96 



NATURE 



[September 15, 1921 



in association with the burial consists of typical grey- 

 ware turned on a wheel, and the rough hand-made 

 dark pottery made from the Kimeridge clay, contain- 

 ing white fragments of grit, etc. The trench yielded 

 numerous pieces of pottery, a part of a red deer 

 antler pick which had been cut by a metal instru- 

 ment, and bones of horse, ox, pig, sheep, and dog. 

 The remains point to the hill upon which they were 

 found having been occupied by the Romans in the 

 second or third century. The trench excavated was 

 only one of a number visible. The objects excavated 

 have been placed in the museum at Hull. 



With reference to the Note in Nature (August i8) 

 describing a catalogue of specimens of tapa or bark- 

 cloth recently acquired by the Pennsylvania University 

 Museum, Mr. Chas. J. A. Howes writes from 

 36 Havelock Road, Earlham Road, Norwich, that he 

 possesses a copy of this rare work, but the title-page 

 seems to differ in some particulars from that of the 

 Pennsylvania copy. In Mr. Howes's copy specimen 

 No. 18 is described as " the very finest of the inner 

 coat of the mulberry wore {sic) by the chiefs of 

 Otaheite." The collector notes, regarding this speci- 

 men, that some seamen were sent to fetch fresh pro- 

 visions, and one of them met some children at play. 

 One of them, a girl, snatched at the red feathers 

 which he had stuck in his cap. He at once took them 

 out and presented them to her. In the evening she 

 came to the shore, and, singling him out from his 

 companions, gave him the piece of cloth from which 

 this specimen Was cut—" a true sign of gratitude in 

 these people." 



In a short article contributed to the Memoirs of the 

 Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society 

 (vol. 64, part 2) Major Leonard Munn discusses the 

 ancient mines and megalithsi in the Hyderabad State. 

 The writer atternpts to cover too much ground in a 

 short paper, but he gives some interesting informa- 

 tion. In corroboration of Prof. Elliot Smith's theories, 

 he finds the stone monuments closely connected with 

 ancient gold-mines, but of many of these the sites are 

 now forgotten. Enough remains to show the per- 

 severance and intelligence of the early miners. 

 " Unless anyone has visited Hyderabad State, or, in 

 fact, Southern India, they cannot form any idea 

 of the abundance, the extent, or the pureness bf its 

 iron-ores. No section of the geological sequence 

 exists in which iron does not occur." 



The Gold Coast Survey Department, which appears 

 to have been suspended during the war, was re- 

 opened in the latter part of 1919. The annual report 

 for 1920 by the Surveyor-General, Lt.-Col. R. H. 

 Rowe, has now been published, and shows much 

 progress in the Department. The principal work was 

 the completion of the topographical survey of the 

 Colony, of which several sheets have already been 

 produced on a scale of i : 125,000. During the year 

 an area of 1200 square miles was surveyed. It is 

 hoped shortly to undertake the reproduction of the 

 sheets in the Colony, and buildings are beinj erected 

 for this purpose. A school for the instruction of 

 native surveyors was to be opened this year. 

 NO. 2707, VOL. 108] 



Thk Geological Survey has just issued vol. 17 of 

 the Special Reports on the Mineral Resources of 

 Great Britain, the present volume being issued under 

 the auspices of the Scottish Branch of the Survey. 

 In this volume an account is given of the occurrence 

 of the ores of lead, zinc, copper, and nickel in Scot- 

 land, the bulk of the work having been done by Mr. 

 G. V. Wilson, whilst Dr. J. S. Flett, now Director j 

 of the Survey, has written the chapters on Caithnes^j 

 and on the Orkney and Shetland Islands. -The worl 

 is exceedingly well done* and shows much painstakinj 

 study and research. It brings out, however, only tc 

 clearly the unfortunate fact that from the economic 

 point of view the occurrences of these ores in Scot- 

 land are practically negligible. The only ore which^ 

 occurs in any noteworthy quantity is that of lead^ 

 and this is due to one single mining district, for as 

 such Wanlockhead and Leadhills may fairly be re- 

 garded, though the former lies in Dumfriesshire and 

 the latter in the adjoining portion of Lanarkshire^ 

 During the period 1850-1920 the total production oij 

 lead from Scottish mines was 180,271 tons, of whicl 

 the mining area above-mentioned contributed n< 

 fewer than 172,000 tons, the production from eaci 

 group of mines being about equal. Similarly, tht 

 largest annual output of lead from Wanlockhead is 

 given as 2578 tons and from Leadhills as 2600 tons,| 

 whilst no other mine in Scotland has reached an 

 annual output of 400 tons. The present report is, 

 therefore, more interesting from the geological than 

 from the economic aspect, and Mr. Wilson has 

 devoted much attention to the mode of origin of the 

 deposits and to the vein-fillings-. A considerable 

 number of the minerals present are secondary in 

 nature, and reasons are given for considering that 

 the reactions causing secondary solution and deposi- 

 tion of certain of the ores are probably still in opera- 

 tion. It is to be regretted that the scope of this 

 report was not somewhat widened so as to include 

 all metalliferous minerals (with the exception of the 

 ores of iron, which have already been fully discussed). 

 This could have been done without adding much either 

 to the labour involved or to the bulk of the report, 

 and it would have been convenient to have had the 

 occurrences of gold, for example, properly classified 

 and fully described instead of finding merely casual 

 references to its occurrence. 



The Weekly Weather Report of the Meteorological 

 Office for the week ending August 27 gives a sum- 

 mary of temperature, rainfall, and sunshine for the 

 summer season obtained from the values for the 

 thirteen weeks from May 29 to August 27 for the 

 several districts in the British Isles. The highest 

 mean temperature for the summer in any district was 

 62-1° F. at the English Channel stations, and the 

 second highest was 61-5° for South-East England. 

 The mean temperature was above the normal in all 

 districts with the exception of North and East Scot- 

 land, the greatest excess being 23° F. in the Midland 

 Counties. The rainfall was decidedly less than 

 normal except in West Scotland. The least total 

 rainfall for the summer season was 2-04 in. for South- 

 East England, which is 398 in. less than the thirty- 



