3S 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Feb.], 1S6S. 



the Swallow-tailed Butterfly {Papilio machaori) and 

 its food-plant, the wild carrot. The three stages of 

 caterpillar, chrysalis, and imago are all represented, 

 and although the wings of the latter are displayed 

 in a manner hardly peculiar to the insects which we 

 have so often seen floating about iu profusion at 

 Horning Fen, they are undoubtedly in the orthodox 

 position, as represented by the cabinets of French 

 entomologists. 



The second plate (fig. 3G) represents the metamor- 

 phoses of the Hornet Moth, the Sphecia apiformis oi 

 English entomologists, but named Sesia apiformis 

 in the present work. It affects the trunks and 

 roots of poplars in its early stages, and when mature 

 its clear wings and banded body would probably 

 mislead the novice into a belief that it Mas more 

 closely allied to bees and hornets, than to butter- 

 flies or moths. The microscopist has not hitherto 

 made the most of our indigenous species of " clear- 

 wings." The present species has some very curious 

 and interesting scales, and the brush-like scales 

 which fringe the wings in nearly all the species are 

 very quaint. The transparent, delicate, broadly 

 ovate scales of the clear portion of the wings of 

 Trochilium tipuliforme are hardly known in cabinets, 

 whereas the transparency of the wings should 

 render all the species favourites, for it increases the 

 facilities for seeing the epidermal coverings in situ. 

 If it was the ambition of Professor Blanchard to 

 produce 'a pretty book he has undoubtedly suc- 

 ceeded, and as such it promises to become popular. 

 Unfortunately our professors do not favour us with 

 many popular books on natural history ; perhaps 

 they think it derogatory ; certainly they have a 

 prejudice against it, and so they leave the work of 

 teaching the public to be accomplished by smaller 

 men. 



THE HIGHEST MOUNTAINS. 

 By H. von Schlagintweit-Sakunlunskj. 



DESIRE to make some particular observations 

 -*- on the three highest mountains of the globe, 

 because not unfrequently, even in the latest works 

 intended forgcueral teaching, we find ofhereminences 

 (Dhavalagiri for instance, or at any rate Kanchinjinga) 

 named as the highest. 



The three highest points then on the earth's 

 surface, so far as we know at present, are the 

 following : — 



1. Gaurisankar, or Mount Everest, in the Hima- 

 laya range, on the borders of Nepal and Eastern 

 Tibet. 27° 59' 3" N., and 86° 54' 7" E. from Green- 

 wich. 29,002 Eng. feet. 



2. Dapsang, in the Karakonim range, in the 

 Province of Nvibra, Western Tibet. 35° 58' N., 

 77° 10' E. from Greenwich. 28,278 Eng. feet. 



3. Kanchinjinga, in the Himalaya range, on the 



borders of Sikkim and Eastern Tibet. 27° 42' N., 

 SS° 8' 4" E. from Greenwich. 28,156 Eng. feet. 



Tiiis last mountain has been known since 1S50. 

 Gaurisankar was first made known to the world 

 (under the name of Mount Everest) by the Indian 

 Trigonometrical Survey, December 18, 1S55. I had 

 however already seen it, when in Sikkim, in the 

 summer of that year, as part of the panorama of 

 the Singhalila chain. It forms the subject of the 

 first plate in our atlas. The name " Gaurisankar," 

 I heard first in Nepal, in the year 1S57, from the 

 Hindu Pandits, who communicated it to me, and 

 explained its meaning. 



Dapsang, which, in point of height, comes between 

 the other two, is in a totally different range of 

 mountains ; being in fact situated as far from the 

 loftiest group of the Eastern Himalayas, as Mount 

 Parnassus in Greece is from Cape Finisterre in 

 Spain. Our route to the north of Tibet in 1S5G, 

 led us right across this giant range, which itself 

 stands on a platform 17,500 (English) feet high. 

 A picture of it may be seen in the profile panorama, 

 No. 15, of the atlas. 



With regard to the signification of the names/it 

 is worth while saying a few words, as they are 

 singularly well chosen for mountains of such ex- 

 ceptional height. 



Gaurisankar is a Sanskrit word, which however 

 retains a place in the existing Hindu mythology 

 " Gauri," a title given to the wife of the god Shiva, 

 means, "the sublime, the radiant one;" while 

 "Sankar" is one of the names by which Shiva him- 

 self is known. 



The two other names belong to the Tibetan 

 language, and are drawn from local peculiarities. 

 Dapsang signifies " the bright heavenly ap- 

 pearance," in allusion to the brilliant aspect of the 

 snow-covered mountain and the plateau on which it 

 stands. In this tract, in spite of its remarkable 

 elevation, there are very few large glaciers. Even 

 the natives, as they sometimes traverse this desolate 

 range with their caravan trains, are surprised at 

 not finding more : their rarity, however, is in fact 

 due to the extreme dryness of the atmosphere. The 

 mean limit of perpetual snow in the Karakonim 

 range stands at 19,400 feet on the southern, and at 

 18,600 feet on the northern slope. 



The name of Kanchinjinga is also Tibetan, and 

 signifies " the five ice-crystal jewels," whereby 

 are intended the five great glaciers which spread 

 out at the foot of this mountain. Recent researches 

 have established the fact, that the Karakonim 

 range, almost parallel as it is with the Himalayas, 

 must be held to be the principal watershed ; and 

 that from it, and not from Kuenluen, as has 

 been hitherto erroneously supposed, the rivers take 

 their northerly direction. We first recognized it 

 as such when we succeeded in crossing it, and in 

 proceeding even to the north of the Kuenluen 



