Aug. 3, 1876] 



NATURE 



clearest evidence of former deep-seated volcanic action in the 

 disturbance and alteration described in his paper, and ia the 

 enormous number of granitic and felsitic dykes intersecting the 

 country for miles. The mode of occurrence of granite in other 

 localities also seems to him to furnish evidence in the same direc- 

 eu""~v^' J-^^ relation of the upper carboniferous strata of 

 Shropshireand Denbighshire to beds usually described as Permian, 



4/ c. • • . ^''v^^- ^^^ ^"'^^"^ ^^^^^^ bis conviction that from 

 the Spirorhs-hra&s.{onQ upwards to and including the Permian 

 v?e have one continuous series of deposits.— 15. Notes on the 

 physical geography and geology of North Gippsland, Victoria, 

 by A. W. Howitt. The earliest formation of which any trace is 

 lelt in this district is the Silurian, all traces of any older rocks 

 being removed, probably by the same agencies which have con- 

 torted and metamorphosed the silurian slates and sandstones 

 1 he surface of all these silurian strata show signs of great denu- 

 dation previous to the deposition of the Devonian. The period 

 that elapsed between these two epochs was one of volcanic 

 activity, apparently sub-aerial and terrestrial, and representing 

 the Lower Devonian. The Middle Devonian strata consist of 

 shales and sandstones devoid of any traces of volcanic action 

 which, hovveyer, again becomes apparent in the Upper Devo'- 

 nian. The latter consists of conglomerates, sandstones, and 

 shales, interstratified vvith aqueous deposits. The prevailing red 

 colour of these beds the author suggests may possibly indicate 

 lacustrine rather than marine conditions. The next in the series 

 of deposits present in North Gippsland are of Tertiary age, and 

 rest horizontally on the flanks of the mountains at elevations no- 

 where exceedmg i.ooo feet. At the close of the Miocene and 

 at the commencement of the Pliocene periods the land probably 



♦ w aT 2°° ^^^^ ^'^ i°.° ^^^* ^"^^"^ than at present. The fact 

 hat different genera of fish are found in the streams flowing from 

 the north and south sides of the Australian Alps indicate the 

 high antiquity of that watershed. These mountains have been 

 formed by the gradual elevation of the land en masse, and its 

 equally gradual erosion by the streams and rivers. -16 Further 

 notes on the Diamond Fields, &c., of South Africa,' by E T 

 Dunn. Communicated by Prof. A. C. Ramsay, F.R.S. These 

 notes are intended to serve as additions and corrections to the 

 author s paper read in 1873.-17. On Chesil Beach, Dorsetshire, 

 and Cahore Shmgle Beach, co. Wexford, by G. H. Kinahan 



VPPq"' -fu" ?^°'""^""'ca,^^'^ ^y ^^°f- Ramsay, F.R.S. 

 tnr..; i. Th^ author carefully compares the situations, struck 

 tures &c of these two shmgle beaches, and points out that their 

 wonderful similarity is due to nearly the same natural causes in 

 each case, but that at Chesil the driftage is due to the flow-tide 

 current augmented by waves caused by the prevailing winds 

 while at Cahore the driftage is solely due to the flow-tid^ 

 currents, its effects being modified by adverse wind-waves The 

 sorting of the pebbles on Chesil Beach is probably chiefly"caused 

 by the progressive increase in the velocity of the tidal current as 

 It approaches the nodal or hinge-Hne of the tide in the English 

 fl:- 1 A,^ ''"^^°'' considers that the current due to the flow 

 ot the tide has greater drifting powers than wmd- waves —18 

 Some recent sections near Nottingham, by the Rev. A. Irving; 

 B.A. The author describes a section of the strata exposed during 

 therecentconstrucuonof a railway line from Carlton, three miles 

 to the east of Nottingham, through Daybrook, to Kimberlev - 

 19. On the permians of the north-east of England and their 

 relations to the under- and overlying formations? by E. Wilson 

 The author describes the same section as that noticed in the pre- 

 cedmg paper.-20. The section at high force, Teesdale, by c" T 

 Clough -21 The distribution of flint in the chalk of Yorkshire 

 by J. R. Mortimer, communicated by W. Whittaker The 

 author considers that the present shape of the Chalk Wolds of 

 lorkshire seems to suggest that they are the remains of an atoU 

 or circular reef, probably one of a chain, rather than the frag- 

 u'Tv i^ vast she t^fj^,^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ deep watef 

 He thinks that the flint-bearing and non-flint-bearing chalk area; 

 •!J"/fl^ f'"'' contemporaneous in Yorkshire. The chalk 

 without flmt contams4-28 percent, of silica, whilst the cha k 

 with flmt contains only 2-12 per cent.-22: On the mode of 

 occurrence and derivation of beds of drifted coal near Corwen 

 North Wales, by D. Mackintosh.-23. The Cephalopoda-S 

 of Gloucester, Dorset, and Somerset, by J. Buckman --S 

 Evidence ot the subsidence of the Island of Guernsey, by r" 

 A Peacock, C E. All round the coast of this island, like tlm 

 ot Jersey, are found tree-trunks and other vestiges of old forest- 

 land novv sulDmerged. Passages are quoted by the author from 



^^rlT ^^^^'''^'T' ',^^"''^« *° the former existence of th^ 

 tract as dry land, the submergence of which probably took place 



303 



n t K ^^'^ *'^°^."7- , ^^^ encroachment of the waters is due 

 S« K '"J'?'''^'?^^ o< the land, and not, as has been suggested, to 



oL ,1 ^^^/" °/ ^^^!^'- ^^'■""S^ «°°^^ "^tural barrier upon 

 iS fhf.^ ^°T^^;"I ^''^"'^^- J""^Sing from the old chart of 

 140b, the amount of depression is equal to i6o feet, 



Iowa 

 Academy of Sciences, June 23.— Prof. C E Bessev nre- 

 sident, in the chair. The following 'paper ° were read :-^ S e 

 hminary catalogue of the lichens of Iowa, by C. E. Bessev Iho 

 a prehminary catalogue of the orthoptera^f Iowa, b/ Prof 

 Bessey.— Mounds and mound-builders, by Dr. P T Fames- 

 ^nl= .?r'"f ?/ ^rP^"'°°' ^•^ anatomical structure and 

 ^roS.lJ. "^^' 'Yc"-^^ P"^"'""* ^«'th American Indians are 

 probably a reninant of the same race that built the mounds. - 

 fW.;. ;,-ri!^''V presented diagrams and maps, based on reports 

 from his 100 Iowa weather stations, Ulustrating the very severe 

 hailstorm m Iowa, April 12, l876.-Prof. S. Calvin described 

 seven new species of palaeozoic fossils found in Iowa ; also a 

 probable new species of elephant found in the modified drift, near 

 West Union. Prof. Calvin also gave notice of the occurrence 

 of the Chemung group (N.Y.) in Iowa, and presented a prelimi- 

 nary notice of the occurrence of the marcellus shales in Iowa.- 

 Se M- Witter presented notes on the land and fresh-water 

 !^^"' "ear M tme Iowa.-Prof. W. C. Preston gave the 

 Thermic Wind Rose for Iowa City, based on three years' obser- 

 vations at Laboratory of Iowa State University."— Prof Bessev 

 read a note on the relations of light and heat to the colours of 

 Iowa wild flowers. -Prof. Hinrichs showed that the waters from 

 the deep-lymg rocks of Iowa more nearly resemble the waters of 

 I^W. \ f i^^'^<^«-^^ters Prof. Hinrichs also exhibited 

 a photograph of the Amana meteorite collection, made by him 

 which photograph is to accompany the catalogue he is preparing.' 



Vienna 

 Imperial Academy of Sciences, Jan. I3.-The following 

 among other papers, were read :-Crystallographico-optical rfl 

 On'fl^'K^ some camphor-derivates, by M. von Zephafovich.-l 

 On tlie abdominal tympanal organs of the Cicada and Grilode*. 

 K^A ^Tr ^'f'^^''-~^ contribution to the physiology of child- 

 bed, by M. Kleinwachter. This refers mainly to thfquanti ties 

 h; T^'^'aT' '^^*'- ^^d phosphoric acid secreted after giving 

 birth, and the relation of such secretion to age.— On the chanfr« 

 wrought in epithelium through formation of sarcom. b^M 

 M "m^H^T T^ ""^^ form-elements in woody substances, hy 

 f^Au^^: •^" ^ cross-section of Avicennia afruana, ez he 

 finds bright concentric circular lines, which the microscopeS'owl 

 to consist of regular parallelo-pipedal stone cells. Spiral thick! 

 ening he finds in the libriform ol Prolea cricoides, hort^ ; o it 1 

 not confined exclusively, as Sanio says, to vascular formation. 

 A pecuhar arrangement of the parenchymatous elements oiAquU- 

 larta Agallocha, Reb., is also described ^ 



Jan. 20 -On the heat developed or absorbed in change of 

 volume of bodies, by M. Puschl. For the case of unilaS ex- 

 pansion or contraction of a solid, he gets an expression d[fferent 

 from Thomson's formula, and cgreeing with Edlund's hitherto 

 unexplained results. He considers the second leading kw of 

 the mechanical theory of heat to be in general false and 

 to be superfluous in the special cases in which it seems confirmed 

 by expenence^-On starch-formation in chlorophyll granules by 

 M. Bohm. Inter alia, whatever light intensity suffices for de^ 

 composition of carbonic acid, causes also a passage of starch 

 from the stalk into the chlorophyll granules.-Studies on the 

 F^ch" ^'^^^ '^^'^^"^ tertiary formations in Greece, by M. 



J"""; 27-— Anatomical and histological notes on Gibocellum, a 

 new Arachnid. In outer form it is closely allied to Cyphoph- 

 rrn^vu f ■\'' ?*^!^"u^ organisation it furnishes a transition 

 from Phalangidae to Cheraetidae.-On the condition of equili- 

 brium of a system of bodies with reference to gravity, by M 

 Loschmidt. It IS shown that in some special systems, in the 

 state of dynamic equilibrium, the mean w viva of the mole- 

 cules cannot everywhere be the same. Hence Maxwell's law of 

 dis ribution, according to which this must be the case, cannot 

 forthwith be extended to the case where external forces act on 

 the constituent atoms of the system. The second law of the 

 mechanical theory of heat is not thus invalidated, but certain 

 deductions from it are. ^-^n-am 



Geological Society, Feb. 15. -The director, M. yon Hauer 

 presented a paper by E. Hussak. of Leipsic, on the erup?'ve 



