Oct. 1, 1885] 
NAT@RE 
after close investigation of the embryonic condition of different 
stages in five types of bird-structure (the ostrich, guillemot, gull, 
domestic fowl, and gannet), has come to the conclusion that the 
keel of carinate birds is a special outgrowth of the true sternum 
peculiar to birds, and is not homologous with the episternum or 
interclavicle of reptiles, as has been held by Gotte and others. 
There are no traces whatever in the embryonic stages of the 
ostrich, according to Miss Lindsay’s observations, of the exist- 
ence of any rudiments of the clavicles or keel. It follows that 
the view held by some morphologists that the ostrich may be a 
degraded descendant of some carinate form can no longer be 
supported. 
THE Edinburgh International Industrial Exhibition will be 
opened on May 4 next. 
A CORRESPONDENT of the Zzes in a recent article on the 
new Electorate, describes the fishermen at Staiths, a village on 
the Yorkshire coast, lying between Whitby and Saltburn. The 
people, he says, are imbued with all manner of quaint super- 
stitions. They have a firm belief in witchcraft, the witch being 
wholly unconscious of his or her power of evil. Until recently— 
and it is said that the custom is still secretly maintained by some 
of the older inhabitants—it was customary, when a smack or 
coble had had a protracted run of ill-fortune, for the wives of 
the crew and owners of the boat to assemble at midnight, and, 
in deep silence, to slay a pigeon, whose heart they extracted, 
stuck full of pins, and burned over a charcoal fire. While this 
operation was in process the unconscious witch would come to 
the door, dragged thither unwittingly by the irresistible potency 
of the charm, and the conspirators would then make her some 
propitiatory present. Again, it is of frequent occurrence that, 
after having caught nothing for many nights, the fishermen keep 
the first fish that comes into the boat and burn it on their return 
home as a sacrifice to the Fates. All four-footed animals are 
considered by the Staiths folk as unlucky, but the pig is the 
most ill-omened of quadrupeds. If when the men are putting 
their nets into the boats the name of pig is by accident men- 
tioned, they will always desist from their task and turn to some 
other occupation, hoping thus to avert the evil omen, and in 
many cases will renounce the day’s expedition altogether. The 
sight of a drowned dog or kitten, too, as he goes towards his 
coble will always keep a Staiths fisherman at home ; and, what 
is still more curious, if as he walks to his boat, his lines on his 
head or a bundle of nets on his shoulder, he chances to meet 
face to face with a woman, be she even his own wife or daughter, 
he considers himself doomed to ill-luck. Thus, when a woman 
sees a man approaching her under these circumstances she at 
once turns her back on him. If a fisher sends his son to fetch 
his big sea boots, the bearer must be careful to carry them under 
his arm. Should he by inadvertence place them on his shoulder 
his father will inevitably refuse to put out to sea that day. An 
egg is deemed so unlucky that the fishermen will not even use 
the word, but call it a roundabout ; and, fearless as are the 
fishers in their daily struggling with the dangers of the sea, yet so 
fearful are they of nameless spirits and bogies that the writer 
was assured he could not find in the whole fishing colony of 
Staiths a volunteer who for a couple of sovereigns would walk 
by night to the neighbouring village, a couple of miles distant. 
WE have received the report of Miss Pogson, the meteoro- 
logical reporter to the Government of Madras, for the year 
1884-85. It contains remarks on the various stations scattered 
over the Presidency, together with the usual tables. Part of the 
observer's work is to train learners, who afterwards take charge 
of the local stations. One of these, it is interesting to notice, is 
on the Laccadives, which islands are inaccessible during a great 
part of the year. The assistants 
officials, 
in most cases are native 
541 
ALL the legal steps have been taken by the French Govern- 
ment for entering into possession of the late M. Giffard’s fortune, 
which is to be devoted to the good of science. The fortune is 
valued at 200,000/, after paying about 100,000/. in legacies 
to friends, family, or scientific societies. The decree is ready 
and will shortly appear in the Fowrnal Officiel. Several projects 
have been proposed already for utilising this large sum of money, 
but it is very likely nothing will be done before taking the advice 
of the French Academy of Sciences. 
ON September 12, just after sunset, a remarkable tnirage was 
seen at Valla, in the province of Sudermania, Sweden. It 
appeared first as a great cloud-bank, stretching from south-west 
to north, which gradually separated, each cloud having the 
appearance of a monitor. In the course of five minutes one had 
changed to a great whale blowing a column of water into the 
air, and the other to a crocodile. From time to time the clouds 
took the appearance of various animals, and finally that of a 
small wood. Subsequently they changed to a pavilion, where 
people were dancing, the players being also clearly visible. Once 
again the spectacle changed, now into a lovely wooded island 
with buildings and parks. At about nine o’clock the clouds had 
disappeared, leaving the sky perfectly clear. The air was calm 
at the time of the display, the temperature being 6° C. 
THE aquarium at the Inventions Exhibition has lately been 
entirely restocked, the latest arrivals being a fine selection of bass 
weighing Io lbs., some large specimens of Crustaceans, and an 
assortment of flat-fish of all descriptions. There is also on view a 
diversified collection of foreign freshwater fish presented by the 
General Import Company. 
Capt. VIPAN’s aquarium of foreign fishes at Stibbington Hall, 
Wansford, is a most valuable one, and includes unique and rare 
specimens of fish from all parts of the world, which are retained 
with the utmost care, the temperature of the water being regu- 
lated to suit the natural necessities of the various fish. This 
aquarium is considered to be one of the most unique in the 
United Kingdom, and increases in value annually on account of 
periodical additions to the collection. 
THE taxidermist who has had charge of the work upon 
the body of ‘‘ Jumbo,” who was recently crushed between 
two trains, states that the elephant’s stomach contained many 
English coins—gold as well as silver and bronze. His tusks 
had by the collision with the train been driven nearly through 
the skull. According to later accounts as to the accident, Jumbo 
at the last moment faced and charged the locomotive. The 
elephant’s skin was found to be an inch and a half thick, and it 
weighed 1537 lbs. The skeleton weighs 2400 lbs., and the total 
weight of the body was over 6 tons. 
Messrs. SWAN SONNENSCHEIN AND CoO. announce, for 
the season 1885-6, the following publications :—‘‘A Treatise 
on Animal Biology,’ by Prof. Adam Sedgwick, Fellow and 
Lect. of Trin. Coll., Camb. (illustrated) ; ‘‘ Practical Botany,” 
by Prof. Hillhouse, of Mason Coll., Birm., based upon the 
work of Prof. Strasburger (largely illustrated) ; a translation of 
Profs. Negeli and Schwendener’s work, ‘‘The Microscope in 
Theory and Practice,” with several hundred woodcuts ; an 
‘¢ Alpine Flora,” a pocket handbook for botanists and travellers, 
by Mr. A. W. Bennett, B.Sc., M.A. ; an illustrated ‘* Hand- 
book of Mosses,” by Mr. J. E. Bagnall; a ‘‘ Star Atlas,’ by 
the Rev. T. H. Espin ; further parts of Mr. Howard Hinton’s 
** Scientific Romances”; an entirely new and partly re-written 
edition of Prof, Prantl and Vines’s ‘‘ Text-Book of Botany” ; 
“‘From Paris to Pekin over Siberian Snows,” an account of the 
Asiatic wanderings of M. Meignan, by Mr. William Conn; 
“«The Wanderings of Plants and Animals,” an adaptation from 
the German work of Prof. Victor Hehn, by Mr. James Stally- 
