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(NATURE, April 27). He adds, as an explanation, that "the average college don" forgets an elementary law of friction. But the proper inference is that the definition of the reviewer is different from that in common use. It is difficult to believe in this general forgetfulness. The various letters sent to NATURE sufficiently show what meaning is usually attached to the words. June 3. E. J. ROUTH.

WHY JAPAN IS VICTORious. TEN years ago, after the conclusion of the war

between Japan and China, it was remarked that the sound of the Japanese cannon at the mouth of the Yalu River awoke the nations of the world to the fact that a new Power had arisen in the Far East which in future would require to be taken into account when any political problems arose. It is, of course, recognised by all who know modern Japan that the most important factor in the making of new Japan has been the applications of science to the arts both of peace and war. Without these, even the spirit of the samurai would have been as powerless before the attacks of Western Powers armed with all the latest warlike appliances, as were the dervishes at the battle of Omdurman. Spectators speak with admiration of the bravery of these men and with pity that their lives were thrown away in a vain resistance. Without the help of science and its applications it is very certain that, before this time, Japan would have been overrun by a European Power after immense slaughter, for the last man would have died, fighting with his primitive weapons, rather than recognise a foreign domination.

A careful study of the evolution of modern Japan shows plans founded on enlightened principles and carried out in every detail. In fact, one of the secrets of the success of the Japanese in the present war is that nothing is left to chance; every detail is worked out and carefully provided for. They soon recognised that their national ideals would never be realised without a system of education, complete in every department, which would supply the men who were required to guide the nation under the new conditions which had emerged. Elementary education was organised all over the country, secondary education in central districts, and technical education wherever it seemed to be required. Above all, there are two national universities which in equipment and quality of work done will bear favourable comparison with similar institutions in any other country in the world.

The educational work of the country was directed not simply to personal or sectional purposes, as is unfortunately too often the case in the West; it was also consciously directed to the attainment of great national ends. Every department of the national life was organised in a rational manner, and, therefore, on scientific principles. In many departments there is still much to be done, but past achievements promise well for the future.

Special attention has been paid by the Government to the applications of science. Without the railways, the telegraphs and telephones, the dockyards, the shipbuilding yards, the mines, and the engineering establishments, the existence of the army and navy would have been impossible; at least, if they did exist they would have been nearly powerless. The operations of the present war with Russia have clearly demonstrated the importance of the introduction of the scientific spirit into all the national activities. The railways which have been built in Japan have been fully utilised to convey men and materials and the ships to transport them oversea.

The telegraphs have been used to communicate instructions and to keep the authorities informed regarding movements and requirements. The dockyards and shipbuilding yards have been ready to undertake repairs, and the arsenals and machine shops to turn out war material of all kinds, as well as appliances which aid operations in the field. Light railways have been laid down on the way to battlefields, and wireless telegraphy and telephones to convey instructions to the soldiers; in short, all the latest applications of mechanical, electrical, and chemical science have been freely and intelligently used.

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The Japanese have not only modified Western appliances to suit their conditions, but they have also made numerous distinct advances. The ships of their navy are probably the best illustration of the Japanese method of procedure. naval matters they accepted all the guidance the Western world could give them, but at the same time they struck out a line of their own, and the fleet which they have created is unique in the character of its units. British designs have in many respects been improved upon, with the result that they have obtained in their latest ships many features which have won the admiration of the world. The training of Japanese naval officers is very complete in every way, and in some respects offers an example to the British authorities, and the men are devoted to their profession Japan now sends her picked men Europe to complete their studies, so that in every department of national life they are kept up with the latest developments. The siege of Port Arthur, the battle of Mukden and the other battles in Manchuria, and the exploits of the Japanese Navy prove most distinctly that they have profited by their experience.

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The intense loyalty of the Japanese, which compels them to make any sacrifice, combined with their great intellectual ability, enables them to take full advantage of the modern science and organisation necessary for the attainment of the objects of their ambition. Their great power of foresight prepares them for all their enterprises, both of peace and war, with exact and scientific precision. While they are permeated by Eastern ideas they have been able to appropriate much that is best in Western thought, and thus they unite many of the best qualities of the East and the West.

The lesson which our educationists and statesmen have to learn from Japan is that the life of a modern nation requires to be organised on scientific lines in all its departments, and that it must not be directed chiefly to personal ends, the attainment of which may, to a large extent, intensify many of our problems, but that it be consciously used for the promotion of national welfare.

But though the lesson is plain enough, apparently it is not understood by those whose business it is to promote national welfare by guidance or counsel. With one consent our newspapers have attributed Japanese success to all reasons except the right one; and, instead of opening the eyes of the nation to our pressing needs and deficiencies, they have been blind leaders of the blind. Our public men and our Press will not see that scientific education has brought Japan to her present position in thirty years, and that, if we choose to educate ourselves, we may arrive at the Japanese standard of national efficiency. The progress which this country has made since the Middle Ages is due to the discoveries of men of science, whose work has been done in spite of discouragement or national indifference. In the new atmosphere of Japan a scientific spirit prevails, which encourages development, with the result that the nation has in a generation arrived at a position which has taken us centuries to reach. It is not compli

mentary to us as a nation to say that our patriotism, fear of death, or nerves compare unfavourably with similar attributes of the Japanese; and, after all, this is a matter of opinion. The fact to face is the transformation which science has effected in Japan, and the sooner our statesmen are educated to see it, the more promising will be the outlook for the British nation.

SOLAR CHANGES AND WEATHER.

DURING the last few years more than usual attention has been paid to the question of the relationship between sun-spots or prominences and weather," and to the possibility of being able in the near future to forecast the characters of approaching seasons. Quite recently in this Journal (vol. lxxi. P. 493, March 23) we referred briefly to a pamphlet published by the United States Department of Agriculture, Weather Bureau, summing up the general state of the problem of long-range weather forecasting; In this it was stated that advances in the period and accuracy of weather forecasts depend upon a more exact study and understanding of atmospheric pressure over large areas, and a determination of the influences, probably solar, that are responsible for normal and abnormal distributions of atmospheric pressure over the earth's surface.

In the April number of the Popular Science Monthly the question of the relationship between sun-spots and weather is summarised in an article by Prof. Ernest W. Brown, of Haverford College. In this we have an interesting account of the problems waiting solution, and he brings together in a very clear manner a general survey of the relationship, or rather nonrelationship, as he concludes to be the case. Thus he says, "it is highly probable that the direct effect of the spotted area is unimportant compared with the effects produced in our atmosphere by other causes." In his final summing up he remarks that his opinion is expressed by Prof. Cleveland Abbe, who stated that:-"The key to the weather problem is not to be found in the sun or indeed in any external influence, but that the solution is to be worked out by the conditions which hold in the atmosphere itself-conditions which can only be discovered by a thorough examination of the internal laws of motion, quite apart from any external forces which may modify

the results."

In referring to the difficulties which are met with in examining the meteorological conditions on the earth's surface, Prof. Brown points out that observations made "at one place should be kept separate from those at other places, for it is theoretically possible and even probable that a maximum at one place of observation may occur at the same time as a minimum at another place. For example, the yearly averages might show that a maximum rainfall in one place always occurred with a minimum rainfall in another and vice versâ."

In the last quotation Prof. Brown makes a suggestive remark which recent work has shown to be an actual meteorological fact; it has already been completely established for pressure, and must therefore hold good as regards rainfall, since the latter depends on the former.

In the case of these variations of barometric pressure it has been shown, and referred to at some

already been suggested in the changes in the frequency of prominences, which are, after all, allied to sun-spots. Up to the present time those who have been attempting to explain variations of weather on the supposition of solar changes have been looking for the effect of solar action as either increasing or decreasing simultaneously the rainfall over the whole earth. The consequence has been that a study of a great number of statistics has shown that in some regions the rainfall varies directly with the number of sun-spots, and that in others the variation is inverse, while, again, in other parts there seems to be no apparent relation at all. In fact, these deductions, though quite correct, have led to the conclusion that the solar connection is of a very questionable character, as it was considered impossible for such opposite results as the first two just named to have their origin in one solar change.

hypothesis that has probably retarded the progress of It is the employment of this incorrect working the study of the connection between solar and meteorological changes.

The now recognised existence of this barometric see-saw shows that the sun's action must have a double effect on our atmosphere, and this of an opposite nature. Such a result is quite natural, and it is curious that use has not been made of it before. When it be considered that the amount of air in our atmosphere is a constant quantity, a greater piling up of it on one side of the earth must necessarily mean a diminution in the antipodal regions. If greater heating power of the sun takes place, then the atmosphere must also be heated to a greater extent, and consequently more intense up-currents of warm air are formed, resulting in more pronounced low-pressure areas. There must, however, be a compensating effect somewhere, and this is found on the opposite side of the earth when the previously heated air arrives, descends, and creates an area of excess pressure.

This backward and forward transference of air becomes, therefore, of great importance in studying the weather changes in any one region, because the rainfall phenomena are so closely related to the pressure changes.

Away from the middle portions of those two large areas which behave in this see-saw manner, the variations of pressure should, and actually do, have a different periodic nature. It is of extreme importance, therefore, when trying to trace the sun's action on our atmosphere, to separate the regions over which the variations may be truly solar from those which exhibit variations modified by the mechanism of the atmosphere itself.

There is therefore no reason why we should take a fascinating riddle of the relationship between changes pessimistic view of the attempts made to solve this of solar activity and the vagaries of the weather. An enormous amount of accumulated material is ready for discussion, and efforts should be made to secure the continuity of these observations and at the same time to coordinate the data along lines most suitable for this particular research.

WILLIAM J. S. LOCKYER.

THE SURVEY OF INDIA.1

length in this Journal (vol. Ixx. p. 177, June, 1904). THE extracts from the narrative reports of the

that there exists a barometric see-saw on a large scale the presence of which has been amply corroborated by Prof. Bigelow, of the United States Weather Bureau. There seems little doubt that it is this pressure change that will eventually prove the "key" to the situation, and its solar origin has

Survey of India for the years 1902-3 are contained in a thin and attenuated volume of some eighty pages, which, as compared with previous reports, represents the effects of Indian financial economy applied to one of its most interesting departments.

1 "Extracts from the Narrative Reports of the Survey of India for the Season 1902-3." (Calcutta: Government Printing Office, 1905.) Price 2s. 3d.

A committee is now sitting somewhere in India to decide on the best method of increasing the efficiency of the Indian survey department from the point of view (amongst others) of the English expert. It may be doubted whether the Indian surveyor has much to learn from the English expert, excepting in the science of map reproduction; but it may be that the Indian financier will learn therefrom that the way to improve and develop a department is not to starve it under the pressure of each successive spasm of financial depression, but to give consistent support to its work in the field and encourage the publication of such results as are of world-wide interest. Compare this half-starved production with the survey reports of North America, of Canada, of any Continental country, or even with the intermittent publications of South America, and it would really appear as if India

offered no field for scientific research that was worth a descriptive record. The report is unworthy of the Government of India.

There is apparently but one triangulation party now existing in India which works on geodetic principles, and this is gradually pushing its network of triangles through Burma, giving a good basis for two topographical surveys to extend their minor triangulations and lay out a framework for detailed mapping. Only these two topographical parties figure in the report, and the narrative of their progress is confined to the dullest of all dull statistics. Yet one of them is working in the Shan States on the Chinese frontier, where, if anywhere in the eastern world, there must be a most delightful field for new experiences and original observation.

Of geographical exploration on or beyond the Indian frontier, or of scientific investigations in the Himalayas, there is not a word in the report; nor, for that matter, is there the faintest reference to the solid work of the revenue and forest surveys which are spread in more prosaic form over half the continent. Possibly there may be much of really stirring narrative rendered by the officers concerned in trans-frontier work to which it is not deemed well to make any allusion. This is comprehensible on the grounds of political prudence, but the worst feature of this form of suppression is that it is apt to be permanent. A report once pigeon-holed in an Indian office might almost as well be solemnly committed to the earth with a spade. The man who wrote it, and who knew what he wrote about, leaves India at the mature age of fifty-five, and thereafter has nothing further to say to it. His opinion is never consulted, and it becomes merely a matter of academic interest to him to watch a new generation of frontier administrators floundering along by the light of experiences gained, let us say, in South Africa or in Egypt. He faintly wonders what has become of all the detailed information of the Indian frontier gathered in his time at the cost of so much labour and expense.

There is, however, doubtless much to be learnt from the series of tidal, levelling, and magnetic tables which take up nearly fifty of the eighty pages of the report, although it is not easy to recognise their claim to be considered narrative. Presumably these tables are published for the benefit of the comparatively few men of science who are interested in these special classes of investigation, but they hardly seem to justify the title of the report, and should certainly be preserved (as they probably are) in other forms more readily accessible for purposes of reference.

There is an account of a local survey (including levelling operations) which was undertaken for the benefit of the salt revenue department in order to ascertain the source of the Sambhar Salt Lake water supply. The result of the investigation would have been interesting had it been stated. The lake was

surveyed thirty-eight years ago, and the source of supply carefully examined then. Probably the report was pigeon-holed.

It would be pleasant to congratulate Colonel Longe on the success of his first administrative report as Surveyor-General of India, but, as a matter of fact, it is obvious that hardly even the skirts of narrative have been touched so far as the Survey of India is concerned, and we can only hope that there may be another and a more comprehensive report issued hereafter in some other form. T. H. H.

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NOTES.

IT cannot be too often emphasised that Japan owes its triumphs chiefly to the adoption of the scientific spirit as the essential principle of national progress. The State that accepts this axiom of practical politics secures for itself a place among leading nations; while, on the other hand, the country that gives little or no encouragement to science must fall behind in the future. The Paris correspondent of the Times states that this view is taken by M. Ludovic Naudeau, who, in the course of a telegram from Tokio on the causes of the Russian defeat, remarks" It is now idle to attempt to hide the fact that was the Russian lack of science, of the modern spirit, or, to speak frankly, of intelligence-never was the absence of training and of enthusiasm which retards the efforts of the whole Empire displayed in a more melancholy fashion than in the Sea of Japan. All the Russian inferiority is in the intellectual sphere." We understand that even in the midst of the war, the subject of education is being keenly discussed in Japan. In our own country it is necessary to urge that satisfactory provision for the future can only be made by taking a wide view of scientific education, and by insisting that all who have the affairs of State under their control should possess such a knowledge of the methods of science as will enable them to understand that the most potent factors of success in the arts of peace or of war are scientific education and research.

UNDER the name of the Potentia Organisation, an international association has been formed with the object of establishing among nations a mutual relationship and cooperation for the diffusion of accurate information and unbiased opinion concerning international events and movements, and to combat narrow, prejudiced, and often interested views and news that contribute so much to international mistrust and misunderstanding. It is proposed to publish throughout the world, through the medium of newspapers and reviews, statements of simple fact and expressions of opinion by eminent public men of all nations on all important political, social, philosophical, economic, scientific, and artistic questions, to present the sincere views of experts on all current international events, and to refute false or biased news and views calculated to spread error and to endanger the peace and progress of the world. A cosmopolitan alliance of this kind should meet with many adherents in the world of science, in which the sole aims are the discovery of truth and the extension of natural knowledge. We trust that the organisation will do something to show that scientific culture is at the foundation of all national progress.

MR. STANLEY GARDINER, leader of the Sladen Trust Expedition for the exploration of the Indian Ocean between Ceylon and the Seychelles in H.M.S. Scalark, has sent Prof. Herdman a letter from Colombo (May 7) in which he gives the following provisional programme ::-Leave

Colombo May 8, arrive Chagos Archipelago about May 20, and work there until about July 15: arrive Mauritius about August 1, and stay until about August 15; arrive Seychelles about September 8, leave about September 15, and return there on October 15 after visiting the various Amirante Islands. A second steam-launch has been acquired, and Mr. Stanley Gardiner considers that he is now fully equipped for work. The expedition will probably be next heard of from Peros Banhos, which ought to be reached early in June.

heavy downpours in the early part of this week will have contributed something towards making up the deficiency, especially in the eastern and southern parts of the kingdom. The Daily Weather Report of Monday last showed a great change in the distribution of barometric pressure, there being a steady increase over the northern and northwestern districts, and a shallow depression having formed over France. During the twenty-four hours ending at 8h. a.m. on Tuesday, the rainfall was continuous and heavy over the south and south-east of England, amounting to nearly 2 inches at Dungeness, 1-5 inches at Clacton

A RETER telegram of June 1 states that a severe earthquake shock was felt in the morning of that day through-on-Sea, and to an inch in London, the rain still continuing, out the whole of Montenegro.

We regret to see the announcement of the death of Mrs. Emma Hubbard, who at various times contributed to our correspondence columns interesting observations on natural history, more particularly on the subject of birds and their ways. Mrs. Hubbard also did useful service to science by indexing scientific works, among them being Sir Michael Foster's "Physiology and her brother's "Ancient Stone Implements."

THE first International Congress of Anatomists will be held at Geneva, Switzerland, on August 7 to 10. The following national societies are to participate in this congress: the Anatomical Society of Great Britain, the Anatomische Gesellschaft, the Association des Anatomistes, the Association of American Anatomists, and the Unione Zoologica Italiana. The organisation of the congress has been entrusted to a committee representing these societies, and consisting of Profs. Minot, Nicolas, Romiti, Symington, and Waldeyer. The presidents thus far named are Prof. Sabatier, of Montpellier; Prof. Romiti, of Pisa; and Prof. Minct, of Harvard. The congress owes its successful initiation largely to Prof. Nicolas, of the University of Nancy, to whom inquiries may be addressed.

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On June 1 the Prince of Wales paid a private visit the Cotton Exhibition at the Imperial Institute, which is being held by the Board of Trade in conjunction with the British Cotton-growing Association. The exhibition, which has been arranged by the scientific staff of the Imperial Institute under the direction of Prof. Wyndham Dunstan, F.R.S., in consultation with Sir Alfred Bateman and Sir Cecil Clementi-Smith, the managing committee of the institute, is intended to show not only the progress of cotton cultivation on British soil, but also to indicate the stages in the conversion of the raw material into the manufactured fabric. Bulk samples of commercial cottons grown in different parts of the Empire are supplemented with small specimens arranged to show the length of staple, and are accompanied by photographs of cotton fields, ginneries, &c., and statistical diagrams and maps. The British Cotton-growing Association, in addition to their raw cuttons, exhibit a unique collection of native textiles. The machinery section includes models of Arkwright's machines, a power-loom in operation, and several testing machines. Manufacturing processes are illustrated by specimens and explained by means of diagrams, and samples of goods produced by special processes, including the making of "selvyt," are on view.

THE weather report issued by the Meteorological Office for the week ended on June 3 showed that the rainfall since the beginning of the year had only exceeded the average in the north of Scotland (excess 54 inches) and in the north of Ireland (excess o8 inch). The greatest deficiency was in north-east England (3.2 inches) and in the midland and southern counties (2 to 26 inches). The

practically without cessation, during the whole of Tuesday. The heaviest falls reported for the twenty-four hours ending 8h. a.m. on Wednesday were 0.57 inch in London andnearly half an inch at Oxford and Bath.

THE Engineering and Mining Journal records that payable ore has been reached at the New Chum Railway Mine, at Bendigo, Victoria, at a depth of 4:62 feet. This is the greatest depth at which gold mining has been carried on. It has, however, been exceeded at the Lake Superior copper mines.

THE plans have been completed for the fifteen-story building, to cost 195,000l., which Mr. Andrew Carnegie is to present to the engineering societies of New York. Adjoining it in the rear will be a thirteen-story house for the Engineers' Club, which is to an additional 75,000l., and is also part of Mr. Carnegie's gift.

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IN the Engineer there is a long and interesting description of the instructive case of models showing the construction of the leading types of expansion and plain slide-valves lately placed on view in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The collection forms a complete record of the progress made in this important branch of steam engineering.

It is reported in Engineering that the world's copper production in 1904 amounted to 613,125 tons, the United States furnishing more than half the total. Great things in the way of copper production are expected from Alaska, where development is being carried on rapidly, especially in Tanana County. In the same journal, attention is directed to an important discovery of tin ore in the Vlaglaagte district of the Transvaal. The world's sources of tin supply are so few that interest must always attach to reported new finds.

WE have received a copy of a paper reprinted from the Transactions of the Institution of Mining Engineers, read on January 10, by Mr. James Ashworth, on outbursts of gas and coal at the Morrissey collieries, in the Crow's Nest Pass Coalfield, British Columbia. A huge outburst on November 18, 1904, caused the death of fourteen miners, and it is estimated that some 3,000,000 cubic feet of gas, at atmospheric pressure, were set free by the outburst in thirty-five minutes. Mr. Ashworth suggests that these unusually large outbursts may have some connection with the petroleum occurring in the district.

AT the forty-second general meeting of the Institution of Mining Engineers, held in London on June 2 and 3, several interesting papers were read. Mr. T. Y. Greener dealt with the firing of boilers by waste heat from coke ovens. Mr. M. R. Kirby described the compound winding engine at Lumpsey iron mine. Its steam consumption is only 38 lb. to 40 lb. per indicated horse-power hour. Mr. F. Hird gave the results of tests of the electric winding engine at Friedrichshall, and Mr. E. Lozé described electric winding engines installed at French collieries. Mining

education in the United States was discussed by Prof. H. Eckfeldt, and in New Zealand by Prof. J. Park. Coal Mr. mining in India was dealt with by Mr. T. Adamson.

J. Jeffries described the occurrence of underground fires at the Greta colliery, New South Wales. Mr. W. C. Blackett and Mr. R. G. Ware described a striking innovation in mining practice, the use of electrically driven mechanical conveyors for filling at the coal-face. Two years' experience has shown a saving of 48 per cent. over the ordinary pick and shovel method. Lastly, Mr. A. R. Sawyer gave an account of the geology of Chunies Poort, Zoutpansberg, Transvaal. Incidentally, he mentioned some old copper workings where native copper occurs in some abundance in dolomite. The proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks, proposed by Mr. Bennett H. Brough, to the Geological Society and to the Royal Astronomical Society for the use of their rooms for the meeting.

IN the Biologisches Centralblatt of May 15 Dr. O. Zacharias brings to a conclusion his article on the relations of modern hydrobiology to fish culture and fisheries. Dr. G. Schneider also discusses the origin of species among cestode worms. He concludes that morphological variation in union with biological isolation through parasitism are insufficient to form species unless aided by physiological, that is, sexual, isolation.

IN the Nouveaux Mémoires of the Moscow Academy, vol. xvi., parts ii. and iv., the well known Russian ornithologist, Dr. P. Suschkin, commences an important work on the osteology of the avian skeleton, the second part, which is alone before us, dealing with the osteology and classification of the diurnal birds of prey (Accipitres). This part is illustrated with four plates of various parts of the skeleton.

DURING a recent visit to the Victoria Falls of the Zambezi, Mr. W. L. Sclater, director of the South African Museum, obtained three fishes from that river which were sent to the British Museum for examination. One of these proved to be new, and is described by Mr. G. A. Boulenger in vol. iii., part vii., of the Annals of the South African Museum under the name of Paratilapia carlottae. The genus is widely spread.

WE have received from the author, Mr. C. C. Hurst, a copy of his paper on experimental studies on heredity in rabbits, published in vol. xxix. of the Journal of the Linnean Society. The experiments were commenced in 1902, with the object of ascertaining whether the Mendelian principles of heredity were applicable to animals as well as plants, the animals selected being the white Angora rabbit and the Belgian hare. The results confirm, and extend to rabbits, those already obtained by Prof. Cuénot in the case of mice, though it would appear that the heredity of Dutch markings in rabbits differs in some respects from that of the "panachure" in mice.

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IN the Zoologist for May, Mr. J. H. Gurney records the early history of a young cuckoo. On May 22 last year a hedge-sparrow's nest was found containing three eggs laid by the owner, and one egg deposited by a cuckoo. The cuckoo's egg was of the ordinary brown type, presenting no resemblance to the hedge-sparrow's eggs. June 2 the young cuckoo and two hedge-sparrows were hatched, the third young hedge-sparrow, which had been hatched earlier, having previously disappeared. The next day the two nestling hedge-sparrows were found lying dead outside the nest. When one was replaced, no attempt was made to eject it by the cuckoo. The same result happened when a young wagtail was put into the nest ;

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In discussing certain habits of British bats in the eighth article of vol. xlix. of the Memoirs of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, Mr. C. Oldham refers in the first place to the winter sleep, and points out that, from observations made in the disused copper mines of Alderley Edge, in the case of the long-eared bat this sleep is interrupted, the bats probably feeding at intervals on the insects which abound in the tunnels in winter, even if they do not venture forth into the open. The same is probably true of Daubenton's bat, the whiskered bat, and the lesser horse-shoe bat. There appears to be nothing to show that the bats occasionally seen abroad on mild days in winter are pipistrelles. Two popular fallacies are contradicted, firstly, that bats cannot walk, or can only shuffle awkwardly, along a flat surface, and secondly, that they cannot take flight from such a surface. The different

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postures assumed by British bats in repose form the subject of the plate illustrating Mr. Oldham's paper. The lesser horse-shoe bat, of which one of the figures is reproduced, recalls the posture assumed by the fox-bats, or flying-foxes, when at rest. The posture of ordinary bats is quite different, and it is a curious fact that while the lesser horse-shoe alights from the air in an inverted position, other bats, on first coming to rest, do so with the head upwards, and then reverse their position.

THE foregoing paper is supplemented by the observations of Mr. C. B. Moffat on the duration of flight among bats, published in the May number of the Irish Naturalist. In this communication it is shown that while the long-eared bat and the pipistrelle are all-night fliers, the hairy-armed bat only ventures forth for a short flight in the evening, and again shortly before dawn. The hairy-armed bat thus enjoys a daily rest of 21 hours, taking all its exercise and its food in two periods (which in summer may be very close together) of one and a quarter hours each. There is a suggestion that the great bat, or noctule, indulges only in an evening flight, but additional evidence is required before this can be definitely accepted, and it appears to be contradicted by certain observations which the author did not see soon enough to incorporate in his text.

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