REVIEW.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2638, 1 August 1871, Page 2

REVIEW.

1 ransactior.s of the New Zealand Institute, 1870. Vol. IIL Edited and published under the authority of the Board of Governors of the Institute, by James Eeetor, M.D., F.K.S, jso,

The New Zealand Institute makes satis, factory progress. The volume of the “Transactions ” under review shows that.affiliated societies, numbering 544 members in all, exist in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Nelson ; whereas in May, 1869, when the first volume of the “Transactions” was published, the associated societies only counted 256 members. The Otago Institute had not then been formed j and although the Nelson Association was, we believe, in existence at the time, it cho e to carry on its investigations in solitary state. Westland, however, boasted a society called- “ The Westland Naturalists’ and Acclimatisati n Socie y,” which, sharing the fate of many other undertakings in that part of the Co'ony during the last year or two, is now defunct ; an unfortunate circumstance, seeing that the West Coast affords a promising held for scientific explanation. The banking accounts of the governing body of the Institute and of the various branches disclose balames on the right side of the ledger; and, generally, the affairs of the Institute are in a tlourithing condition. This, however, is not the standard of success to be applied to an institution founded for the express purpose of proinpting tlie |tudy of art, science, liber& : ture, and philosophy/ If the subscription he low, and admittance to the sacred brotherhood easy, plenty of people will always be found to join a philosophical society for the sake of the kudus which is sup osed to attach to such members.dp. It is a cheap means of gaining sci. utiliu distinction. You pay your guinea, and foithwi hj Lyell and Iluxley become your confreres. You at once acquire the ability to di-cuss the vexed question of the hippoca upas minor and the exact

nature of the Edzoon Cana fame. You dispose of the mystery of double spectra itt a twinkling. You feel inclined to write a paper and snub Darwin for bis heres ; es ; but finally decide to give him time for repentance. You read the scientific articles in the Athenceum and Saturday Review, and flatter yourself that you understand them. A quarter of an hour is occasionally devoted to perusing the lighter essays in the Student. The ladies listen to your profound discourses with unconcealed admiration. Inneed no guinea could be more profitably spent. All this is exceedingly agreeable ; and the institution which gives so much innocent pleasure is undoubtedly a great public benefactor ; but still the real value of a philosophical society must be judged of by the amount of work which it does. '1 he New Zealand Institute is not, we are happy to say, wanting in this respect. The “ Transactions for 1870 contain records of work valuable enough to make the names of the laborers live in the annals of science. Unfortunately, the toil is performed by very few hands. Striking off the names of the officials of the Institute, together with those of Messrs Buller and Potts, the persons who have made real contributions to physicd science, as recorded in the “Transactions,” are few indeed ; and the influence which the Institute exerts upon the public mind is rather in the way of creating a general interest in the subjects whose study it was established to promote than in evoking a large number of active workers. Time may, perhaps, remedy this defect, and render every intelligent Colonist a close observer of the operations of nature which are going on around him. The most conspicuous feature in the th'rd, as in the second volume of the “Transactions,” is the papers on Ornithology. Mr Walter Buller, of Wanganui, and Mr Potts, of Canterbury, are studying the birds of New Zealand with a ?eftl and energy Which Tvill ensure them a lasting reputation, f he former gentleman is perhaps the more accurately scientific in his observations j but Mr Potts is imbued with so warm a love for the feathered tribe, that his writings are often quite eloquent, despite a somewhat rugged style and imperfect command of language. He never tires expatiating on the beauties and intelligent habits of his pets, or cursing the recklessness of those of his fellow-colo-nists, who seem to think it the first duty of an immigrant to destroy the forests, birds, and every other natural glory of his adopted country. Mr Potts has also made nidifioation a special study, and is quite an authority on this curious subject. Both of these gentlemen contribute long papers to the present volume, in which they add liberally to the valuable store of information already collected and thrown open by them to the world. Mr Bullet’s controversy with Dr Otto Fipsch, qf Bremen, relative to the characters and nomenclature of some of the New Zealand birds still goes on, with considerable benefit tq the cause of science; but for particulars we must refer to the volume itself. In an article on the kaka {Nestor meridionalis), we find some very interesting remarks by Mr. Buller, on tlie cause qf the declension of the indigenous avifauna,’which *3 so rapid and marked, as to attract the notice of every observer. By the Maories, and by many European naturalists, the principal cause of the mischief is considered to be the introduction of the European honey bee, which by devouring the food of the meliphagous birds, deprives the latter of the means of subsistence; but Mr Buller imputes it to the Norway rat. There can be no doubt, however, that whichever of the two has been the prime agent of destruction, both have essentially contributed to the result. In a note on the Apteryx, Australis (Kiwi), Mr Buller discusses the value of Apteryx MantelU as a species, and decides that Apteryx MantelU and Australis are identical. During the past summer the orchards in Dunedin were visited by flocks of a pretty little bird, remarkable foi a ring of satiny white feathers encircling its eye. This is the Zoslerops lateralis or blight bird, so from its ueu nauiD of feeding on the American blight. Whatever may be its proclivities in this respect, it jms a landless for cherries, as the writer knows to his post; but Mr Buller pleads in its favor that it is the mortal enemy of the insects that do so much damage in orchards and kitchen gardens. It builds a little nest, in shape something like a hammock, on the slender stalk of P ter Is aqullina : an illmtiation being given in the “Transactions” (vol. 3, p. 74). An interesting circumstance relating to this bird, is the manner in which it has gradually distributed itself over the whole of New Zealand from one point. It appears to have been at first confined to the west coast of this Province ; it then dispersed itself over Southland, and about 18iS6 took its way hoitAward. In the’ winter of that year it was observed, for the first time, in both Canterbury and Nelson ; but on the approach of summer it returned to the south. Annual migrations o£ tlie same kind took place for some years, a large number of stragglers, however, remaining behind each season, until at length the Zosterops has become permanently located over the whole island, although Otago still appears to be its head,!carters, whjle it has greatly multiplied m numbers in that Province. ‘ His excursions in 1866 were not restricted to the Middle Island, but it ventured across Cook's Straits in large flocks, and was seen in different parts of the Province of Wellington. It stayed there for three months, and then deputed for the South as suddenly as it came. It did not again exhibit itself in the North Island until the winter of 1858, but since that period it b»s become a regular denizen there, and spread itself over the whole island from Wellington to the North Cape, and is even seeking to plant colonies in the beautiful isles of the Pacific, for it has been seen‘3oo miles north of the North Cape. Mr Buller has collected a largo body of evidence on the subject of this remarkable diffusion of a species'. Mr' Potts furnishes some interesting notes on those little-known birds the owls, of Svhich there are some flue specimens in the Dunedin Museum. He suggests that the name of Athene albif cies should be changed to Athene eju ans, for the very good reason that the present name is founded upon no characteristic of the bird. With regard to the Little Owl {Strlx juirvlsshna), of which probably few o| ourrqachrs Jijwo lieqrd,'My Bdttp giyes conclusive proof of its existence pear the Rajigita! a river, but has been unable to obtain any description by which the bird can be identified. All the owls are gradually disappcaiing from the laud, mainly through the destruction of the forests which are essential to a bird of such purely arboreal habits, and Mr Potts justly observes — “From the emrmous increase in the cumber of introduced rodents, the day is probably not far distant when the farmer will be as anxious for the preservation of vermin-

killers as for the protection of game birds.” Let our country readers bear this in mind. As to the other departments of Zoology, Mr Buller gives a much-wanted classification of the New Zealand lizards, although necessarily incomplete. Some of the lizards of the country present remarkable characteristics, and personal observation leads us to believe that there is a considerable number of species as yet undescribed. The North Island, howevt-r, is most prolific in this kind of animated beings, A strong example of the law of assimilative coloring is found in a rare lizard called Naidtinus sulphurous, which is sulphur yellow in color, and lives in the neighborhood of the hot springs at Rotorua, where the whole district is encrusted with sulphur and siliceous deposits. Little has yet been done by local naturalists in the way of determining the ichthyology of our coast; and the present volume of “Transactions” is as barren of information on this topic as its predecessors. There are, however, one or two papers on whales deserving of notice ; and the Report on Whale fisheries, drawn up by the Council of the Otago Institute, deals with a subject which deserves thorough investigation.