86 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
Croft Hill.—I think the height of Croft Hill, as stated on page 9, 
vol. vii., of the “Midland Naturalist,” is in excess. I have measured 
height by the barometer many times, and the mean of my measures 
is 456 feet. Bench mark at Narborough Church, 241ft.; rails at 
Narborougli Station, 220 ; rails at Croft Station, 239; river at Croft, 
231.—W. Andrews, Coventry. 
Waterproof Paper. —When paper is treated with ammoniacal sub¬ 
chloride of copper it is rendered water-proof and rot-proof; even boiling 
fails to separate the fibres. Such paper is now being manufactured 
bv a company (Mr. Healey, manager) at Willesden. There are many 
purposes to which it can be usefully applied by students of natural 
history. The extreme width in which it is manufactured is a yard 
and a half. 
Mildness of the Season. —The unusually fine weather which pre¬ 
vailed from the 1st to the 26th of January, 1884, when it terminated 
in a hurricane and a frost succeeded, enabled us to gather primroses 
and several spring flowers in the garden; but the most noteworthy 
instance was that of a fine scarlet rhododendron (Russelliana ?) 
which continued flowering in the garden of Endwood Court all the 
month. On Sunday, 13th January, I counted twenty blossoms on this 
beautiful plant.—W. R. Hughes, Handsworth, 20th January, 1884. 
Temperature in Australia. —The heat and dryness around Adelaide 
have been so remarkable that a few scientific statistics will be of 
interest to my meteorological friends. The plains of South Australia 
are undoubtedly, for absolute values, the hottest and driest regions in 
the British Empire. At 3 p.m. on January 13th I registered the 
following figures at my observatory on the plains, bordering the river 
Torrens :—Shade temperature of air by dry bulb, 107*0 ; temperature 
of evaporation by wet bulb, 69*7—giving the extraordinary difference 
of 37'3 degrees between the dry and wet thermometers. The shade 
maximum for twelve hours ending 9 p.m. was 109*6, and the solar 
maximum (black bulb in vacuo) 152*3. The temperature of the ground 
at a depth of 1 foot at 9 p.m. was 91*0. Both man and beast suffered 
severely during this parched heat; yet really the climate at this season 
is not unhealthy to the adult, and I feel the heat less than when 
under a temperature of 83 in the Tropics. A greater change from the 
climate of Ben Nevis, where temperature averaged 36*0, and where 
the wet bulb rarely read a degree lower than the dry, can scarcely be 
imagined.— Clement L. Wragge, Adelaide, South Australia, Jan. 19th, 
1884. 
Technical School for Birmingham. —Encouraged by the success of 
the science teaching in the Birmingham Board Schools, Mr. George 
Dixon, the Chairman of the Board, has most generously offered 
extensive premises in the centre of the town, rent free, for the purpose 
of a technical school, defraying at the same time the cost of the 
necessary structural alterations, which will amount, we believe, to 
over £2,000. The School will possess an excellent chemical laboratory, 
provided with work-benches for forty students, a lecture theatre to seat 
