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diagram 1 ;, and is to be published by Messrs. \V. and A. K. 



Johnston. 



The Gottingen Royal Society of Sciences offers a prize of 

 50 ducats for the best treatment, by new researches, of the 

 question as to the processes of development of the adult echino- 

 derm. In addition to what is known of the embryonal develop- 

 ment of echinoderms, it must specially be shown how the 

 animal grows from the larva form to the completed system of 

 organs. It is open to competitors either to examine a charac- 

 teristic land of development-process in all its features, or by 

 exhibiting the development of different forms, to establish a 

 common behaviour for the whole ; in the latter case, the chief 

 agreements and divergences in the formation of the organic 

 system in different forms of echinoderms must be indicated 

 from their earliest occurrence. The Society re-propose their 

 question as to the nature of the unpolarised light-ray, researches 

 being desired which will bring conceptions as to natural light of 

 any source, near, in definiteness, to those which theory associates 

 with polarised light. Papers on these subjects have to be sent 

 in before the end of September in 1S81 and 1SS2 respectively. 



The Reale Istituto Lombardo offers prizes of various value in 

 connection with the following among other subjects : — The 

 climatology of Italy ; Critical history of the telephone ; CGnology, 

 especially in ancient Italy ; The nature of miasma and contagion ; 

 Motor centres of the cerebral cortex ; Etiology of cretinism and 

 idiocy ; Demonstration by experiments, whether the generative 

 matter of hydrophobia is a virulent principle or an organic 

 germ ; Elucidation of some facts of the macro- or microscopical 

 anatomy of the human brain. Particulars with reference to 

 these will be found in the Rendicon-.i of the Institute (vol. xii. 

 fasc. xvii.-xviii.). 



A German translation of Schiaparelli's work on the planet 

 Mars has just been published by Herr Georgi, of Leipzig. 



Mr. Shruesole asks us to say that he will exhibit speci- 

 uf the diatoms he states he has found in the London Clay 

 at the annual meeting of the Geologists' Association on 

 February 6. 



A SEVERE earthquake was felt at Coire, in the Grisons, early 

 on the morning of the 7th inst. 



During these la-t twenty years numerous complaints have 

 been published or sent to the public authorities with regard to 

 the organisation of the observatory of Algiers. This unhappy 

 state of things has now come to an end. This establishment 

 has been placed under the authority of the rector of the 

 Academy, and a lectureship in astronomy has been created. The 

 same decree has organised the several preparatory schools recently 

 created by law. An Oriental Section has been organised, and 

 the lectureship for Arabic existing in Algiers, Oran, and Con- 

 stantine have been connected with it. Chairs for Mussulman 

 Law, African Geography, African Antiquities ox History, have 

 been created by the same decree. M. Pomel, one of the Senators 

 for the Algerian provinces, has been appointed director of the 

 School of Sciences and Professor of Mineralogy in the same 

 schools. He will be obliged to resign his senatorship. 



Mr. C. Lloyd Morgan, Associate of the Royal School of 

 Mines, F.G.S., Lecturer on Science and English Literature at 

 the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, Cape Town, has been 

 appointed Examiner in Na'.ural Science at the Cape Town 

 University. 



We have received the first number of the Anglei's Note-Book 

 and Naturalists' Record, a repertory of fact, inquiry, and dis- 

 cussion on field sports and subjects of natural history. It is a 

 neat small quarto, and might serve a very useful purpose ; the 



first number, however, contains far too many extracts from othe 

 journals, many of them years old. The publishers are Satchell 

 and Co. 



The New York Herald articles and telegrams relating to the 

 new Edison light have created much sensation in Paris, and 

 caused a fall of 3/. in the shares of the Compagnie d'Eclairage 

 et de Chauffage par le Gas. It is said that the judicial authorities 

 are engaged in an inquiry directed against the Figaro, which 

 published the news with aggravating embellishments. 



M. Ferry has taken an important resolution obliging students 

 to make use of the magnificent opportunities afforded by the 

 Jardin des Plantes. The professors of botany and natural 

 history of the schools of medicine and pharmacy have been 

 authorised to deliver their lectures in the amphitheatre of that 

 establishment. A special commission has been created consisting 

 of these professors and the professors of the museum. A new 

 chair has been instituted of vegetable physiology, and M. 

 Dehairain has been appointed professor. M. Dehairain has 

 edited during a series of years the Annuaire du Progris des 

 Sciences, written by himself and a large staff" of contributors 

 selected from among the most popular scientific writers. 



The new number of the Proceedings of the Berwickshire 

 Naturalist's Field Club is as varied and interesting as usual, with 

 papers on the natural history, antiquities, folk-lore, and local 

 history of the Border. 



The new volume of the " Year Book of Facts in Science and 

 the Arts" (Ward, Lock, and Co.) is no improvement on its pre- 

 decessor ; it is solely the work of unintelligent scissors and 

 paste, and no more represents the science of the year than a few 

 clippings from a third-rate illustrated journal would do the art. 



Dr. Sciiomburgk, the director of the Botanic Garden, Ade- 

 laide, has issued a little pamphlet "On the Naturalised Weeds 

 and other plants in South Australia." As this writer truly says, 

 "Fromth;pa;t and present constant intercourse with Europe 

 and other parts of the world, and the abundant importation of 

 seeds into Australia for agricultural and horticultural purposes, 

 it is no wonder that a very great number of the weeds most 

 troublesome at home are now naturalised in South Australia.'' 

 It is shown that a point of interest might occur whether the 

 altered circumstances which now seem to be so favourable to the 

 growth of the acclimatised weeds will prove permanent, or, by a 

 chance effected by over-stimulation, whether degeneracy and 

 subsequent extinction might not follow. Such an effect, how- 

 ever, is not yet observable, the growth being quite as luxuriant 

 as they were eighteen to twenty-five years since. The list con- 

 tains the names of many of our best, or worst, known weeds, 

 some of which have so firmly established themselves that it is 

 almost impossible to eradicate them. Thus the extension of 

 Onopordium acanthium was so rapid that the Legislature passed 

 an Act in 1S62 for preventing the further spread of this plant as 

 well as those of Carduus marianus, and Xanthium spinosum. 

 " According to the Act every owner or occupier of land upon 

 which, or upon the adjacent half of any road, the above-mentioned 

 thistles are growing, is obliged in twenty-one days after notice, 

 signed by any chairman of a Road Board or District Council, 

 has been served upon such owner, to destroy the thistles on his 

 land ; otherwise he is liable to a penalty not exceeding ten 

 pounds. The Government must, on all unoccupied Crown lands, 

 employ the necessary labour to eradicate the thistles. This 

 stringent measure it is true has decimated the plants, but without 

 effecting the object desired. Although thousands of pounds 

 have been spent for the purpose, the destruction of thistles is 

 generally commenced too late to prevent the dispersion of the 

 developed seed." The pamphlet, though composed of only 

 thirteen pages, appears to have been hurried through the press, 



