and in order to maintain it in its "natural" condition it would have been better if the Conservators had taken counsel with some of the numerous scientific societies of London which are representative of the various classes of natural history students and investigators. This is indeed the only point-but it is a serious one-on which we feel compelled to express our disappointment at the line of management taken up by the Conservators. The Epping Forest Committee consists of twelve members of the Corporation and four Verderers chosen septennially by the commoners of the Forest parishes. Now a Committee appointed to deal with a scientific question-and as such we regard the management of a forest-cannot altogether ignore the claims of natural history without incurring the risk of having their proceedings compared with the tragedy of Hamlet with the Prince of Denmark left out. The present Verderers are Sir T. Fowell Buxton, Mr. E. N. Buxton, the Chairman of the London School Board, Mr. Andrew Johnston, late High Sheriff of Essex, and Mr. D. J. Morgan. The names of these gentlemen encourage us to think that it is no fault of theirs if the claims of natural history science are altogether ignored.

How to deal with those waste stretches of land formerly under cultivation is a question quite distinct from the management of the wooded portions of the forest. While for the latter a minimum of interference would in our opinion be most in accordance with the views of all parties, there are ample opportunities of "landscape gardening" the former. In face of this fact it is somewhat surprising that the energies of the Conservators should thus far have been chiefly directed to alterations in the natural portions of the area under their charge, and we are glad to see that the Essex Naturalist's Field Club has taken the initiative in inviting the co-operation of all natural history students interested in the preservation of open spaces in their natural condition, in signing a protest against the destruction of the natural features of Epping Forest. The form of petition has been forwarded to all the scientific societies of London most concerned in this question, and has already received many influential signatures. If the dedication ceremony of last Saturday makes the freeing of the Forest an event in the history of this country, it seems but just that in a period preeminently distinguished for its scientific culture, the naturalists of London should urge their claims ere it be too late. R. M.

THE

THE WINTER OF 1881-2
WINT

HE fine winter months of 1881-2, from November to March, have been characterised by a mildness rarely equalled in our British climate. Nowhere in the British Islands, from Scilly to Shetland, or from Dover to Valentia, was the mean excess above the normals of the temperature of these five months less than 2°*0. This was the excess in the south of England; in central districts, such as Oxford and York, it rose to 30; and the excess increased on advancing northward till it reached 40 in the upper districts of the Tweed, Clyde, Tay, and Dee, and at Culloden, and Lairg. Everywhere on the coasts the temperature was from half a degree to a degree, relatively lower than in strictly inland situations.

In Scotland the mean temperature of each of the months exceeded its normal, except in a very few localities in December, when temperature was slightly under the average. Each of the other months had a temperature from 2015 to 6°o above the normal. In England, on the other hand, the temperature of January was pretty generally under the average, the deficiency amounting in some cases, as at Spurnhead, to nearly 2o0; and in the central districts of Ireland the deficiency was even greater. In February, in a few districts of England, temperature fell

slightly below the normal, whereas, over large districts of Scotland, in the same month, it rose to at least 500 above the normal.

As regards atmospheric pressure, its geographical distribution during these months was strikingly abnormal. In each month, as regards departures from the normals, there was an excess in the south, whereas in the north there was a deficiency, or if there was an excess at all, it was much less than in the south. The averages of the five months give an excess above the normal of o'188 inch at Torquay, and o'171 inch at Greenwich; 0.116 inch at Llandudno; 0063 inch at Lissan, Tyrone, and o'088 inch at Silloth; 0023 inch at Islay, and o'061 inch in East Lothian; oo11 inch at Monach, Outer Hebrides, and 0045 inch at Aberdeen; but a deficiency from the normal of 2019 inch at Kirkwall, o'048 inch at North Unst, and 0103 inch in Farö. It was to this unprecedentedly steep barometric gradient from south-east to north-west from the normals of these winter months, and the equally unprecedented predominance and force of south-westerly winds which resulted therefrom, that we owe the remarkable mildness of last winter. The extraordinarily high pressures which so frequently ruled on the Continent during the winter, and the all but rainless weather which accompanied these anti cyclones, and the low state of many of the rivers on the one hand, and on the other the almost unbroken succession of storms which swept the Atlantic with their low pressures and destructive tempests of wind, may be pointed to as the outstanding features of the great atmospheric disturbance which has signalised the winter of 1881-82, of which the mildness of the weather in the British islands was merely an accompaniment.

If the winters of the north-east of Scotland, from which there are temperature observations since 1764, be examined, it is seen that the mean temperature of the five months from November to March have been 2°*0, or more, above the normal during eighteen winters. These winters, with the amounts of the excess above the normal, are given in the following table, to which is added the excess or deficiency from the normals of each of the six summer months immediately following:

I'I +1.9 02 -3°31'5

1780-81 +20 +35 +26 +51 +14 +00 1789-90 +4°2-20 +12-12-33 1793-94 +36 +4°2 -0°7 +2.6+36 8 +0.5+16

1795-96 +23+79-09-13-35 +05-02 +04 1827-28 +27 +0'6 +15+18 -0.5 0'2 +17 +0.8 1831-32 +25 +12-10 +08-04 +0°2 +13 +04 1833-34 +32 +0.5 +2.6+18 +1.2 +12+12 +14 1834-35 +24 +00-07-08 -0.5+1'9-06-01 1843-44 +38 +51-09-00 - 12 16 +04 +0.3 1845-46 +41 +01+3'5 +6°5 +13 +27 +65 +34 1848-49 +2°31'9 +13-22-13 02-04 -0.8 1850-51 +21-14 +02-09-13 07-04-0'7 1857-58 +28 +01-03 +44-28 +12 +08 +0.6 1868-69 +22 +25 -4'5-20 +17 09 +05-05 1881-82 +4'I

Means...+30 +14 +0°5 +13 +02 +08 +0.5 +08

Thus, so far as the north-east of Scotland is concerned,

markable finish and value. The object is then heated, enamelled, and baked.

Ac

It is different with the decoration accomplished by means of a muffle oven; in this method the painting is always made on baked porcelain, and consequently on enamel, and the heat employed is relatively low. In this process there is necessary, in order to make the colours on the metals adhere, a medium, which is called the fondant; it is generally a silicate, or silico-borate of lead. By raising the temperature, these bodies are fused, attack the object, combine with it, and at the same time determine by that reaction the adhesion of the colour. cording to the nature of the fondants and colours, a greater or less heat may be applied; and as certain colours are more sensitive than others, it is frequently necessary to bake at successive fires of different temperatures. The baking of colours by this process requires very great experience; the absence of any instruments of precision is greatly felt, and there is no other means of ascertaining the temperature that prevails in the muffle, than to observe on samples of porcelain the changes of colour which are undergone by certain preparations very sensitive to differences of temperatures.

DR.

PHYLLOXERA

R. MARION has recently published (Dupont, Paris, 1882) a résumé of the results attending the efforts of the Paris, Lyons, and Mediterranean Railway Company to stay the ravages of phylloxera. These efforts were inaugurated in 1876 at a time when the wine growers of Hérault were on the point of relinquishing the struggle. Dumas having demonstrated the great value of alkaline sulphocarbonates as insecticides, this company energetically planned and organised its distribution, with such success that in the period between 1877 and 1881 the number of barrels distributed through their agency rose from 1085 to 14149. The sulphocarbonate is injected twice a year in doses of 12 grammes into holes half a metre apart, being either administered in simple doses or double doses, with an interval of three or four days. The doses vary, however somewhat, according to the nature of the soil and condition of the vines, and much is therefore left to the intelligence of the operator. The remedy acts imperfectly in clayey or stiff soils, and when the ground is saturated.

The first injury manifested when vines are attacked

is the loss of their finer radicles, which perish through the suction of the aphid. The consequent loss of nutrition next causes the partial death of old wood and feebleness in the young shoots, followed by a gradual diminution in the fruit. If badly attacked, old vines cannot be saved, as much of the woody stem is dead beyond recovery, but young vines almost always recover under the sulphocarbon treatment, when applied under favourable conditions; new radicles appear, then an increasing luxuriance in the foliary organs, and finally the renewed production of fruit. Dr. Marion strongly advocates the use of this remedy, and sustains his arguments by well selected examples which thoroughly demonstrate its efficacy. It is capable of a wide application, the prices realised for wines in most districts being well able to support its cost.

Other remedies found practicable, but not discussed in Dr. Marion's work, are submersion, and replacement by American stock, with or without grafting. The former can only be practised in comparatively flat or low-lying vineyards in proximity to rivers or canals. These are surrounded by strong embankments of from one to one and a half metres high; and the waters are either let in by mere difference of level at flood times or by centrifugal pumps. The water must not be less than 40 to 50 centimetres in depth, and remain forty to fifty days, and the process is repeated each year. Some waters help to

fertilise the soil, and this treatment has invariably produced the best results.

The introduction of American vines has also in certain districts been attended with great success, both in clayey soils, and where the smallness of the vintage per acre precludes the sustained use of costly remedies. The species, however, possess most varying powers of resist ance in different soils, and require to be selected with great care. In the vineyards of Medoc, and of highclass vines generally, American stocks are only used for grafting, a clever workman being able to operate on 100 to 200 vines per diem, 70 to 90 per cent. of which will be successful.

Among partly successful remedies may be mentioned the system Garros. This consists in uncovering the roots of the vines as far as possible, and treating them with a litre of powdered quicklime, sulphate of copper, and seasalt. The remedy has been found efficacious, but seems to act, not fatally, on the insects, but in diminishing their number and stimulating the plants to overcome their ravages. The system Sabaté is directed towards the destruction of the winter egg, which produces the winged or reproducing stage of the phylloxera. The treatment consists in removing the dead bark from the trunk, and dusting with powdered quicklime, but, like the last, it is not fatal to the insect. A third remedy, that of Dunay, consists in exposing the roots of the vine, and coating them from the surface-roots to some 20 centimetres in depth with coal-tar.

I saw, while staying with Leland Cossart, in Madeira, a plan somewhat similar to this practised with great success. Mr. John Leacock, its inventor, removes after the first autumn rain, the soil to a depth of some 20 inches, so as to expose the upper roots, peels off the loose bark and paints the roots with resin dissolved in turpentine, at the same time manuring the vines. This mixture being unaffected by water remains viscid for three or four years, and destroys the insects on their passage up and down. Its cost is less than a halfpenny per vine, and while those so treated were luxuriant in bright green foliage, all around were yellowing and weak.

J. S. GARDNER

THE EXTENSION SEAWARD OF THE WATERS OF THE CHINESE RIVERS

THE following notes, on the extension seaward of the waters of the Yang-tse, were made in the months of September and October (1878), a period of the year when the river first commences to fall, after its waters have attained their maximum height. The four points to which I turned my attention were the colour and general appearance of the water, the taste, the specific gravity, and the relative amount of chlorides in solution. Owing to the powerful revolving tides of the estuary of the Yangtse, the river-water and sea-water are churned up together in such a manner that the patches of green and yellow water may be plainly observed, and their line of union as sharply defined. It is from this cause that the density of the water may fluctuate to a very marked degree in the limit of a single mile; and it was not an uncommon experience, on passing from a patch of yellow water into one of green colour, to observe a sudden increase in the density from 1005 to 1015. The specific gravity is never constant in the same locality; and it is only by taking all the four points into consideration that a reliable inference could be drawn: thus, the first evidence of the proximity of salt water, which was found at a distance varying from fifteen to thirty miles from Wusung, was not afforded by any marked increase of the density or by any alteration in the taste or colour of the water, but merely by a very perceptible increase in the amount of chlorides held in solution; whilst in the midst of the islands of the Chusan archipelago, which are removed

about a hundred miles to the southward, it was often necessary to depend more on the density of the water, on account of the subsidence of the sediment.

Without entering into the details it may be sufficent to state that, whilst the waters of the Yang-tse, according to my observations, became permanently free from sediment, and assumed the more marked characters of seawater, with a minimum density of 1'018, at a distance of about forty miles east of Wusung, they still retained their yellow colour and turbid appearance, with a density varying between 1005 and 1'011, on the outskirts of the Chusan archipelago, about a hundred miles to the southward. From these data the conclusion may very naturally be drawn that the main body of the water discharged by the Yang-tse flows comparatively undisturbed in a southerly direction across the Hang-chu Bay to the Chu san archipelago. The southerly extension of the muddy waters of the Yang-tse in the neighbourhood of Chusan 1 must have been a frequent subject of remark to any one approaching Shanghai from the southward, and should he at some subsequent period undertake the voyage from that port to Nagasaki, he will be very probably surprised to find himself, some four or five hours after leaving Wusung, surrounded by the green waters of the Eastern Sea. The situation of the Great Yang-tse bank, which extends one hundred and fifty miles to the north-east from the mouth of the river, would appear to negative the conclusion at which I have arrived; but I am inclined to view this bank-lying as it does rather off the entrances to the river, and composed as it is of fine grey sand-as rather the work of a past period, when perhaps the bulk of the waters found a passage to the north of the island of Tsung-ming, than as being in actual formation at present. That a vast amount of sediment is deposited to the southward of the estuary at the present time we have the most undoubted testimony in the rapid shoaling of the sea amongst the islands of the Chusan archipelago, and along the shores of the Hang-chu Bay, which has caused channels at one time navigable for junks to be now impassable.

With reference to the general effect of the water discharged by the Chinese rivers on the density of the Yellow Sea and of the Gulf of Pe-chili, I may observe that in the month of October I found the specific gravity to rise slowly from 1019 at the base of the Great Yang-tse bank-a point between fifty and sixty miles east of Wusung-to 1023 amongst the islands of the Corean archipelago; and that the maximum of 1'024 was attained at a point mid-way between this archipelago and the Shantung promontary. North of this cape the density does not vary in any marked degree, but after the Miautau Islands were passed-a group which separates the Gulf of Pe-chili from the Yellow Sea-there was a gradual diminution, until, at our nearest point of approach to the Yellow River, the mouth of which was forty-five miles distant, the specific gravity was 1'021. This slight fall in the density was the only indication of our proximity to such a large river as the Hoang-ho-a circumstance which has a particular bearing on the excessive amount of sediment which this river has been estimated to discharge (vide NATURE, vol. xxii. p. 487). From this point to the mouth of the Pei-ho the specific gravity continued to decrease, until at a point about twenty-three miles from the mouth of this river, where the discolouration from sediment was first observed, it was 1'020. Thence to the Taku forts the density rapidly fell.

We may thus place the specific gravity of the Gulf of Pe-chili at from 1020 to 1023, and that of the Yellow Sea at from 1'022 to 1'024, whilst the difference between these densities and that of oceanic water-1027-will represent the combined effect of the discharge of the I may take this opportunity of observing, that on one occasion when off the northern extremity of Chusan, I noticed several large medusa floating on the surface of the water, which was not only muddy in appearance but had a density of 1'006.

Pei-ho, the Yellow River, and to a less degree of the Yang-tse, on the specific gravities of the seas in question. I must conclude with an observation on the erroneous notion which the appellation of "Yellow Sea" must convey to the minds of most men. For however much the Yellow Sea may have merited the epithet of "yellow" when it received the waters of the Hoang-ho about a quarter of a century ago-though if an inference is to be drawn from the present condition of the Gulf of Pe-chili it could scarcely have been entitled to it even at that period-it has no claim whatever to it now. Free from sediment and dark green in colour, except in the immediate vicinity of the estuary of the Yang-tse, the Yellow Sea has been more appropriately named by Chinese sailors-"The Black-water Ocean." H. B. GUPPY H.M.S. Lark, Sydney

PROFESSOR GEIKIE IN ARRAN

AMONG the many features which have lent attraction

66

to the study of geology at Edinburgh University, Prof. Geikie's field demonstrations have always held a conspicuous place. Few favourable Saturdays have been allowed to pass, on which he might not be seen rambling with his class through some wooded glen, or climbing some rugged brae, with hammer, sketch-book, and mapstriking rock section, or to examine a case, and every now and then stopping to point out some find," made perchance by one of his students. But at the end of the session, when a week or ten days are devoted to the exploration of some district possessing an interesting geological structure, the "long excursion" is always looked forward to with the keenest delight by professor as well as by students. The first long class-excursion ten years ago was to Arran, and the Professor decided that his last should also be to that island-famous alike for the beauty of its scenery and for the interest attaching to its geological framework. Quarters were taken up at Corrie Hotel on Monday April 24, and that afternoon saw the whole party, numbering about a score, roaming with bags and hammers along the coast towards North Glen Sannox, and making the acquaintance of the coarse red sandstones and brecciated white quartz conglomerates of the Upper Old Red, or Lower Calciferous Sandstone series, which extend in a broad belt round that part of the island. Further inland, a coarse conglomerate made up of well-rounded pebbles of pinkish quartz interstratified with characteristic dark chocolate-coloured sandstones and occasional argillaceous beds, was ascertained some years ago by the Professor to belong to the Lower Old Red Sandstone, and to be brought down by a fault against the schists that fringe the mountainous granitic core of the northern half of the island. He had already made some progress with a geological map of the island on a scale of six inches to a mile, and he now purposes to continue this work with the co-operation of his students. Resuming his geclogical boundary-lines at Glen Sannox, the party was soon scouring the hillsides far and near, in search of rock-sections and exposures, while he, map in hand, remained within ear-shot, and superintended operations, marking down the lines of junction, and unravelling the geological structures with the skilful hand of one long acquainted with the art of geological mapping. In this way several miles of the boundary between the granite and schists were mapped. In the course of a walk along the steep craggy Suidhe Fearghus, on the north side of Glen Sannox, the trend of this remarkable ridge was found to coincide with that of the vertical joint in the granite, and the deep gashes which indent its profile were observed to be due sometimes to cross joints, sometimes to basalt dykes which, decomposing, have weathered down much faster than the surrounding granite. The view from Caisteal Abhail, the highest peak (2735 feet) of the ridge, was magnificent, extending