152 Scientific Intelligence. 



and finally on page 541 Echinometra Quoyi^ U. is said to be the y 

 Podophora atrata and on page 539 the same Echinometra Quo 

 " What reliance 



placed in the characteristics of geneva such as Leiocidaris in which we 

 have given as generic, "Radioles en forme de longues baguettes sont 

 toujours cylindriques et lisses," and on the next page we find as the specific 

 character of Leiocidaris (Cidaris) Thouarsii " radiolea-subcylindriques tres 

 granuleux," Cidaris hystrix and Cidaris papillata are also referred to Leio- 

 cidaris though their spines are anything but "lisses" and *' cylindriques." 



avis imperialis Lam. immediatey below Leiocidaris hystrix Desor, for what 

 reason we are not told. On one page the species is credited to the author 

 who first described it, no matter to what genus it has been afterwards 

 removed, while on the next page the opposite course will be followed and 

 the species credited to the author who first placed it in its proper genus. 

 The authors are equally unfortunate in their synonymic lists, these lists 

 have been simply copied ; they have not taken the trouble to compare 

 their quotations : as for example in Cidaris baculosa the figures which are 

 referred to in Savigny and the Eevue et Magasin de Zoologie have 

 nothing in common except that they have usualtv been quoted together 

 by former writers. This is but a specimen of the manner in which th« 

 book has been manufactured, and the errors and contradictions whicli 

 have been pointed out here are as numerous throughout the rest of tli« 

 book as in the few genera we have so briefly examined. ^- ■^■ 



IV. ilETEOROLOGT. 



Meteorology. — Director William Haidinger continues to gj^'^ ';' 

 particular attention to the investigation of Meteoric subjects, and has in 

 ■ •■ ■» the Imperial Academy of Vienna gi^eo 



-- -... and meteoric phenomena, as_ well f 



additional particulars respecting some of those already mentioned J" 

 previous papers, of which we give the following abstracts : 



(1.) (Meeting of June 20th, 1861.) The fall of the stone of ^ 

 near Nellore, in Hindostan, (the latter place at 14° 23', N. L., a- 

 E. of Greenwich,) took place at 4^, p.m., on January 23d, It 

 •was witnessed by three persons, who watched their herds in tlie 

 borhood of the Choutoo Canal, east of the village Yatoor, in the j..'"- - 

 of Toumalatalpoor, and west of Yeruguntapollen. 



They heard a single clap, similar to the report of a musket, then « 

 somewhat rumbling noise. Looking in the direction of it, they saw, a 

 distance of about 20 fathoms, dust rising to the height of a man^ 

 Going thither they found in the ground, consisting of clay and sand, ^, 

 of two spans wide and two spans deep, (15 to 16 inches,) and therein 

 white stone which was burst, and a fragment of which was carried a^' ^^ 

 at once; the greater portion, however, was dug up on the follo^'^'a 

 morning, by the "moonsiff" of the village. The total weight ot ,■.;'; 

 three pieces has been estimated at one mound =^4^ lbs., av.ij - 

 white color of the stone is very remarkable, since meteoriici _ 

 show a black crust.* The sky was perfectly clear and the :. 



* H. wrote on the margin of the copy of his paper, ■which he sent us : 



