User talk:Sharktopus/Sandbox archive

I am going to use this page to archive sandbox stuff no longer active -- articles I set out to work on, did work on, and thus used up the stuff I gathered in my sandbox. Sharktopus^talk 23:10, 31 January 2011 (UTC) Note -- moving the sandbox and its archive from userspace to user talkspace. Sharktopus^talk 11:38, 16 June 2011 (UTC)

Hubble Bubble (astronomy)

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In astronomy, a Hubble bubble would be (if it existed) "a departure of the local value of the Hubble constant from its globally averaged value." (Jha et al. 2007).

Quotes from http://theastronomist.fieldofscience.com/2010/07/hubble-bubble.html:

• "Technically a Hubble bubble is defined as a region of space wherein there is an observed departure of the local value of the Hubble constant from its cosmologically averaged value."
• "The Hubble Bubble is wildly speculative and precision cosmology has almost completely defeated it as a credible explanation. "
• "Of course, despite difficulties the analysis, they find that in their parametrization there is evidence for more than the simply effect of local Milky Way dust implying doom for the Hubble Bubble. So the Hubble Bubble has been burst."

"a local monopole in the peculiar velocity field, perhaps caused by a local void in the mass density."

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=1998ApJ...503..483Z Title: A Local Hubble Bubble from Type IA Supernovae? Authors: Zehavi, Idit; Riess, Adam G.; Kirshner, Robert P.; Dekel, Avishai Publication: Astrophysical Journal v.503, p.483 (ApJ Homepage) Publication Date: 08/1998 Origin: APJ ApJ Keywords: COSMOLOGY: OBSERVATIONS, COSMOLOGY: THEORY, GALAXIES: DISTANCES AND REDSHIFTS, COSMOLOGY: LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE OF UNIVERSE, STARS: SUPERNOVAE: GENERAL DOI: 10.1086/306015 Bibliographic Code: 1998ApJ...503..483Z

Gustav Gassner

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• Here is the Google translation of http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Gassner

It has no inline references, so I am going to need to work on this to create its analog in English Wikipedia. Sharktopus^talk 21:20, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

Johann Gustav Gassner (born January 17, 1881 in Berlin; † 5 February 1955 in Lüneburg) was a German botanist and Phytomedicine. Its official botanical author abbreviation is "Gassner.

Life [Edit]

Originally from a Salzburg emigrants Gassner visited the Friedrichs-Gymnasium in Berlin and then studied from 1899 to 1905 in Halle and Berlin, botany and natural sciences. He received his PhD in 1906 at the Agricultural University of Berlin and then started work on Getreidemykosen at the Imperial Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry in Berlin-Dahlem. [1] In 1907 he became professor of botany and plant pathology at the Agricultural University of Montevideo, Uruguay. In 1910 he returned to Germany and married Lili Fassier-Farnell, with whom he later five children together, four sons and a daughter.

He first worked at the State Botanical Institute, Hamburg. From 1911 he taught at the University of Kiel, 1915, he was an assistant to a professor at the University of Rostock. On 1st World War II was a bacteriological laboratory Gassner Board of the German army. 1918 Gassner eventually became a professor of Botany at the Technical University of Braunschweig. There he headed the Institute of Botany and the Botanical Garden. In 1926 he took over the leadership of the newly established Botanical Research Institute and was president of the German Botanical Society, since 1931, he was a member of the German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina. In 1932 he was elected Rector of the Technical University of Braunschweig. However, soon after he fell to the Nazis in conflict because he objected to the massive intervention in the academic self-government. His situation worsened in 1933 very much and he resigned. On 1 April 1933 he was "to have participated in preparation of high treason" under the pretext of being arrested. After his release in September Gassner emigrated to Turkey. In Ankara, he was the expert of the Ministry of Agriculture and director of the Plant Protection Service operates. In 1939 he returned to Germany and worked as head of the biological department of the AG Fahlberg-List in Magdeburg. Here he worked on the development and testing of plant protection products. His main field was there Germisan, a means for dressing seed based on organic mercury compounds.

In 1945 he again took over the principal's office in Braunschweig. From 1946 to 1948 Gassner was a chairman of the Rectors' Conference. In 1949 he was appointed to the German Research Council, a forerunner of the German Research Foundation. Significantly its share in building the Braunschweig Research Center (Federal Biological Research Centre, Federal Agricultural Research Centre) was. The University of Göttingen awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1951 and he was, on the occasion of his 70th Birthday, was appointed Honorary Senator of the TH Braunschweig. In the same year he retired, he represented his subject but still acting. 1952 he gave the Federal President Theodor Heuss, the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic for his outstanding achievements in the areas of crop protection and for the benefit of agriculture.

German to English translation Scientific Focus [Edit]

Gassner's scientific achievements are in the field of plant pathology and applied biology. He examined smuts and fire diseases of cereals. In addition, the physiology and ecology of the rust fungus was another focus of his work. In addition, the numerous essays on the germination physiology are mentioned. Crucial he improved the methods of seed dressing. Leading the vernalization research was his work on the development conditions of the grains. Fonts [edit]

There are a total of 200 publications by Gassner. In addition to numerous journal articles, he wrote the book Microscopic examination of plant food and beverages, which was first published 1931st It has been opened several times and continued after his death. The current sixth Edition of 2007, Berthold Hohmann edited and is titled Microscopic examination of plant food and feed: the Gassner. ISBN 3-89947-256-X.

Lunar rhythms in biological systems

• Lunar month
• Lunar Rhythms in Aquatic Animals A General Review
• Diurnal and weekly, but no lunar rhythms in humans copulation.
• Human responses to the geophysical daily, annual and lunar cycles.: "Lunar cycles had, and continue to have, an influence upon human culture, though despite a persistent belief that our mental health and other behaviours are modulated by the phase of the moon, there is no solid evidence that human biology is in any way regulated by the lunar cycle."
• The lunar cycle: effects on human and animal behavior and physiology:

Human and animal physiology are subject to seasonal, lunar, and circadian rhythms. Although the seasonal and circadian rhythms have been fairly well described, little is known about the effects of the lunar cycle on the behavior and physiology of humans and animals. The lunar cycle has an impact on human reproduction, in particular fertility, menstruation, and birth rate. Melatonin levels appear to correlate with the menstrual cycle. Admittance to hospitals and emergency units because of various causes (cardiovascular and acute coronary events, variceal hemorrhage, diarrhea, urinary retention) correlated with moon phases. In addition, other events associated with human behavior, such as traffic accidents, crimes, and suicides, appeared to be influenced by the lunar cycle. However, a number of reports find no correlation between the lunar cycle and human reproduction and admittance to clinics and emergency units. Animal studies revealed that the lunar cycle may affect hormonal changes early in phylogenesis (insects). In fish the lunar clock influences reproduction and involves the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis. In birds, the daily variations in melatonin and corticosterone disappear during full-moon days. The lunar cycle also exerts effects on laboratory rats with regard to taste sensitivity and the ultrastructure of pineal gland cells. Cyclic variations related to the moon's phases in the magnitude of the humoral immune response of mice to polivinylpyrrolidone and sheep erythrocytes were also described. It is suggested that melatonin and endogenous steroids may mediate the described cyclic alterations of physiological processes. The release of neurohormones may be triggered by the electromagnetic radiation and/or the gravitational pull of the moon. Although the exact mechanism of the moon's influence on humans and animals awaits further exploration, knowledge of this kind of biorhythm may be helpful in police surveillance, medical practice, and investigations involving laboratory animals.

Drafting an intro: Lunar rhythms in biological systems are phenomena whose timing corresponds to a lunar month, the Moon's (roughly) 29.5 day orbit around Earth. In some cases these rhythms may depend on external cues, such as a greater or smaller amount of moonlight due to the moon's phases. In other cases, for example the approximately-monthly cycle of menstruation, the correlation in timing may reflect no known lunar influence."

A Canticle for Leibowitz

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Automatic taxoboxes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Automatic_taxobox/doc/Step-by-step

Sharktopus/Sandbox archive
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Cactaceae Scheer ex Salm-Dyck

Cicadas Brood XIX

Concentrations have been known to reach 1.5 million per acre. Loudest insect -- male's song as loud as 100 decibels, as loud as a motorcycle. The 13-year variety differs from annual because it is bigger and has red eyes, orange veins in wings.

downloadable pdf from MU Extension:

"The range of periodical cicadas, Magicicada spp. (Figure 1), covers most of the United States east of the Mississippi River and includes Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. Periodical cicadas lay their eggs on numerous tree species, favoring oaks, hickory, honeylocust, hawthorn, dog- wood, apple, peach, pear, elm, ash, walnut and sycamore. Conifers appear to be free of attack."

Three species in Missouri -- 13 year Brook 19 will emerge in late May/early June. 17 year brood 4, and annual dog-day cicadas of July and August. Good thing for wild turkeys. Previous appearance 1998. More from same source:

Brood 19 is composed of three species of 13-year cicadas. Periodical cicadas, which belong to the genus Magicicada, are separated into broods according to species and what year they emerge. They range from 3/4 to 1.5 inches long and are distinguished from the green annual, or dog-day, cicadas by their black bodies and red eyes and legs. They spend most of their lives underground, where they suck juices out of plant roots. In the spring of their 13th year, once soil temperatures stabilize around 65 degrees, these cicada nymphs tunnel to the surface and climb the nearest tree, plant, fence post or house. In wet years the nymphs sometimes build 2- to 4-inch turrets of soil for protection and then chew through the tops to emerge. They then molt their exoskeleton, frequently leaving the brown shells attached to trees.

Colonists described in 1634:

"......there was a numerous company of Flies, which were like for bigness unto Wasps or Bumble-Bees, they came out of little holes in the ground, and did eat up the green things, and made such a constant yelling noise as made all the woods ring of them, and ready to deaf the hearers;......" "......there was such a swarm of a certain sort of insects in that English colony, that for the space of 200 miles they poyson'd and destroyed all the trees of that country. There being found innumerable little holes in the ground, out of which those insects broke forth in the form of maggots, which turned into flyes that had a kind of taile or sting, which they struck into the tree, and thereby envenomed and killed it.."

Species info: LInnaeus described the species septendecim in 1758. Fisher (1851) described cassini based on observations of John Cassin on a distinct 17-year form. Each 17-year species has a corresponding 13-year species; the spp corresponding to septendecim is tredecim (Walsh and Riley 1868) and the spp corresponding to cassini is tredecassini. A third type of 13-year cicada tredecula (Alexander and Moore, 1962) was described on the basis of a song different from that of cassini and septentrionis; corresponding 17-year is septendecula, it is smaller than the other two types. All three spp occur in almost every brood in the US

Decim periodical cicadas (drafting)

The name Decim periodical cicadas is used to group three closely-related species of periodical cicadas: Magicicada septendecim, Magicicada tredecim, and Magicicada neotredecim. M. septendecim, first described by Linnaeus, has a 17-year lifecycle; the name "septendecim" is Latin for 17. M. tredecim, first described in 1868, has a similar call and appearance but a 13-year lifecycle; "tredecim" is Latin for 13. M. neotredecim, first described in 1962, is a 13-year species but otherwise much more similar to 'M. septendecim than to M. tredecim.

• Description (physical, behavioral) - what makes this (group of) critter(s) different from its close relatives? Include here evidence about cognitive capacities.

Like other species included in Magicicada, decim periodical cicadas have synchronized development with a long larval period underground (13 or 17 years, depending on species), followed by mass emergence, quick development to adult flying forms, and massed singing choruses of males that attract many females. Mating, egg-laying, and the death of all adult cicadas occur within weeks. Eggs hatch into first-instar larvae, which fall to the ground and tunnel into the earth to begin their own multi-year dormant period.

All Magicicada species have a black dorsal thorax with reddish eyes and wing veins. The decim periodical cicadas share a distinctive song said to resemble someone calling "weeeee-whoa" or "Pharaoh," The song of All three species show orange coloration on the underside of the abdomen -- broad orange stripes in the case of M. septendecim and M. neotredecim, solid orangish or caramel color in the case of M.tredecim.

• Habitat - where does it live? how broadly does it roam? maps are good
• Classification - how does it fit into the tree of life?

Photinus carolinus workshop

I am interested in this Tennessee firefly with male display of synchronized flashing (visual signal) because I have just been working on periodical cicadas that do male display of synchronized calling (acoustical signal). Let me use this page to organize some of the references that might be helpful:

• June 2003 interview with Moiseff: Elkmont, TN.

Naturally occurring synchrony is rare, and synchronous fireflies - first recorded in Southeast Asia - were once thought to be solely an Asian phenomenon. Although the synchrony is obvious within minutes to a casual observer of the Elkmont fireflies, the first task faced by Moiseff and Copeland as scientists was to verify that the flashes were indeed synchronous. In some species - certain species of frogs, for example - what appears to be synchrony is incidental: as the frogs compete with each other by calling faster and faster, the separate sounds blur into one another and seem to be temporarily synchronized.

• Published by Tennessee, account of discovery by 3 people involved:

Photinus carolinus can be identified by the pattern of flashes produced by the flying males. A male produces

four to eight very bright flashes in rapid succession (approximately two flashes per second). Then, he waits for eight to 12 seconds and produces four to eight flashes more. The timing is influenced by temperature. Intervals are shorter when it is hotter. A female can be identified because her very weak pulsed flash occurs when the males are not flashing. When two or more Photinus carolinus are present, they fly close and synchronize their flashes. What is equally remarkable is that in Photinus carolinus, the simultaneity of the flashing is reinforced by the sudden transition to no-flashing. All of a sudden, the forest, just sparkling with light, is dark. And then they are flashing in sych again. ... the characteristic four to eight flash burst of Photinus carolinus form bands of flashing fireflies that stretch acrosss the hillside. The bands progress repeatedly, pulsating waves traversing the

hillside. This is wave synchrony, the flashing that was known for more than 30 years as the “Light Show” in Elkmont.

• Mass synchronized flashing paper about a different species, summarizes past work on this one:

"We used videography, photometry, computer-shaped LED flash, and flash entrainment experiments to show that flashes of the North American firefly Photinus carolinus were synchronic (fixed phase rhythmic group flashing) (Copeland and Moiseff, 1995) and described some of the mechanisms underlying its discontinuous synchrony (an interflash interval that is insensitive to exogenous pulses of light, an interburst interval that is phase-sensitive to exogenous light pulses (Moiseff and Copeland, 1995; Moiseff et al., 1999. A few years later, we discovered that the North American firefly Photuris frontalis is synchronic …"

• 1978 paper written before the discovery of synchronous flashing in Photinus carolinus, talks about the phenomenon in South Asian fireflies. Typical roving fireflies not gregarious. Flashing males fly over low vegetation; if a female responds courtship begins that involves alternating flashes by the two. In parts of Southeast Asia, fireflies gather in trees and males flash in synchronized rhythm. Mating occurs in the trees. Firefly tree congregations appear in the same trees year after year. Hypothesis that dense vegetation makes it harder for individual pairs to find each other; flashing group is visible a long way off.

Zombie ladybugs

Fascinating article at BBC about braconid wasp that zombifies ladybugs into guards for its coccoon -- with a happy(ish) ending in that 25% of ladybugs recover and get right back to their ladybug business:

After a female wasp injects its egg into the ladybird, the larva munches on its host's internal tissues before breaking out through the abdomen. In some cases the partially paralysed ladybird remains sitting on the parasite as it spins a cocoon. Researchers think venom from the wasp makes the ladybird twitch and grasp - warding off predators. This uncharacteristic behaviour by the ladybird begins at the point that the parasite breaks out of its body. Details of the work have been published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

Jacques Brodeur, Fanny Maure and colleagues from the University of Montreal in Canada found that cocoons attended by a living ladybird were preyed upon significantly less by natural enemies such as the lacewing than did those that were alone or covered by dead ladybirds.

The wasp Dinocampus coccinellae needs an article, so does its genus and its subfamily Euphorinae. Sharktopus ^talk 12:12, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Taxon of genus:

Taxon of species:

Sharktopus/Sandbox archive
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Suborder:	Apocrita
Superfamily:	Ichneumonoidea
Family:	Braconidae
Subfamily:	Euphorinae Shaw (1985, 1987, 1988)
Genera
Several, see text

The Euphorinae are a subfamily of braconid parasitic wasps. They are solitary koinobiont endoparaistoids that parasitize the insects in the imago stage or (for some hemimetabolous insects) the nymph stage.

The Euphorinae tribe Dinocampini are distinguished by having ocular setae and the labial palpus reduced to two segments. Members of the tribe parasitize adult beetles. Its four genera are Dinocampus Foerster, Ropalophorous Curtis, Centistina Enderlein, and Betelgeuse Shaw.

Paederus genus of rove beetles

Sharktopus/Sandbox archive
Paederus rove beetles, showing size
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Staphyliniformia
Superfamily:	Staphylinoidea
Family:	Staphylinidae
Subfamily:	Paederinae
Tribe:	Paederini
Genus:	Paederus Fabricius, 1758

Quoting myself in Paederinae article: Three of the genera of Paederina, a subtribe of Paederini, are associated with a skin irritation called Paederus dermatitis, due to a potent vesicant in their haemolymph. This irritant is called pederin and is highly toxic, more potent than cobra venom.

http://www.itg.be/itg/DistanceLearning/LectureNotesVandenEndenE/52_Ectoparasitesp7.htm#T5 7.4 Blister beetles, species

Among the Staphylinidae, the genus Paederus is known to contain at least 25 species. Paederus fusca is well known in the rice fields of Southeast Asia. Paederus crebinpunctatis and P. sabaeus occur in East Africa. P. cruenticollis is important in Australia. The most striking characteristic of these beetles is the very short elytra (hence the old name for this group: Brachyptera). They are often strikingly metallic and yellow coloured. The hindmost tip of the abdomen is often dark. The adults can fly well. The penultimate hindbody segment contains an extremely fine comb on the posterior border, which helps in the unfolding of the wings. At rest, the wings are folded up so as to find a place beneath the short wing sheaths. It is not so simple for the insect to fold up its wings again. In many cases, it has to raise its hindbody and support the wings with it. In this position, the large species at first sight resemble earwigs, but short-winged beetles have no pincers at the end of the abdomen. The adult beetles and their larvae often live in damp environments. The adults are active during the day and are attracted by light at night, which can bring them into contact with humans. In addition to Paederus sp., other short-winged beetles of the genera Anothylus, Atheta and Oxytelus also cause blister formation.

• http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2802%2908759-7/fulltext The Lancet, Volume 359, Issue 9321, Page 1950, 1 June 2002 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(02)08759-7 "Blister beetles and the ten plagues" Scott A Norton, Christina Lyons

Rove beetles, which breed in the marshy banks of the Nile and scavenge tadpoles and carrion,3 were provided heaps of decaying frogs on which their numbers could flourish. Thus arose the third and fourth plagues, in which “grievous swarms of insects invaded Pharaoh's palace and the houses of Egypt”. Rove beetle swarms are normally focal, which may explain why the insects plagued the Egyptian community but spared the neighbouring Israelites.

Soon thereafter, “boils ([sh'chin]: boils or eruption) breaking forth with blains ( [avahbu'ot]: blisters or boils) on man and beast” formed the sixth plague. Paederin-induced blisters erupt 1—4 days after exposure; thus, victims frequently do not associate the beetles and skin lesions causally and think of them as separate events.

We propose that the third and fourth plagues were an invasion of Paederus, probably P alfierii, a blister-causing rove beetle that lives in the Nile delta,3 whose population exploded under the conditions of the first two plagues.

Botanical garden made from castle gardens

I love the story (in a book I am reading, which is mostly in Swedish) about 128 cannon shots being fired to celebrate, and I found a good reference online for it:

Den 17 augusti 1787 undertecknade

Gustav iii ett gåvobrev till Uppsala Akademi. I detta förklarades att han med egna medel skulle bekosta anläggningen av en ny botanisk trädgård med alla nödvändiga hus och för detta upplåta lustträdgården vid slottet, jämte 112 alnar utanför och vid dess västra sida. Avsikten med donationen var att hedra Carl von Linnés minne, vars insatser för vetenskapen lett till svenska folkets berömmelse. Inrättningen skulle även underlätta för Linnés skickliga efterträdare att behålla försprånget, sedan utlänningar ledda av hans ljus börjat tävla med hans landsmän. Samma dag överlämnade Gustav iii detta gåvobrev till prokanslern för Akademin i närvaro av hovstaten, konsistoriet konsistoriet och talrika åskådare i Slottsträdgården. Därefter lade han själv grundstenen till den nya orangeribyggnaden, samtidigt som 128 kanonskott avlossades från Slottsbacken. Under grundstenen lades en koppardosa innehållande alla då gångbara mynt samt medaljer slagna över Konungen, kronprinsen och Carl von Linné för att ytterligare

befästa Linnés odödlighet.

English translation (improved slightly from Google's version):

On August 17, 1787 signed

Gustav III, a deed of gift to Uppsala Academy. This was explained that he their own resources would finance the plant of a new botanical garden all necessary building and for this grant pleasure garden at the castle, along with 112 ells outside and at its west side. The purpose of the donation was in honor of Linnaeus's memory, whose efforts of science led to the Swedish people fame. Facility would also facilitate Linnaeus talented successor To maintain our lead, then aliens led by his lights started to compete with his countrymen. On the same day submitted Gustav III This deed of gift to the Pro-Chancellor of Academy in the presence of the royal household, Senate Senate and numerous onlookers in the castle garden. Then he laid himself the foundation stone of the new conservatory building, while 128 cannon were fired from Castle Hill. Inside the foundation stone was placed a copper box containing all the current coins and medals beaten the king, crown prince and Carl Linnaeus to further

consolidate Linnaeus immortality.

Linnaeus Botanical Gardens

The life of Sir Charles Linnæus ...: to which is added, a copious list of his works, and a biographical sketch of the life of his son (Google eBook) Front Cover by Dietrich Johann Heinrich Stöver, tr from German by Joseph Trapp, A.M. Published by B. and J. White, 1794 - Biography & Autobiography - 435 pages

(pages 155–156) We shall here communicate a concise description of it, given by a learned traveller, who visited Upsal in the year 1771.

The academical garden of Upsal has been arranged by Linnaeus. An iron gate of excellent workmanship leads to it from the high road. At the top of the gate the Swedish arms, and those of Count Gyllenborg, who has so zealously promoted its restoration, are displayed. From within a spacious yard presents itself to view; on the right stands the dwelling of Linnaeus, who is the director of the garden, on the left appear some other buildings. A straight avenue leads by another gate to the garden, which is parted from the yard by an elegant wooden inclosure. The garden itself is laid out in a superb style. Its most considerable part consists of two large tracts of ground. One of them contains the perennial plants; the other those from which the seeds are annually gathered. Each of these tracts is divided into forty-four beds, surrounded with a low hedge and little doors. The planthouse is situate eastward. It is divided into the plant-hall (frigidarium), which lies in the centre; into the thriving-house (caldarium), and the hot-house (tepidarium), which form the northern wing, and the gardner's cot, which forms the southern wing. To the west lies the thriving-bank (vaporarium)y and to the south the glass-bank; the sun house (solarium), lies facing the ponds, into which fresh water is conveyed by pipes. The southern apartments of this edifice contain the large cabinet of natural curiosities belonging to the royal academy of sciences, which are very considerable *»

• Descriptio Horti Upsaliensis, Upsal, 1745 Vide Amcenitates Academic*, vol. i. In this work, the garden is represented on a plate.

Excerpt from King's proclamation, page 157

"... We have for this reason resolved, not only to defray the expence attending the establisment of a new botanical garden out of our own private resources; but also to add a grant of the ground of the pleasure-garden near the castle; besides 31,360 square yards of ground to the westward. We are, therefore, willing to alienate the said pleasure-garden and ground from us and the crown, and we do by these presents renounce every future claim and title thereto, presenting the same to our Academy of Upsal as an everlasting property and possession, on condition of its being used for the rearing and fostering of botanical objects. This shall serve as a due notice to every one. ** In corroboration whereof we have signed this present grant with our own hand, and sealed it with our royal seal.

"Done in the Castle of Upsal, "Signed Gustavus,

"August 16, 1787. "E. Schroederbeim."

(pages 157-158) Respecting the amelioration of the botanical garden at Upsal, the Chevalier De Thunberg has favoured the author with the following account in a letter, dated Upsal, November 12, 1791.

The ancient academical garden was situate in a very low ground, and the dwelling of the professor and the other buildings stood on a marshy soil. For this reason I intreated the King, to grant the garden of the palace to the Academy of Upsal, and to have it converted into a botanical garden, which was done accordingly. The buildings for the preservation of the plants, the Orangerie, the hot-house, and the lecture room in which the bust of Linnaeus will be put, the museum, the professor's house, &c. &c. are mostly finished, and will be quite complete in a few years hence. The old botanical garden is still in being; but the buildings, especially the Orangerie, are almost a heap of ruins. In the new garden I have ordered the perennial plants to be arranged and planted in three beds, and the annual ones in a field, according to the Linnaean system. The Swedish, the medicinal and other plants for the use of the medical and economical students, are contained in separate beds. Besides the natural curiosities preserved in spirits of wine, the academy hardly possessed any thing else, till I presented it with my collcftion of dried plants, insects, birds, &c. &c."

The Latin original of this letter is then given, page 158:

Prior hortus situs erat loco maxime dcpresso et xdes dcmissac loco paludoso. Ego igitur a Rege Clcmenlissimo petit, ut hortus arcis rcgia: academic donarrtur proque horto botanico instrucrctur, quod et dudum faftum est. Aedes pro plantis servandis (Orangeries the hut'house, &cj. Auditorium, in quu erigctur effigies Linnai, museum naturalium, acfles professionis, &c. jam magna ex parte exstrufta sunt, et post paucos annos omnino erunt parata:. Prior hortus adhuc quidem existit, sedibus (orangerieJ fere collapsis ; et novus hortus ita a me instruclus est, ut plantatae fuerint plant* perennes in areis tribus, et annul- in unica, secundum systcma Linnzanurn; prjeterca planta: Suecicx, officinales pharmaceuticsAc. in distinftis arcis plantata: sunt, in usum medicorum et ceconomorum. Prjeter naturalia, spiritu vini servata, museum academicum quidquam vix habuit, ante quam ego collectionem meam berbarum ticcatarum, insectorum, avium, ice. Sec. Acadcmix Upsalicnsi donaveram.

Series of attacks in Middle East, August, 2011

According to the BBC, August 2011 has seen a series of attacks on civilians, soldiers, and militants in the Middle East.

• On Thursday, August 18, a series of attacks was launched near Israel's border with Egypt. Several witnesses described the attackers as wearing Egyptian uniforms. Egypt has denied any connection with the attacks on Israel and Israel has expressed regret at the death of five Egyptian policemen on Egyptian soil who were reportedly killed by Israeli soldiers.

• Israel sources immediately declared that the attacks near Eilat had been coordinated by Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committee in Gaza. Both groups denied responsibility, and Hamas claimed that Israel was making the claim as a pretext to launch attacks on Gaza. The BBC correspondent expressed surprise that attacks near the Sinai Desert but relatively far from Gaza were being described as attacks by Gazans.

• In the aftermath of the attacks near Eilat,