Dec. 28, 1876] 



NATURE 



189 



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I 



watching the excavation, Prof. Desor ascertained that he Lad 

 really to do with a grave (that of a family, or of a clan), not 

 merely with a receptacle of bones, the relative positions of bones 

 proving that complete corpses were deposited in the grave, pro- 

 bably in a sitting position. The number of individuals buried 

 must have been from fifteen to twenty. It was very difficult to 

 obtain well-preserved skulls, the bones being much deteriorated 

 and the excavations not having been made with the desirable 

 accuracy ; but some better preserved skulls show a close likeness 

 to those found in other lake-dwellings, and especially to the 

 skull of this kind described by MM. Rut imeyer and His in their 

 " Craniologie Helvetique ; " they belong to the mesaticephalous 

 (semi-long) form known as the " Sion group," which form is also 

 the true Helvetic. This form, which has been found in the stone 

 age, continues to appear throughout the bronze and stone ages, 

 constantly increasing in size, and showing a more and more deve- 

 loped, higher and broader, forehead ; and it differs from the 

 present Helvetic form not in kind but only by the degree of its 

 development. The implements found in the grave are stone and 

 bone implements belonging to the age of polished stone. But 

 along with them were also found bronze implements (a per- 

 forated disc, a ring, and a pin), which thus establish the long missing 

 link between the lake-dwellings of the stone age and those of the 

 bronze age, both of which have representatives at Auvernler. 

 The importance of the Auvernier grave is thus very great, as it gives 

 new proofs in support of the alleged unity and continuity of races 

 of prehistoric man during the stone age and that of the bronze. 

 Some bronze implements implying a somewhat higher degree of 

 culture, together with a bead of yellow amber and a skull, were 

 found in the neighbourhood of the grave, on a somewhat high er 

 level ; they belong probably to a more recent period. It is pro- 

 posed by the Neuchatel Society to undertake further excavations 

 in the same locality. 



The earthquakes which were felt in the Canton of Neuchdtel 

 last spring (from April 2 to May 16) are the subject of two 

 interesting communications by Prof. Desor and Dr. Tribolet, 

 published in the last number of the Bulletin of the Neuchatel 

 Society of Natural Sciences (vol. x. part iii. ). Dr. Tribolet, in 

 addition to particulars of the earthquakes of this year, gives also 

 a list of those known to have been felt in the canton since 13 13. 

 From this list we see that earthquakes were especially numerous 

 during the seventeenth century, comparatively rare during the 

 eighteenth, and totally wanting during the first half of this 

 century, until 1852, when they begin anew to be frequent, 

 twenty-four shocks having been felt from that year to the end of 

 1875. The earthquakes of last spring began with a strong one 

 on April 2, at 5.55 a.m. ; a second shock loUowed on April 30, 

 and then, until May 16, no less than eleven shocks were felt in the 

 canton at short intervals. The region of the shocks was gene- 

 rally limited, only two of them having been felt beyond the 

 frontiers of the canton. As to their causes, Professors Desor 

 and Studer, and Dr. Tribolet come unanimously to the conclusion 

 that they have nothing to do with volcanic causes ; but that the 

 rocks of the Jura, forming a varied -series of harder and softer 

 strata, the latter mostly underminedl by subterraneous streams 

 and numerous caverns, it is very probable that the earthquakes 

 are due to the crumbling of undermined strata, the seat of these 

 crumblings being probably at a depth of about 1,400 feet, where 

 friable dolomites and saliciferous marls are covered with hard 

 muschelkalk. The exceptionally abundant rains of last spring 

 must have contributed to the saturation of rocks with water. 



Prof. Liversidge, of the University of Sydney, has pub- 

 lished a report on the disease known as " rust " which has been 

 causing great havocamong the sugar-canes in Queensland. This 

 disease appears to have been first observed in the colony in 1870. 

 Though most of the varieties of cane seem to have been more or 



less affected, the Bourbon was the one upon which the disease 

 was first noticed, and this kind has since suffered more than any 

 other ; soil and climate have also assisted its progress in a marked 

 degree ; thus it is said to have been almost exclusively confined 

 to dry, porous, sandy soil, and to have been more virulent after 

 unusually wet and cold seasons. The juice obtained from dis- 

 eased canes shows a lower density than that obtained from healthy 

 ones, and the sugar is more difficult to make. With regard to his 

 microscopical examination of the diseased canes. Prof. Liver- 

 sidge says he failed to detect anything which could possibly be 

 considered as the cause of the disease ; though the canes were 

 affected by minute fungoid growths, they were not sufficient to 

 account for the actual disease, and were undoubtedly the con- 

 sequence and not the cause. Red spots are found on all the 

 plants, healthy as well as unhealthy, but more abundantly on the 

 latter. It is to the presence of these red spots that the name of 

 rust has been applied generally to the disease in Queensland. 

 The fungoid growths are said to bear a very strong resemblance 

 to a large group of very common microscopic fungi — the (Cci- 

 diacei, to which order they are said probably to belong. Not- 

 withstanding the prevalence of these fungoid bodies, and after a 

 minute examination and analysis of various soils, the author of 

 the report arrives at the conclusion that the disease has not been 

 due to any one cause but rather to a combination of numerous 

 complex, and more or less obscure causes, which are attributed 

 to the system of cultivation adopted by the planters, the land 

 being exhausted without a proper return being made to it 



Important results have been obtained by parties of the 

 United States Geographical Survey west of the hundredth 

 meridian, under Lieut. George M. Wheeler, corps of engineers, 

 in geology and natural history, Mr. H. W. Henshaw, the 

 zoologist of the California Section, having made large collections 

 of the vertebrate fauna, including every family of birds occurring 

 in the West. The streams explored in Nevada and California 

 were found to abound in fishes of the genus Catostomus, and 

 among the specimens collected it is not improbable some species 

 may be found that are new to science. In the reptilian collection 

 are several snakes belonging to the genus Eulania, and a new 

 species of lizard. In entomology the Orlhopteta and Coleoptera 

 are largely represented, including some rare species from the 

 Alpine mountain region. Careful investigations were made in 

 geology by Mr. A. R. Conkling, and the collections made taxed 

 the facilities for transportation, the rocks gathered l^eing chiefly 

 igneous and metamorphic, including syenite, granite, basalt, &c. 

 The predominating rock in the region thus far examined by 

 the California scientific expedition is grey syenitic granite, con- 

 taining numerous crystals of black hornblende. Several mines 

 were explored and described in detail. In palaeontology there 

 were few collections, fossiliferous formations being rare. From 

 the sandstone quarries in Ormsby County several specimens of 

 the genus Unio were obtained, these tertiary fossils being the 

 only representatives of extinct fauna observed. 



We have received a paper, " On the Larger Divisions of the 

 Carboniferous System in Northumberland," by Mr. G. A. 

 Lebour, being a reprint from the Proceedings of the North of 

 England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, vol. 

 XXV. Discussing the stratigraphical characters of the different 

 members of the Carboniferous series, the author advocates a new 

 subdivision of it into two stages, an Upper and a Lower, instead 

 of the three adopted now ; the blending together under a 

 common name of "Bernician" of the Yoredale Rocks, the 

 Scar Limestone series, and the Calcareous and Carbonaceous 

 groups which are incapable of natural division, and the additions 

 of the Tuedian and of the so-called Upper Old Red to the 

 Lower Carboniferous beds. A plate showing the stratigraphical 

 changes undergone by the Carboniferous series from Derbyshire 



