178 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
be more than a mere superstition. I have seen a leading chief 
who had distinguished himself in many fights, bleed at the nose, 
scream, and become quite convulsed at the sight of a little brown 
lizard which ran across the path in front of him. His nose bled 
till he nearly fainted. H.C: rae: 
“ TRANSACTIONS OF THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE.’—The 
fourteenth annual volume has made its appearance this year at 
an earlier date than usual. While the letter-press is quite up to 
the usual standard, the number of plates is largely in excess of 
the average. This is chiefly owing to Mr. Buchanan’s excellent 
series of Jithographed plates illustrative of our Alpine Flora ; 
these make the volume most interesting and valuable to the 
botanist. With the exception of these, and of one by Prof. 
Parker, illustrative of the skeleton. of Votornzs, all the other 
plates have been photo-lithographed. It is a pity, when con- 
siderable trouble has been taken in the preparation of drawings, 
that better reproductions of them cannot be had. While aware 
of the limited means at the disposal of the Board of Governors 
of the New Zealand Institute, we think it ought to be distinctly 
made known to the writers of papers that their drawings are to 
be photo-lithographed. They would then be spared the trouble 
of attempting to give some finish to their work. 
Considerable additions to our knowledge of the Fauna have 
been made during the year, chiefly in the Mollusca, Crustacea, 
and Insecta. The latter certainly do not figure much in the 
volume under notice, but it must be remembered that a@// Capt. 
Broun’s papers on the Coleoptera have been separately pub- 
lished, and also that all the hitherto described species of Diptera, 
Orthoptera, and Hymenoptera, were separately catalogued by 
Prof. Hutton, and published during the current season. 
In Botanical work, the usual activity is manifested in the 
description of new species, and in the addition of forms hitherto 
foreign to our Flora. Probably no colony of recent growth has 
had its phanerogamic flora so well worked out as New Zealand; 
and, though much still remains to be done, it will be more of a 
critical nature in future. An article on the flora of the Nelson 
district is valuable, as extending the knowledge of plant distri- 
bution in a hitherto almost neglected part of the colony. It is 
gratifying also to see that the microscopists are coming forward 
with papers on Diatomacez and fresh water Algze. There is 
here a wide field for those workers who cannot devote the time 
requisite for long-continued researches. 
It is matter for regret that so very little original work is dete 
among us in Chemistry. A few short, but useful, papers are to 
be found in this volume of “ Transactions,” but nothing hails 
from either of our University laboratories. Considering what 
a vast amount of research lies before anyone entering on this 
domain ot science, it is certainly remarkable that so few seem 
to take it up as a study. In the geological portion of the 
volume is a valuable paper by Mr. Cox on “ The Mineralogy of 
New Zealand,” which summarises the information on the subject 
; 
4 
a ee ee a a ae 
