232 NATURAL SCIENCE [October 
erected at Shillong in 1882, and this was thrown to the north- 
east: it enables the velocity of the wave to be calculated. The 
range of motion is estimated at 7°4 inches. So Mr Oldham con- 
cludes that “the violence of the shock at Shillong was at least 
equal to a backward and forward shake of 7 inches repeated sixty 
times a minute.” All telegraphic communication was of course 
destroyed, and the accompanying illustration (reproduced from 
a plate of the Indian Survey Records) shows the effect on the 
railway lines produced by the movement of the surface soil. The 
rate of transmission of the shock was over 100 miles a minute. 
The fuller account promised will be awaited with much interest,. 
for it will probably yield suggestive information as to whether the 
Himalayan movements are still in progress. It is fortunate that 
the work will be carried on under the supervision of Mr Oldham, 
who is keenly interested in all the broader problems connected with 
seismic movements. 
GEOLOGY IN NEw SoutH WALES 
THE most noteworthy point in the recently issued Report of the 
Geological Survey of New South Wales is the discovery of Devonian 
plant remains and Lower Silurian graptolites by Mr Joseph Carne. 
This is the first identification of Lower Silurian Rocks in the 
Colony, and they are of special interest in that they contain in the 
neighbouring Colony of Victoria the famous saddle reefs of Bendigo. 
The graptolites were found in a black slate in the Parish of Lawson, 
Wellesley Co., and occur as shiny films. Mr W. 8. Dun identifies 
them as Didymograptus furcatus (Hall), D. extensus (Hall), Dicrano- 
graptus, Diplograptus, and Phyllograptus. The Devonian plants 
comprise a Pecopterid fern and a Sphenopteris. They came from 
Genoa River, Co. Auckland. 
