426 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IV., No. 



— The Athenaeum states that Sir Richard Owen's 

 'History of British fossil reptiles,' which has been 

 upwards of forty years in preparation, is now ready 

 for publication by Messrs. Cassell. On the prepara- 

 tion of the 268 plates with which the volumes are 

 enriched, great labor and attention have been lav- 

 ished. The edition consists of 170 copies only, each 

 copy being signed by Professor Owen; and the plates 

 from which the illustrations have been printed have 

 been destroyed. 



— The time of the glacial period in New Zealand 

 has been studied by R. von Lendenfeld, whose sur- 

 vey in the New-Zealand Alps, partly corroborating 

 and partly extending the results of Dr. von Haast's 

 surveys, shows that the present glaciers are as large, 

 and extend down as far, as those in Norway, where 

 the mean annual temperature is 3° C, whilst in New 

 Zealand it is 11° C. The greater expanse of water 

 in the southern hemisphere, and the consequently 

 greater amount of humidity in the air, and more 

 copious rain and snowfall, are considered to be the 

 cause of this. The sounds in the south-west coast 

 are similar to the fiords in Norway, and the alluvial 

 deposits at their upper ends are small. Scooped out 

 originally by flowing water, these sounds remained 

 unchanged during the period of subsidence of the 

 land, and were not filled up with debris, because 

 large glaciers occupied them during that time. As 

 soon as these glaciers disappeared, the formation of 

 the alluvial deposits commenced; and from the fact 

 that the latter are small, and increasing rapidly in 

 size from year to year, the author considers that the 

 glacial period in New Zealand must have been very 

 recent. 



— The committee of Lloyds has received from 

 the London board of trade a report concerning the 

 surf ace- ventilation of the cargo of 2,050 tons of coal 

 carried in the Sutherlandshire from Hull to San 

 Francisco last year. The ship was fitted with tubes 

 to enable the master to ascertain the temperature of 

 the body of the cargo, as recommended by the re- 

 port of the royal commission appointed to inquire 

 into the spontaneous combustion of coal in ships. 

 The voyage was perfectly free from fire. The com- 

 mander, Capt. Inglio, highly approves of the tubes, 

 and will continue testing the temperature. A record 

 was kept, and the figures are on record at Lloyds. 



— England, so far, is not taking a very prominent 

 part in the International exhibition to be held at 

 Antwerp next year, only about two hundred firms 

 having applied. France especially takes a prominent 

 part, the French government having voted seven 

 hundred and fifty thousand francs towards the ex- 

 penses of the undertaking, and appointed two official 

 commissions; while the municipal council of Paris 

 has promised a grant of a hundred thousand francs 

 for the purpose of sending workingmen delegates 

 from that city. Prince Rudolph of Austria has also 

 influenced the Vienna chamber of commerce to make 

 strong efforts on behalf of the concern. The United 

 States will be well repesented; and the Dominion of 

 Canada better so than the mother-country, as it gives 



both official recognition and a substantial credit. 

 Germany is also making strong efforts to be officially 

 represented. 



— Mr. Clermont Ganneau, the French archeolo- 

 gist, has been describing for the benefit of his coun- 

 trymen the antiquities of Palestine now treasured in 

 London, and advises the formation of a vast Pales- 

 tine museum and library, one of the departments of 

 which should be "an extensive and animated pan- 

 orama of the Holy City, and dioramic views of the 

 principal localities and of characteristic scenes of 

 popular life in Palestine, in order to add to this 

 scientific combination an irresistible element of at- 

 traction and success. In short, in the centre of 

 London should be created a representation as faith- 

 ful, varied, and complete as possible, of Palestine, 

 past and present, which would be as a living com- 

 mentary on the Bible." England, says Mr. Clermont 

 Ganneau, being ' so passionately fond of biblical 

 studies,' would be the country most likely to carry 

 out his ambitious project. 



— Mr. Wood Mason of the Calcutta Indian museum 

 has recently drawn up a report on those insects from 

 which the tea-gardens of Assam most suffer. He 

 says the tea-bug or ' mosquito-blight,' and the tea- 

 mite or ' red spider,' are the only two insects which 

 are at present known to do such injury as to mate- 

 rially diminish the profits of the owners. Both 

 these insects pass their whole lives on the tea- 

 plant, and have never been found on any other plant. 

 Such, at least, is the result of the most careful inves- 

 tigation. The mite lives in societies on the upper por- 

 tion of the full-grown leaves, beneath an exceedingly 

 delicate web which it spins for itself as a shelter. It 

 punctures the leaves, and then pumps out the liquid 

 contents of the epidermis. The only remedy which 

 has been discovered to check their ravages, and it 

 has not proved very effectual, is to sprinkle the 

 affected bushes with muddy water. The tea-bug is 

 still more destructive, and particularly to the trees 

 of the milder juice; for those which afford a strong 

 and rasping liquor enjoy an almost complete im- 

 munity from its attack. Mr. Wood Mason appends to 

 his report engravings of these destructive creatures. 



— The Cape times says that a gigantic earthworm 

 has been sent from the colony to Mr. Frank Bid- 

 dard, the prosector of the Royal zoological society, 

 who has been desirous of obtaining one of these 

 monsters for scientific purposes. The Rev. G. Fisk, 

 F.Z.S., with whom Mr. Biddard has corresponded on 

 the subject, received the worm from Mr. H. W. Bid- 

 well, who found it in the botanic garden at Uiten- 

 hage. The longest measurement of the creature yet 

 taken reaches six feet five inches; but it is thought, 

 if it were drowned, the measurement would extend to 

 ten feet, this mode of extinction having an extremely 

 relaxing effect on the frame or substance of the 

 worm. The surface of the upper portion of the body 

 shows a bright green color, of variable intensity, but 

 otherwise it is a loathlful animal. Lumbricus micro- 

 chaeta is the name by which it will be immortalized 

 in the records of the Zoological society. 



