886 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



will contain two rolls for pressing iron, each over twentj^-seven 

 feet long and five feet in diameter, weighing over one hundred 

 tons. In this mill he proposes to produce a steel plate of suffi- 

 cient size to mak(> the complete shell of an ordinary sized boiler 

 for a steam engine. He is also constructing a steam hammer 

 which will weigh 240,000 pounds. 



• 



Snow in 1867. 



The Detroit Post calculates that during one month of the past 

 winter 1,410,000,000 tons of snow fell in the United States. Some 

 idea of this vast weight may be had from the statement that it is 

 more than ten times the weight of all the wheat grown in this 

 country since its first settlement. Since this estimate was made 

 very large quantities of snow have fallen ; enough to place the 

 v.'inter of 1867 at the head of snowy seasons. 



A Curious Quadruped. 



A small ruminating quadruped from intertropical West Africa, 

 knoAvn as the Ili/omoschus aquaticus, has been brought to the 

 Geological Gardens, London. In external appearance it resembles 

 the Meminnaindica or " mouse deer" of India and Ceylon. The 

 Ui/omoschus is very remarkable for being the only knowji existing 

 member of the order liwmnantia, in Avhich the metacarpal bpnes 

 are distinct and separate, and not united to form a "cannon bone," 

 while its metatarsals are onlj; partiall}- jointed. Its fore leg is 

 very similar in structure to that of the peccaries among swine, 

 and its alleged aquatic propensity is further suggestive of its 

 affinity with certain genera of that animal. In some respects its 

 structure is like certain fossil animals found in the gypsum depo- 

 sits near Paris, and it is therefore of considerable interest to 

 Paleontoloo^ists. 



Supposed Obscuration of a Lunar Crater. 



Herr Schmidt, of Athens, reported an obscuration of a volcano 

 in the moon called "Linne" on the Mare Serenitatis during Octo- 

 ber and November last. Mr. Birt, Secretary of the Lunar Com- 

 mittee of the British Association, states that Schruter, in Novem- 

 ber, 1788, records a dark spot in the place of the usuall}^ bright 

 crater ; further, he had examined photographs taken by Mr. 

 Buckingham, of Walworth, during the past two months, and in 

 almost all the place of "Linne" is very faintly marked. Lohu- 



