108 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
The “Nuovo Giornale Botanico” for October 
contains a paper by Sig. Martelii, in which he 
discusses the effects of a vine-disease which has 
appeared in the vicinity of Florence, and which he 
considers to be analagous to the “black rot” caused 
by a Pyrenomycetous fungus (Physalospora Bed- 
tv till). 
The eggplant (Solanum melongena) which is so : 
common in the Grecian Archipelago, has, among i 
the sailors of the Levant the reputation of being 
the harbinger of foul weather. Its first appea- 
rance, they say, is invariably ushered in by a 
strong gale from the north-east, that lasts se •era) 
days. 
The entire area of the Mediterranean and Black 
Seas has been estimated at upwards of a million 
square miles, and the volume of the rivers which 
are discharged into them at *226 cubic miles. All 
this, and much more is evaporated annually. 
It is a well known fact that birds enjoy much 
longer terms of life than do mammals. Hesiod 
and Pliny, both tell us of rooks that lived to the 
patriarchal age of 700 years, and that the average, 
life of a raven was 240 years. How far this was cor- 
rect we cannot determine. It, however, well known 
that they outlive man; while swans have been 
known to live 200 years, chaffinches, and nightin- 
gales have been kept in confinement for 40 years. 
Girardin tells us that he had a heron for 52 years, 
and that he knew of two storks that built their 
nests in the same place for forty years. 
The distance at which the horizon is situated 
from an observer may be readily ascertained 
provided that the exact height of the observer’s eye 
above sea level be known. Thus at sea, if the 
eye be five feet above the sea-level, the distance 
of the horizon will be three miles: if sixty feet, 
ten miles. 
Through the Straits of Gibraltar, two currents 
are constantly flowing, the one being superimposed 
on the other. The upper and more copious one 
flows in from the Atlantic at a rate of nearly 
three miles an hour, or 140,000 cubic metres per 
second, and supplies the difference between the 
rainfall and evaporation, while an undercurrent 
of warmer water, which has undergone concen- 
tration by evaporation, is continually flowing 
out at about half the above rate of movement, 
getting rid of the excess of salinity, even thus, 
however, leaving the Mediterranean salter than 
any other part of the ocean except the Bed Sea. 
In the eastern portion a similar phenomenon oc- 
curs, when the fresher waters of the Black sea flow 
as a surface current through the Dardanelles, and 
the salter water of the Mediterranean pour in 
below it. — » 
In the “Independance Beige,” M. Hectot Chai- 
nage contributed an interesting article concerning 
the fossil iguanodons that were discovered in the 
Bernisart Colliery in Belguim in 1879. The crea- 
tures were of immense size and in general appea- 
rance they somewhat resembled the kangaroo; but 
they were much bigger. The Belgium government 
undertook the expense of the excavation, and 100 
tons of bones occupying in all 22 railway waggons 
were sent to Brussels. Elaborate precautions were 
taken to preserve the remains from the atmosphere, 
as having been so long buried in the alluvium in 
which they were found, there was a danger of them 
falling to pieces. They were, accordingly, ail coated 
with plaster and wrapped in cloth, after which they 
! were dipped in gelatine, and the skeletons of the 
creatures were rebuilt from them. These processes 
have occupied 12 years. Five skeletons have now 
been completed; and tLey may be seen in the Mu- 
seum at Brussels. 
The juice of the lacquer-tree (Rhus vernicifera ) 
is the natural varnish upon which depends the 
famous lacquer work of the Japanese. Specimens 
of the tree were brought from Japan 16 years ago 
and planted in the Botanical Garden at Frankfort, 
where they have flourished and have yielded 
seeds from which thrifty young trees have sprung. 
This place now has 34 healthy trees 30 feet high 
and 2 feet in circumference near the ground. To 
determine whether the juice is affected by its 
changed conditions, Prof. Bein has sent samples 
to Japanese artists for trial, and is having com- 
parative analyses made by eminent chemists. If 
the reports are favourable, it is expected that the 
lacquer-tree will be quite extensively planted in 
Germany, and that Europeans will be instructed 
in the art of lacquering wood by some skilled 
worker from Japan. 
In Symond’s Monthly Meteorological Magazine 
for October last, it is noted that the most cloudy 
station in the British Empire is Hobart in 
Tasmania, and that the least cloudy place is 
Malta. 
Editor. J. H. Cooke. B.Sc., F.G.S., Malta. 
