July 22, 1892,] 



SCIENCE. 



47 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The recent publication is announced in Nature of the first 

 number of a new monthly journal under the title Rivista dipato- 

 logia vegetale. It is edited by Sigg. A. N. and A. Berlese, and 

 published at Avellino, in Italy ; and is to be devoted to the study 

 of animal and vegetable parasites infesting cultivated plants, to 

 the diseases which they cause, and the remedies employed to com- 

 bat them. 



— According to Nature, the Port Officer of Mangalore reports 

 that a native craft was overtaken by heavy weather and made for 

 Mangalore, where there is a bad bar with about eight feet of water 

 on it. A treraendiiis sea was breaking over the bar, so, before 

 crossing it, and while running in, the native skipper opened an 

 oil cask, forming part of the cargo, and scattered it all round in 

 the sea plentifully, with the result that he took his craft across 

 the bar safely, and so saved the vessel and the cargo. The ves- 

 sel's name was "Mahadeprasad," and she was of 9.5 tons, bound 

 from Cochin to Bombay. This is said to be the first case on 

 record of a native tindal who has successfully used oil in troubled 

 waters. 



— In Science of July 8, the closing paragraph of the article by 

 Dr. C. V. Riley, on "The Number of Broods of the Imported Elm- 

 leaf Beetle," should have read: " Our statement upon page 8 was 

 a general one, based upon the observed shortness of the larval 

 life, and upon the fact that the earliest larvae mature before the 

 end of May, and upon the additional fact that we know that 

 newly developed beetles are found early in June. Prof. John B. 

 Smith, in a paper read before the Entomological Club of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science, in August 

 of this year, made the statement that there is but one annual gen- 

 eration in New Jersey. The adult beetles develop from the 

 larvae which have fed during tlje summer, entering winter quar- 

 ters as early as the first week in August. This state of affairs 

 may probably hold in more northern regions, but in Washington it 

 is safe to say that there are two generations, because, as just 

 stated, newly developed beetles (the progeny of those which 

 hibernate) appear in early June. These lay eggs, and, in fact, 

 egg-laying may continue until the end of September, and larvse 

 have actually been found by Mr. Pergande in October.'' 



— Mr. D. J. Macgowan. writing in the Shanghai Mercury, gives 

 an account of some remarkable statements made by a group of 

 Chinese traders who lately undertook a mercantile exploration 

 of the interior of Southern Formosa. They started from Lamalan, 

 which Mr. Macgowan takes to be Chockeday of the charts, and in 

 seven days reached their objective point, Hualin Stream. They 

 lodged in stone caverns, and the chattering of monkeys and the 

 sounds of insects seemed to them " appalling and indescribable." 

 The region was so " weird " that it reminded them of "legends of 

 the kingdom of hobgoblins." Among the trees were some of 

 " prodigious girth, forming a vast forest." These trees are said to 

 measure more than ten outstretched arms. A tree said to flourish 

 in the same forest is described as bearing " flowers, red and white, 

 which are larger than a sieve, and of extraordinary fragrance." 

 Mr. Macgowan adds: "Mr. Taylor, while searching for orchids, 

 heard of these majestic trees and huge flowers, which he inferred, 

 from what natives said, were epiphyte orchids. I am moved to 

 make known this sylvan discovery in the hope that, pending the 

 exploration of this terra incognita by our botanists. Dr. Henry or 

 Mr. Ford, residents in Formosa will take measures to provide 

 those naturalists with specimens of flowers, seeds, leaves, and 

 bark of the trees concerning which the Chinese have excited our 

 curiosity." 



— " The New Decimal Association, whose headquarters are at 

 Botolph House, Eastcheap," says the London Daily Graphic of 

 May 14, " has memorialized the Lords of the Committee of Coun- 

 cil on Education on the desirability of taking an important step 

 in connection with the introduction of the metric system in this 

 country. The May examinations of the Science and Art Depart- 

 ment are known through the length and breadth of the land, and 

 much has been done by means of these examinations to popularize 

 and extend technical study. The memorial which has been pre- 



sented recommends that in certain of the science examinations 

 alternative questions be given in future, based on the metric sys- 

 tem of measurement, which may he taken at the option of the 

 candidate in lieu of questions ba=ed on feet and inches In this 

 way the large and intelligent class of candidates for certificates of 

 the department will be induced to learn the metric system. The 

 Committee of Council on Education has already ordered that the 

 principles of this system should he taught in the higher standards 

 of all elementary schools; and one of the steps taken by the school 

 boards of London and other towns in consequence of this order 

 has been to furnish the pupil teachers and advanced scholars with 

 Vioxwood rules having a decimalized inch scale and a metric scale 

 in juxtaposition. In addition to this, colored wall-charts of the 

 metric weights and measures are used, and in this way the rising 

 generation will to a great extent be prepared for the introduction 

 of these weights and measures in future. 



— The second annual geological expedition of the State Univer- 

 sity of Nebraska, undertaken by a party of six, left Lincoln for 

 the field. June 21, 1893. This is known as the Morrill Geological 

 Expedition, in honor of Charles H. Morrill, regent of the State 

 University, whose liberality makes this work possible. The pri- 

 mary object of the expedition is the collection and preservation of 

 geological specimens in general, but more particularly the palason- 

 tological forms for which the State and immediate surroundings 

 are famous. The chief objective points are the Tertiai-y deposits 

 of the White and Niobrara Rivers, and the Bad Lands of Nebraska, 

 Wyoming, and South Dakota. The expedition is provided with 

 tents, — furnished by Governor Boyd,— wiih teams and heavy 

 covered wagons of the prairie-schooner type, and with apparatus, 

 camping equipment, and provisions for the summer. The parly 

 consists of six members, — exclusive of guide, — Mr. Thomas H. 

 Marsland, Frederick 0. Kenyon, Arthur C. Morrill, and Harry H 

 Everett, all of the State University of Nebraska, and James H. 

 Haines of Iowa College, together with Erwin H. Barbour, acting 

 State geologist, as professor in charge. The " Fossil Corkscrew. ' 

 or Daimonelix, beds were visited first, and some tons of these 

 extraordinary new fossils — noticed and figured in Science, Feb- 

 ruary, 1892 — were obtained. Native lumber and hay for packing 

 are carried, and specimens are boxed as found, and delivered at 

 the nearest station or siding. At the close of the expedition these 

 scattered collections will be brought together and delivered at the 

 State University in cars, which the railroad companies have gen- 

 erously offered for that purpose. 



— The eighth annual report of the Wisconsin Experiment Sta- 

 tion devotes a large share of space to questions relative to ensilage. 

 One chapter is devoted to a careful study, by F. H. King, of the 

 construction and filling of silos. Mr. King, having visited 93 

 silos in Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois, and several farmers 

 while filling their silos, in order to obtain data for this chapter. 

 Mr. King concludes that a stone silo, properly constructed, will 

 keep the silage as well as a wooden one, but that it will be neces- 

 sary to renew the cement lining frequently, or else to whitewash it 

 with fresh cement every year, as the acids of the silage soon soften 

 the cement. He finds that lath and plaster is a failure as a silo 

 lining, both because of the softening of the plaster and the liability 

 to injury with the fork in handling the silage. Of the wooden 

 linings, that made by two thicknesses of boards with tarred paper 

 between, all nailed firmly together, is showing greatest durability : 

 but all wooden linings rot soon unless well %'entilated. Painting 

 the lining tends to hasten decay instead of preserving it. From 

 an experiment in feeding corn silage in comparison with dry 

 corn fodder, the following conclusions are reached: 1. A daily 

 ration of four pounds of hay and seven pounds of grain feed, with 

 corn silage or field-cured fodder corn ad libitum, fed to twenty 

 cows during sixteen weeks, produced a total quantity of 19,813 

 pounds of milk during the silage period, and 19,801 pounds of 

 milk during the fodder-corn period. 3. When we consider the 

 areas of land from which the silage and fodder corn are obtained, 

 we find that the silage woirld have produced 243 pounds more 

 milk per acre than the dry fodder, or the equivalent of 12 pounds 

 of butter. This is a gain of a little more than three per cent in 

 favor of the silage. 



