SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 299 



falling temperature of the air, but a drifting wreck gives no such 

 timely warning of its dangerous neighborhood. This danger is 

 especially great in the night, in foggy or thick weather, and when 

 the derelict is bottom-up or deeply submerged. An instance of 

 narrow escape was the experience of the steamship ' Louisiana,' 

 Sept. 19. While steaming at fourteen knots an hour in the Gulf of 

 Mexico, she passed within fifty feet of a vessel two hundred feet 

 long, bottom-up. 



It is hoped that the conference will devise some plan to rid the 

 ocean of these obstructions, or, at least, of the most dangerous of 

 them. 



The "King Devil." 



In August, 1879, Prof. Lester F. Ward, while returning from a 

 hunting-excursion in the North Woods, discovered near Carthage, 

 N.Y., a new variety of Hieracmm (house-leek), of which he ob- 

 tained two specimens. The next day, after a long search, he found 

 on a farm at Evans Mills — a small village about ten miles from 

 Watertown — large colonies of the same plant. The individuals 

 were many of them smaller and slenderer than, but there vvfas no 

 doubt that they were of the same species as, the specimens secured 

 the day before. He secured a great number of the specimens, and 

 remarked to his companion, that, unless the farmers of that region 

 adopted some measures to destroy that weed, it would give them 

 much trouble in the future. 



On his return to Washington, Professor Ward identified his 

 specimens as belonging to the species Hiei'acium p?-aaltiim, a 

 variety of house-leek very common, and a great pest to farmers in 

 many parts of Europe, but little known in America. 



Last summer Professor Ward visited St! Lawrence County again, 

 and one of the first things he was informed of was the appearance, 

 six or eight years ago, and the rapid spread since, of a weed they 

 called the " king devil." Professor Ward at once identified it as 

 the novel variety of house-leek hje had discovered during his former 

 visit in that neighborhood, and, of course, recalled to mind the 

 warning he then uttered. When the king devil once gets into a 

 field, it completely covers the ground with its continuous green 

 leaves, preventing the growth of any other plant or weed. It took 

 such complete possession of one field of thirty acres, that there was 

 absolutely nothing else on it — there could be nothing else. 



Inquiry as to the local origin of the king devil traced it to the 

 farm where Professor Ward had found the colony in 1879; and 

 here, therefore, was the nest in which was hatched one of the worst 

 pests the farmers of the United States have ever had to encounter, 

 and from which it has spread over the country. In the region where 

 it first appeared it has already extended over a belt of country fifteen 

 miles wide, the length of which Professor Ward did not ascertain. 

 It has been reported thirty miles west of Kingston, Canada, and in 

 other places. 



Various methods of eradicating the king devil have been suggested, 

 but none of them have proved effective except the thorough salting 

 of the land. This, of course, is expensive, and destroys all other 

 vegetation as well as the noxious weed against which it is directed ; 

 but the field can be restored, and, while the king devil has posses- 

 sion of it, it is of no use whatever to its owner. 



An Apparatus for studying Insects under Ground. 



Prof. H. J. Comstock of Ithaca has, by a very simple invention, 

 greatly extended the field of investigation for entomologists. He 

 has made it possible for them to see insects under ground, and 

 study their subterranean habits. The apparatus consists of a nar- 

 row frame made of wood, the two broad sides enclosed with glass. 

 A sheet-iron shutter or screen is fitted to slide before the glass on 

 each side, and, at ordinary times, exclude the light. Two sides and 

 the bottom of the box thus formed are therefore narrow, and com- 

 posed of wood, while the other two sides are broad pieces of glass. 

 The top is open. 



This box is filled with earth, and any plant that may be selected 

 is set out in it. The insect living under ground that is an enemy 

 of this plant, and whose habits it is desired to study, is also placed 

 in the earth. The sides of the box are then closed with the screens, 

 so as to secure the same conditions in the soil in the box as under 

 ground in nature. From time to time, as it is desired to investi- 

 gate, the screen on one side is temporarily removed, and through 



the glass the movements of the insects may be observed, changes 

 in their development noted, and important discoveries may be 

 made. 



The apparatus is made of all sizes and various shapes, so as to 

 adapt it to any special investigation that may be undertaken. Pro- 

 fessor Comstock has one at Ithaca so large that he keeps it in a 

 hole in the ground, and raises and lowers it by means of a rope at- 

 tached to a pole. It is admirably adapted to the study of the roots 

 of growing plants, and may be so modified as to expose to view the 

 underground habits of small animals that burrow. 



COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY. 

 Bokhara and the Transcaspian Railroad. 

 The rapid changes brought about by the construction of the 

 Transcaspian Railroad in Bokhara and Samarkand form the subject 

 of an interesting paper by Dr. O. Heyfelder, which was published 

 in the October number of Unsere Zeit. On Jan. 18, 1888, the great 

 bridge across the Amu Darya at Chardjui was completed, and on 

 May 27, Samarkand was reached. The railroad runs in a north- 

 easterly direction from Merv to Chardjui, and. a short distance south 

 of the latter place, enters the territory of Bokhara. Near Karakul 

 it reaches the Sarafshan, which it ascends. Samarkand became a 

 Russian province in 1868, but until recently it was almost isolated, 

 large deserts being situated north-west and south-west of it. A 

 road connects the city with Tashkent, from which place it took twen- 

 ty-one days to reach St. Petersburg. The telegraph from Samar- 

 kand to St. Petersburg followed the same road. Since the opening 

 of the railroad the state of affairs in the whole valley of the Saraf- 

 shan has greatly changed. The people of Bokhara were at first 

 opposed to the enterprise, as it brought the country still more under 

 Russian and Christian influence. For these reasons they insisted 

 upon the road passing the city of Bokhara at a distance of several 

 miles ; but it seems that after the road was once opened they quickly 

 acquiesced in the new state of affairs, and the country is now open 

 to European, or rather Russian, influence. Lady physicians, who 

 practise in Samarkand and Tashkent, have had a great influence 

 upon the population, and the medical staff of the railroad is doing 

 good work in Bokhara. Heyfelder believes that their influence will 

 be sufficient to improve the hygienic conditions of the filthy cities 

 of that country. European manufactures are introduced by branch 

 offices of Russian houses, and particularly through their establish- 

 ment European influence is gaining greater strength. The first 

 of these branch offices was founded in Bokhara in 1874, after 

 the ratification of the treaty of commerce ; but the greater number 

 were established after the completion of the railroad to Merv, and 

 after its continuation to Samarkand had been decided. At present 

 they are not confined to the capital, but Russian merchants are 

 found in every city of the country. The extent of its trade will be 

 understood from the fact that fnerchants from Bokhara visit annu- 

 ally the great fair of Nischnii-Novgorod to sell the produce of the 

 khanate. Silk manufactures from Samarkand are sold in St. Peters- 

 burg, Moscow, and Kharkow. Sheep are purchased in Karakul, 

 and transported by rail to the Dnieper ; lamb-hides are sold to 

 Moscow, lumber to Asia Minor ; and carpets from Bokhara are 

 valued all over the Orient. While, according to the treaty, the im- 

 portation of European manufactures is favored, a wise article pro- 

 hibits the sale of alcohol in the khanate. Gambling and the use of 

 liquors have been introduced by the Russians into Samarkand, not 

 to the advantage of the natives. It is doubtful whether the influ- 

 ence of the Europeans will have a wholesome effect upon the trades 

 of the people. At present they are skilful potters, turners, em- 

 broiderers, and leather-manufacturers. It is, however, a frequent 

 experience that trades of this kind are unable to compete with the 

 cheap products of European machines, and that the introduction of 

 improved methods is accompanied by a decline in native art. Sa- 

 markand and Bokhara are dependent upon the Sarafshan, cultivation 

 being possible only by means of irrigation. There exists an admir- 

 able and complicated network of canals all along the river ; but, of 

 course, no scientific methods of irrigating are used, and conse- 

 quently a great portion of the available water is wasted. Russian 

 influence will undoubtedly tend to improve the methods applied,, 

 and thus the extent of arable land and the value of its produce will 



