cxii GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



the Iceland glaciers, and stated that these glaciers are manifestly in- 

 creasing in size from year to year, and, unless checked by a succes- 

 sion of warm seasons, seem likely to overwhelm the island. 



ASIA. 



In exploration, as well as in the publication of the results of 

 previous travels, a great deal has been done during the past year 

 toward increasing our knowledge of Asiatic geography. In this 

 work the Russian Geographical Society has been energetic, several 

 important expeditions having been, under its auspices, during the 

 past year, either undertaken, continued, or brought to a conclusion. 

 The most important of these, as well as the explorations carried on 

 by travelers of other nations, may be briefly noticed. 



The work of carrying a series of levels across Siberia from the 

 European frontier to Irkoutsk, a distance of 2000 miles, under the 

 direction of Colonel Tillo, has been completed, and the results will 

 be shortly published. 



The Olena expedition, in addition to the work noticed in the last 

 Record^ has, under command of the late M. Chekanovsky, explored 

 the Lena and Olonek Rivers, and has examined the great northern 

 tundra"^ of Siberia. This appears to be essentially different from the 

 marshy tundra of Western Siberia. 



In addition to his geognostic and route surveys, M. Chekanovsky 

 brought home a paleontological collection comprising IGOO spec- 

 imens, all belonging to the secondary geological epoch, a herbarium 

 containing more than 3000 plants, and an entomological collection 

 numbering more than 7000 insects. 



The shores of the Aral Sea and its affluent the Amu-Daria River 

 have been surveyed by a Russian party, and careful magnetic, mete- 

 orological, and astronomical observations have been made. An im- 

 portant addition to the knowledge of this region has been made by 

 the publication of " The Shores of Lake Aral," by Major Herbert 

 Wood. 



By direction of the Russian Minister of Public Works, M. Si- 

 densner has visited Western Siberia, to ascertain the practicability 

 of uniting the great river systems of the Obi and the Yenisei. 

 He found that the Ket, an important branch of the Obi, afforded the 

 greatest facilities for this undertaking, while his colleague, M. Lo- 

 patin, explored the geology of the basin of the Chulim, where he 

 found iron ore. His researches further resulted in the discovery of 

 animal and vegetable fossil deposits in several places on this river. 



* By the word timdra are denoted the immense plains in Rnssia and Sibe- 

 ria between the forest region and the Polar Sea. The ground, thougli al- 

 most every where continually frozen at a short distance below the surface, 

 produces in summer a scanty vegetation. 



