June 30, 1887] 



NATURE 



21 1 



Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich). 



July. 



Star. 



Mag. Disap 



Corresponding 

 angles from ver- 

 tex to right for 

 inverted image, 

 h. m. h. m. 00 



Reap. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



At Monday's meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, Mr. 

 J. T. Last gave a brief preliminary account of his recent explora- 

 tions among the NamuUi Hills, to the south-east of Lake 

 Nyassa and along the River Rovuma. He found that, although 

 the thermometer often falls below freezing-point, no snow exists 

 on the Na nulli Hills. At the same meeting, General Haig 

 read an unusually interesting paper on a recent journey he made 

 in the south-west corner of Arabia. He started from Hodeida, 

 went inland to Sana'a, and south to Aden, He found himself in a 

 region of mountains rising to over 10,000 feet, in many places ter- 

 raced by the natives up to a height of 8oo3 feet. The scenery 

 was often of the most magnificent and picture-que description, 

 and the climate so comparatively temperate as to be suited for 

 European settlement. The whole region of which this forms 

 part, and indeed the entire SDUthern portion of Arabia, including 

 Hadran\aut and Oman, is one that w-ould richly repay .^erious 

 exploration. General Haig made a journey of about fifty miles 

 into the interior of Oman, and found that, while there was a 

 rainfall of only 6 inches on the coast, at least 30 inches fell upon 

 the hills of the interior. 



Some further steps have been taken in Australia for the prose- 

 cution of Antarctic exploration. The Antarctic Committee 

 appointed by the Royal Society of Victoria and the Royal 

 Geographical Society of Australia have memorialized the Premier 

 of Victoria on the propriety of stimulating Antarctic research by 

 the offer of bonuses. They recommend that a sum of ;i^ 10,000 

 be placed on the Estimates for this'purpose, andjthat tenders be 

 solicited from shipowners for the performance of services in con- 

 nexion with Antarctic exploration. It is stipulated that ship- 

 owners whose tenders are accepted shall provide, free of charge, 

 cabin accommodation in each ship for two gentlemen, who will 

 sail as the scientific staff; and a second cabin as instrument- 

 room and office. The master of the ship must afford these 

 gentlemen every facility for observing natural phenomena. The 

 master will receive special bonuses for every hundred tons of 

 oil from fish caught south of 60° S. The special services desired 

 are as follows : — A flying survey of any coast-lines lying within 

 the Antarctic Circle, and not laid down upon the Admiralty 

 charts ; the discovery of new waterways leading towards the South 

 Pole, and of harbours suitable for wintering in. Opportunities 

 must be afforded to the scientific staff to add to our knowledge 

 of the meteorology, oceanography, terrestrial magnetism, natu- 

 ral history, and geology of the region. Special bonuses will 

 be given for passing 70 S., and also for establishing on shore a 

 temporary observing camp. Two ships are wanted, and both 

 must be in Port Philip Bay and ready to start on October 15. 

 The Premier of Victoria, we are glad to say, has promised 

 to place ;^ro,ooo on the next Estimates for these purposes, on 

 condition that the other colonies will join in the enterprise ; this 

 they no donbt will do. 



The Russian Government has decided to establish Chairs of 

 Geography in the Universities of the empire. The first appoint- 

 ment will be to the University of St. Petersburg in the autumn 

 of the present year. 



Mr. McCarthy, the Government Surveyor of Siam, has just 

 returned to this country, with a very fine set of maps of that 

 country, embodying the results of seven years' survey work. 

 These he is working out at the Royal Geographical Society. 



Mr. W. J. Ste.\i.\s has just returned from Central Brazil, 

 where he has spent a considerable time among the Botocudos, 

 a savage people, c oncerning whom our information is exceedingly 

 scanty. Mr. Steain's has collected much information concerning 

 these people, and brought home some two hundred sketches, 

 which he will probably publish soon in some form. 



O.VE of the public lectures at the Manchester Meeting of the 

 British Association will be by Sir Francis De Winton, late 

 Governor of the Congo Free State. Sir Francis,, we believe, 

 will illustrate his lecture wich a series of maps (perhaps thrown 

 on the screen) showing the progress of our knowledge of Central 

 Africa from the time of Ptolemy down to the present day. 



DISCOVERY OF FOSSIL REMAINS OF AN 

 ARCTIC FLORA IN CENTRAL SWEDEN. 



T7OR the first time fossil remains of av Arctic flora have been 

 -^ discovered in the great stretch of land between Scania and 

 Norrland. The discovery was made in a part where it was 

 least expected, viz. just north of the town of Vadstena, close to 

 the shore of the lake Wettern. The soil in the vicinity of Vad- 

 stena greatly resembles that of South- Western Scania, being 

 mostly foraied of moraine clay or clayey moraine sand, whilst 

 marine forjnations appear to be absent in the former place ; they 

 are, however, found further to the north-east, but I have as yet 

 been unable to ascertain the limits of the two districts. Within 

 the moraine clay are found here and there little cavities or de- 

 pressions, occupied by peat bogs or alluvial formations. Close 

 to the shore of the lake Wettern, barely a third of a kilometre 

 north-east of Vadstena, such a depression occurs, occupi;d by a 

 peat bog. This peat bog continues to the north-east beyond 

 the depression, a little way up the rising ground, caused by the 

 existence here of some strong wells, around which in remote 

 times considerable quantities of calcareous tufa have formed. 

 My attention was drawn to this locality by Dr. J. Jonsson, who 

 had noticed the tufa under some work effected for the Geological 

 Survey of Sweden, but not having closely examined the fossil 

 remains of plants in the same, he was only able to inform me 

 that he had found mosses therein. 



On examining the collection of specimens of the tufa ob- 

 tained, I found at the back of one some well-preserved leaves of 

 Dryas octopetala, L. , other fossil remains in the same fragment, 

 besides mosses, being branches of Empetrutt and leaves of 

 Vaccinium uliginonim, L. In consequence of this discovery, I 

 decided to visit the sp.ot myself, partly in the hope of discovering 

 some more specimens of Dryas, and partly in order to study the 

 adjacent layers of earth and the strata containing the fossil 

 plants. But although I spent a whole day in examining loose 

 blocks and the accessible parts of the strata I did not succeed 

 ill finding any more leaves of Dryas. 



The calcareous tufa is, as I have stated, deposited on a de- 

 clivity and around a well, and the latter, whose flow is rather 

 strong, is now exposed through the removal of the peat (a 

 couple of feet in thickness) which covered it, along with the 

 tufa immediately round the well. The latter appears to have 

 rested immediately on clayey moraine d^hris or moraine clay 

 (bottom moraine), whilst nearest the well the lower layers are 

 sinter-formed without distinct remains of plants, though pro- 

 bably containing such pine needles and mosses as are found in 

 the upper layer;. The mosses are in the upper part of the tufa 

 in certain places common, and form sometimes separate layers 

 consisting solely of such. The composition of the bed seenied 

 to be as follows : — Lowest, the lime had formed round growing 

 grass or Juncacece, the leaves of which are indicated by more or 

 less perpendicular holes. Next above this appears a more dis- 

 tinctly stratified tufa, containing leaves and exterior bark of the 

 pine, but, judging from the fragments thrown up in the vicinity, 

 the layer containing Betula nana should be placed between these 

 two. As a proof of such a layer are the mosses, leaves of 

 Vaccinhim uliginosum, Empetrum, and even needles of pine, 

 although more seldom than in the true pine layer. From the 

 layer containing remains of dwarf-birch the piece of tufa with 



