1894. NOTES AND COMMENTS. 335 



been appointed to revise and unify the nomenclature. The English 

 members of this committee are Sir A. Geikie, Professor Judd, and 

 Mr. Teall ; other countries are likewise represented by their most 

 eminent petrologists. The changes that occur in glaciers are to be 

 the subject of investigation by another committee, which may pos- 

 sibly also organise the study of erratic blocks. Professor F. A. Forel 

 and Dr. L. du Pasquier will be the secretaries of this committee, the 

 expense of which will be borne by Prince Roland Bonaparte. The 

 English representative is Captain Marshall Hall. 



Among the papers read at the Congress there were many worthy 

 of the occasion, such as that by Michel-Levy already referred to, Von 

 Zittel's address on Phylogeny, Ontogeny, and Classification, and Suess's 

 address on the Conformation of the Crust of the Globe by Horizontal 

 Forces. We must, however, express our regret that it was thought 

 necessary to split the Congress into four specialised sections, a course 

 that annuls many of the benefits otherwise derivable from such an 

 assembly, and that would not be dreamed of if only some discretion 

 were exercised as to the subjects of papers. While it is very right 

 and proper that such a Congress should discuss the investigation of 

 overthrusts, the classification of Tertiary terranes, and, perhaps, 

 points of unusual interest in the geology of the country where it 

 is meeting, still we fail to see the appropriateness of such compara- 

 tively trivial subjects as the Fossil Camel in Roumania, the Geology 

 of Patagonia or Palestine, Nepheline-Syenite of Sweden, Gabbros 

 of Lower Italy, and "grorudites and tingnaites " (the quotation is 

 from Nature of Sept. 20, where a more detailed report will be found). 



We had intended to say something about the social and 

 administrative details of the Congress, but we are spared a difficult 

 task owing to the fact that what seems to be a singularly outspoken 

 private letter from Mr. Persifor Frazer has somehow got published in 

 the October number of the American Geologist. Had the account been 

 intended for the public eye, no doubt it would have been neither so 

 truthful nor so entertaining. It is, however, refreshing, as well as 

 alluring, to see sometimes the naked truth, and in the present 

 instance those who have the interests of the Geological Congress at 

 heart will not regret the absence of the conventional fig-leaf. 



The Climbing Rabbit. 



We are indebted to the Rev. George Henslow for an extract from 

 an article in the Hobart Mercury dealing with the subject of the adap- 

 tation of animals to their surroundings, of which we gave a new 

 instance last month (p. 249). The article records some curious 

 facts concerning the development of a new sort of nail in the 

 rabbits of Australia in consequence of the animals' endeavours to 

 climb over the wire netting used to impede their progress 

 in travelling. The farmers have discovered that the rabbits can 



