May 27, 1887. 



SCIEJS'CE. 



513 



movements of the ice of the Kara Sea. Besides, 

 he intends to study the natural history and etli- 

 nology of that district. 



In America, Colonel Gilder is going to resume 

 his work, which was interrupted last winter. He 

 intends to return to Hudson Bay, and to start on 

 his expedition north with the Eskimos of Wager 

 River, with whom he became well acquainted 

 at the time of Schwatka's sledge- journey to King 

 William Land, of which he was a member. He 

 hopes to be able to reach Iglulik, in Fury and 

 Hecla Strait, in the spring of 1888, and Lancaster 

 Sound in the summer or autumn of the same 

 year. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The department of agriculture has issued a 

 paper prepared by Professor Riley, on the defolia- 

 tion of shade-trees in Washington. The four 

 principal leaf-eaters are the imported elm-leaf 

 beetle, the bag-worm, the white marked tussock 

 moth, and the fall web-worm. The beetle. Pro- 

 fessor Riley saj's, has done much mischief in the 

 old world. It was first imported here in 1887, 

 and its earlier destructive attacks were notably 

 about Baltimore and New Jersey. The bag-worm 

 for two or three years has been on the increase 

 in special localities in Washington. Speaking 

 of the enemies of these worms, he says, " The 

 ' pellets ' of a screech-owl found in the vicinity of 

 Baltimore consisted apparently almost entirely of 

 the hairs of these caterpillars, proving that this use- 

 ful bird has done good service. Perhaps the state- 

 ment may be of interest that this little owl is get- 

 ting much more common in the vicinity of cities in 

 which the English sparrow has become numerous, 

 and that the imported birds will find in this ovl 

 as bold an enemy as the sparrow-hawk is to them 

 in Europe, and even more dangerous, since its 

 attacks are made toward dusk, at a time when the 

 sparrow has retired for the night, and is not as 

 wide awake for ways and means to escape. If 

 our two cuckoos, the black-biUed and yellow- 

 billed species, could be induced to build their 

 nests within the city limits or in our parks, we 

 should gain in them two very useful friends, 

 since they feed upon hairy caterpillars." Speaking 

 of a remedy for these pests, Professor Riley 

 says, "It so happens, fortunately, that there is 

 one thoroughly simple, cheap, and efficacious 

 remedy applicable to all four of these tree-depreda- 

 tors. They all begin their work very much at 

 the same season, or as soon as the leaves are fairly 

 developed ; and arsenical mixtures properly 

 sprayed on the trees about the middle of May, 

 and repeated once or twice at intervals of a fort- 



night later in the season, will prove an efifectual 

 protection to trees of all kinds." 



— A committee of the Association of German 

 physicians has sent a circular t3 the directors of 

 all the gymnasia of Germany, asking them to dis- 

 suade students from adopting the medical profes- 

 sion. Accompanying the circular are statistics 

 which show the proportion between the number 

 of physicians licensed each year and the number 

 who die or retire from the profession. 



— A second edition of Lancaster's ' Liste des 

 observatoires et des astronomes' has appeared. 

 We are glad to learn that there is a prospect of 

 further editions being published, as they may be 

 required to keep pace with the movements of 

 astronomers. This little directory will be found 

 useful not only by astronomers, but by booksellers 

 and others who may wish to be put in communi- 

 cation with the astronomical world. The index 

 contains about a thousand names. 



~ Trubner & Co. announce the first volume of 

 the ' Reports of the Archeological survey of 

 southern India, the Amarfivatt and Jaggayyapeta 

 Buddhist Stupas,' by James Burgess, director-gen- 

 eral of the Archeological survey of India ; to- 

 gether with transcriptions, translations, and eluci- 

 dations of the Dhauli and Jaugada inscriptions of 

 Asoka, by Prof. G. Buhler, Vienna. Dr. Burgess, 

 the director-general of the Archeological survey of 

 India, is just finishing a volume on the Amaravatl 

 and Jaggayyapeta Stupas, illustrated by more 

 than fifty collotype and lithographic plates and 

 numerous woodcuts. It will be remembered that 

 the second part of the late Mr. James Fergusson's 

 ' Tree and serpent worship ' (now out of print) 

 dealt with the marble sculptures brought by Col. 

 C. Mackenzie and Sir Walter Elliot at different 

 times from the Amaravati Tope or Stupa, and 

 which are now in the British museum. Dr. 

 Burcxess spent some time at Amaravati immedi- 

 ately after the excavation of the site by orders of 

 the Madras government, where he made further 

 researches, discovering about ninety fresh sculp- 

 tures, and forwarded about a hundred and- eighty 

 slabs to the Madras government museum, which 

 he also carefully photographed. On the spot he 

 made many drawings, and copied all the Pali in- 

 scriptions, which are numerous, and, though 

 short, are of considerable interest. One in par- 

 ticular he discovered, bearing the name of Pulu- 

 mayi, one of the great Andhra sovereigns of the 

 second century, which is of the utmost value in 

 determining the age of the Tope. The date of 

 the monument proves to be earlier by about a 

 century and a half than Mr. Fergusson had esti- 

 mated it ; but this seems to be solely due to the 



