Perissodactyle-like Ungulate, somewhat more specialized as regards its dentition than Macrauchenia, but exhibiting strongly-marked Artiodactyle affinities in the ankle-joint.

Still more remarkable are the generalized affinities displayed by the group known as the Toxodonts, of which the first representative was also discovered during Darwin's memorable voyage. These Ungulates cannot be included in either the Perissodactyla or Artiodactyla, and, therefore, come nearer the original generalized Ungulate stock than the animals already noticed. Toxodon, from the Pleistocene of Argentina, was of the approximate size of a Hippopotamus, and its osteology is tolerably well known. It takes its name from the curvature of the molar teeth, which approximate in structure to those of the Rhinoceros, and, like the incisors, have ever-growing roots. The front teeth are separated from the cheek-teeth by a considerable interval; the upper dental series being reduced in number by the loss of the outermost incisors and the canines, and the lower by the disappearance of the first premolars; the lower canine is, moreover, rudimentary. The feet conform to the Perissodactyle type in having three toes, of nearly equal size, and also in the interlocking of the bones of the upper and lower rows of the wrist- and ankle-joints. In the absence of a third trochanter to the femur, and also in the articulation of the fibula with the calcaneal bone of the ankle, as well as in the structure of the palatal and tympanic regions of the skull, Toxodon is, however, constructed on a decided Artiodactyle type; so that its characters are to a great extent intermediate between the existing members of the two groups.

Going back to the earlier Tertiaries of Argentina and Patagonia, a number of Ungulates allied to Toxodon, but with much more generalized characters, have been brought to light. The skulls from Patagonia brought back by Darwin, and named Nesodon, also belong to this same generalized group. In Nesodon there is the full complement of 44 teeth; and the same formula also obtains in the recently described Protoxodon, in which the feet are known to have been tridactylous in both limbs, although retaining rudiments of the metacarpals of the first and second digits, and being of a longer and more slender type than in Toxodon. The allied animals described as Acrotherium, some of which were about the size of a pig, present a peculiarity totally unknown among other Ungulates; and, indeed, in any Eutherian Mammals except some individuals of the small African long-eared fox (Otocyon). This peculiarity consists in the presence of eight cheek-teeth on either side of each jaw; the constancy of this character being proved by its occurrence in a considerable number of specimens. Whereas, however, in Otocyon the eight cheek-teeth are reckoned as four premolars and four true molars, in Acrotherium there are said to be five premolars and three true molars. If this interpretation be correct, it is difficult to point out a probable derivation for this most remarkable type of dentition, since no other heterodont mammals are definitely known to have more than four premolars.

If, however, the cheek-teeth really prove to be four premolars and four true molars, there might be a possibility of direct inheritance of the fourth molar of the Marsupials, although even then there is the difficulty that none of the Lower Eocene Ungulates of the United States are known to have possessed more than three of these teeth. And the probability accordingly suggests itself that the additional tooth may be an acquired redundancy. There are a number of other more or less closely allied types which have received distinct generic names, such as Colpodon and Adinotherium, but it is at present somewhat difficult to realize all their distinctive features and peculiarities. One genus, however, if the specimen on which it was established is normal, is so remarkable as to call for special notice; and taken

together with Acrotherium seems to show that these South American Ungulates ran riot in the disregard of all rules as to the number and arrangement of their teeth. The genus in question is Trigodon, founded upon the lower jaw of an animal about the size of a pig, but evidently related in the structure of its cheek-teeth to Toxodon. In this mandible the middle of the extremity of the long and narrow symphysis is occupied by a single cylindrical incisor tooth, flanked by a pair of larger incisors, and these, again, by the still larger triangular canines. If normal (and from Dr. Moreno's description and figure it would seem to be so) this single median incisor is totally unique in the whole mammalian class.

A still more remarkable and puzzling group is typically represented by the long-known Typotherium from some of the Tertiaries of Argentina, which, while presenting many dental characters connecting it with the Toxodonts, has upper incisors resembling those of the Rodents; with most of which it also agrees in the presence of clavicles, which are invariably absent in all true Ungulates. The number of the teeth is similar to that obtaining in many Rodents, with the exception that there are two pairs of lower incisors. An allied type has, however, three pairs of these teeth, thus departing further from the Rodent type; and the skull of both genera is constructed on the Ungulate plan. All the teeth are rootless. From other beds in Argentina we have the genus described as Hegetotherium, which, while having rootless teeth, differs from Typotherium in possessing the whole typical series of 44, without any marked interval between them. Here, then, we have almost entirely lost the Rodent features which are so marked in Typotherium, and thus revert nearer to a normal Ungulate type; it is unknown whether clavicles were present. Still more generalized is an allied group typified by Interatherium, in which the dentition is always complete, the anterior premolars have distinct roots, and the incisors conical roots. This genus and the allied Protypotherium thus appear to be connected both with Typotherium and the Toxodonts; the specific name rodens applied to one of the species of Protypotherium apparently indicating the existence of Rodentlike upper incisors.

The existence of these intermediate forms renders it exceedingly difficult to come to any satisfactory conclusion as to whether Typotherium really has any genetic affinity with the Rodents (among which it was placed by the late Mr. Alston); for if there be such relationship it would seem to imply the descent of all Rodents from a form more or less closely allied to Interatherium—a view which can scarcely be maintained.

That these Typotheroids were, however, in some manner connected with the Toxodonts is tolerably clear; and there are nearly equally clear indications of a more or less distant connection between the Toxodonts and the Macrauchenias. The most probable explanation of the latter relationship is that both groups took origin from generalized Ungulates allied to those found in the Eocene of the United States, and known as the Condylarthra, which appear to have been the common ancestral stock of both the Artiodactyle and Perissodactyle modifications of the order. On this view the retention of characters common to both the groups last-mentioned by the Toxodonts and Macrauchenias is readily accounted for; the Macrauchenias having acquired sufficiently well-marked Perissodactyle characters to admit of their inclusion in that group, while the Toxodonts cannot be placed in either of the two existing divisions of typical Ungulates. Having thus diverged at an early epoch (perhaps in the neighbourhood of Central America) from the original generalized Ungulate stock, the ancestral Toxodonts and Macrauchenias become the dominant forms in South America, where they appear to have developed into such numerous and unexpected modifications of struc

ture, as to render the task of deciphering their mutual relationships and determining their exact systematic positions an exceedingly difficult, if not an impossible one. At the same time, however, it does not appear to us that the existence of these puzzling and aberrant types need interfere in the least degree with the commonly-accepted classification of the Ungulates, although there may be legitimate doubt as to the propriety of including the Macrauchenias among the Perissodactyles, instead of retaining them with the Toxodonts as a special group, exhibiting on the one hand many generalized features, coupled with extreme specialization in other respects.

R. L.

ONI

THE CHANGEFULNESS OF TEMPERATURE AS AN ELEMENT OF CLIMATE. NE of the features in which the climates of great continents most contrast with those of oceanic islands, and those of higher latitudes with the climates of the tropics, is the greater range through which the temperature varies between night and day, and between winter and summer. Another, perhaps not less important, is the greater changefulness of the temperature from day to day. Both of these are comprised under the general expression variability of temperature, and they are similar in their effects on living organisms, but they depend on very different causes, and in their local association are often manifested in very different degrees; places with a great annual and diurnal range of temperature, displaying great constancy of climate at any given season of the year, while others, at which the former variations are moderate in amount, are, nevertheless, subject to irregular vicissitudes of considerable magnitnde. The Punjab and Sind may be cited as examples of the former class, Western and Central Europe of the latter.

Now, although from a sanitary point of view these two kinds of variation are of equal importance, the degrees in which they have respectively engaged the attention of climatologists and others are strikingly different. While the daily and annual range of temperature of all the more important and many minor places that have furnished meteorological registers are now well known, or are easily ascertainable from published records, the first systematic inquiry into the changefulness of temperature as an element of climate was that made by Prof. Hann in a memoir published in the Sitzungsberichte of the Vienna Academy of Sciences in 1875. In this paper, Dr. Hann tabulated the results of ninety stations, seven of which are situated in the southern hemisphere, and the remainder chiefly in Europe, Siberia, Canada, and the United States. The extraction of the data was not a little laborious, since it consisted in taking out from the daily registers, of generally from five to ten years, the differences of the mean temperatures of every pair of successive days throughout the whole period; then classifying them according to algebraic sign, as rises or falls of temperature, and also,

in certain cases, according to their incremental values. The means of these different categories were then taken month by month, and the results are given in numerous tables in the memoir. The changefulness of temperature at any given place is the general mean of all changes during the period considered, irrespective of their being rise or fall. As instances of these, I take the following three stations, representing respectively the climates of Siberia, England, and Canada. They show

1 The term "variability" of temperature, adopted by Mr. Scott for the element now in question, has been already used in so many different senses, that in this paper I have adopted in preference the term changefulness," which is not open to the same objection.

These three stations serve to illustrate the fact, amply confirmed by the general tables, that temperature is subject to greater and more rapid changes in the winter than in the summer; either December or January being, as a rule, the month of greatest variability.

Since the publication of this memoir, the inquiry thus started by Dr. Hann has been followed up by several writers with especial reference to particular countries. Prof. O. Döring, for instance, has thus discussed the statistics of the Argentine Republic; Herr E. Wahlén, those of 18 stations in Russia; Dr. V. Kremer, those of those of 7 observatories in the British Isles, at which the 57 stations in Northern Germany; and Mr. Robert Scott, temperature has been recorded by thermographs since 1869. These are Valentia, Armagh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Falmouth, Stonyhurst, and Kew. At all these stations the variation was found to be less than at Oxford; but

this may be partly due to the longer period (15 years) over which the records extend, and partly also to the fact four hourly measurements of the thermograph curve, that the daily means compared are those of the twentywhereas the Oxford register was for 10 years only, and On the general average

the observations less numerous.

of the year, it was greatest at Kew (2017), and least at Falmouth and Valencia (1°9).

Finally, Dr. Hann has resumed the subject in a memoir published in the Transactions of the Vienna Academy, in which he discusses the temperature records of 66 stations in the Austrian Empire and the adjacent territories, of which one-half extend over from 10 to 20 years, and the majority of the remainder over at least five years; all, however, are corrected to the period 1871-80. In the case of Vienna, not less than 91 years affords the means of comparing the results of any decade have been included in the reckoning, and this register with those of a long period.

The first point that stands out in the results of this sufficient to give more than an approximate value. The discussion is that even a period of ten years is ingeneral mean change at Vienna, between any two consecutive days, is 34 F., but in the decade 1861-70 it was only 326, whereas in the decades 1801-10 and 1871-80 it averaged 3°53. The means of the individual months show much greater variation; that of December especially, ranging between 32 and 43 in different decennia, or through 30 per cent. of the general mean for the month. It is evident that when computed from shorter periods than ten years the discrepancies will

1 "Die Veränderlichkeit der Temperatur in Oesterreich," von J. Hann, W.M.K. Akad., aus dem lviii. Bande der Mat. Naturwiss. Classe der k Akad. d. Wissenschaften.

be still greater. In order, therefore, to obtain comparable values, even for neighbouring stations, it is essential that the data compared should be those of the same interval.

Both as regards season and amount, the changefulness of temperature depends very greatly on local geographical circumstances, so that neighbouring places very often differ greatly from each other. In Europe it increases from west to east and from south to north,

in both cases towards the interior of the continent.

It

increases also on the whole with altitude, but very irregularly, being great on exposed plateaux, and comparatively small on mountain peaks. Places situated in valleys show very great differences, according to their exposure. Among the Austrian stations, those on the southern slopes of the Alps have the greatest vicissitudes, Owing to the warmth they acquire in sunny weather and the consequent greater fall of temperature when a change of weather sets in. In general the changes of temperature at high elevations are greater than at low altitudes in summer, but less in the winter season. In the high mountain valleys in spring the changes are much smaller than on the neighbouring plains.

In the British Isles, Mr. Scott found that the number of rises exceeding 5° between any two consecutive days was greater than the number of falls of the same amount, and also that the mean value of the rises exceeds that of the falls. In Austria, also, except in the Southern Tyrol and on the coasts of the Adriatic, rapid rises are greater than rapid falls in the winter, and less in the summer; but on the whole the former preponderate. In the south, however, rapid falls are greater than rapid rises at all times of year, and therefore also on the mean of the year. This peculiarity is a still more marked characteristic of lower latitudes, since in Northern India it was found that rapid falls are about three times as numerous as rapid rises, and on the whole greater in amount.

The duration of rises of temperature is somewhat greater than that of falls, and both are rather greater at mountain stations than at low levels. Thus the passage of a wave of temperature, on the mean of the two stations Klagenfurt and Salzburg, occupies, on an average, 4:56 days, on the Sonnblick 4'93 days; or, in other words, 6 waves pass within the month at the higher and 7 at the lower stations. The longest period of continuous cooling that occurred at any station was ten days at the mountain observatory of Hoch Obir, and the longest continuous rise of temperature ten days at Klagenfurt. There is a marked annual periodicity in the length of the temperature waves, with two epochs of maximum, viz. in March and September, and two of minimum, in July and December. From the data afforded by certain stations in Austria and Saxony, Dr. Hann computes the following formula for their annual variation in Central Europe

4.813 +0.138 sin (26° 45′ + x) + 0.164 sin (318° 27′ + 2x).

The last subject investigated in Dr. Hann's memoir is the question whether the inter-diurnal changefulness of temperature shows any periodical variation during the sun-spot period; for which purpose he takes the 90 years' registers of Vienna, Wilna, and Warsaw. He finds that on the mean of these stations a certain minute variation is indeed apparent, but it is one of two maxima and two minima, and the whole range is so small that it is doubtful whether it is other than fortuitous.

In the foregoing paragraphs only a few of the more important results of Prof. Hann's investigation have been noticed. His memoir contains many others of interest, well worthy of study, and forming important contributions to general climatology; and like the original memoir, published seventeen years ago, it will doubtless stimulate others to prosecute the subject. It is especially import

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ant from a medical point of view that the statistics of all health resorts should be analyzed in the manner of which Prof. Hann has here given so admirable an example.

T

FORESTRY IN AMERICA.1

H. F. B.

cannot be said that, as far as the issue of reports and pamphlets on forestry is concerned the Agricultural Department at Washington has been idle; if only this activity would resolve itself into the establishment of a State Forest Service, and the formation of State forests out of the wreck of the former forest wealth of North America!

An important series of papers on forest matters has come to hand, and though they date as far back as 1889, they are probably new to many of the readers of NATURE.

The first paper is by Dr. James, Professor of Public Finance and Administration in the University of Pennsylvania, and is entitled "The Government in its Relation to Forests." The Professor has evidently studied his subject thoroughly, and the remedy he proposes is the exact counterpart of that which has been so successfully applied to the forests of India. He commences by stating that the forests of any large country not only constitute a large portion of its wealth, but form the indispensable basis of a flourishing manufacturing and commercial industry. They are also one of the most important elements in determining the climatic conditions of a region, and, through these, the distribution of the population, of industrial pursuits, and of disease and health. He states that the value of the forest crop in the United States in 1880, the census year, was 700,000,000 dollars (= £140,000,000), and that if the value of the total annual output of the mines, quarries, and petroleum wells were added to the estimated value of all steamboats and other craft on American waters, it would still be less than the value of the forest crop, by a sum sufficient to purchase all the canals, telegraph companies, and construct and equip all the telephone lines in the States.

He then shows how Government has fostered agriculture by offering land on easy terms, by establishing model farms and agricultural schools, by improving the breed of stock, by free distribution of seed, and in many other ways; it has also assisted manufactures by the protective tariff, bounties, and exhibitions, &c.; and that vast sums have been spent by the State on improving rivers and harbours, and on the general means of communication-railroads and roads. Game and fish are also protected by the State, but although from their forests the Americans have been drawing more natural wealth than from all other sources together, yet practically nothing has been done to preserve them from the devastations of selfish people. Besides the great demands on the forests for timber, three-fifths of the people in the States use wood for ordinary domestic fuel, and the value of the wood fuel annually consumed is placed at 325,000,000 dollars.

Prof. James then treats at length of the vast indirect value of forests in maintaining a steady supply of water in rivers, and preventing floods. He shows that the maintenance of a system of factories and mills dependent on a watercourse becomes impossible when the stream is converted into a mountain torrent for one quarter of the year and is all but dry during another quarter; and instances the River Schuylkill, from which Philadelphia draws its water-supply, where the current has become too shallow and sluggish to carry off the ever-increasing

I "Department of Agriculture, Forestry Division. Bulletin No. 2.-Report on the Forest Condition of the Rocky Mountains, and other Papers." With a Map showing location of Forest Areas. Second Edition. (Washington: Government Press, 1889.)

quantity of impurities which pour into it, and consequently the quality of its water is steadily deteriorating.

The Professor considers it proved by European experience that a certain percentage of forest land is indispensable for any civilized country, and that when the forest area sinks below that percentage, through carelessness, or a selfish desire to get all the advantages from the resources of a country for the present generation, regardless of the interests of posterity, the result can only be an impaired industry and declining prosperity. He asserts that in the United States nothing is being done to cultivate forests, whilst vast areas, besides those which fall under the axe, are being wasted by fires and by unregulated grazing; so that, to put it mildly, the Americans are using up their forests at a much greater rate than they are replacing them, and are changing the character of their streams, soil, and local climate. Emphasis is laid on the fact that tree-planting is not forest-culture, and based on the experience taken from European countries, Mr. James insists that only the State can insure the preservation of the forests of America, and that private enterprise is powerless to prevent their eventual destruction.

His proposals to remedy matters are therefore that the Federal and State Governments should remove timber lands from the list of lands for sale, and after a thorough examination as to what forests are of climatic and industrial importance, should retain them under the control of Government. He also advocates the establishment of a School of Forestry, where men could be trained to manage the extensive tracts of forest lands in the ownership either of private individuals or of the State; and calls for further legislation, and active enforcement of existing laws to protect forests from fires and browsing animals. Here we have in a nutshell a proper forest policy sketched out for the United States; and it remains to be seen whether there is sufficient patriotism in the leading men to carry it out, or whether the great power of the timber trade, which has always insisted on noninterference with their business on the part of the State, will still obstruct the road to progress.

There is not space for much more than mere reference to the other papers contained in the Bulletin, the first being a most comprehensive report, by Colonel E. T. Ensign, on the forest conditions of the Rocky Mountains, showing the estimated area of forest still existing in each county of the States of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, in 1887. A coloured map of the area shows the position and extent of the forest tracts. This report concludes with a most useful tabular statement, giving the area of forest in each county and for each State, as well as the character of the forest growth, the uses made of the timber, the principal causes of destruction of the forests, chiefly fires. Measures are suggested for the adequate protection of the forest growth, and any noticeable changes in the flow and volume of water in streams are noted. Under this head, we find that the streams have dininished in volume and their flow has become more intermittent in one-quarter of the ninety-one counties referred to, which altogether comprise an area of 555,081 square miles, still containing 83,460 square miles of forests in 1887.

The other papers are: "The Forest Flora of the Rocky Mountain Region," by G. B. Sudworth, and "On the Climate of Colorado and its Effects on Trees," by G. B. Parsons. The latter ascribes the barrenness of the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains to the extremes of temperature, and to the desiccating power of the north and north west winds, which are frequently powerful enough to bark young trees by pelting them with gravel. The Bulletin closes with a valuable paper on "Snow Slides and Avalanches," by B. E. Fernow, the present Chief of the Forestry Division of the Washington Agricultural Department. W. R. FISHER.

NOTES.

THE following are the members of the Royal Commission appointed to investigate the question of a Teaching University for London :-Lord Cowper (Chairman), Lord Reay, Bishop Barry, Sir Lyon Playfair, Sir William Scovell Savory, Sir George Murray Humphry, Mr. George G. Ramsay, Rev. Canon Browne, Mr. Henry Sidgwick, Mr. John Scott Burdon Sanderson, Mr. James Anstie, Mr. Ralph Charlton Palmer, and Mr. Gerald Henry Rendall. No one who has devoted serious attention to the subject is likely to be of opinion that the choice of Commissioners is satisfactory. It shows that the Government has not grasped the problem.

THE International Congress of Chemical Nomenclature at Geneva has been attended by many representatives from various European countries. The representatives from England are Prof. H. E. Armstrong, F. R.S., Dr. J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S., and Prof. W. Ramsay, F.R.S.

PROF. A. CHAUVEAU has been elected to the presidency of the Société de Biologie, in place of Prof. Brown-Séquard, whose term has expired. The Société de Biologie was founded by Claude Bernard and a group of friends. Claude Bernard and Paul Bert were Presidents before M. Brown-Séquard.

A COMMITTEE has been formed to make preparations for the erection of a monument to Prof. de Quatrefages in his native village, Vallerangue (Gard).

WE regret to have to announce the death of Prof. Annibale de Gasparis, Director of the Observatory at Naples, which took place on the 21st of this month. Born in Bugnara, in the province of Aquila, on November 9, 1819, he passed the first few years of his youth in Tocco Casuria, where he studied classics. Going thence to Naples in 1838 he began the study of mathematics under Prof. Tucci, dealing specially with the problems relating to bridges and rivers. Afterwards he devoted himself to astronomy, in which he soon gained great celebrity. In 1840 he was appointed assistant at the Capodimonte Observatory, where he became a diligent observer and an industrious calculator. His discovery of the three minor planets-Hygieia, Parthenope, and Egeria-created a great stir in the scientific world, and secured for him the Royal Astronomical Society's medal. Nominated as Director of the Observatory in 1864, owing to the death of Capocci, he worked incessantly for the advancement of practical astronomy, and followed up his observations for the capture of small planets. Eunomia, Psyche, Massilia, Themis, Ausonia, and Beatrix were all discovered owing to his ever careful scrutiny. His theoretical labours included many on pure mathematics, while those on astronomy related principally to the best methods of determining the orbits of comets. The investigations he carried on from time to time were numerous, and the results appeared in many periodicals, of which we may mention the Atti della R. Accademia delle Scienze Fisiche e Mathematiche de Napoli and the Astronomische Nachrichten. De Gasparis was naturally robust, and enjoyed good health until he was attacked by the maladies which killed him. His powers of work were tremendous; he was always making either some calculation or observation. Being taken ill rather suddenly, he went away to recruit, but he became worse and worse, until at last he could not move. The sad days of the last year of his life he spent in reading the classics which he loved best, until his sight failed him.

MR. JOHN HARTNUP, the Astronomer to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, met with a fatal accident on the 21st while performing one of his Observatory duties. It seems that he was accustomed to examine occasionally the anemometers

situated on the flat roof of the building, the roof being skirted by a low wall about 20 inches in height. Being near the wall, and looking up at the anemometers, he was seized with a fit of giddiness, such as he had lately been accustomed to, and fell to the ground, breaking his neck. His sister-in-law, who saw the sad accident, had previously been cautioned by him not to go too near the wall when on the roof, for he considered it a dangerously low one. Mr. Hartnup was a member of the Royal Astronomical and Liverpool Astronomical Societies, and a Fellow of the Meteorological Society. He had succeeded his father in 1885, so that he was thoroughly familiar with the Observatory in which he had to work.

MISS AMELIA B. EDWARDS, whose death we have already recorded, has in her will endowed a Chair of Egyptology. Her library, which is very valuable, she has bequeathed to Somerville Hall, Oxford.

WE regret to hear that the venerable Prof. Svén Lovén has been compelled, as a result of the influenza, to retire from his position as Senior Keeper in the State Museum of Natural History, at Stockholm, where he has been active for fifty-one years. Prof. Lovén is now seeing through the press two important works on Echinoderm morphology, one dealing with the young stages of Echinoidea, the other with the Cystidea. We trust he may long be spared to enrich the world with these and other fruits of his wide knowledge and deep thought.

THE twelfth annual exhibition of natural history objects of the South London Natural History Society will be held on May 5 and 6 at the Bridge House Hotel, London Bridge, the whole of which building has been secured for the occasion. These exhibitions are growing in popularity, and several thousand visitors have each year taken lively interest in the exhibits. This year they will be exceptionally varied and novel. Lectures will be delivered by Mr. F. Enock on "The Lifehistory of the British Trapdoor Spider," by Mr. Step on "Edible and Poisonous Fungi," and by Mr. George Day on "Various Natural History Subjects."

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AN Exhibition which will be interesting from a scientific as well as from a popular point of view will be held this year in the open ground near the Earl's Court railway station. It will illustrate the development of horticulture, and as Mr. H. E. Milner, F.L.S., is the chairman of the executive committee, we may expect that the scheme will be admirably carried out. There are to be examples of the gardens of all ages, including restorations of the ancient gardens of Egypt, Greece, and Rome; copies of those in China and Japan, and types of the Baronial, Italian, Tudor, Jacobean, Georgian, and Victorian eras. large sub-tropical garden will be laid out, and there will be representations of the tea gardens of India and Ceylon. Various foreign countries-especially Belgium, Holland, France, Italy, and Germany-will co-operate to show the progress they have made in horticulture.

A

IN September a splendid Exhibition of fruit will be held in a temporary building, which is to be erected on a site on the Thames Embankment, near Blackfriars, lent for the purpose by the City Corporation. The Exhibition will be held under the auspices of the Fruiterers' and Gardeners' Companies, the Royal Horticultural Society, the British Fruit Growers' Association, and other kindred societies, and will last at least a week. In connection with the Exhibition lectures and object-lessons will be given on subjects relating to fruit culture and the planting

of fruit trees.

the Essex Field Club. By means of the funds voted to this joint committee, peripatetic courses of lectures on various scientific and technical subjects have been carried on in different rural centres with considerable success during the past year. The principle on which the joint committee has carried on this work has been to employ only thoroughly qualified lecturers, and to insist upon the instruction being made as practical as possible. In some cases the lectures have been followed by practical work, in which the students have been taught how to use the microscope, and to dissect plants, as a means of acquiring a good working knowledge of vegetable physiology. This practical work has been so much appreciated in the rural centres that there has been an actual competition to gain admission to the class, the number of students being necessarily limited by the supply of apparatus and material. One of the most popular courses given under the auspices of the joint committee has been that on general science, a kind of elementary introductory course showing the advantage of acquiring scientific knowledge in its applications to daily life. There has been such a demand for this subject that four lecturers have been engaged to meet the wants of different parts of the county. Special courses on marketable fish and oyster culture will shortly be commenced for the benefit of the maritime centres. The organizing joint committee has, we are informed, not been reappointed by the new County Council, but that its labours have been appreciated is shown by the fact that the Council has decided to merge the joint committee in the main Technical Instruction Committee. The latter will thus secure directly the co-operation of the six representatives of the Essex Field Club, among whom are Sir Henry Roscoe, Prof. Meldola, and Mr. G. J. Symons. Essex is to be congratulated upon the wisdom which its Councillors have displayed in securing the services of such well-known scientific advisers.

THE Technical Instruction Committee of the Essex County Council appointed last year an organizing joint committee, consisting of six members of their own body, and six members of

A VERY beautiful aurora was visible from Westgate-on-Sea on Monday evening last. When it was first observed, about 9.30 p.m., the sky was brilliantly illuminated to a height of about 30° above the horizon, extending laterally quite 50°. It seemed to be decidedly of a pinkish colour, but to all appearance this tint gradually disappeared. About ten minutes later, two fine streamers were thrown out, their approximate positions on the celestial sphere corresponding to the lines joining the stars' Cygni, e Draconis, and a Lacertæ, Cephei. Their light was considerably more intense than the aurora itself, the beams reminding one rather of those produced by a strong search light. East and west of these, two more beautiful bright streaks were shot out, extending to a height not quite so great as the former two. The west one became especially fine, its light exceeding that of any of the others. Their positions, as near as could be gathered, lay between the stars p Cygni and o Draconis for the west one, and for the east one o Andromeda and Cassiopeia. Five minutes later these vanished, and the two central ones merged into one and also disappeared. At 12.30, only one streamer was visible, while its light and that of the aurora itself was of a very feeble nature.

THE weather during the past week has become on the whole much more seasonable all over the country. Westerly winds has been mild and genial; but the temperature, although high have prevailed during the greater part of the period, and the air for the season, was lower than at the commencement of the month. Rain has fallen very generally within the last few days have occurred in many places. A brilliant aurora, to which in all parts of the kingdom, and thunder, lightning, and hail reference is made in the preceding note and in several letters, was observed in Scotland and in several parts of England during Monday night. The weather report of the Meteorological Office for the week ending April 23, showed that bright