SCFENCE-GOSSIP. 



149 



numbers of natural enemies, but few of these are 

 nearly so destructive as the shore-shrimpers with 

 their push-nets. These nets are pushed along 

 the margin at low tide, either by night or by 

 day, as the tide serves. Mr. Holt has examined 

 this source of destruction, and gives the following 

 statistics as a fair example of the catch of one net 

 for a single tide. The value of the shrimps is 

 estimated by the captor at 2s. 6d. " Shrimps, four 

 quarts; soles, four, from 2J to 3^ inches ; turbot, 

 one, 3^ inches ; brill, two, from 3§ to 4! inches ; 

 plaice, 896, from i| to 4^ inches; plaice, twelve, 

 4I to g inches ; flounders, six, z\ to 4^ inches ; 

 flounders, three, 9 inches ; dabs, three, \\ to 

 if inches ; smelts, five, 3J to 3^ inches; smelts, one, 

 6] inches ; dragonets, twenty-three, i| to 2J inches ; 

 gobies, 261 ; sticklebacks, twenty-nine ; also sand- 

 eels, pipe-fish, etc. It is not suggested that all 

 these fish, which amount to some 1,300 in number, 



are destroyed at every tide by each man, but there 

 can be little doubt that the majority are more or 

 less injured, if not actually killed. Of course it 

 must not be supposed that gobies, sticklebacks, 

 pipe-fish, or sand-eels have any commercial value, 

 but it should not be forgotten that they constitute 

 a large proportion of the food-supply of more 

 valuable species. 



It is very satisfactory to find that the Marine 

 Biological Association is devoting so much atten- 

 tion to what immediately affects the public, through 

 its food-supply. As has been pointed out in a 

 recent number of Science-Gossip, some of our 

 learned societies confine themselves so strictly to 

 science as to be out of touch with public sym- 

 pathy ; but this cannot be said of the work 

 designed by the Council which has control of the 

 Plymouth Biological Station, and its outlying 

 branches. 



INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGY. 



By E. D. Anderson and A. E. Mansford. 



A LTHOUGH issued in 1893, by the American 

 Government, a valuable book has only lately 

 reached this country. It is entitled " A Summary 

 of International Meteorological Observations." 

 Compiled by Major H. H. C. Dunwoody, Signal 

 Service Corps, United States Army. 61 pp., with 

 61 charts, 24 inches by 19 inches. (Published 

 by the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture, 

 Weather Bureau, Washington, D. C. 1893.) 



Few scientific works recently issued are more 

 satisfactory in scope and execution than this fine 

 volume, which we owe to the Weather Bureau of the 

 United States. The charts are perhaps particularly 

 adapted for the use of specialists in meteorology 

 and climatology, but the descriptive letterpress, by 

 which they are prefaced, will do much to render 

 them of general interest. The unusual size of the 

 publication may by some be considered a detriment, 

 but when it is borne in mind that the charts cover 

 the whole known area of the northern hemisphere, 

 and that on them all the chief meteorological 

 stations are depicted by means of small circles, 

 it is evident that anything smaller would have 

 entailed a loss of clearness, and the advantages 

 for purposes of generalisation of seeing the whole 

 region at a glance preclude the idea of their sub- 

 division. Taking these points into consideration, 

 Major Dunwoody and his assistants are certainly 

 to be congratulated on the concise form in which 

 they have presented the result of the labour of 

 eighteen years, the first thirteen of which were 

 devoted to amassing data from nearly 600 stations, 

 which yielded the amazing total of five million 

 daily simultaneous observations. Temperature 

 charts are given, showing the isotherms for every 



month as well as for the year, the greatest contrast 

 occurring on the January chart, where Barbadoes, 

 Ceylon and parts of West-Central India have a noon 

 mean temperature of 8o° F., whilst Verchojansk, 

 in Siberia (67° 34' N., 153° 31' E.), has an average 

 of 6o° F. below zero. Very low temperatures are 

 marked during January and February on the North 

 American prairies, 40 F. below zero being the 

 normal noon temperature for February for the 

 Great Slave Lake district, but as the Pacific coast 

 is approached, the isotherms take a most pronounced 

 upward trend, so that the_ sea-coasts of California 

 and British Columbia, even through the winter 

 months, enjoy a temperature of from 40 : to 50 F. 

 The highest temperature shown is on the May 

 chart, where, in parts of British India, the mean is 

 above ioo° F. 



A second complete series of charts illustrates the 

 isobars, and it is noticeable that whereas in the 

 northern hemisphere during summer the areas of 

 highest pressure occur over the ocean and the 

 lowest over the land, during winter the positions 

 are reversed. The lowest mean given is 2943 at 

 Lahore on the July chart, and the highest 3067 at 

 Nertchinsk (Asiatic Russia) on the chart for 

 January. The average frequency of storm charts 

 open a wide field for comparison, the St. Lawrence 

 Valley has the doubtful privilege of heading the 

 list with a total of 484 storms in ten years, whilst 

 England in the same period experienced 135, and the 

 western shores of California and Mexico only three. 

 Fog being to the navigator perhaps even a greater 

 danger than storms, the tables giving its average 

 frequency and position are likely to be of special 

 value. 



G 3 



