274 British Association for the Advancement of Science. 
fused.—Mr. Golding Bird referred to the observations of Mr. Gray 
with respect to the production of insects, as stated by Mr. Crosse 
in his experiments, which he had repeated on a large scale, but 
without any result, although he had continued them for some weeks, 
varying them in every possible form. 
Statistics of the Deccan, §c.—The four collectorates of the 
Deccan, within the province of Bombay, contain a population of 
3,285,985 souls, and 48,987 square miles, or about 67 inhabitants 
to the square mile,—lying on an elevated plateau, formed by the 
Ghauts, and descending by a succession of steppes to the Coroman- 
del coast. The Poonah collectorate contains 8,281 square miles, 
550,313 inhabitants, 1,827 towns and villages, and 114,887 houses, 
averaging about 4 inhabitants to a house, and 247 to a village, exclu- 
sive of the city of Poonah, which contains a population of 181,000. 
The rivers in the Deccan, during the monsoons, present magnificent 
streams of water, but, in the dry season, either a broad sandy plain, 
or a mere thread of water. The roads, with the exception of two 
great military roads, are untouched by art, and few of the rivers can 
boast of a bridge. With respect to Geology, there are no organic 
remains, and probably no country in the world in which the trap 
rock prevails to so great an extent. In the Deccan there are 
200,000 square miles, without the intervention of any other rock 
whatever. This is succeeded by granite and other rocks of igneous 
origin, so that from the 25th degree of latitude, to Cape Comorin, 
including Ceylon, there are 700,000 square miles of igneous rocks 
and granite. The tides of the atmosphere are one of the principal 
features connected with the climate of the Deccan. These tides, 
like those of the ocean, rise and fall twice within the twenty four 
hours, at stated periods, and with a regularity which can almost be 
calculated upon. During observations of four years’ continuance, 
made with different instruments, there was no variation in the order 
of the rise and fall, though there was occasionally some little varia~ 
tion in the degree. The atmospheric tides prevail from the equator 
to the pole, and are very observable to the 64th degree of lati- 
tude,—the maximum being at the equator,—the minimum at the 
poles. They exist even in our own latitudes, with all their varia- 
tions. In the Deccan, as throughout the world, the barometer ran- 
8 highest in cold weather, and diminishes during the monsoon. 
temperature, at half past nine in the morning, is the mean tem- 
perature of the year; so that a register kept at that hour, gives the 
