172 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
should feel much indebted if suscribers would 
kindly strike their pens through the two words: 
and Lampedusa (page 95, Column 1, line 36.) 
T. Jeuvis. 
Alluding to the rapid rate at which the sparrow 
propagates its species a correspondent in Nature 
Notes informs us that a short time ago the autho- 
rities of a western city imported 5 sparrows to rid 
the cotton plantations of the caterpillar plague, 
and that in the course of three years their progeny 
had increased to five millions. 
According to a recent consular report there 
are no minerals or metals of any consequence 
at present mined in Pomerania, with the excep- 
tion of small quantities of ironstone and a little 
salt. Lime is found on the Dicvenow River, 
and the Island of Riigen has inexhaustible beds of 
chalk. Brown-coal pits have been opened at Po- 
de.juch, on the northern edge of the Bahn plateau; 
in the Valley of the Oder at Bahlow, Trampke, 
and in the western part of the lake district; and 
on the shores of the Baltic at Zaskenzien, in the 
district of Lauenburg. 
One of the finest climates in the world is that 
of Tunis. Its air is pure, serene, and wholesome, 
the thermometer ranging in general from about 
45° to 87° Fah. with an average mean temperature 
of 68' 5°. With rare exceptions the revolutions of 
weather range between are 29'10 and 30'30 inches. 
The cloudless skies that sometimes last for weeks 
together are often wearisome enough to the regu- 
lar resident and give much point to the little 
anecdote which the late Admiral Smyth relates of 
Captain Fothergill. This eccentric officer was 
returning from India, where he had served for 
years. Coming on deck when the vessel was enter- 
ing the English Channel on a foggy November 
morning, he turned to the lieutenant of the watch 
and exclaimed. “Hah ! this is what I call some- 
thing like. 
None of your cursed eternal blue skies here,— -a 
fellow can see his own breath now.” 
Apropos of sunshine, the sunshine recording 
instrument at St. Julians, Malta has registered 
(reckoning a completely over cast sky as 10) 3'9 as 
the average mean amount of cloud in Malta for 
1891. That is to say that the inhabitants have en- 
joyed 61 per cent of the highest possible amount of 
sun-shine. The average for the previous 5 years 
was 66 per cent, and in no single month has it’been 
less than 40 per cent. What a contrast is not this 
to the results recorded at the Observatory at Bun- 
hillrow, London. 
No sunshine was registered in either December, 
1884, January, 1885, or December, 1890. Green- 
wich only secures 25 per cent of the total duration, 
while Kew Observatory has but 28 per cent. 
From observations of the displacement of the 
j lines of the solar spectrum, Prof. Duner, a Swedish 
astronomer, has been able to measure the rapidity 
of rotation of the sun with an exactness hitherto 
unknown. He finds that that part of the surface 
travels round the axis at the rate of a little more 
than a mile a second, the solar day at the equator 
being equal to 25 days and 12 hours of our reckon- 
ing. A remarkable fact possible only with bodies 
having a movable and gaseous surface — is that the 
rotation varies in different parts of the sun, dimi- 
nishing regularly from the equator toward the 
poles. Near the poles it requires about 46 of our 
days. 
Books etc. received. 
11 Sid Granite dell I sola del Giglio ” by Prof. R. 
Meli, Rome. 
“Elenco Bibliografico dell? pint, important i pub- 
blicazioni dei manufatti e specialmente delleterre 
cotte ” by Prof. R. Meli, Rome. 
U A review of recent attempts to classify Birds” 
by R, Bowcller Sharpe l.l.d., f.l.s. etc. 
^ “ The Canadian Record of Science” Vol IV. No. 8. 
“ Sopra La fauna del cost detto “ Schlier ” nel Bo- 
lognese e neU Anconitano by Dott. Vittorio Simo- 
nelli, Pisa. 
“ The Maltese Fossil Echinoiclea and their evi- 
dence on the correlation of the Maltese RocksX ol. 
XXXVI. part HI. No. 22 Proc: Roy: Soc: by J. W. 
Gregory B.Sc., F.G.S., F.Z.S. 
u Scientific American ” March 1892, New T York. 
“ Mining and Engineering News' ; March 1892. 
New York. 
“ Neptunia ” by Dott. D. Levi Morenos, Venice. 
u Rivista Italian a di Scienze Natural t’ March 
1892 by Sigisraondo Brogi, Siena. 
“ Bollettino dei Musei di Zoologial della R. Uni- 
versity di Torino. Vol. VI. Nos. 94-111. 
u The Naturalise by W. Denison Roebuck F.L.S. 
March 1892. 
“ The Channel Islands ” by Dr. Lorenzo G. Yates 
F.L.S., F.G.S.A. 
“ Rassegna delle Scienze Geologiche in Italia ” by 
Messrs. M. Cermenati, and A. Tellini. Dec. 1891. 
Rome. 
“The Nautilus ” by H.A. Pilsbry, Philadelphia. 
A monthly devoted to the interests of conchologists, 
One dollar per year. 
“i The Canadian Record of Science ” Vol. Nos. 
1 to 8. 
“ Results of Meteorological and Magnetical Obser- 
vations for the year 1891. Stonyhurst College 
Observatory. 
Editor. J. H. Cooke. B.Sc., F.G.S., Malta. 
