64 



NATURE 



[September 17, 1914 



race from south-east India to the north-west, whence 

 they passed westward from the neighbourhood of 

 Peshawar. 



The seventh annual report of the American Bison 

 Society contains \.^o very satisfactory items — first, that 

 the number of pure-bred bison living in the country at 

 the end of 1913 (inclusive of the 549 calves born the 

 same year) was no fewer than 3788, and, secondly, 

 that the society has decided to include within the 

 scope of its aims the protection of the prongbuck, a 

 species now standing in urgent need of such assistance. 

 It should be added that there is a discrepancy in regard 

 to the number of living bison in different parts of the 

 report, the number given in the president's address 

 being 3453, and that in the summary by the secretary 

 the figure quoted above. 



The imperfections of our seismic records are most 

 noticeable during the periods of great European wars. 

 Accounts of recent earthquakes are, of necessity, rare 

 or brief at the present time ; but, in neutral countries, 

 seismological inquiries are being carried on as usual. 

 Tho weekly bulletins of the Hawaiian volcanic obser- 

 vatory, for instance, record the changes that occur 

 from day to day in its neighbourhood. In the last 

 number (No. 27) Mr. H. O. Wood reports on the 

 earthquakes registered in the Whitney Laboratory of 

 Seismology at Halemaumau from April 21 to July 22, 

 19 14. During these three months sixty-one local 

 shocks were registered, of which only five were per- 

 ceptible without instrumental aid. The number of 

 shocks is thus at present small for a volcanic centre, 

 but a considerable increase in their frequency will no 

 doubt herald any important outburst. 



The earthquakes of Norway have recently been 

 studied in detail by Mr. C. F. Kolderup (Bergens 

 Museums Aarbok, 1913, pp. 1-152). He gives first a 

 list of the more important earthquakes from 1612 to 

 1886. After the latter year, the chronicle becomes 

 much more complete. During the twenty-five years 

 1887-1911, the number recorded is 494, that is, at the 

 rate of nearly twenty a year. In Great Britain the 

 average annual number of earthquakes is twelve; so 

 that, taking area into account, the frequency of earth- 

 quakes in the two countries is the same. The Nor- 

 wegian earthquakes appear, however, to be of greater 

 strength, si.x having disturbed areas of more than 

 50,000 square miles, the corresponding number for 

 Great Britain being three. Again, the strongest 

 Norwegian earthquake (that of October 23, 1904) 

 disturbed an area of 367,000 square miles ; while the 

 strongest British earthquake (that of December 17, 

 1896) disturbed 98,000 square miles. In both coun- 

 tries the earthquakes are most frequent during the 

 winter months; and, throughout the day, are most 

 perceptible during the hours lo-ii p.m. and 1-2 a.m. 



The limited literature on iridium in its mineral 

 forms is enriched by Bulletin 17 of the Geological 

 Survey of Tasmania (John Vail, Hobart, 1914), by 

 W. H. Twelvetrees, on "The Bald Hill Osmiridium 

 Field." The mineral occurs here as granules, with 

 magnetite, chromite, nickeliferous pyrrhotine, and 

 gold, in an altered peridotite, and is mostly won from 

 alluvium. From the interesting review of the occur- 

 NO. 2342, VOL. 94] 



rence and use of iridium in the world at large, we 

 gather that a certain mystery overhangs the trade, 

 since the tipping of nibs for fountain-pens, and the 

 production of hard ends for other apparatus, scarcely 

 account for the increased demand for osmiridium. 



Recent publications of the Geological Survey of 

 the Department of Mines, Tasmania, are concerned 

 with interesting mining areas. Bulletin 14, on "The 

 Middlesex and Mount Claude Mining Field," and 15, 

 on "The Stanley River Tin Field," describe the tin 

 ores that were introduced into metamorphosed pre- 

 Cambrian sediments by the uprise of granite in 

 Devonian times. L. L. Waterhouse concludes that 

 the banded ore-deposits of the Stanley River represent 

 an actual replacement of the original country-rock, 

 the structures of which are often preserved, even in 

 the sulphide-ores. Bulletin 16, on "The Jukes- 

 Darwin Mining Field," contains views of the forest- 

 clad foothills and the great ridges of schist and 

 granite cast of Macquarie Harbour. The topography 

 has been notably modified by glacial action. 



The Australian Geological Surveys materially assist 

 in the development of the resources of the country. 

 Since the work that was noticed in Nature, vol. xciii., 

 p. 307 (May 21, 1914), we have received several 

 publications dealing with mineral deposits. E. C. 

 Saint-Smith and R. A. Farquharson describe the 

 Southern Cross area of the Yilgarn Goldfields (Geol. 

 Surv. W. Australia, Bull. 49), where quartz-reefs 

 occur in a complex country, which includes banded 

 jaspers that may be of sedimentary origin. The most 

 important reefs from an economic point of view occur 

 as metasomatic replacements of schists along shear- 

 zones, while those in the granite from which the 

 siliceous infiltrations spread bear very little gold. The 

 northern part of Kalgoorlie is described in Bulletin 

 51, and here the ferruginous jaspers, which have so 

 wide an interest among the old rocks of both hemi- 

 spheres, become in part graphitic as they approach 

 deposits of sulphide ores. 



It has been established by persistent statistical 

 researches that the south-west monsoon rainfall in 

 India is affected by various previous conditions in or 

 outside that area, and seasonal forecasts based thereon 

 have been made with more or less success since 1882. 

 In a recent paper, entitled "A Further Study of Rela- 

 tionships with Indian Monsoon Rainfall " (Memoirs, 

 vol. xxi., part viii.), Dr. Walker discusses at con- 

 siderable length several correlations from all available 

 data, but the results of this useful investigation have 

 mostly proved to be of a negative character, (a) Rela- 

 tionship with previous barometric pressure in India : 

 There is a tendency for the pressure of any year to be 

 high when the monsoon is deficient, and vice versd, 

 but the indications do not seem to be of much prac- 

 tical use in forecasting the character of the monsoon 

 a few months before its arrival, {h) Relation with 

 previous Indian temperature : It is generally admitted 

 that the monsoon rainfall is connected with the re- 

 placement of heated air by damper air from the ocean, 

 and that years of high temperature in May should 

 be years of good rainfall, but it is shown that this is 

 not the case. Dr. Walker thinks that improved know- 



