698 
vine-growing districts of the monarchy was resumed, 
with the result, that, by the end of the year, twenty- 
nine new districts were found to have been invaded. 
Measures have been adopted in conformity with the 
law of February, last year, to combat the evil. 
—A recent number of the Comptes rendus contains 
an account of some very remarkable observations 
of the planets Saturn and Uranus, made by Thol- 
lon, Perrotin, and Lockyer, at the Nice observa- 
tory, under an extraordinarily favorable condition 
of the atmosphere. On March 16 the outer of the 
three rings of Saturn was seen to be made up of 
three separate rings, of slightly greater breadth to- 
ward the ball of the planet; and all of these rings 
appeared at times to be marked with striae, as if there 
were indefinite subdivisions. Uranus was observed 
under similar conditions on March 18, and its general 
appearance is described as similar to that of Mars; 
that is, dark spots near the central portions of the 
disk, and on the limb of the planet, at position-angle 
380°, a white spot resembling that seen at the Martial 
poles. The observers, having taken care to eliminate 
a possible deception by the position of their instru- 
ment, also recorded a difference of tint of the two 
hemispheres, — dark toward the north-west, and to- 
ward the south-east, bluish white. 
— We learn from M. Veniukoff, that a general con- 
vention or council of the authorities, directing geo- 
detic, hydrographic, and other surveys in Russia, has 
been held for the purpose of agreeing upon a uniform 
system of conducting the details of such work, for 
which the government annually expends nearly a 
million of dollars. At present a universal disaccord 
prevails in methods of measurement and procedure. 
Messrs. Struve, Tillo, Faddeieff, Pustchin, and others 
are members of the board, and the Geographical so- 
ciety is represented by several of its members. 
— The Mittheilungen of the Verein fiir erdkunde 
at Halle, for 1883, contains an extensive bibliography 
of descriptive literature relating to North Thuringia, 
the Hartz, and the portion of the North German low- 
lands appertaining to Saxon Anhalt. This bibliog- 
raphy is the collective work of members of the 
society, and covers a hundred and seventy-three oc- 
tavo pages. ‘The same number contains an interest- 
ing map, showing the boundaries of the middle and 
low German dialects from Hedemunde on the Werra, 
to Stassfurt on the Bode River. 
— The much talked of literary undertaking of the 
Austrian crown prince, ‘The Austro-Hungarian 
monarchy in word and view,’ is progressing, and 
will appear in a popular edition. ‘The first volume 
will give an abridged view of the physical features 
and historical development and organization of the 
country. The first section gives in a series of num- 
bers the provinces represented in the Reichsrath; the 
second relates to the Hungarian provinces; the third 
section is one volume on the occupied provinces; 
the concluding section gives a view of the agri- 
cultural and economicalrelations of the different 
branches of the empire, the dynasty, the army, the 
home and foreign missions, and political situation, 
SCIENCE. 
[Vou. III., No. 70. 
followed by an index of collaborators and refer- 
ences. Each division of the monarchy will find its 
history, language, literature, customs, and art sepa- 
rately reviewed. The editorship of the Austrian 
-part will be undertaken by Herr Weilen; the Hun- 
garian part, by the poet Moritz Jokai. The expenses 
will be paid by the emperor. Two subjects in the 
Austrian part will be undertaken by Prince Rudolph, 
and one in the Hungarian part. The work will be 
illustrated with etchings. 
— A plant named kappe was shown at last year’s 
Amsterdam exhibition. It is indigenous to Java; 
and, when its fibres are carefully prepared, they re- 
semble wool, and, when curled, at a moderate cost 
they can be used for stuffing mattresses. It can also 
be spun and dyed; but the fibrous appearance it 
retains shows that a radical improvement in the 
method of treating it has still to be discovered. All 
who examined the fibre at Amsterdam were satisfied 
of its contingent improvement as a textile material. 
— The March general meeting of the Russian 
geographical society was occupied by acommunication 
from Dr. Dybowsky on the Commander Islands, 
famous for their seal-hunting. Special attention was 
devoted to the zodlogy. Dr. Dy-bowsky is the well- 
known explorer of the fauna of Lake Baikal, and 
was at St. Petersburg on his way to Lvoff (Lemberg), | 
to occupy there a chair of zoology. The April meet- 
ing was occupied by an account, by the mining- 
engineer Tvasroff, on the Pamir expedition of 1888, 
in which he took part with Capt. Putiata and Ben- 
derski. The more is known about this expedition, 
the more admiration must be felt for the explorers, 
who did so much under such difficult circumstances. 
Two more meetings are to be devoted to this expedi- 
tion, — the May general meeting to the ethnography, 
and one of the sectional meetings to the physical 
geography, geology, etc. 
— In our last issue we were in error in stating that 
the board of managers of the Yale college observa- 
tory had been abolished. The president of the col- 
lege has been added to the board, but no decided 
change in the organization of the observatory will be 
made till he has become personally acquainted with 
the needs of the institution. 
— The scientific society of Alais, the native place 
of Dumas, proposes to erect a statue of the famous 
chemist, and desires subscriptions from all those who 
felt respect for his name. 
— Alphonse Lavallée, the most accomplished den- 
drologist of our day, died on the 2d of May, at 
his chateau of Segrez. This is a great and most 
unexpected loss. A comparatively young man, of 
apparently robust health, the inheritor of a fine 
estate not far from Paris, he had devoted his means 
and his talents to the formation of an arboretum 
and fruticetum at Segrez, which had already become 
the best private collection in the world, and to the 
critical study and illustration of hardy trees and 
shrubs, with a zeal and ability which inspired the — 
highest hopes, —now, alas! frustrated by untimely 
death. ; 
