7H 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



is known as the Tundra, and in America its 

 technical name is the Barren Grounds. In 

 the language of science it is the country be- 

 yond the limit of forest growth. In exposed 

 situations, especially in the higher latitudes, 

 the tundra does really merit its American 

 name of barren ground, being little else 

 than gravel beds interspersed with bare 

 patches of peat or clay, and with scarcely a 

 rush or a sedge to break the monotony. In 

 Siberia, at least, this is very exceptional. 

 By far the greater part of the tundra, both 

 east and west of the Ural Mountains, is a 

 gently undulating plain, full of lakes, rivers, 

 swamps, and bogs. The lakes are diversified 

 with patches of green water plants, among 

 which ducks and swans float and dive ; the 

 little rivers flow between banks of rush and 

 sedge ; the swamps are masses of tall rushes 

 and sedges of various species, where phala- 

 ropes and ruffs breed, and the bogs are bril- 

 liant with the white, fluffy seeds of the cot- 

 ton grass. The groundwork of all this 

 variegated scenery is more beautiful and 

 varied still lichens and m<,ss of almost 

 every conceivable color, from the cream- 

 colored reindeer moss to the scarlet-cupped 

 trumpet moss, interspersed with a brilliant 

 Alpine flora, gentians, anemones, saxifrages, 

 and hundreds of plants, each a picture in it- 

 self ; the tall aconites, both the blue and yel- 

 low species ; the beautiful cloudberry, with its 

 gay white blossom and amber fruit ; the fra- 

 grant Ledum pahistre, and the delicate pink 

 Andromeda poll folia. In the sheltered val- 

 leys and deep watercourses a few stunted 

 birches, and sometimes large patches of wil- 

 low scrub, survive the long, severe winter, 

 and serve as cover for willow grouse or 

 ptarmigan. The Lapland bunting and red- 

 throated pipit are everywhere to be seen, 

 and certain favored places are the breeding 

 grounds of snipe, plover, and sandpipers of 

 many species. So far from meriting the 

 name of barren ground, the tundra is for the 

 most part a veritable paradise in summer. 

 But it has one almost fatal drawback it 

 swarms with millions of mosquitoes. The 

 tundra melts avvay insensibly into the forest, 

 but isolated trees are rare, and in Siberia 

 there is an absence of young wood on the 

 confines of the tundra. The limit of forest 

 growth appears to be retiring southward, if 

 we may judge from the number of dead and 



dying stumps ; but this may be a temporary 

 or local variation caused by exceptionally 

 severe winters. 



Caynga Lake as a Rock Basin. In a 



paper entitled Lake Cayuga as a Rock Basin, 

 Ralph S. Tarr, after describing the topog- 

 raphy of the region and giving a summary 

 of the opinions previously held, attempts to 

 prove that Cayuga, and presumably other of 

 the lakes called Finger Lakes, is situated in a 

 rock basin, with a maximum depth of ap- 

 proximately four hundred and thirty-five 

 feet. The nature of the proof is that the 

 preglacial tributaries to this valley are found 

 to be rock-incased, and that their lowest 

 points are above the present lake surface. 

 The paper presents also a brief discussion of 

 the reason why a rock basin may be sup- 

 posed to have been constructed with com- 

 parative ease in this region, and a rhythm of 

 glacial erosion and deposition is suggested. 

 The course of the preglacial Cayuga River 

 is found to be northward, probably tributary 

 to a river which drained at least one of the 

 Great Lakes Ontario. As the tributaries of 

 Cayuga River prove the rock-basin origin of 

 Cayuga, so also the Cayuga River tributary 

 of the Ontario stream indicates that Lake 

 Ontario is likewise a rock basin. 



The Expert Witness. As one of the em- 

 barrassing features in the situation of the 

 " scientific expert " witness. Prof. Charles 

 F. Himes mentions that he is legally a wit- 

 ness, an ordinary witness, but practically 

 endowed with extraordinary functions and 

 loaded with extraordinary responsibilities 

 sometimes, perhaps, with extraordinary and 

 even absurd expectations. As a witness he 

 is under the same liabilities, rules, and re- 

 strictions as other witnesses, yet, by the cir- 

 cumstances under which he is called, he 

 " exhibits the character of a very willing 

 witness, of a well-paid witness, combined 

 with a great deal of the advocate. Now, he 

 can not be held responsible for this position, 

 but the system of jurisprudence, which not 

 simply permits it, which has not simply taken 

 him but has forced him in, and which, ap- 

 parently cognizant of all, seems only able to 

 originate complaints rather than to provide 

 a different character for him ; for there 

 seems, indeed, in many of the adverse criti- 



