140 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
40,000,000 pounds of honey. But in the United 
States there are 2,900,000 hives, belonging to 
70,000 bee-keepers, and producing 62,000,000 
pounds of honey yearly. 
Vesuvius is again in activity, and the areas in 
the immediate vicinity have once more been 
subjected to earthquakes of considerable intensity. 
Streams of lava are flowing from the base of the 
Great Gone, and hot springs have burst from 
Mount Ossa. 
At a recent influential meeting of the mayor and 
the most prominent citizens of Liverpool it was 
agreed that a Geographical Society for Liverpool 
should be formed. 
To a commercial community like Liverpool ac- 
curate geographical knowledge such as a Society 
of this kind would supply means economy in, and 
expansion of its commerce, and therefore anything 
that can be done to further the objects that it has 
in view will greatly conduce to the prosperity < f, 
not Liverpool alone, but a’ so to all of those com- 
mercial communities with which Liverpool is 
brought in contact. 
Errata: page 104, instead of 117,361 square 
miles, read 117,361 square acres. 
An illustrated article entitled “The Scirocco as 
an agent of denudation with special reference to 
iis effects on the strata of the Maltese Islands” 
from the pen of Mr. John H. Cooke appeared in 
the last number of Science Gossip. 
Apropos of the query which appeared in our 
last issue having reference to the Golden Plover, 
Mr. S. Manche, Malta writes, “That the Golden 
Plover Charadrius Pluvialis is very common in 
Malta from November to March, but the Asiatic 
Golden Plover Charadrius Longipes or Virgin lo- 
cus., is very rare, as is also the Kentish Plover, 
Charadrius Cantianus , of which f. stuffed a speci- 
men in May 1885.” 
Severe shocks of earthquake are reported to 
have occurred at Athens on the 11th. ult. 
One of the most conclusive evidences as to 
the true line of separation between Europe and 
Africa is that which is offered by the fish fauna. 
We find trout in the Atlantic region and in all 
of the snow-fed rivers falling into the Mediter- 
ranean; in Spain, Italy, Dalmatia; it occurs in 
Mount Olympus, in rivers of Asia Minor, and 
• even in the Lebanon, but nowhere in Palestine 
i south of that range, in Egypt, or in the Sahara. 
This freshwater salmonoid is not exactly the same 
in all these localities, but is subject to a consi- 
derable variation, sometimes amounting to specific 
distinction. Nevertheless it is a European type 
found in the Atlas, and it is not till we advance 
into the Sahara at Tuggart, that we come to a 
purely African form in the Chromidae, which have 
a wide geographical distribution, being found 
every where between that place, the Nile, and 
Mozambique. 
“Manipulation of the Microscope”, by Edward 
Bausch is the title of an interesting volume which 
we have received from Mr. W. P. Collins, Scien- 
tific Bookseller, 157 Great Portland Street, London. 
Having been written by a practical man the 
advice which is given on the management and 
care of the instrument are specially good, while 
the innumerable hints, that it contains on the 
manipulation of objectives, eyepieces, and sub- 
tage illumination will render it most useful to the 
advanced microscopist as well as to the learner. 
It forms a welcome addition to the literature of 
the microscope. 
A Correspondent “A. O.” 59 Strada Levante, 
Valletta, Malta wishes to receive Land shells, 
Mosses, and Lichens from Cyprus, in exchange 
for Land, and Freshwater shells, Lichens, and 
Insects from Malta. 
Editor. J. H. Cooke. B.Sc., F.G.S., Malta. 
