June 11, 1886.] 



SCIEXCE. 



523 



Fagopyrum. He has grown the plant in differ- 

 ent sorts of earth, and has found that the 

 bacteria are very useful ; since the plants grown 

 in earth filled with bacteria are much bigger and 

 finer than those grown in sterilized humus. 



The last two numbers of the Revue scientifique 

 contain articles on the zoological stations of Cette 

 and Concarneau. The laboratory of Cette is well 

 known, and presents the great advantage of a rich 

 fauna to be found in the brackish waters of pools 

 in the salt-marshes, and in fresh water. No place 

 in France offers such a happy combination of dif- 

 ferent fields for biological students. Professor 

 Sabatier of Montpellier, well known by his numer- 

 ous and interesting researches on the origin of 

 sexual elements in the vertebrates, founded this 

 laboratory, and he now wishes to develop it. He 

 is trying to raise the money for the purchase of a 

 strip of land, and especially for a new building. 

 It is to be hoped that he will succeed. As to Con- 

 carneau, the oldest of all our marine laboratories, 

 it seems to be in good order. It was founded by 

 Costi in 1859. It is a small laboratory, and cannot 

 compete with its younger companions of Roscoff. 

 .Banyuls, Cette, Villefranche, and Wincereux ; 

 but yet it may render good service. Interesting 

 researches concerning the temperature of the ocean 

 at different depths have been conducted by M. 

 Goiz ; and it is intended to study the habits and 

 biology of sardines, a fish very abundant on the 

 coast at certain times of the year, and concerning 

 which very little is yet known. V. 



Paris, May 19. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The provincial assembly of San Paulo has 

 voted an appropriation of fifty contos of reis 

 (equivalent to about twenty-five thousand dollars) 

 to begin a geographical and geological survey of 

 that province on the plan followed by the surveys 

 of the territories of the United States ; and work 

 has already been commenced with the following 

 corps : Prof. Orville A. Derby, director ; Dr. Theo- 

 doro Sampaio, chief topographer ; Dr. Luis Felippe 

 Gonzaga de Campos, and Dr. Francises de Paula 

 Oliveira, geologists. The first work of the com- 

 mission will be the exploration of the river Para- 

 napanema from near its source to its junction with 

 the Parana, which promises to become an im- 

 portant link in the system of internal communica- 

 tions of the empire, and to afford a complete 

 geological section across the various belts of sedi- 

 mentary formations of the province. The province 

 of San Paulo joins that of Rio de Janeiro on the 

 south, is one of the most interesting and impor- 

 tant of the empire, and has as yet received but 



little attention from geologists. It is very ex- 

 tensive, is known to possess great natural re- 

 sources, and embraces the principal coffee-grow- 

 ing sections of Brazil. Operations have probably 

 been begun by this time. With respect to his re- 

 cent studies in Brazil, Mr. Derby writes. "I have 

 been giving a great deal of attention to petro- 

 graphical work, with very encouraging results, as 

 I find that the geology of the vicinity of Rio de 

 Janeiro is not so monotonous as I had supposed, 

 as there are within easy reach of the city three 

 ancient volcanic centres, with a great and per- 

 plexing variety of eruptive rocks, both in large 

 masses and in small dikes." 



— The belief in the occurrence of ' sea-serpents ' 

 in the ocean of to-day, though hardly openly 

 averred, is not discountenanced by not a few 

 scientific men whose opinions are entitled to the 

 highest consideration. Dr. J. B. Holder, after 

 giving (in the Annals of the X. Y. academy of 

 sciences) an historical account of a : sea-serpent ' 

 observed near Boston, corroborates the adduced 

 testimony by the description of a carcass of a large 

 and unknown animal found off the coast of Florida, 

 as related by highly creditable witnesses. The 

 creature described was over forty feet in length, 

 and nowhere of more than two feet in diameter. 

 Unfortunately the specimen was in an advanced 

 state of decomposition, and no portion was saved. 

 The discovery of the giant squids off the Atlantic 

 coast within recent years demonstrates the possi- 

 bility of other large animals yet inhabiting the 

 ocean, of whose existence science is yet wholly 

 unaware. May not some descendant of the cre- 

 taceous mosasaurs or plesiosaurs yet be among 

 them ? 



— At a meeting of the Royal colonial institute, 

 held on May 11, in London, a paper on ' Tasmania 

 as it is,' was read by Mr. W. L. Dobson, chief 

 justice of Tasmania. As to the chief industrial 

 pursuits of Tasmania, Mr. Dobson remarked that 

 the largest return was received from sheep's wool, 

 and great attention was devoted to breeding meri- 

 no sheep, with fleeces of the finest and densest 

 quality. An inexhaustible supply of timber of 

 different kinds was obtained from the dense forests 

 of the island ; and hops, oats, and potatoes were 

 among the vegetable produce. There could be 

 little, if any, doubt that the mining wealth of 

 Tasmania was yet in its infancy. As to means of 

 locomotion, 257 miles of railway had been laid 

 down, and 117 nearly completed, and there was a 

 network of telegraphic wires all over the inhab- 

 ited portions of the colony. No aid was afforded 

 by the state to religion ; and of the population, 

 about one-half belonged to the Church of Eng- 



