3°2 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



CONTRIBUTED BY FLORA WINSTONE. 



La Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes (Paris 

 February, 189S). M. Dollfus announces that, 

 thanks to various gifts and loans, the exhibition of 

 collections mentioned in the last number of this 

 periodical and referred to in Science-Gossip, ante 

 p. 274, is now completed and on view. The 

 " Discussion upon the base of the Chloritic Marl 

 Stratum," by M. Gustav F. Dollfus, concludes 

 with a short summing up of the matter which has 

 appeared in former articles. M. Ernest Andree 

 continues his "Synopsis of the Mutillides of 

 France." He follows the same method as 

 previously of describing first the males and then 

 the females of each genus. M. Ch. Van Kempen 

 writes in an interesting manner of the birds most 

 common in the North of France. He deplores 

 equally with M. Xavier Raspail, who wrote on this 

 subject in the December number of " La Feuille des 

 Jeunes Naturalists," the gradual disappearance of 

 birds in France. He asks what they will do for 

 insect destroyers when the swallow and tomtit are 

 looked upon as rarities. The sparrow-hawks are all 

 too plentiful, as they help to diminish the other birds. 

 Owls, woodpeckers, larks, wagtails and one or two 

 others are still fairly plentiful, but tomtits, king- 

 fishers, blackbirds, linnets, robin-redbreasts and 

 many others are becoming gradually less in 

 numbers year by year. M. Van Kempen's ob- 

 servations extend over several years. 



Album de Natur (Haarlem, February). Herr 

 J. Sturing writes on " Botany in Winter." The 

 article is illustrated by fourteen figures of some of 

 the plants described. Among the principal are 

 Almis glvtinosa, Betula alba, Pmmis spinosa, Mahonia 

 aquifoiium, Ilex aquifolinm, Viscum album, Hedera 

 helix, and Quercus cerris. Herr M. Buijsman has 

 an article on " Mexico, the land of the Toetromst " ; 

 the plants he describes are the tobacco, which is 

 evergreen in Mexico, coffee, vanilla, coca trees, 

 banana trees, indiarubber, and many others. 



Bulletin de la Societe Zoologique de 

 France (Paris, 1897). This number contains 

 the " Rules for Zoological Nomenclature" which 

 were drawn up by the International Commission 

 appointed by the International Congress of 1S95 to 

 study this important question. It met at Baden- 

 Baden in August last, under the presidency of 

 Professor Carus. The rules drawn up will be 

 submitted to the Zoological Congress at Cambridge, 

 at their meeting in 1898. This article is dealt 

 with at length in an earlier part of this number. 

 M. Maurice Pic writes a description of " Asiatic 

 Coleoptera of the family Cerambycidae." He 

 describes six species, two of which are new, viz., 

 Mallosia brevipes and Phytaecia bangi. M. Jules 

 Richard records the !' Entomostraces " collected 

 by M. Ch. Rabot at Jan Mayen and Spitzberg. 

 There are not many new species among the list ; 

 only a few of which are described in this number. 

 The article is illustrated by three figures. M. Ad. 



Dollfus contributes a note illustrated with seven 

 figures on the " Tanaidae received from the Azores 

 during the voyages of the ' Hirondelle.' " Eight 

 new species are fully described. An account of the 

 departure of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition is 

 given by MM. E. Herouard and J. Guiart. They 

 give a short history of what has been done towards 

 the discovery of the South Pole. Hearing so much 

 of the expeditions to the North Pole, people 

 are apt to forget that the investigation of the 

 Antarctic region would be fully as valuable to 

 science. The aim of the expedition which has 

 recently started to the South Pole is not to find the 

 exact position of the Pole itself, but to elucidate 

 certain scientific questions. The members propose 

 to study the magnetic phenomena, atmospheric 

 electricity and the hygrometric state ; also the 

 plants and the animals. A full description is given 

 of the preparations made by these explorers, who 

 expect to be absent two years, and the vessel in 

 which they sailed, named the Belgica. M. de 

 Gerlach is the chief of the expedition and also 

 captain of the ship. He is accompanied by 

 twenty-one comrades. 



BOLLETINO DEI MUSEI Dl ZOOLOGIA ED ANATOMIA 



Comparata (Turin, November, 1897). M. C. F. 

 Ancey gives an account of the malacological 

 species obtained by Dr. Barelli from the Argentine 

 Republic and Paraguay. The species described 

 are all in the zoological museum of the Turin 

 University. The new species are Epiphvagmophora 

 eryptomphala. Ana, Bulimuhts borcllii, and B~ 

 pollonerae. There is a beautiful plate containing 

 fourteen figures of the shells, the new species 

 being amongst them. 



Cosmos (Paris, February 12th, 1898). M. A. 

 Berthier contributes an article, illustrated with 

 two diagrams and one photograph, of a " Telephone 

 with a Double Cylinder," which he has invented. 

 His object is to regulate the magnetic movement of 

 the electro magnet so as to obtain the maximum of 

 effect. There are some interesting notes by M. A. 

 Acloque, on " The influence of a Medium Climate 

 upon Vegetable Growth." They are illustrated by- 

 one figure showing the influence of the sun upon 

 the facies of plants. The development of Mimulus 

 tilingi is shown (1) under ordinary sunlight, and (2) 

 under a feeble sunlight. The Physical Astronomy 

 Observatory at Meudon is described by M. Louis 

 Rabourdin, with illustrations, giving a general 

 view of it from the terrace, the central pavilion and 

 its cupola, the grand equatorial of Meudon, and a. 

 general view of the observatory from the higher 

 terrace. It was the discoveries made in France on 

 the spectrum analysis and the constitution of the 

 sun, in 1862 and 1871, which decided Paris to build 

 an astronomical observatory. It was founded in 

 1875, after several efforts having been made in 

 previous years to obtain the necessary vote. 



La Nature (Paris, February 12th, 1898). M. 

 R. Bergeot gives an account of an establishment 

 at St. Lambert, conducted by a Parisian named 

 M. Philipon, for the application of the newest 

 methods in the breeding of salmon. M. A. Acloque 

 describes the "Germination of Truffles," giving 

 an illustration from a microscopic plate of the 

 fertilization of the spores of truffles. A new 

 system of cinematograph is described and illus- 

 trated by M. J. Laffargue. Mr. F. Jenkins is the 

 inventor of this new system, which aims at a 

 continuous movement instead of the occasional 

 stoppage of the band as at present. 



