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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



R. A. Kellogg, librarian of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, San Francisco. He says 

 that Dr. Lockwood's recent articles call out 

 again a statement of his having a young 

 Maryland marmot or woodchuck, when a 

 boy, that " sung like a canary-bird, but in a 

 softer, sweeter note." His impression was, 

 that it was a female. " I used to watch the 

 pet very closely to see how it sang, as 

 children are apt to do. There was a slight 

 motion of the nostrils and lips, and conse- 

 quently of the whiskers, with an air of un- 

 mistakably happy or serene enjoyment." 



Is the Singing of Magical Mice IaM;il or 

 gnttnral ? In answer to this question, which 

 has been prompted by the reading of the 

 article on musical mice in the last number of 

 The Popular Science Monthly, Dr. Lock- 

 wood says : " The sound is undoubtedly 

 produced in the upper part of the throat, 

 although, while singing, the lips and nostrils 

 keep up that movement noticeable in the 

 upper lip, so to speak, of the rabbit. 



The Rising of Circnmpolar Land. 



Mr. H. H. Howorth, in a letter to Nature, 

 summarizes the evidence in favor of the 

 view that the lands about the north and 

 south poles are undergoing general up- 

 heaval. Concerning the northern polar 

 lands, he quotes Captain Parry to the effect 

 that Melville Island shows unmistakable 

 signs of elevation, in the presence of bones 

 of whales and drift-wood buried in the 

 sand, in some cases 15 or 20 feet above 

 the present level of the sea. Franklin gives 

 similar testimony concerning the coast ex- 

 tending from the Mackenzie River to the 

 Rocky Mountains ; while Dr. Richardson 

 found a like state of things to the east. 

 The narratives of Maclune and Belcher con- 

 tain evidence of similar purport. Though 

 generally spoken of as subsiding, the islands 

 in the vicinity of Behring's Straits bear all 

 the traces of having recently been under 

 water. The eastern coast of Asia, including 

 China and Japan, is also beiDg upheaved. 

 The rise of Spitzbergen was observed to be 

 goiDg on as long ago as 1646, and is again 

 affirmed by Parry, in the account of his 

 journey toward the pole. 



Evidence of upheaval of lands adjacent 

 to the southern pole is also abundant. In 



South America, Mr. Darwin found that 

 " the land from the Rio Plata to Terra del 

 Fuego, a distance of 1,200 miles, has been 

 raised in mass (and in Patagonia to a height 

 of between 300 and 400 feet) within the 

 period of now-existing shells." Unmistak- 

 able evidences of upheaval are met with at 

 Parana, on the banks of the Uruguay, and 

 below Buenos Ayres. On the west coast in 

 Central and Northern Chili, Mr. Darwin also 

 found the indications of rising land. 



Speaking of Southern Africa, Griesback 

 says, " There cannot be the slightest doubt 

 that the upheaval of the country is still go- 

 ing on; for, along the whole coast of South 

 Africa from the Cape to Durham Bluff, and 

 still farther north, even as far as Zanzibar, 

 modern- raised beaches, ccral-reefs, and 

 oyster-banks, may everywhere be seen. 

 At the Gzinhluzabalungu Caves is such a 

 point ; where the rising of the coast is 

 plainly visible, recent oyster-shells are now 

 12 feet and more above high-water mark. 

 The same can be observed on the whole 

 line of the Natal Coast." 



Of Tasmania Mr. Wintle remarks : " Until 

 a very recent period in the geological annals 

 of this island, a great portion of what now 

 constitutes the site of this city was under 

 water. This is proved by the extensive de- 

 posits of comminuted shells, all of recent 

 species, which are met with for miles along 

 the banks of the Derwent. Some of these 

 deposits are at an elevation of upward of 

 100 feet above high-water mark, and from 

 50 to 100 yards from the water's edge, 

 plainly showing thereby that a very recent 

 elevation of the land has taken place." 



In New Zealand the evidence is the 

 same. M. Reclus says the port of Lyttelton 

 has risen three feet since it was occupied by 

 the settlers. Mr. Forbes says that proofs 

 of upheaving of the land are even now obvi- 

 ous to any intelligent traveller. Some of 

 these changes have been witnessed by the 

 present generation. Again, in the Middle 

 Island upheaval of the land is observable in 

 a marked manner through the entire length 

 of the western coast from Cape Farewell to 

 Dusky Bay. Some of the most extraordi- 

 nary changes in these regions have taken 

 place within the last few years. 



In Australia, the proofs that elevation is 

 now taking place are equally clear and 



