Oct. 2 1, 1875] 



NATURE 



547 



of Balsfjord, age very uncertain, perhaps late Cambrian ; 4. 

 Alten group, regarded as Siliurian ; 5. Golda group, Devonian. 

 The groups of the Secondary period arc quite unrepresented. 

 Throughout the (Quaternary period the land has been subjected to 

 an upheaving of about 120 metres, and this elevation has been 

 continued down to the historic time. As to whether the land is 

 still rising, there is no positive evidence existing. In any case it 

 is certain the elevation during the last thousand years has been 

 insignificant. When it is stated in so many quarters as a geolo- 

 gical fact that the northern part of I^orway rises about one-third 

 of a metre in a century, this rate is evidently much too great. 

 The unstratified rocks met with are also described. To No. 135 

 there is a supplement of forty-four pages, containing a report 

 with plates of Mr. Tylor's lecture to the Geologists' Association 

 on denuding agencies. 



The Ptoccedings oj the Natural History Society of Glasgow, 

 vol. ii. Part I. contains among the most interesting of its 

 articles a paper by Mr. John A. Harvie Brown on the birds 

 found breeding in Sutherlandshire, and another by the same 

 author in conjunction with Mr. E, R. Alston, F.Z.S., on the 

 mammals and reptiles of the same county. These form an 

 excellent addition to Mr. Selby's on the same subjects.— Mr. J. 

 Gilmour writes on the introduction of the Wild Turkey (Meleagris 

 gallipavo) into Argyllsliire ; as does Mr. D. Robertson on the 

 Sea Anemonies of the shores of the Cumbraes, &c.— Mr. J. Coutts 

 describes the post-tertiary clay-beds at Kilchattan Bay, Isle of 



Bute. Mr. R. Gray notes points in the distribution of the 



Capercailli'e in Scotland ; on the occurrence of the Crane in 

 Rossshire ; on the Wood Pigeon, &c.— Lord Binning gives notes 

 on the food of the Wood Pigeon.— Capt. H. W. Fielden, now 

 naturalist to the Arctic Expedition, writes on the Gaur or Indian 

 Bison, and gives notes on a tour through the Outer Hebrides.— 

 Mr. J. S. Dixon gives notes on the discovery of an ancient 

 canoe at Little Hill, Cadder Moor.— Dr. Grieve records 

 dredging notes from the Bay of Rothesay.— There are other 

 short papers by Mr, W. Gait, Mr. J. Young, Dr. D. Dewer, 

 Prof. A. Dickinson, Mr. J, Ramsey, Mr. D. Robertson, Rev. 

 J. L. Somerville, &c. 



Zeitschrift der Oesterreichischen Gesellschaft fUr Meteorologie, 

 Sept, I, — Mr, Blanford's researches on solar radiation and spots, 

 described in a former number of Nature, form the subject of 

 the first paper.— In the concludmg part of Dr. Theorell's 

 description of his printing meteorograph, he states that, with 

 certain precautions, the instrument may be kept for a long 

 period in good working order. One has been in use at Upsala 

 during the last three years and a half, and has lost nothing of its 

 original precision. In a note appended to the inventor's descrip- 

 tion, Herr Osnaghi mentions some alterations which have been 

 mad'e in the Vienna instrument ; thus the power to register great 

 velocities of wind, in which it was formerly wanting, has been 

 conferred upon it. Since the completion of these alterations the 

 meteorograph has worked constantly and regiUarly.— In the 

 " Kleinere Mittheilungen " we have an mterestmg extract from 

 a letter written by Director Hoffraeyer, on the causes of the 

 cold weather in May 1874. Up to the 2ist of the month the 

 synoptic charts show a maximum of pressure over N.W. and W. 

 Europe, stretching like a great screen between the Atlantic and 

 Central Europe, Irom Spitzbergen almost to Algiers, the mmima 

 coming partly from the Arctic seas, partly from the Western 

 Mediterranean, with gradients steep towards N. and W. Such 

 a distribution of pressure must give rise to a cold Polar stream 

 flowing over the greater part of Europe. In Vienna the cold was 

 greatest between the i6th and the i8th, and then the high pres- 

 sure began to travel eastwards. This movement of the maximum 

 produced a great change. The Atlantic minima, instead of 

 moving northwards along the west coast of Greenland as 

 hitherto, now pressed eastwards, reached Iceland and the Azores, 

 and soon the pressure was lowest in the very district where a few 

 days before the maximum existed. At the same time tempe- 

 rature rises in Central Europe. In June a similar succession of 

 barometric changes occurred, and the maximum of pressure in 

 the N. W. was again attended with cold at Vienna. Herr HofT- 

 meyer observes that areas of high pressure are much more quiet 

 and longer lasting than minima, \\hich travel rapidly, change 

 their shapes, and throw off secondary disturbances.^ He thinks 

 the present system of averages insufficient for the^purposes of 

 generalisation, and regards the researches of Koppen on the pro- 

 perties of winds in different conditioiis of atmospheric distri- 

 bution as a step in the right direction. 

 The July number oi^Haii Bulletin Memuelde la SocUti d' AcclU 



matation de Paris, which is always more than a month behind 

 date, opens with the Secretary's Annual Report on the proceed- 

 ings of the Society in 1874. — Special attention has been given to 

 the training of wild animals, such as zebras, for domestic pur- 

 poses, and to the breeding of hybrids, such as those between the 

 horse and zebra, ass and zebra, &c. Complete success is said to 

 have attended the attempts to tame the zebras in the Gardens 

 of the Society. The efforts of the Society are largely assisted 

 by the experiments carried out by such gentlemen as M. Cornely, 

 M. Mairet, M. Moreau, and others, who have succeeded in rear- 

 ing many of the rarer forms of foreign animal life,- and useiul 

 plants.— New Caledonia is the subject of a lengthy paper by 

 M. Germain, who considers that that country would easily sup- 

 port many useful animals which do not exist there. By their in- 

 troduction the country would be greatly benefited, while its im- 

 portance would also be increased by additional facilities being 

 given for utilising its indigenous produce. It is peculiarly rich 

 in timber, which affords shelter to many kinds of useful birds. — 

 The cultivation of the Alfa Plant (Stipes tenacissivia), which 

 grows wild in Algeria, is strongly recommended in the South of 

 France, where there are large tracts of land well suited to its 

 growth. — The cultivation of new varieties of silkworms is 

 steadily progressing in France, and the improved breeds which 

 have been introduced have greatly assisted in remedying the 

 evils of the silkworm disease. 



The Schriften der Natiirforschenden Gesellschaft in Danzig 

 (vol. iii. belt 3). — From this publication we notice the following 

 papers : — Researches on the Prehistoric Times of West Prussia, 

 by Dr. Lissauer, — On the Petrefacts found in the Diluvial De- 

 posits near Danzig, by Herr Conventz. — On the Culture of the 

 Caterpillars of Gastropaeha pini, by G. Brischke. — On a Hum- 

 ming Acilius sulcatus, by the same. — Report on the investiga- 

 tions of Antiquities made in the neighbomhood of Neustettin 

 during 1873, by Major Kasiski. — On the Spiders of Prussia, 

 (seventh treatise), by A. Menge, with tables. This paper is the 

 most valuable one in the pubhcation, and gives proof of the won- 

 derful diligence and energy of its author. 



La Belgique Horticole, September and October, — In the cur- 

 rent number of this magazine, usually devoted almost entirely to 

 horticulture, are several articles of more than common interest. 

 The paper of De Candolle's is reprinted entire which has attracted 

 a good deal of attention, on the different effects on the growth of 

 the same species of the same temperature in different latitudes. 

 Prof. E. Morren, the editor, has two articles on the " carnivo- 

 rous " habits of Pingtiicula and Drosera. Following Mr. Dar- 

 win's lead in a careful series of experiments on two Alpine 

 species of the former genus, P. alpina and longifolia, and the 

 common D. rotundifolia of the latter genus, he finds the same 

 results as regards the secretion of a fluid which causes rapid decay 

 of the substances in contact with it, but is not prepared to admit 

 any process of actual digestion or assimilation on the part of the 

 plant. M, Ch, Royer has also an interesting note on the cause 

 of the sleep of plants. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



Leeds 

 Naturalists' Field Club and Scientific Association, 

 September 15. — Mr. Henry Pocklington, F.R.M.S,, in the 

 chair, — Mr, James Abbott exhibited a number of interesting 

 plants collected in the West Riding, includhig Potentilla nor- 

 vegica, which grows abundantly on the banks of the Leeds and 

 Liverpool Canal between Armley and Kirkstall, and appears to 

 have been thoroughly naturalised. It was first gathered about 

 i860, by Mr, Wm, Kirkley, but not satisfactorily determined at 

 the time. In 1868 it was found, also apparently native, in Bur- 

 well Fen, Cambridgeshire, by Mr, G. S. Gibson, and recorded 

 by him in the Journal of Botany for that year (vol. vi., p. 

 302 ; also see " Babington's Manual," seventh edition). In 

 1874 Mr. Abbott noticed it in great abundance, and in 1875 it 

 was sent to Kew to be named. It turned out to be a Scandi- 

 navian form, though in what manner it reached the Leeds district 

 is as yet unaccounted for, Mr, C, P. Ilobkirk, of Iludders- 

 field, reports that it grows on the canal banks in his neigh- 

 bourhood, where he found it in 1873. Mr. Abbott also reported 

 the capture of the Clouded Yellow Butterfly {Colias cdusa) near 

 Adel Dam, six miles north of Leeds, on the 5th September. 

 This ordinarily southern form seems this year to have extended 

 its range far to the nortliward, Vanessa antiopa, also recorded 

 from Kirkstall Road, Leed& in September, 



