8q6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



inclosing the ruins of a town one quarter of 

 a mile wide and more than a mile long. At 

 this point the railroad enters the Jequete- 

 peque Valley. For eight miles it crosses a 

 barren sand-plain of more than fifteen miles 

 ill length, covered with ruined walls, water- 

 courses, dead algaroba and espino trees, 

 with fragments of pottery and sea-shells, 

 even to nine feet in depth, mixed with the 

 sand. The bases of the mountains have, in 

 a good state of preservation, many thousand 

 feet of an old watercourse, whil^ their sides 

 to the perpendicular parts are hned with 

 terraces. This watercourse, now dry, can be 

 traced for the distance of forty-five miles. 



Important Discovery in Entomology. — Mr. 



Gray, of Albany, has been engaged in the 

 study of our diurnal Lepidoptera for many 

 years. He has made the discovery, as pub- 

 lished in the " Canadian Entomologist," that 

 our Eastern species of Liminitis, four in 

 number, are not distinct. They belong to 

 a single plastic genetic group, of which ar- 

 themis is the most northern, proserpina in- 

 termediate between arthemit and ursnla, 

 and the red dUippus the most southern. He 

 has colfected them in vertical altitudes on 

 hills in the Middle States and New England, 

 and has intermediary specimens half bluish 

 and red between the two most strikingly 

 contrasted species of the group ursula and 

 disippus. This discovery is the most re- 

 markable in the group announced since the 

 recognition of the female form of diaiia by 

 Mr. W. H. Edwards. In general interest it 

 far surpasses that discovery, and we expect 

 will be more generally noticed. 



California Climates and Consumption. — 



The conditions requisite in a health resort 

 for consumptive patients are relative drj'- 

 ness of atmosphere and an agreeable and 

 equable temperature throughout the year. 

 There are in the State of California a num- 

 b,er of localities in which these conditions 

 are happily combined, and which afford to 

 the consumptive opportunity for living out- 

 of-doors at all seasons. In the " Alta Cali- 

 fornia Almanac " is published a table set- 

 ting forth the mean relative humidity, and 

 mean temperature, summer and winter, of 

 the most noted sanitaria in the State, from 

 which we make a few selections. The 



places which have the least humidity are 

 Atlas Peak and Blakes, the former 1,500 

 feet above sea-level, and the latter 2,100, 

 and both situated in a mountain-ridge east 

 of Napa Valley. This ridge is thirty miles 

 from the sea, is seldom covered by fog, is 

 beyond the reach of the cold sea-breezes, 

 and is warmer in winter and cooler in sum- 

 mer than the valleys on each side. At At- 

 las Peak the relative humidity is in summer 

 39°, in winter 51° — " summer" standing for 

 the " dry season " from May to October, 

 and " winter " for the "wet season" from 

 November to April, inclusive. The mean 

 temperature for January at Atlas Peak is 

 50° Fahr., and for July 74°. At Blakes 

 the relative humidity for summer is 39°, 

 and for winter 60° ; and the mean tempera- 

 ture for January is 45°, for July 73° Fahr. 

 These two localities are only a few miles 

 distant from one another, and are within 

 five or six hours' travel from San Francisco, 

 Other localities are represented in the table 

 as follows : 



Rcsnryey of Yellowstone Park. — A good 

 summary of the work done by Hayden's 

 Survey of the Territories during the season 

 of 1878 is published in the " NaturaHst," 

 from which we learn that the personnel of 

 the Survey was divided into four parties : 

 one for the extension of the primary tri- 

 angulation northward, two for topographi- 

 cal and geological work, and one for pho- 

 tography and special work in geology. All 

 the parties left the Union Pacific Railroad 

 at Point of Rocks and Green River stations 

 about July 25th, and proceeded northward 

 toward the Yellowstone National Park. To 

 the second division was assigned the duty 

 of making an exhaustive survey of the park 

 and its surroundings, and to the third the 

 exploration of the Wind River range and 

 the Snake River country. The primary tri- 



