Jan. i6, 1879] 



NATURE 



257 



lasted thirteen seconds, and was followed by three slighter 

 shocks. The direction was from south-east to northwest. A 

 report from Ersenkappel gives the same time. The shock ob- 

 served at Cologne, it will be remarked, occurred on the loth 

 inst., a day sooner. 



Invalids will be glad to learn that, amidst the severe 

 weather, a comparatively mild climate exists in a part of their 

 own country. A bouquet arrived from Glengariff on Saturday, 

 the nth instant, comprising wallflower, primrose, primula, 

 stocks, chrysanthemum, scarlet geranium, arbutus-berries, and a 

 rose-bud, all picked from an exposed garden. In Madeira — 

 but five days' journey — ripe bananas and custard-apples are 

 hanging on the trees. Many of the gayest flowers are in full 

 bloom. 



It is proposed at the next^ meeting of Russian naturalists to 

 unite all Russian scientific societies into one large association, 

 with zoological, botanical, and physiological sections which 

 would have branches at all the Universities. 



The admirable work by Mr. William H. Edwards on the 

 "Butterflies of North America" has been continued by the 

 publication of the seventh part of the second series, which, like 

 its predecessors, is illustrated by five quarto plates of interesting 

 specie?, drawn by Miss Mary Peart, of Philadelphia. It is 

 especially interesting from the number of observations made by 

 the author, and his correspondence upon dimorphism and poly- 

 morphism of a number of the lepidoptera. 



We cannot help expressing our regret at the almost total 

 destruction of the Birmingham Central Reference Library, with 

 its irreplaceable special collections. We have had frequent occa- 

 sion to speak of the reports of the Birmingham system of libra- 

 ries, one of the best anywhere. The building which has suffered 

 disaster was close by the Midland Institute, which fortimately 

 bas escaped. 



During the past summer discoveries of a very [interesting 

 series of fossil forests were made by William H. Holmes, of the 

 Hayden (U.S.) Geological Survey. The fact of the occurrence of 

 abundant fossil wood, and in some places of fossil trunks in situ 

 had been noted by former visitors to the Yellowstone Park, but 

 nothing had been learned of the manner in which the forests 

 had been preser\'ed, neither had their great extent been sus- 

 pected. It is found that an extensive series of forests have been 

 buried in the sedimentary formations of the volcanic tertiary, 

 especially in the region drained by the East Fork of the Yellow- 

 stone. From the bottom to the top of the highest cliffs rows of 

 upright tnmks may be seen, weathered out and ranged along the 

 ledges like the columns of a' temple. Throughout a long period 

 of subsidence a constant alternation of land and sea seems to 

 have been kept up by the irregular deposition pi fragmentary 

 volcanic products, so that numberless forests grew and sank, one 

 after another, beneath the sea. Fully 4,000 feet of the tree- 

 bearing strata were formed before the final upward movement 

 b^an. These same strata now cap some of the highest ranges 

 of the Rocky Mountains, and cover an area of upward of io,ocx) 

 square miles. The silicified trunks are in many cases from 

 twenty to thirty feet high, and fairly rival the giant trees of Cali- 

 fwnia in dimensions. 



In the Colonies and India we find a note respecting the em- 

 ployment of sheep as beasts of burden. In Eastern Turkistan 

 and Thibet, for instance, borax is borne on the backs of sheep 

 OTer the mountains to Leh, Kangra, and Rampur on the Sutlej. 

 Borax is found at Rudok, in Changthan, of such excellent quality 

 ttat only 25 per cent, is lost in the process of refining. The 

 Rudok borax is carried on sheep to Rampur, which travel at the 

 rate of two miles a day; but, notwithstanding the superior 

 quality and the demand for it in Europe, the expenses attending 



its transport seriously hamper the trade, which, but for the sheep 

 would hardly exist at all. 



The proportions of some principal constituents of sea-water 

 have recently been determined by Herr Jacobsen, from forty-six 

 samples of water taken from the most different regions and at 

 different depths, during the expedition of the Gazelle. Witli 

 regard to carbonate of lime, he obtains an average of 0*269 parts 

 of it in io,coo parts of sea-water ; the minimimi was o'22o parts, 

 and the maximum 0*312 parts. Such differences ^he attributes 

 mainly to experimental errors, and draws the simple conclusion 

 (not favourable to some interesting biological and geological 

 speculations) that the proportion of carbonate of lime in sea- 

 water varies but slightly. The influence of extensive separation 

 of the carbonate of lime by organisms and that of extensive local 

 replenishing of the water with the carbonate are speedily 

 equalised by ocean [currents and obliterated for analysis. One 

 region of the ocean does not afford better life conditions 

 for lime-secreting animals than another (by containing more 

 carbonate of lime), and among the causes from which most 

 of such animals are found on coasts and at comparatively small 

 depths is not ^to be reckoned that adduced by J. Davy, that 

 in the open sea the carbonate almost wholly disappears. Nor is 

 there ground for Forchhammer's supposition that those animals 

 must be capable of changing the sxilphate of lime into the carbonate. 

 The author found but little variations also in the proportions of 

 chlorine and sulphuric acid (the chlorine was somewhat the more 

 constant). The obser^'ations in general point to a rapid mixture 

 of the sea-water of different regions by currents both horizontal 

 and vertical. 



A recent number of La Nature gives the following statistics 

 of education in Germany and France : — Of the 86, 1 77 conscripts 

 enrolled in 1877 in the German army 78,622 had received primai-y 

 instruction in the German tongue, 5,415 in other tongues, and 

 2,140 or 2*483 percent, could neither read nor wTite. The dis- 

 trict of Posen furnished the largest contingent of this last 

 category, 1 1 "20 per cent. ; then follow Prussia, Silesia, Pome- 

 rania, Westphalia, Hanover, Brandenburg, Sleswig-Holstein, 

 the Rhine provinces, Hesse Nassau, and lastly Hohenzollern, of 

 which all the conscripts had received primary instruction. Ac- 

 cording to the census of 1876 there are, in France, 4,502,894 

 children of six to thirteen years of age. The number of primary 

 schools is about 71,547, of which 9,352 are absolutely gratuitous. 

 It is reckoned that there are 624,743 children who do not attend 

 any schooL 



The new railway bridge across the Lim fjord in the Danish 

 province of Jutland was opened for traffic on December 15. 



Herr Schaper, an eminent Berlin sculptor, has just finished 

 the model for a bust of the late Prof. Braun, for many years 

 director of the Berlin 'Botanical Gardens. The bust will be 

 executed in bronze and will be erected in the gardens upon a 

 granite pedestal of 2 metres height. 



We have received parts i and 2 of vol. ii. of the Transactions 

 of the Watford Natural History Society, containing several 

 papers which show that the Society^continues to do good work 

 among the animals and plants of Hertfordshire. 



The additions to the Zoolc^cal Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus) 

 from India, presented by Mr. Wm, Trent ; a Green Monkey 

 {Cercopithecus callitrichus) from West Africa, presente 1 by Mr. 

 Carroll; a Common Marmoset {Hapale jacchus) from South- 

 East Brazil, presented by Mrs. Currey ; a Triangular Spotted 

 Dove {Columba guinea) firom South Africa, presented by Col. 

 F. C. Hassard, C.B. ; a Great Eagle Owl (Bubo maximus), 

 Eiuropean, deposited ; a Bar-winged Rail (Rallina poeciloptera) 

 from the Fiji Islands, piirchased. 



