550 



NA TURE 



[OcTonER 8, 1896 



"biles off both wings, sometimes a leg ov two, and occasion- 

 ally the head. Mr. Harrington saw some of the wasps when 

 laden with one fly catch another, without letting go the first, 

 and then fly away with both. There was a constant stream of 

 wasps carrying away flies, probably to feed the larvoe in their 

 nests, and returning again to the cows to catch more. In about 

 twenty minutes Mr. B.irrington estimated that between 300 and 

 400 flies were caught on two cows lying close to where he 

 stood. Perhaps this narrative of good deeds accomplished 

 will lead people to think more leniently of the vices of 

 the wasp. 



" Uber Luminescenz" is the title of a small pamphlet ot 

 ■60 pages (Univ. Buchdruckerei von Fr. Junge, Eriangen, 1896), 

 which we have received from the author, Dr. Wilhelm Arnold. 

 In its pages will be found the results of the investigation 

 which the author has carried out with regard to luminescence 

 phenomena, and this may be said to be continuous with the 

 works done by Herren E. Wiedemann and G. C. Schmidt. Dr. 

 Arnold has examined several inorganic bodies, solutions, and 

 organic substances with regard to their different powers of 

 luminescence, and has found a new series of bodies exhibiting 

 this peculiarity excellently. The apparatus used for exciting 

 the substances by means of the katliode rays was similar to that 

 employed by the above-mentioned experimenters. While 

 engaged in this work, Prof. Rontgen's discovery of the X-rays 

 suggested to the author to make investigations on the behaviour 

 of these rays on " feste Lijsungen." These results are also 

 brought together, and they deal, further, with the trans- 

 parency of different substances to these rays, their power over 

 bacteria, and the sensitiveness of the photographic plate. 

 All those at work on this branch of physics will find this 

 pamphlet an earnest endeavour to advance our knowledge in this 

 particular direction ; and its value is further increased by the 

 numerous references which the author has inserted in the fonn 

 of foot-notes. 



From the St. Petersburg Municipal Laboratory comes an 

 alarming report, by M. M. P. .Sacharbekoff, of the milk supplied 

 to the city. Dr. Bitter has endeavoured to establish a microbial 

 standard for milk, by which the bacterial contents of a so-called 

 good sample of milk are limited to 50,000 per cubic centimetre. 

 If this standard is to be accepted, then it is time St. Petersburg 

 looked into its milk supply, for M. Sacharbekoff finds that the 

 maximum microbial contents in a cubic centimetre of its milk 

 reaches no less than 115,300,000 ! For the sake of comparison the 

 milk microbiiil maximum of other cities is cited, amongst which 

 WL- find Munich figuring with 4,000,000 per c.c. , Wiirzburg 

 with 7,535,000, whilst Giessen even surpasses .St. Peters- 

 burg with a maximum of 169,632,000. The samples of milk 

 were also tested by means of direct inoculation into animals for 

 the presence of pathogenic bacteria. No less than eighty 

 guinea-pigs were used in these inoculations, out of which four 

 succumbed to the tubercle bacillus, three to the staphylococcus 

 Pyogenes aureus, two to B. coli coiitmiims, and five to other 

 pathogenic microbes. But, besides these bacteria, various 

 saprophytes were isolated out, which it was found were able to 

 elaborate in the milk toxic products of a highly deleterious 

 character. The high rate of mortality from diarrhcea, which 

 prevails amongst young children in St. Petersburg up to five 

 years of age, and which amounts to no less than 43 per cent., is, 

 the writer considers, to a large extent attributable to the impure 

 milk sujiplied to the city. The worst samples were obtained 

 from the milk-women who buy the milk second-hand, and 

 distribute it to their customers. M. Sacharbekoft' ends his re- 

 port by drawing up a number of suggestions, amongst which is 

 advocated a closer control over the milk supply by competent 

 sanitary authorities. 



NO 1406, VOL. 54] 



Some of the results which the Norwegian traveller Sven 

 Hedin has obtained in his journeys to the northern part of the 

 Kwenlung mountains, and towards the east of the town of 

 Khotan, are summed up in Globus (Band Ixx., No. 13). It 

 seems that between Kerija and Shahyar, Sven Hedin found the 

 ruins of large towns which had been buried in sand, and his 

 calculations suggest that they were entombeil by successive sand- 

 storms about 1000 years ago. The discoveries he made were, 

 considering the difficulties to be contended with, extensive. 

 One of the towns he found was over four kilometres long, and 

 consisted of a great number of house ruins ; the separate houses 

 were not built of stone, but constructed of wooden pillars, and 

 the walls consisted of plaited reeds covered with mud. Tliese 

 latter were coated with white plaster, on which were painted 

 human figures, horses, dogs and flowers. .Small figures, 10-20 

 cm. high, representing Budda, were also discovered, besides 

 numerous poplars, apricot and plum trees, which once flourished 

 there when the towns were watered by the canal from the river 

 Kerija. It is suggested that the culture of the inhabitants must 

 have been very considerable, for the copies of the drawings on 

 the walls brought back by Sven Hedin show indications of good 

 execution. 



The lounial of Botany ^wes, a.n interesting account of Herr 

 R. Schlechter's botanical explorations in South Africa, which 

 have been much impeded by the drought. He has collected 

 about 1200 species, of which he estimates at least one-tenth to 

 be new. 



A.NOTHER of the useful " Hand-lists " issued from the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, has just been received. It is Part ii. of the 

 list devoted to trees and shrubs grown in the Arboretum, and 

 comprises Gamopetahe to Monocotyledons. 



A NEW edition (the fourth) of "The Microtomist's ^■ade 

 Mecum," by Mr. A. B. Lee, has been published by Messrs. 

 J. and A. Churchill. The work is a handbook of the methods 

 of micro.scopic anatomy, and it constitutes a most complete 

 account of the operations of histological technique. To all 

 who are engaged in histological studies the volume is in- 

 valuable. 



The Society for the Protection of Birds is very enthusiastic in 

 the prosecution of the good work it was founded to perform, and 

 has already met with much encouragement in its labours. Its 

 latest, but by no means least important, development is the com- 

 mencement of a series of leaflets, entitled the " Educational 

 Series," under the editorship of Mr. H. E. Dresser, which aims 

 at supplying to the puVjlic, in a not too technical form, authori- 

 tative information respecting the seven following points: — Name 

 [of bird], general description, where, when and in what numbers 

 found, food, characteristics, protection, and remarks. The 

 pioneers of the series are " Owls," by Mr. Montagu Sharpe, and 

 "Woodpeckers," by Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart. We wish for 

 the publications and their successors a very wide circulation, as 

 we feel sure their perusal will remove from the minds of many 

 farmers, gamekeepers, and others, a great deal of misapprehension 

 at present lurking there. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Pig-tailed Monkey (Maeaius ncmestrinus) 

 from Java, a Bonnet Monkey [.Vataius siniciis) from India, pre- 

 sented by Mr. Edward Good ; a Patas "SVonkey (Cercopil/iecus 

 patas) from West Africa, presented by Mr. W. S. Gilbert ; a 

 Red-fronted Lemur [Lemur ntfi/rons) from Madagascar, a 

 Serval (Felts serz'al), two Side-striped Jackals (Cant's lateralis), 

 a Pale Genet (Genetla senegalensis), a \'ociferous Sea Eagle 



(Haliu/us vocifer), a Hawk (Accipiler sp. ?) from British 



Central Africa, presented by Sir Harry Johnston, K.C.B. ; a 

 Black Francolin (Fraitcolinus z'lilgaris) from the Syrian Coast, 



