POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



429 



which would be in favor of the view of an 

 electric origin of the comet's light. The 

 curved forms of the tails of comets, and 

 their greater densit}' on the convex side, 

 admit of explanation on the supposition 

 that they are matter repelled from the sun. 

 On this hypothesis, also, a comet would 

 suffer, of course, a large waste of material 

 at each return to perihelion, since the nu- 

 cleus would be unable to gather up again to 

 itself the scattered matter of the tail ; and 

 this view is in accordance with the fact that 

 no comet of short period has a tail of any 

 considerable magnitude. There seems to 

 be a rapidly growing feeling among physi- 

 cists that both the self-light of comets and 

 the phenomena of their tails belong to the 

 order of electrical manifestations. 



The Snnken Southern Continent again. 



The French Academy of Sciences recently 

 had before it the question of the former 

 existence of the hypothetical Southern Con- 

 tinent. M. Emile Blanchard presented the 

 condition of living faunas and floras as 

 affording evidence of the former existence 

 of such a continent. Additional proof was 

 suggested by the examination of the charts 

 of the sea-depths, which show that the whole 

 region where the lands that may be regarded 

 as the remains of a continent are located is 

 one of comparatively shallow water ; beyond 

 this space, the seas are very deep. The 

 large accumulations of remains of moas that 

 are observed in small districts indicate that 

 an enormous number of those gigantic birds 

 must have existed in New Zealand at no 

 very remote period. It is hard to believe 

 that their extinction can have been brought 

 about by the Maories, never very numerous. 

 Physical events must probably have been 

 the primary cause of their destruction. 

 While they were scattered over an extensive 

 territory, their existence was easy ; as the 

 land sunk from under them, they had to take 

 refuge in the spaces that remained above 

 water. Under the new conditions the moas 

 would have perished by hundreds wherever 

 they became crowded together in too great 

 numbers. Thus the extinction of these 

 birds lends further probability to the hy- 

 pothesis of the sinking of a southern con- 

 tinent. We are still without sufficient in- 

 formation respecting the floras, especially 



do we lack precise knowledge of the ento- 

 mological fauna of the little islands which 

 are suspected of being the remains of a 

 continent. M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards re- 

 marked that it seemed hard to believe that 

 the Mascarene Islands, small as they are, and 

 apparently so little favorable to the vigor of 

 their respective faunas, can each have been 

 the cradle of species so well characterized 

 and so different from those that exist else- 

 where. More probably each of the volcanic 

 cones constituting the nucleus of those isl- 

 ands existed before the lands were sunk to 

 a considerable extent, and served as the 

 last refuge for the now extinct zoological 

 population of the neighboring region. This 

 fauna has such points of resemblance with 

 those of New Zealand and other parts of 

 the Antarctic region, that we can not hesi- 

 tate to class it with the Austral faunas. It 

 may, thus, possibly have extended farther 

 south. We are thus brought to the idea of 

 a great land formerly existing in the part 

 of the Atlantic Ocean now occupied by the 

 immense masses of marine plants commonly 

 known as kelp. The absence of mammalia 

 from any region does not particularly indi- 

 cate that the land was unfitted for them, 

 but that it was separated from the rest of 

 the globe before mammalia appeared. 



The Decline of Life-insurance. The 



English life-insurance agents arc remarking 

 upon the fact that a pause has come in the 

 expansion of their business. This may be 

 partly owing to a change in the general dis- 

 position to insure, in consequence of the 

 growth of the idea that the same end may 

 be reached by saving ; partly by the increas- 

 ing age at which the insuring classes marry ; 

 and partly by the vigorous and successful 

 competition of American offices, which seem 

 to be offering better security and better 

 terms. The " Spectator " thinks that these 

 causes are relatively insignificant, and that 

 the main reason for the decline of insurance 

 " is a desire on the part of the public 

 for less trouble, more security, and better 

 terms." It suggests that the companies re- 

 gard themselves too much in the light of 

 benefactors of the human species, and not 

 as much as they ought in the light of trades. 

 men anxious for custom. " At present 

 the insurer is treated as a swindler, to be 



