810 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 46. 



'During the present year, volumes iv. and v. have been 

 issued, and complete the report of the survey, extend- 

 ing from 1876 to 1880. These volumes are about the 

 size of the Smithsonian contributions, and are printed 

 on fine paper, and elegantly bound. In volume iv. 

 are forty heliotype plates and twenty-five woodcuts, 

 and in volume v., sixty-one plates and eighteen wood- 

 cuts. It is not necessary here to enter into a minute 

 description of these temples, since that has been done 

 by Mr. Fergusson and Mr. Burgess, in their ' Cave-tem- 

 ples of India,' publislied in 1880. The method pur- 

 sued is purely technical, " enabling the architect and 

 the student to form a tolerably correct idea of tlie 

 style and character of the plans and ornamentation. 

 The facsimiles and translations of the inscriptions 

 will afford fresh materials of a trustworthy charac- 

 ter for the epigraphist and piiilologist." The princi- 

 pal group of rock-temples of western India is the 

 magnificent series at Elura, consisting of splendid 

 representatives of the three classes, Baudha, Brah- 

 manical, and Jaina cave-temples. The village of 

 Elura is in the Nizam's territory, about fourteen 

 miles west of Aurangabad. Of this group, M. Bau- 

 drillart says, "All commentary grows pale before 

 these magnificent ruins. Here the development of 

 the plastic arts and of public religious luxury amongst 

 the Hindus receives the most striking attestation 

 in the magnificence of these temples, in the infinite 

 diversity of their details, and the minute variety of 

 their carvings." 



— The Ottawa field-naturalists' club held the first 

 soiree of their winter coufse on Thursday, Dec. 6, 

 when the president. Dr. H. B. Small, delivered his 

 inaugirral address. After remarks on the past opera- 

 tions of tlie club, and suggestions as to its future 

 management, he gave an excellent summary of past 

 and present systems of the classification of the ani- 

 mal kingdom. The .necessity of a knowledge of this 

 character was strongly urged, in order that a just 

 conception might be obtained of the relations of the 

 different members of our fauna, and narrowness be 

 avoided by those pursuing special studies. In his 

 opinion, many persons who commenced the study of 

 natural history abandoned it after a short time solely 

 because, tlrrough ignorance of the relations of various 

 objects, they failed to become imbued with that love 

 of nature which the more carefully educated student 

 possesses. An interesting discussion ensued on tlie 

 address, in which several members shared. His excel- 

 lency the Marquis of Lansdowne, governor-general 

 of Canada, has consented to become patron of the 

 club. 



— At the annual meeting of tlie Boston zoological 

 society, held Dec. 4, 1883, the following officers were 

 elected for 1884: president, F. C. Bowditch; vice- 

 president, F. H. Brackett; secretary, E. Hay ward; 

 treasurer, A. C. Anthony ; librarian, H. Savage. 



— In the Iowa weather bulletin for November, at- 

 tention is called to " The most beautiful phenomena 

 of the entire month. . . the varying and brilliant tints 

 of sunset during the last five days of the montli." 

 These brilliant sunsets seem to have been noticed 

 over the whole country. 



The prediction is made, that " the winter now 

 beginning will probably be a moderate or mild win- 

 ter for Iowa and the adjacent parts of the north- 

 west. The observations of the past ten years make 

 the above probability very high, and, taking into ac- 

 count the entire series of forty years' observations, 

 the chances for this winter proving a severe one are 

 less tluan one in twenty." 



— -One of the most excellent of the familiar British 

 museum catalogues is that lately published of the 

 Batrachia, Gradientia, and Apoda, in the British 

 museum, by Mr. George A. Eoulenger. This work 

 is called a ' second edition' of the catalogue of the 

 same animals, published in 1850, by Mr. Jolin Edward 

 Gray; but it is a second edition only in name, as very 

 little of Gray's work remains in it. The material 

 studied by Boulenger (comprising ninety-seven of the 

 one hundred and thirty-three species recognized, in- 

 stead of forty-three) is far greater than that at Gray's 

 disposal, and the character of the work done by the 

 younger author is far higher. 



The classification adopted by Boulenger agrees in 

 many respects with that of Professor Cope: but some 

 of the families and genera adopted by the latter are 

 here given lower rank. The commonly accepted rules 

 of zoological nomenclature are carefully followed by 

 Mr. Boulenger, who evidently does not consider his 

 own whims or prejudices, or even the traditions of 

 the British museum, as forming a law higher than the 

 law of priority. 



Among the changes of current nomenclature con- 

 sidered necessary by Mr. Boulenger, we may note the 

 substitution of the generic name ' Molge Merrem ' 

 for the later ' Diemyctylus ' or ' Notophthalmus,' for 

 our common red or green newt or ' evet; ' of ' Cryp- 

 tobranchus Leuckart ' for the ' hellbender,' instead 

 of the later ' Menopoma ; ' and of tlie name ' Necturus 

 maculatus Raf.' for the 'mud-puppy,' instead of 

 ' Menobranchus ' or ' Necturus lateralis.' 



An instructive discussion is given of the geograph- 

 ical distribution of the Batrachia, the geographical 

 divisions with that group coinciding very closely 

 with those recognized in the distribution of the fresh- 

 water fishes. 



— The Society of naturalists of the eastern United 

 States will hold its second meeting at Columbia col- 

 lege. New- York City, Dec. 27, at ten a.m. 



— Gen. Richard D. Cutts, first assistant superin- 

 tendent of the U. S. coast-survey, died at Washing- 

 ton, Dec. 1.3, at the age of sixty-six. Gen. Cutts 

 was born in Washington, and was connected with 

 the coast-survey the greater part of his life. During 

 the war he served on the staff of Gen. Halleck. 



— On the 2oth and 26th of October, there fell at 

 Hilo, Hawaii, 17APo inches of rain in twenty-two 

 hours, by rain-gauge. 



— The December number of Van Nostrand's engi- 

 neering mar/azine contains an announcement, that, 

 as the publication of the magazine has continually 

 entailed a loss, the magazine will not be continued 

 after the coming year, unless an increased support 

 should justify it. That a magazine of such great, 

 merit should succeed is most heartily to be wished. 



