With birds, however, the case is different, and among them locality exerts a marked influence. One of the most curious cases is that of the parrots of the West Indian Islands and Central America, several of which have white heads or foreheads, occurring in two distinct genera, while none of the more numerous parrots of South America are so colored. The Andaman Islands are equally remarkable, at least six of the peculiar birds differing from their continental allies in being much lighter, and sometimes with a large quantity of pure white in the plumage, exactly corresponding to what occurs among the butterflies. In Celebes we have a swallow-shrike and a peculiar small crow, allied to the jackdaw, whiter than any of their allies in the surrounding islands. In Timor and Flores we have white-headed pigeons, and a long-tailed fly-catcher almost entirely white. In the small Lord Howe's Island formerly lived a white rail (Notornis alba), remarkably contrasting with its allies in the larger islands of New Zealand.

The September number of the American Natu ralist contains an excellent review by Mr. J. A. Allen of the progress of ornithology in the United States during the past century, and in the October number of the same magazine Dr. Packard briefly reviews progress in general zoology in America.

Farther discoveries of fossil land vertebrates have been made in Malta by Professor Leith Adams, who has described the fossil remains of the Maltese caves, with especial reference to the gigantic land tortoises, similar to those of the Galapagos and Mascarene islands, but much larger, but specifically very close. Another notable animal was a dormouse as large as a guinea-pig, so numerous that five or six specimens could be obtained out of one spadeful of mould. Among the fossil birds was a swan one-third larger than any modern one. Altogether 150 terrestrial vertebrates had been found in Malta, and it was impossible that they could have lived in that locality unless Malta was part of a continent.

As a farther contribution to our knowledge of the earliest stages of vertebrates, Mr. F. M. Balfour read a paper before the British Association on certain points in the development of sharks. He compared the facts obtained by his and others' studies of the fishes with many occurring in the invertebrates, especially in Sagitta, Brachiopods, and in Echinoderms, showing how it was possible to unify them by adopting Haeckel's gastrea theory, and by no other method.

In a recent essay on the origin of insects, Dr. Mayer, of Jena, suggests that the ancestor of the insects was winged. This view is opposed by Dr. Packard, who publishes a review of Mayer's essay in the American Naturalist for November, in which he maintains with other writers on this subject that they must have originated from lar

A second contribution to our knowledge of the animals of Lake Titicaca, in South America, is a list of the mammals and birds by Mr. J. A. Allen, and of the crustacea by Mr. Walter Faxon. Mr. Garman contributes a number of interesting notes concerning the llama, alpaca, guanaco, and vicuña. Two new birds are described-a Gallinula and an Ibis.

The crustacean fauna of the lake itself is very meagre. Except a species of Cypris, all the specimens collected belong to one amphipodous genus, Allorchestes, which had hitherto afforded but one or two authentic fresh-water species, ranging from Maine to Oregon and the Straits of Magellan. Seven new species are described in this paper from Lake Titicaca. Several are remarkable for their abnormally developed epimeral and tergal spines. Some are also noteworthy as comparatively deep-water forms of a family commonly regarded as pre-eminently littoral. Some of the species occurred as far down as 68 fathoms, the greatest depth of the lake being 154 fathoms. The marine species usually inhabit the shore above low-water mark, and the previously described fresh-water species are found in the shallow water of brooks, pools, or edges of lakes. No strictly fresh-water Orchestido, the family to which these crustacea belong, have been reported from the Eastern continent, although a few terrestrial forms are described, says Mr. Faxon, as inhabiting moist soil away from the sea.

In Botany we have to report the completion of the second volume of the Genera Plantarum, by Bentham and Hooker, which includes the genera of monopetala. Some curious experiments by Sachs on the figures which zoospores assume in water lead him to believe that it is not the result of the action of light, as has been generally supposed, but is produced by currents caused by differences of temperature, and he was able to produce similar figures artificially by forming an emulsion of oil colored with henna in a mixture of alcohol and water. In the Beiträge zur Biologie, Auerbach, contrary to the previously expressed view of Strassburger, maintains that bodies which at some period of a cell's existence consist of starch may at others become nuclei. In the same journal Dr. Franstadt has an article on the anatomy of the vegetative organs of Dionæa muscipula.

In Grevillea Worthington Smith gives an account of the developments of the bodies which he regards as the oospores of Peronospora infestans, or potato rot, and in the same journal some new species of New Jersey fungi are described by M. C. Cooke and J. B. Ellis.

In botany we have to report an illustrated monograph on strawberries by Decaisne. In the Beiträge zur Biologie Frank gives an account of the development of some crustaceous lichens, and Dr. Nowakowski continues his monograph of the Chytridiaceæ. In the same journal are two articles on bacteria-one by Cohn, who gives the development of the bacterium found in decoctions of hay, Bacillus subtilis; the other by Dr. Koch, who has studied the Bacillus anthracis found in inflammation of the spleen. Cohn has discovered bodies in Bacillus subtilis which he considers spores.

Cornu, in the Annales des Sciences, gives in detail the results of his studies on the reproduction of

Ascomycetes. Contrary to the supposition of many that the spermatia are of the nature of spermatozoids, Cornu finds that they are capable of germination, and are consequently to be regarded as a form of stylospores.

In the Botanische Zeitung Professor H. Hoffmann publishes a series of experiments with the cultivation of different species of plants made to investigate the variation of color and other properties in seedlings. Dr. Salomonsen gives in the same journal an account of the method adopted by him to isolate different forms of bacteria. Brefeld reported to the Brandenburg Botanical Society a new species of Mortierella, a genus of Zygomycetes, in which a sort of carpogonic fruit is formed, which seems to show the insufficiency of the group called by Sachs carposporeæ.

The first fasciculus of Notes Algologiques, by Bornet and Thuret, has appeared in Paris. It contains a number of remarkably fine plates by Bornet and Riocreux.

The science of Agricultural Geology, or, as some of its followers prefer to term it, Geognosy, has received a new impetus in the researches and publications of Professor Orth, of the Agricultural Institute of the university of Berlin. Some time since the "Central Agricultural Society of the District of Potsdam," in Prussia, offered a prize of 500 thalers (some $360 gold) for the best work on this subject, the same to include studies of the sedimentary (drift and alluvial) soils of North Germany, as illustrated in the soil of a large farm at Friedrichsfelde, near Berlin. This prize was awarded to Professor Orth, for a work entitled Die Geognostisch-Agronomische Kartirung.

This work, consisting of several very elaborate charts and a text of two hundred pages, gives accounts of very careful studies of the soil in different places down to a depth of two meters or more, and describes the results in their scientific and practical bearings in such manner as to show most conclusively the great value to agriculture of such soil studies.

Dr. H. von Nathusius, president of the Prussian Landes Oeconomie-Collegium, is doing eminent service to agricultural science by the publication, in concert with other scientific men, of a number of series of "Charts for Scientific Instruction with special Reference to Agriculture." One of these is a series by Professor Orth of six charts, each giving six diagrams in profile of the characteristic sedimentary soils of North Germany. They show the different strata of surface and subsoil, their thickness and other characters, down to a depth of three meters-about ten feet. These, with the investigations upon which they are based, illustrate most forcibly how incomplete a measure of the value of a soil can be furnished by chemical analysis alone, and how extended studies and observations are necessary to a full knowledge of the factors that decide its fertility.

The study of the root development of some of our more important agricultural plants is receiving increased attention of late. Very interesting observations have been made by Nobbe, Haberlandt, and Thiel; Fraas has published a little work on the topic; Müller has given a résumé of the main points of the present status of our knowledge of the subject in the Landwirthschaftliche Jahrbücher; and, finally, Von Nathusius and Thiel have issued, as one of the series of charts above referred to, a collection of six, containing no less

than fifty-three very fine photographs of roots of various plants as they actually grow in the soil. These include views of the roots of corn, barley, pease, Jerusalem artichoke, potato, and sugar-beet, from which the soil had been removed so as to allow of their being photographed as they grew. They show that while the fine roots penetrate much deeper into the soil than many suppose, yet by far the larger bulk are within a few inches of the surface, and that there most of the feeding of the plants through the roots is done. An indication of the rapid headway which agricultural science is making in Europe is found in the increase in the number and activity of the agricultural experiment stations. In 1874 there were in Germany about forty, and in the rest of Europe twenty-four, making sixty-four in all, besides some twenty-five laboratories and other institutions which, though not technically experiment stations, were devoted to agricultural researches. Since that time the number has increased so that there are at present about seventy-nine experiment stations and twenty-nine other agricultural laboratories. Most of the latter, and indeed a large number of the former, are connected with universities or agricultural schools.

The State of Georgia is very fortunate in its Department of Agriculture, whose circulars, with statistics of weather and crops, reports of analyses, directions for applying and results of experiments in the use of fertilizers, contain a great deal of concise, timely, and most useful information. Circular No. 26 of the department contains analyses of 108 brands of commercial fertilizers sold in the State, formulæ for composting these with cotton seed and stable and lot manure, and directions for experiments.

One very gratifying mark of progress in Georgia farming is the fact that the planters of the State are getting into the way of making a very economical use of their cotton seed by composting it with acid phosphates and manure, and, when necessary, potash salts. In this way they get phosphoric acid and potash in available forms at fair rates, and make use of home products for nitrogen instead of importing it from Northern markets at high cost in ammoniated phosphates.

Engineering.-The latest news from the scene of the Hell Gate explosion indicates that the work has been quite satisfactorily accomplished. The task of removing the broken fragments will still occupy considerable time.

Mr. Moreno, on behalf of himself and fellowcorporators, lately filed at Washington, in accordance with an act of Congress granting them a franchise for telegraphic communication between America and Asia, a written acceptance of the terms and conditions imposed by the law.

The tunnel through the San Fernando Mountains has just been completed. Its length is 6966 feet, and it is affirmed to be the largest on the Pacific coast.

The Postmaster-General of England has deputed a commission to proceed to this country to examine and report upon the American telegraphic system.

The last issue of the Railroad Gazette records the construction, up to October 27, of 1770 miles of new railroad in the United States during the current year, against 920 miles reported during the corresponding period of 1875, 1242 miles in 1874, and 2955 in 1873.

THEN came old January, wrapped well

In many weeds to keep the cold away; Yet did he quake and quiver like to quell, And blow his nayles to warm them if he may; For they were numb'd with holding all the day An hatchet keene, with which he felled wood, And from the trees did lop the needlesse spray: Upon a huge great earth-pot steane he stood, From whose wide mouth there flowed forth the Romane flood. SPENSER.

Coming down to our own time, we have this exquisite winter sketch by Lowell:

The snow had begun in the gloaming,
And busily all the night
Had been heaping field and highway
With a silence deep and white.

Every pine and fir and hemlock

Wore ermine too dear for an earl,
And the poorest twig on the elm-tree
Was ridged inch-deep with pearl.

From sheds new-roofed with Carrara
Came Chanticleer's muffled crow,
The stiff rails were softened to swan's-down,
And still fluttered down the snow.

And thus writes Emerson in the Snow-Storm:
Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow; and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air
Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,
And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.
The sled and traveler stopp'd, the courier's feet
Delay'd, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fire-place, inclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

COULDN'T help laughing, the other day, at this bit in one of our exchanges:

A young lady of St. Louis was walking up Fifth Avenue with a friend. On reaching Madison Square, she paused a moment before the statue of Mr. Seward, and surveyed it without betraying the slightest emotion, until her eyes happened to fall on the great statesman's feet, when a smile of recognition at once illuminated her countenance, and she softly murmured, "Born in Chicago, I suppose."

PRESIDENT CHADBOURNE, of Williams College, had a blunt interrogatory put to him the other day by a callow collegian that for the moment caused an elevation of the presidential eyebrow. He was telling the Freshman Class, during a lecture, that the notion of allowing girls to enter college for the sake of their good influence on the boys was not as sound as it might be; whereupon a young Freshman raised his hand and ininfluence on the young ladies?" "Don't you think it would have a good quired,

WHOSO saith that ye driver of ye omnibus hath not within him the spirit of fun, let him ponder this: A man of Connecticut-a well-to-do manreturning from the Centennial, took a Madison Avenue omnibus to go to the New Haven dépôt. Having parted with all his small change, he pass

ed up to the driver, for change, a ten-dollar bill. Now ten-dollar bills are not often passed up to drivers, whereupon this driver, looking first at his poor old team, put his mouth down to the little hole through which change is passed, and said, "All right, Sir; which horse will you have?" The man from Tolland said he didn't wish to buy a horse, but wanted his $X "broke." The driver simply said, "Oh !”

AN old and distinguished army officer, who has sent many good things to the Drawer, and whose “hand-of-write” is always welcome, sends us from Fort Saunders, Wyoming Territory, the following ticket, nominated by the Democrats of that propinquity. It will be observed that several of the candidates are of the Milesian persuasion. We reproduce it verbatim:

SWEETWATER COUNTY DEMOCRATIC TICKET.

For Sheriff, P. A. MOPHER Probate Judge, TIM MOCARTY. County Clerk, A. MCINTOSH

Assessor,

D. MOLELLAND. County Commissioners, D. MCDONALD, A. MOQUADE, J. MOELEVBA. Coroner,

G. MOCONNELL Superintendent of Schools, J. MOGUIRE.

Surveyor, W. MOCABE

Are there any Irish about?

question." One immediately arose and began to describe the personal appearance of the great Apostle to the Gentiles. He said St. Paul was a tall, rather spare man, with black hair and eyes, dark complexion, bilious temperament, etc. His picture of Paul was a faithful portrait of himself. He sat down, and another pillar of the church arose and said, "I think the brother preceding me has read the Scriptures to little purpose if his description of St. Paul is a sample of his Biblical knowledge. St. Paul was, as I understand it, a short, thickset man, with sandy hair, gray eyes, florid complexion, and a nervous-sanguine temperament," giving, like his predecessor, an accurate picture of himself. He was followed by another, who had a keen sense of the ludicrous, and who was withal an inveterate stammerer. He spoke about as follows: "My bro-bro-brethren, I have ne-ne-never fo-found much ab-about the pe-pe-personal ap-pe-pe-pearance of St. P-p-paul. But one thing is clearly established, and tha-that is, St. P-p-paul had an imp-pe-pediment in his speech." The effect can be imagined. A "tidal wave" of audible smiles swept over the congregation, the good clergyman taking his full quota. He immediately arose and dismissed the assembly.

The

THE members of the Senior Class of Hanover College were very much exercised over the gubernatorial contest in their State-Indiana-and, as a result, few were prepared to recite on the following day. Among the unprepared was "Judge" Walker, a great Republican, and a wag. "judge," not relishing the idea of taking a zero, determined to run the chances and recite. Armed with this determination, he took his usual place in the astronomical class. It being his turn to recite, Professor Hamilton propounded the followquestion:

FROM a few Old World anecdotes sent us by a friend, we give this of Wordsworth:

It was sometimes the custom of the poet to ramble about the country in his neighborhood composing poems aloud. The estimate placed on that sort of thing by those of the vicinity may appear by the answer of a poor man who was breaking stones on the Rydal road. A gentleman who knew both him and Wordsworth found him at work one day, and greeted him with, "Goodmorning, John. What news have you this morning?"

"Why, nothing very particular, only old Wordsworth's broken loose again."

And when the poet died, a sympathizing bor suggested, as an alleviation for the affliction, that "the mistress is a cleverish sort of body: I reckon she can carry on the business."

"Mr. Walker, how do you account for the fact that it takes us twenty-four hours to complete the solar day, while it takes us but twenty-three hours fifty-six minutes to complete the sidereal daywhat becomes of the other four minutes ?"

"Well," replied the "judge," solemnly, "there have been quite a number of explanations given of this phenomenon, but I believe that the one now generally accepted by astronomers is that these four minutes are set apart for refreshments."

That, we believe, is the theory maintained by Proctor.

SOME years since the pastor of a New England village church adopted a plan to interest the members of his flock in the study of the Bible. It was this. At the Wednesday evening meeting he would give out some topic to be discussed on the ensuing week, thus giving a week for them to study up. One week the subject was St. Paul. After the preliminary devotional exercises, the pastor called upon his deacons to "speak to the

"By my troth," saith Edmund Yates, "they are merry fellows in the Town Council of Galway! A plan was laid before that body at its last meeting for the erection of a new wooden bridge in place of the rickety old one between the Claddagh and the fish-market. The engineer said