1893. NOTES AND COMMENTS. 335 
Tue Mediterranean Naturalist for March contains several interesting 
papers relating to the district around Malta. Surgeon-Captain M. L. 
Hughes continues his ‘‘ Natural History of certain Fevers occurring 
in the Mediterranean”; Gaetano Platania publishes some ‘‘ Geo- 
logical Notes of Acireale,’ and Dr. Alf Caruana Gatto writes on 
‘“ The Vegetation of the House Terraces of Malta.” 
In the Naturalist for April Mr. John Cordeaux continues his 
‘‘ Bird-notes from the Humber District in the Winter of 1892-1893.” 
The arctic severity of the winter led to a great rush of various 
species on the East Coast, all wild fowl, such as geese and duck, 
having been exceptionally abundant. 
THE same journal has a curious note by Mr. H. Moody Foster 
on herrings confined in a brackish-water pond communicating with 
the Humber. The fish are dwarfed, and are easily captured by rod 
and line. 
Mr. E. T. Newron will deliver a lecture on the Reptiles of the 
Triassic Sandstones of Elgin before the Geologists’ Association at 
their next meeting on May 5. The remains, or restorations, of these 
extraordinary animais will be shown by the oxy-hydrogen lantern. 
Mr. Rosert T. Hitt, in the American Fournal of Science for April, 
gives a description of the Cretaceous formations of Mexico. The 
geology of Mexico is so imperfectly known that this contribution will 
be welcome. We observe that the vast mass of blue or grey lime- 
stone, known in Mexico as *‘ Mountain Limestone,’ which forms so 
important a constituent of the Sierras, is now considered to be 
entirely of Cretaceous age. True Palzxozoic limestones are almost 
entirely absent from Mexico. 
In the April Scottish Geographical Magazine will be found an 
interesting account of the Nile Valley, its physical geography and 
geology. The outline is particularly valuable, being written by 
Colonel Justin C. Ross, who, for several years, was Inspector- 
General of Irrigation in Egypt, and has had occasion thoroughly to 
study the subject of Nile deposits and floods. The want of a con- 
toured map, unfortunately makes it somewhat difficult to follow the 
details as to the areas liable to floods, those in which salt tends to 
accumulate in the soil, etc. Nothing has recently been done to test 
the depth of the ancient deposits of the Nile, the boring to a 
depth of 345 feet at Zagazig, made in 1888, being the latest 
recorded. 
