1899] NEWS 255 



even to the Russians — a great valley 300 miles wide by 200 miles long, scarcely 

 inhabited, and practically unexplored. Mr. Ehves has brought home a large 

 collection of butterflies and moths. On the high mountains of the south he 

 secured three specimens of the famous wild sheep, one having a measurement of 

 sixty-two inches round the curve of the horn. Several fine heads were also 

 obtained of the great stag of the Altai. Mr. Elwes also made a good collection' 

 of plants from the valley, but unfortunately, owing to an accident when crossing 

 a river, the greater part of that collection was lost. 



Dr. Sven Hedin intends to make another journey in Central Asia. He will 

 start from Kashgar, cross the Takla Makan desert by a new route, and pass 

 through Tibet to India. 



In the last number of L'Anthrojjologie (December 1898), Marcellin Boule 

 abstracts the discussion on the plateau-flints of S.-E. England that appeared in 

 our pages rather over a year ago. He sums up as follows : — "The problem of 

 plateau-flints then is not elucidated. Perhaps this is because very different 

 objects have been confused under a single name. Shapes like those figured by 

 the English authors are found everywhere that flint exists, in all gravel pits, 

 and even in our garden paths. As for those specimens, if such there be, that 

 really do show the undeniable characters of intentional flaking, we must ask if 

 the deposits whence they come are not analogous to those of our plateaux of 

 the North of France, which are so rich and which differ from the valley deposits 

 in their altitude alone." The defenders of plateau-man must try again. 



A considerable area in South-Eastern Minnesota is coloured as Cretaceous on 

 the official geological map. This is confessedly based on scattered masses, 

 supposed to be inliers emerging from beneath a coating of drift. Dr. F. W. 

 Sardeson, of the University of Minnesota, has recently examined these, and 

 concludes that they themselves form a part of the north-western glacial drift, 

 any Cretaceous fossils being remanies. There is one possible exception, an area 

 of half a scpuare mile in Goodhue county ; but even here the component strata 

 are much disturbed, and the mass may be a huge erratic. Dr. Sardeson's 

 results were published in the Journal of Geology, vol. vi. pp. 679-691, November 

 1898. 



Falcon Island in the Pacific, near Tonga, has disappeared, after an existence 

 of exactly thirteen years. H.M.S. " Penguin," which recently visited the spot, 

 found that the island had sunk three fathoms below the surface of the water. 

 It was created in the first instance by a volcanic upheaval, and another sub- 

 marine eruption may replace it on the map. Between Auckland and Tonga the 

 " Penguin " took deep sea soundings, attaining a depth of 4762 fathoms. This 

 is said to constitute a record. 



The Geological Society of Australasia has written to the Victorian Secretary 

 for Mines, asking the co-operation of the Government in having a new geological 

 map of Australia prepared as early as possible. 



The Geological Museum, Brisbane, was recently robbed of some gold 

 specimens and gems of considerable value. The articles were placed in a 

 safe when the museum was closed, and the caretaker found that the wire 

 connecting the alarm bells securing the glass cases had been cut and that the 

 cases had been opened with keys. 



The Queensland Government have appointed their geologist, Mr. Robert L. 

 Jack, to supervise the collections of the exhibits to be sent from Queensland to 

 the forthcoming Greater Britain Exhibition at Earl's Court and to represent the 

 colony there. Mr. Jack reached London early in February. 



Mr. L. Boutan makes a report {Arch. zool. expo: vi. p. 229), of which we 

 have only seen the commencement, on the progress that has been made in 

 instantaneous submarine photography since his memoir on the subject in 1893. 



