284 



NA TURE 



[January 17, 1901 



Knight, of an expedition to the fossil fields of Wyoming in July 

 1899. This expedition was organised by the general passenger 

 agent of the Union Pacific Railroad, who issued invitations to 

 every important university, college, and museum in the United 

 States. Each institution was allowed one professor and one or two 

 assistants, who were given free transport from Chicago to 

 Laramie and back. About one hundred men of science joined 

 the expedition, which collected an immense amount of valuable 

 material, including many photographs of geographical interest, 

 some excellent specimens of which illustrate Mr. Knight's 

 article. 



We have received the first number (January i, i90i)ofthe 

 Geologisches Centralblatt, which is a new fortnightly geological 

 review intended to give titles and brief abstracts relating to all 

 books, papers, maps and tables that have been published on 

 geology, including palaeontology and petrography. Twenty- four 

 numbers of thirty-two pages each will be issued yearly. All 

 works issued since April i, 1900, will be noticed. In the 

 present number there are notices of 104 works, consequently we 

 may expect about 2500 articles to be recorded during the year. 

 We may remark that in the first volume of Whitaker's 

 "Geological Record" for 1874, there were more than 2000 

 entries, while in Blake's "Annals of British Geology" for 1893 

 there were 730 entries. The Geologisches Centralblatt will not, 

 however, take notice of articles on pure mineralogy and 

 crystallography. It starts with a good list of .supporters and 

 contributors, amongst whom are Barrois, Choffat, Reusch, 

 F. D. Adams, and many others, and we observe that British 

 abstracts are furnished by Mr. C. V. Crook, of the Geological 

 Survey Library in Jermyn Street. Abstracts appear in German, 

 English and French. The titles of works in other languages 

 will be translated into one of the before-mentioned languages, 

 and appear beneath the original titles. The Centralblatt is 

 divided into sections, but the authors under these sections are 

 arranged promiscuously. The abstracts extend occasionally to 

 a page or even two pages in length ; some occupy but a single 

 line. New species of fossils are printed in distinct type, and 

 other species specially referred to are in different type. The 

 work cannot fail to be of the greatest service to geologists in all 

 parts of the world, if only it appears punctually. Messrs. 

 Dulau and Co. act as London agents, and the subscription price 

 is thirty shillings. 



The Transactions of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical 

 Society (vol. v., part 10, October 1900) contains three excellent 

 pictorial plates of the pre-Cambrian rocks of Charnwood Forest 

 to illustrate an excursion conducted by Prof. W. W. Watts. 

 The reports of other geological excursions are illustrated by 

 remarkably clear maps and sections prepared by Mr. Fox- 

 Strangways. There are also notes on the botany of the 

 Beaumont Leys Sewage Farm, by Mr. A. B. Jackson, and an 

 address to Section E (Zoology) by Mr. F. R. Rowley. 

 Curiously enough, the entomologists form a section by them- 

 selves apart from the zoologists, who are urged by Mr. Rowley 

 to take up the neglected groups of " Rhizopoda, Heliozoa, 

 Infusoria, Turbellaria, Oligochseta, Rotifera, Acarina and 

 Polyzoa. " 



We have received from the author. Dr. S. Kaestner, a copy 

 of his inaugural address delivered at the Leipzig Academy on the 

 methods of preparation employed in embryological investi- 

 ■ gation. 



The excellence of the illustrations forms a striking feature 



of the latest issue (vol. v. No. 2) of Indian Museum Notes. 



Mr. G. B. Buckton describes one new insect injurious to forest 



rees, and a second to betel ; while the other contributors treat 



of many kinds of insect pests. 



NO. 1629, VOL. 6i\ 



To the January number of the Entomologist, Dr. A. G, 

 Butler contributes some highly interesting observations with re- 

 gard to the seasonal phases of certain South African butterflies. 

 For instance, the form described as Precis simia proves to be 

 the wet season phase of P. anlilope, and P. irimeni that of P. 

 cuama. Since these phases are not absolutely confined to^ 

 season, the indiscriminate use of the term " seasonal form " is 

 deprecated. 



According to the American Museum Journal iox November, 

 active steps are being taken for the further zoological explor- 

 ation of Alaska, Mr. A. J, Stone having already started on a 

 preliminary collecting trip. There is, however, a proposal on 

 foot to start an "Arctic Mammal Club," and it is hoped that 

 the 2000 dollars left conditionally by the late Mr. Constable for 

 the exploration of Alaska will be shortly available. The con- 

 dition is that the amount should be raised to 5000 dollars by 

 other contributors — and in a rich country like the United States 

 there ought to be little difficulty in getting this sum subscribed. 



To the Proceedings of the Washington Academy (vol. ii. 

 pp. 661-676), Dr. Merriam contributes a preliminary revisioi> 

 of the red foxes of North America, of which no less than twelve 

 species and races are recognised. The author regards all these 

 forms as specifically distinct from the common fox of Europe 

 and Northern Asia, although he states that the one described 

 as Vulpes alascensis is closely related to the latter, which it 

 connects with the more southern American types. To many 

 zoologists this admission would indicate that all the Americai> 

 red foxes are nothing more than local phases of their Old World 

 prototype. In another part of the same journal (pp. 63l-649)> 

 Mr. G. S. Miller describes a collection of small mammals from 

 Liberia, among which several are new. 



We have received Prof. Herdman's fourteenth annual Report 

 of the Liverpool Marine Biological Committee, and their bio- 

 logical station at Port Erin (Isle of Man). The editor observes 

 that although there is nothing remarkable to record in regard 

 to the educational work of the station, yet all lines of research 

 have been continued and all investigations advanced a stage,, 

 while several important publications have been issued. Detailed 

 reports of the laboratory, aquarium and dredging operations 

 are given, and seven plates are appended showing the distri- 

 bution of the marine fauna at the south-western extremity of 

 the Isle of Man and of particular groups of the same in Port 

 Erin Bay. The preparation of these last must have entailed a 

 vast amount of labour on the part of the staff. 



Among several other papers, vol. xii., part 2, of the 

 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria contains a note 

 by Mr, R. H. Walcott relating to the cast of a fossil tree- 

 trunk in basalt. It was found at Footscray, and shown at 

 the Melbourne Exhibition of 1866. Unlike ordinary fossil 

 stems, in which the wood has been replaced, atom by atom, 

 by mineral matter, the whole of the woody matter in the 

 specimen in question was first destroyed, leaving a cavity 

 which was subsequently filled by liquid trap. A necesSary 

 condition for the preservation of the tree-form at the time of 

 the entombment of the specimen seems to have been its rapid 

 inclusion in the molten rock, so that the carbonised remains 

 would be inaccessible to the air, and maintain the mould in 

 its proper shape until the trap had cooled sufficiently to pre- 

 vent it from closing in. A subsequent flow filled the cavity. 

 The author is of opinion that the specimen cannot be a concre- 

 tion, and, if he is right, it appears to be unique. 



Mr. J. E. S. Moore's account of his researches and explora- 

 tions in Lake Tanganyika and the countries to the northward, 

 published in the January number of the Geographical Joumaly 

 will be read with interest both by geologists and zoologists, as 



