November i8, 19 15] 



NATURE 



321 



t Discoveries of nearly rnmplete skeletons of the \ 

 primitive amphibians or Labvrinthodonts are becom- | 

 ing- numerous antl w icNspread. A s^roup of several 

 specimens of a species named Myrimlo)} senckalensis 

 has been found in a quarry in the Karoo formation i 

 near Senekal, Orange Free State, and is described by 

 Dr. E. C. N. van Hoepen in the Annals of the Trans- 

 vaal Museum, vol. v., part 2 (August, 1915). The 

 head alone is imperfect, the other bones being well 

 preserved in their relative natural positions. In 

 general characters the skeleton agrees with that of 

 the European and North American Permian 

 forms, in which the vertebrae are represented by 

 separate pleurocentra and hypocentra. The only 

 '(- peculiar feature is the presence of a mosaic of very 

 I thin polygonal plates, each bearing minute denticles, 

 covering" the inttrph rygoid vacuities of the palate. 

 These may ha\ c Ix, n plates in the skin between the 

 rami of the lower jaw ; but the fact that their teeth 

 are identical with those on the pterygoid bones sug- 

 gests that they may have been loosely fixed in the roof 

 of the cavity of the mouth. 



A FEW years ag-o the American Museum of Natural 

 History, New York, obtained from a Cretaceous 

 formation in Montana, U.S.A., remains of the largest 

 known carnivorous dinosaur, with a skull very like 

 that of the familiar Megalosaurus, but not less than 

 5 ft. in length. A plaster cast of this skull is ex- 

 hibited in the Geological Department of the British 

 Museum (Natural History). Considerable parts of 

 two skeletons have now been restored and mounted 

 in the American Museum, in the attitude of combat 

 over a skeleton of the herbivorous dinosaur Tracho- 

 don. As restored, the skeleton is closely similar to 

 that of the other megalosaurs, with heavy hind- 

 quarters and a long swimming tail, very small fore- 

 quarters, grasping fore limbs, and a relatively large 

 head. The total length is 47 ft., and when the body 

 is raised in the attitude of walking on the hind limbs 

 the height to the top of the head is about 20 ft. 

 Photographs of the specimens, with a hypothetical 

 restoration of the living animals, ar(> publi>h<d in the 

 Scientific American for October 9 (vol. cxiii.. No. 15). 



The Geological Survey of England and Wales has 

 just issued a second edition of the very important 

 memoir on "The Coals of South Wales," the first 

 edition of which appeared in 1908. It will be remem- 

 bered that this memoir was devoted mainly to an 

 attempt to solve the problem of the origin of anthra- 

 cite, and for this purpose very numerous analyses of 

 the coals of the South Wales coalfield were made and 

 collected, and were tabulated in such a manner as to 

 serve to show the progressive change of the coals from 

 steam coals into anthracite on traversing the coalfield 

 in a north-westerly direction. This is shown on charts 

 by what Dr. Strahan terms lines of iso-authracitism, 

 that is, lines drawn through points in the different 

 seams where the ratio of the percentage of carbon to 

 the percentage of hydrogen is the same. This ratio 

 affords a good measure of the anthracitism of a coal, 

 and lines drawn in this manner indicate clearly the 

 direction and rate of progress of the gradual change 

 from steam coal to anthracite. In the new edition 

 NO. 2403, VOL. 96] 



some 118 additional analyses are included, and these 

 have been found 10 Ix- of considerable assistance in 

 completing and adjusting the positions of the iso- 

 anthracitic lines. It is noteworthy that this large 

 number of new analyses, which add more than 50 per 

 cent, ^to the original number, fall quite readily into 

 their place in accordance with the original scheme, 

 and have not necessitated any serious change in the 

 positions of the iso-anthracitic lines, or any modifica- 

 tion of the theory of the origin of anthracite put for- 

 ward in the original memoir. The work of the last six 

 years may therefore be looked upon as affording valu- 

 able confirmation of the conclusions arrived at in the 

 first edition of this important piece of work. 



The Mersey Docks and Harbour Board has issued 

 the report of the Liverpool Observatory for the year 

 19 14. Time signals are given each day except Sunday 

 by the firing of a gun in the Morpeth Dock, worked 

 automatically from the observatory, and showing 

 Greenwich mean time. Earthquake instruments are 

 in regular use, and experiments are being made with 

 a seismograph designed by Mr. J. J. Shaw, the results 

 of which are said to be eminently successful. A table 

 is given of the earth tremors that have been registered 

 during the year. Astronomicah observations continue 

 to be made with unbroken regularity, and the solar 

 eclipse of August and the transit of Mercury last 

 November were well observed. For the meteoro- 

 logical side of the observatory the self-recording in- 

 struments for the automatic registration of atmo- 

 spheric pressure, the force and direction of the wind, 

 and the amount of rain are said to have worked with- 

 out failure the whole of the year. A table is given 

 showing the total amount of sunshine on each day 

 throughout the year, also a table showing the maxi- 

 mum wind velocities on each day, and detailed daily 

 meteorological observations are given for various 

 elements. The control of the observatory remains 

 under Mr. W. E. Plummer. 



A SUMMARY of rainfall, mean temperature, and sun- 

 shine for the third quarter — July, August, and Septem- 

 ber — during the thirty-five years 1881 to 1915 has 

 been issued by the Meteorological Office as an appen- 

 dix to the Weekly Weather Report. The heaviest 

 rainfall for the period in 1915 was 275 mm. in the 

 east of Scotland, which is the only occurrence of the 

 fall being heavier than in the north or in the west 

 of Scotland, according to the means for the several 

 lustra from i88r to 19 10, or in the several seasons 

 for the individual years from 191 1 to 1915. An exam- 

 ination of the results for the individual years of the 

 several lustra also show no instance of the rainfall 

 for the three months being greater in the east of 

 Scotland than in both the north and west. The per- 

 centage of the average rainfall in 1915 was largely in 

 excess in all the eastern districts, the mean being- 122 

 percent., while for the western districts the rainfall was 

 everywhere deficient except in the south of Ireland, the 

 mean of all districts being- 88 per cent, of the average. 

 The highest mean temperature for the three months in 

 1915 was 600°, in the English Channel, and the 

 lowest 541°, in the north of Scotland; the excess or 



