i8o 



NATURE 



[Dec. 30, 1875 



made several important contributions to science, presents us with a 

 valuable paper on New Zealand lichens, and with another con- 

 taining descriptions of some new species of Gymnostomum, all 

 the carefully drawn illustrations being from the author's own 

 pencil. The papers on chemistry have emanated, as usual, from 

 Mr. Skey, the analyst to the Geological Survey, the value of 

 whose work in this department of science has already been 

 brought prominently before you by a former occupant of this 

 chair. I will not detain you longer, as there are several papers 

 to be read ; but I would just point out that the eminently prac- 

 tical treatise by Mr. Lemon, on duplex telegraphy, and the 

 suggestive paper by Mr. Mackay, on the hot winds of Canter- 

 bury, show that other subjects have been discussed, and that 

 the attention of our Society has not been confined to any par- 

 ticular branch of scientific inquiry ; that, on the contrary, it has 

 during the past year kept in view the avowed object of its exist- 

 ence, viz. ' the development of the physical character of the New 

 Zealand group : its natural history, resources, and capabilities.' " 

 — A paper was read from the Ven. Archdeacon Stock, containing 

 remarks upon a large bat that had been seen by him in 1854, 

 which he believed to be a new variety. Mr. Kirk stated that he 

 had seen a large bat at the Clarence River, but he had been 

 unable to distinguish it from Scotophilus tuberculatus. — The 

 President read a paper entitled "Notes on Geryqone flavi- 

 veiitris.'" The paper contained extracts from "The Birds of 

 New Zealand," and observations in reply to a paper from Mr. 

 Justice Gillies, in last year's volume of " Transactions. "--A 

 paper entitled ' ' Remarks on Dr. Finsch's Paper on Ornithology 

 in vol. vii. of 'Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,'" 

 was also read by the President. The paper contained criticisms 

 on Dr. Fiasch's views respecting classification, as propounded in 

 a paper read before the Otago Institute. A discussion ensued, 

 in wnich the author of the paper and Messrs. Kirk and Graham 

 took part, on the question, "What constitutes a species?" 

 Tlie President contended for the specific value of Apteryx man- 

 telii of the North Island, on the ground that it was readily dis- 

 tinguishable from the other bird, and that the variation was 

 constant ; while Prof. Kirk agreed with Dr. Finsch, who pro- 

 poses to call it Apteiyx austraiis var. vtantelll, considering that 

 the bird discovered in the North Island is merely a variety of 

 the species in the South — Apieryx auslralis — the slight difference 

 between them being iniufficient to warrant their separation. 



Aug. 21. — J. Carruthers, C.E, Engineer-in- chief for the 

 Colony, On volcanic action regarded as due to the retardation 

 of the earth's rotation. — Mr. J. C. Crawford, F.G.S., On the 

 igneous rocks of Wellington. The paper pointed out in a lucid 

 manner the course that past explorations had taken in regard to 

 the igneous rocks of this pro vince, and indicated the direction 

 that future explorations should take. 



California 



Academy of Sciences, Sept. 20. — Dr. Blake made some 

 remarks on the old Sierra glacier in the neighbourhood of 

 Johnson's Pass, at the head of the south fork of the American 

 river. The pass forms a low gap in the mountains about 7,500 

 leet above the sea, and extends about a mile and a half from 

 north to south, the summit of the mountain being nearly level 

 for that distance. To the east of the pass and 1,000 feet below 

 is Lake Valley, fifty miles long from north to south, and twenty 

 miles broad in some parts ; this valley contains the basin of 

 Lake Tahoe, which has a depth of 1,600 feet. The topography 

 of the pass is such that no moraine matter would reach the hea i 

 cf it until the basin of I-ake Valley was filled by ice above the 

 level of the pass, or by a glacier 1,000 feet thick, nor during the 

 decline of the cold would any extensive glacier form there after 

 the level of the ice in Lake Valley had fallen below the level of 

 the pass. Such being the case, we have at the head of the 

 American valley the results of glacial action during the middle 

 of the glacial epoch, or at least during the time the glacier in 

 Lake Valley was increasing from a thickness of 1,000 feet to a 

 thickness of 1,600 or 1,700, and also whilst it was diminishing 

 from its maximum depth down to the level of the pass. The 

 indications are that during this period a very high summer 

 temperature must have prevailed, alternating with the greater 

 cold of winter. The considerations on which this conclusion is 

 founded are, firtt, the iact that no permanent ice-covering could 

 have existed at the head of the pass at the time the Lake 

 Valley glacier had already reached a thickness of 1,000 feet, 

 otherwise moraine matter could not have been deposited in 

 the vast moraintis now found at the head of the pass. 



Notwithstanding the great winter cold and the increased 

 snowfall, at least far on in the glacial epoch, the lieat 

 of the summers must have been more than sufficient to thaw 

 the annual snowfall at this elevation when its thickness was 

 not increased by inflowing glaciers. Another fact indicating the 

 existence of a high summer temperature is the comparatively 

 small extension of the glacier down the valley of the American 

 river. During the height of the glacial epoch the thickness of 

 the glacier at the head of the valley must have been 600 or 700 

 feet above the level of the pass, and yet the bulk of the moraine 

 matter it transported has been deposited as terminal and lateral 

 moraines within eight miles of the summit. As the valley in this 

 distance has only fallen about 800 feet the melting of the ice 

 must have been much more rapid than it would be with our pre- 

 sent summer temperature. — Mr. Lowry, of the U.S. Coast 

 Survey, read a paper on a modification of what is known as the 

 three-point problem in hydrographical surveying, by which a 

 position would be determined by means of two points the dis- 

 tance of which was known, and a point on the shore of undeter- 

 mined distance; 



BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED 



British. — The Universe: F. A. Pouchet, M.D. (B!ackie).-Time and 

 Time Tellers: J. W. Benson (Hardwicke). — Official Guide to the Man- 

 chester Aquarium : W. Saville Kent. — Report of the First Annual Conference 

 of the Cryptogamic Society of Scotland. — Memorials of Harvey : J. H. 

 Aveling, M.D. (Churchill). — Tales and Traditions of the EsVimo ; Dr. Henry 

 Rink (Blackwood). — The Sea : Jules Michelet (Nelson) —The Arctic World 

 (Nelson). — Map of India indicating the probable Route of the Prince of 

 Wales (Stanford). — The Cruise of the Dwarf: Captain Bax (Murray). — 

 Solid Geometry. Vol. i. : P. Frost (Macraillan). — Water Analysis: J. D. 

 Macdonald (Churchill) — Physics of the Ether : S. Tolver Preston (Spon). — 

 Proceedings of the Geological Association. Vol. iv. No. 4. — Quarterly 

 Journal of the Geological Society. No. 124. — Quarterly Journal of the 

 Meteorological Society No. 16. 



American. — Abstract of Results on a Study of the Genera Geomys and 

 Thomomys : Dr. Ehiott Coues, U.S. Army — Elements of Infinitesimal Cal- 

 culus : James G. Clark (Lockwood). — On a New Method of obtaming the 

 Differentials of Functions : J. Minot Rice and W. Woolsey Johnson (New 

 York, Van Nostrand). — Theory of the Moon's Motion : J. N. Stockwell, 

 M.A. (Boston, l.ippincott). — Systematic Catalogue of the Vertebrate of the 

 Eocene of New Mexico : E. D. Cope, A.M. iWashington). — Address of the 

 Ex-President Joseph Lovering before the American Association, Hartford. — 

 A Review of the I'ossil Flora of North America : Leo Lesqeureu.x (Wash- 

 ington). — Monthly Report of the Department of Agriculture, U.S. Memoirs 

 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1875 (jalem). — 

 The Spider of the United States : N. M. Heutz, M.D. (Boston;. 



Foreign. — Jahresberichte der Commission zur Wis,senschaftlichten Unter- 

 suchung der deutschen Meere in Kiel, 1872-3. — Memoire de la Socieic de 

 Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Geneve. — CUssification de 40 Savons 

 Vegetaux : M. Bernardin (Gand, Annoot-Braeckman). — Ucber die Storungen 

 der Grossen Planeten insbesoudere des Jupiter: P. A. Hansen (Leipzig, 

 S. Hirzel). 



CONTENTS Page 



MoNTEiRo's Angola (W ith Illustrations) i6i 



Works on the Blowmpe 164 



The Rocks and Minerals in the Melbourne Museu.m .... 165 

 Our Book Shelf :— 



Gould's "A Monograph of the Trogonidae " 166 



Mietzsch's " Geology of Coal " 166 



L BTTEKS TO THE EdIT'JR : — 



Evidences of Ancient Glaciers in Central France. — Dr. J. D. 



Hooker, P.R.S . . . i66 



Sir Thomas Millington and the Sexuality of Plants.— Alfred W. 



Bennett, F.L.S 166 



Saw-fish inhaWiting Fresh Water. — Dr A. B. Meyer 167 



Spectrum of Fish-pigment — George Francis With Illustratioii) 167 

 Function of the Ocelli of Hymenopterous Insects. — Dr. Hermann 



Muller 167 



The House-fly.— M. E i63 



The True Nature of Lichens. — Dr. W. Lauder Lindsay . . . 168 



The Boomerang. — Rev. Henry H. Higgins 168 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Small Star with great proper Motion 168 



The. Second Comet of 1702 168 



The Total Solar Eclipse of 1999, August 11 169 



The Zodiacal Light 169 



The Theory of " Stream Lines " in Relation to the Resistance 



OF SH irs, IV. ByWM V'BiOv.'D<s,?.Vi.%. {WUh Jlliistrations) . . 169 



The Melbourne Observatory 173 



Prof. Parker on the Woodpeckers and Wrynecks 173 



Notes 174 



Scientific Serials 176 



Societies AND Academies 176 



Books and Pamphlets Deceived <.,. r8o 



