cases. 



The June number oi l\ie Journal of Ihe Chemical Society is 

 an exceptionally bulky one ; it runs into nearly four hundred 

 pages, seventy-five of which are taken up with abstracts of 

 papers. A distinguishing feature of the number are the four 

 detailed accounts contained in it of Hofmann and his work. 

 These are : — "Personal Reminiscences of Hofmann and of the 

 conditions which led to the establishment of the Royal College 

 of Chemistry and his appointment as its Professor," by Lord 

 Playfair ; " The History of the Royal College of Chemistry and 

 Reminiscences of Hofmann's Professorship," by Sir F. A. Abel ; 

 " The Origin of the Coal-Tar Colour Industry, and the Con- 

 tributions of Hofmann and his Pupils," by Dr. W. H. Perkin ; 

 and "Notes on Hofmann's Scientific Work," by Dr. H. E. 

 Armstrong. .Students of chemistry will find these descriptions 

 full of interesting personal reminiscences, and will derive from 

 them an idea of the marvellous amount of work which Hofmann 

 accomplished. 



The Lepidoptera collected in Eastern Africa by Dr. W. L. 

 Abbott have been determined by Dr W. J. Holland, and a list 

 of them, with some other collections, is given in an excerpt from 

 the Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum (vol. xviii 

 pp. 229-279). The collection from Eastern Africa was found 

 by Dr Holland to contain only a small number of species new 

 to science, the great majority being species well known from 

 other localities, and noticeably from temperate South Africa, 

 many of them species named in the last century. It is pomted 

 out that the presence of an Argynnis and a Chrysophanus in the 

 collection is peculiarly interesting, and suggests to the student 

 the thought that when a more thorough exploration of the lofty 

 heights of Kilimanjaro, Kenia and Ruwenzori shall have been 

 made, there will be some very remarkable, if not astonishing, 

 facts brought to light as to the geographical distribution of 

 animals. A collection made by Dr. Abbott in the islands lying 

 west and north of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, also possesses 

 interest as illustrating the geographical distribution of genera 



