498 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. It. 



and Bertha zinc-works will be visited. The night 

 will be spent at Abingdon or Wy theville. June 8, ex- 

 cursion to the Cranberry magnetic iron-ore mines in 

 East Tennessee, returning to Roanoke in the evening. 

 On returning home, members can stop at the Natu- 

 ral Bridge and the Caves of Luray. Those wishing to 

 visit the Cripple Creek ore region can do so by remain- 

 ing after the close of the meeting. The Shenandoah 

 Valley and the Norfolk and Western railroads have 

 generously offered free transportation to members 

 and the ladies of their families over their lines to and 

 from Roanoke, and also for the excursions of the 

 meeting. The local committees of arrangements are, 

 in Roanoke, J. H. Bramwell, chairman; J. H. Sykes, 

 secretary; Dr. F. Sorrell; Frank Maddock; Major 

 Andrew Lewis; J. Allan Watts; in Lynchburg, Capt. 

 C. M. Blackford, chairman; John H. Flood; George 

 M. Jones; P. J. Otey; W. B. Robinson; T. B. 

 Deane; C. W. Button; T. D. Davis; H. Grey Latham; 

 Alex McDonald; L. S. Marye; John Stevenson, jun. 



— An enterprising railroad in Ohio, the Cleveland, 

 Akron, and Columbus railway, has made a new de- 

 parture in its time-tables by adopting a system which 

 has beenapproved of, but not ventured upon by many 

 railway companies in the country. On its time-cards 

 the hours are numbered from one up to twenty-four, 

 the latter being midnight. The confusion which so 

 often exists between the a.m. and p.m. hours is thus 

 avoided. Thus one train arrives in Cleveland at 

 19.30, and one departs from Columbus at 17 o'clock. 

 This road also carries upon its morning trains weather- 

 signals, devised and set by the Ohio meteorological 

 bureau, from predictions furnished by the United 

 States weather-service. It is believed to be the first 

 railroad in the country, if not in the world, to adopt 

 either of these schemes. 



— In the Missionary herald for November, 1882, Dr. 

 Nichols wrote from Bailunda, West-central Africa, 

 June 26, " There has been a notable comet hanging 

 in the sky near Venus for weeks ; but the natives, 

 so far from feeling any superstitious dread, seem 

 utterly indifferent to it." After this was published. 

 Gen. Hazen, of the Signal-service at Washington, 

 wrote to the Missionary house, inquiring about the 

 letter of Dr. Nichols. Gen. Hazen thought the writer 

 must have been mistaken, as this would be, he 

 thought, the earliest announcement of the comet. He 

 suggested that perhaps the zodiacal light had been 

 mistaken for a comet. By the next mail. Dr. Nich- 

 ols's attention was called to this; and in a letter 

 received April 22, dated Bailunda, Jan. 25, to Dr. 

 Means of the Missionary house, he writes, "Be 

 certain that that comet of ours was a veritable one, 

 and not a zodiacal light. There was a small but well- 

 defined nucleus, and its motions amongst the con- 

 stellations were watched by all here." 



— Interesting investigations have been carried on 

 during the past year by the agricultural experiment- 



station recently established in connection with the 

 chemical department of Cornell university. The 

 work done includes experiments on fodders, ensilage, 

 and analysis of agricultural products, the results of 

 which have been collected in the annual report now 

 in press. The analyses were made by the chemist 

 of the station, under the direction of Professor Cald- 

 well, who, in conjunction with the professor of agri- 

 culture, superintended the experiments on feeding 

 and ensilage. 



— S. Philipp has lately published a philosophical 

 work on the ego of organisms, and the origin of life 

 in unorganized matter, which, together with the 

 cognate writings of Montgomery, are briefly noticed 

 in the Biologisches ceniralblatt for April 1. Those 

 sceptical as to the value of such lucubrations will 

 attribute a meaning to the date in this connection. 



— Professor Targionl Tozzetti has just published 

 a report on Ortotteri agrari, under the direction of 

 the Italian department of agriculture, industry, and 

 commerce. The introduction relates chiefly to the 

 external anatomy of Orthoptera. In the classifica- 

 tion of the order. Professor Tozzetti uses the term 

 ' Orthoptera ' in its widest sense, and divides the order 

 into the following suborders: 1. Tisautiri ; 2. Ortot- 

 teri veri ; 3. Corrodenti (Psocidae and Termitidae) ; 

 4. Ortotteri amfibiotica (the rest of the Pseudo- 

 neuroptera). After treating of the migrating locusts 

 (cavalette) of all countries, and the means for their 

 destruction, a third part gives short instructions how 

 to prevent and counteract the ravages of the Italian 

 species of Acrididae. This seems to be intended for 

 separate distribution among farmers, as the Illus- 

 trations are repeated from the first part of the volume. 

 A collection of the locust laws made in Italy (be- 

 ginning with the Mandate from the ' consules agricul- 

 turae,' dated April 27, 1654), France, and Spain, and 

 the collected citations from ancient authors relative 

 to Orthoptera, appear in .appendices. 



The report contains much interesting matter, and 

 will, no doubt, prove useful to the Italian agriculturist; 

 but in its economic and natural history j)arts it is 

 a mere compilation from other sources, and bears 

 evidence, we regret to say, of hasty work, such as 

 we should not expect from its author. We notice 

 many inaccuracies and typographical blunders, and 

 the figures are for the most part at second hand and 

 poorly copied. 



— Some vine-cuttings from Madeira, recently re- 

 ceived at New York, caused no little consternation 

 on the supposition that they were infested with Phyl- 

 loxera. Samples were referred for examination to Dr. 

 J. P. Battershall, who, after microscopic examination, 

 was unable to detect the presence of Phylloxera, but 

 concluded that the vines looked suspicious. Samples 

 were finally sent to the department of agriculture, 

 and submitted to Professor Riley, who found no trace 

 of Phylloxera, and who recommended that the cut- 



