EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 47 



we read : — A hundred years ago, we are told, lands were not so well culti- 

 vated and drained as they are to-day. Then, when the rains came, the 

 mosses soaked up the water, which formed itself into shallow lochs and 

 pools. These gave out their contents slowly and gradually, and when the 

 rivers were flooded they ran full for a long time. Now all this is changed. 

 The hills are well drained, as well as all lands available for cultivation ; and 

 when the rain falls heavily the water rushes off at once to the rivers, which 

 rise with wonderful rapidity, and then rush off with tremendous violence 

 to the sea, tearing up the gravel, often altering its channel, and damaging 

 the banks. The subsidence of the flood is as rapid as its rise. The damage 

 which is done to the ova of Salmon when a flood of this nature occurs 

 during or immediately following upon the spawning season, will be apparent 

 to anyone. We have often seen whole banks of gravel washed away during 

 such times, and of course, where these have been used for spawning-beds 

 by the Salmon, the chances are that the greater proportion of the ova or 

 undeveloped fry will be silted over and destroyed. The establishment of 

 sufficiently large hatcheries where the ova and fry would be protected until 

 the latter had reached a suitable age for returning into the river would 

 counteract to a great extent these many adverse influences. 



According to a note in a late issue of the ' Daily Chronicle,' the 

 recent practice of feeding the Lion in the Lincoln Park Zoo, in Chicago, 

 with live Dogs has created something of a disturbance, the President of the 

 Humane Society denouncing the practice, even though this method of 

 feeding has been undertaken from a medical point of view. The Lion 

 which has been thus fed is a big African specimen, which is afflicted with 

 rickets, due, it is believed, to improper diet. During the past ten years 

 twenty-seven African Lions, representing a loss of more than £2000, have 

 died in this way, although hitherto the disease has been diagnosed as 

 paralysis, and it is in the hope of preventing further loss that the Dogs, 

 which were taken from the pound, were given to the Lion for food. 



The death of Mr. Christopher Sykes took place on Dec. 15th. This 

 gentleman will not alone be remembered as the " grave young man of 

 1 Lothair,'" and the friend of Princes, but, by British ornithologists, as one 

 to whose untiring exertions we owe the Sea Birds' Protection Act. 



After a successful career of over thirty years, ' Science Gossip,' the 

 favourite journal for amateurs devoted to Natural, Physical, and Applied 

 Sciences, has just entered upon independent offices at 110, Strand. The 

 editorial management is still under the control of Mr. John T. Carrington, 

 assisted bv Miss F. Winstone. 



