'?fo: 26, 1875] 



NATURE 



359 



report more than that Kimmeridge clay has been discovered 

 in Sussex, and that this clay is very thick. 



An interesting geological discovery has been recently made 

 during excavations for a new tidal basin at the Surrey Commercial 

 Docks. On penetrating some 6ft. below the surface, the work- 

 men everywhere came across a subterranean forest bed, consist- 

 ing of peat with trunks of trees, for the most part still standing 

 erect. All ore of the species still inhabiting Britain ; the 

 oak, alder, and willow are apparently most abundant. The 

 trees are not mineralised, but retain their vegetable character, 

 except that they are thoroughly saturated with water. In the 

 peat are found large bones, which have been determined as those 

 of the great fossil ox (Bos primigenms). Fresh- water shells are 

 also found. No doubt is entertained that the bed thus exposed 

 is a continuation of the old buried forest, of wide extent, which 

 has on several recent occasions been brought to the daylight on 

 both sides of the Thames, notably at Walthamstow in the year 

 1869, in excavating for the East London Waterworks ; at Plum- 

 stead in 1862-3, in making the southern outfall sewer ; and a few 

 weeks since at Westminster, on the site of the new Aquarium 

 and Winter Garden. In each instance the forest-bed is found 

 buried beneath the marsh clay, showing that the land has sunk 

 below the tidal level since the forest flourished. 



We have received a " Catalogue of the publication of the U.S. 

 Geological Survey of the Toritcries, F. V. Hayden, Geologist 

 in Charge." The catalogue covers twenty pages, and although 

 the publication extends only from 1S67, they already form quite a 

 large library of reports, monographs, catalogues, &c., relating to 

 all branches of the geology, natural history, meteorology, and 

 other points of the extensive region which is being surveyed. 

 The publications of the survey, we believe. Dr. Hayden is willing 

 to send to any societies, libraries, or persons engaged in active 

 scientific investigation who may desire them ; those who do 

 should communicate with Dr. Hayden, U.S. Geologist, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. (U.S.) Dr. Hayden is desirous of securing by 

 exchange the publications of foreign countries in geology, palse- 

 ontology, and natural history generally, to aid in the formation 

 of a library of reference for the use of the Survey, and he hopes 

 that all persons or societies who receive the publications of th« 

 Survey will aid him in this matter. 



Vol. IV. of the second series of the Mhnoires of the Royal 

 Society of Science of Liege, contains only three papers, one of 

 them a mere note of two pages on a new species of Lepidotus, 

 L. mohimonti, by Dr. T. C. Winkler. The other papers are 

 long treatises, one by Dr. E. Candeze, being a *' Revision of the 

 Monograph of the Elateridae " (218 pp.), and the other a treatise 

 " On the Calculus of Probabilities," by the late A. Meyer, pub- 

 lished from the MSS. of the author by F. Folie {446 pp.) 



Mr. J, Wood-Mason, of the India Museum, Calcutta, has 

 lately directed attention to the presence of a chain of superorbital 

 bones in the wood partridges {ArboricolcE), similar to that re- 

 corded by Mr. W. K. Parker in the tinamous. 



The fourth number of the Bulletin de la SociStS ImpMale de 

 Naiuralistes de Moscou contains papers on entomology, botany, 

 geology, &c., by M. V. Motschoulsky, M.A. Petrovsky, M. H. 

 Trautschold, and others, in the French''and German Languages. 



The Cincinnati Society of Natural History has lately received 

 a bequest of $50,000 from Mr. Charles Bodman, of that city. 

 The gift is absolute and without conditions. 



A LARGE meteor was observed at Njort (Deux-Sevres), on 

 August 19, at 8.20 P.M. Although the moon was quite full, it 

 was a magnificent spectacle. It made its appearance in the 

 zenith, lasted tliirty seconds, and disappeared in the south-east 



at an altitude of sixty degrees above the horizon. It must have 

 been seen from other parts of France, but no record has come 

 under our notice. 



A CHAIR of Organic Chemistry has been created in the Faculty 

 of Sciences of Paris, 



The additions to the Zoological Gardens during the past week 

 include two Kinkajous {Cercoleptts caudivolvulus) from British 

 Honduras, presented by Mr. James Wickin ; a Central Ame- 

 rican Agonti {Dasyprocta punctata), two Brown Gannets {Sula 

 fused) from Costa Rica, presented by Mr. J. C. Hussey ; a 

 Woodford's Owl {Syrnium woodfordi) from Natal, presented by 

 Mr. W. E. Oates ; a Purple-capped Lory (Lorius domicella) 

 from Moluccas, presented by Mr. T. P. Medley ; a Mexican 

 Guan {Penelope purpiirascens) from Central America, presented 

 by Mr. A. Warrington ; two Gordon's Terrapins {Platemys gor- 

 doni) from Trinidad, presented by Mr. Devonish ; a Tiger (Felts 

 tigris) from India, a White-thighed Co\oh\x3 (Colobus bicolor) 

 from W. Africa, a West Indian Agonti (Dasyprocta antillensis) 

 from St. Vincent, deposited ; a Blotched Genet ( Genetta ti^rina), 

 and two Crested Pigeons ( Ocyphaps lophotes) bred in the Gardens. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 

 The Naturforscher for July contains the following among other 

 papers : — On the distribution of land and water in Northern 

 Europe during the ice-period, by K. Pettersen. — On the diffusion 

 of gases through thin layers of liquid, by Franz Exner. — On 

 Helmholtz's theory of vowels, by E. von Quanten. — On the 

 influence of the lurface of di-electric bodies upon their action 

 at distances, by Romich and Fajdiga. — On electrodes which 

 cannot be polarised, by A. Oberbeck. — On the changes of colour 

 in an alcoholic solution of cyanine, by El. Borscow. Cyanine is 

 the blue colouring matter of the flowers of Ajuga reptans and 

 A. pyramidalis. — On the determination of alcohol in wine, by 

 M. Malligand. — On the action of a weak ncid upon the salts of 

 a stronger, by H. Hiibner and H. Wiesinger. — On the influence 

 of the season upon the skin of embryos, by Herr Donhof. — On 

 the action of electricity of high tension upon liquids, by G. 

 Plante — On the motion of the imbibition water in wood and in 

 the vegetable cell, by Julius Wiesner. — On a simple means to 

 find the poles of a rod magnet, by F. Miiller. — On the analysis 

 of Japanese bronzes, by E. J. Maumene. — On the nutrition of 

 the animal body by peptone, by A. Gyergyai and P. Plosz. — On 

 the conducting of electricity by flames, by F. Braun.— On the 

 fauna of the Caspian Sea, by O. Grimm. — On the action of lime 

 upon the germinating process of Phaseolus multiflorus, by J. 

 Bohm. — The solubility of sodic nitrate and its hydrate, by A. 

 Ditte. — The electric conduction resistance of air, by A. Oberbeck. 

 — Influence of chlorine upon the nutrition of plants, by W. Knop. 

 — On some experiments with disinfectants, by Herr Erismann. 

 — Distinction between chemical and physiological ferments, by A. 

 Miintz. — On the time of the disappearance of the ancient Fauna 

 from the Island of Rodriguez, by A. Milne- Edwards. — Applica- 

 tion of the tuning-fork to electric telegraphs, by P. LaCour. — On 

 the climate at the Lower Jenissei, by W. Koppen. — Temperature* 

 and specific gravity of the water of the German Ocean, by H. A. 

 Meyer. — On the diffusion of moist towards dry air, by L. Dufour. 

 — On the condensation of water in the soil, by A. Mayer. — 

 What influences determine the sex of the hemp plants ? by Fr. 

 Haberlandt. 



Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis (U.S.), 

 vol. iii. No. 2. — This part contains the following papers : — By 

 Dr. C. V. Riley : ' ' Hackberry Butterflies, Description of the 

 early stages oi Apatuta lycaon, Fabr., and Apatura herse, Fabr., 

 with remarks on their Synonymy ; " "On the Oviposition of the 

 Yucca Moth ;" "Description of two new Subterranean Mites ; " 

 " Descriptions and Natural History of two Insects which brave 

 the dangers oi Sarracenia variolaris ;^' "Description of two 

 new Moths." " Notes on the genus Yucca," by G. Engelmann ; 

 "On the Well at the Insane Asylum, St. Louis County," an 

 account of a geological section, by G. C. Broadhead, who also 

 contributes a paper " On the occurrence of bitumen in Missouri ;" 

 " Results of Investigations of Indian Mounds," by J. R. Gage ; 

 "Catalogue of Earthquakes in 1872-3," by R. Hayes; "On 

 the Forms smd Origin of the Lead and Zinc Deposits of S. W. 



