444 



NATURE 



[March ,7, icoi- 



The more minute observations on the changes in the 

 volume of the glacier, which have been carried on from 

 1892 to 1897, prove constant variation, and suggest a con- 

 nection with the prevalent temperatures. It is to be hoped 

 these will be continued, for they will aid in the discovery 

 of the causes to which the greater changes are due. The 

 past history of the glacier shows a marked period of 

 advance to have begun about the year 1600, reaching a 

 maximum in 1620, after which it retreated. A strong 

 advance set in at the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, and it attained a maximum just a hundred years 

 after the former one, the ice then retiring. About 1743 

 it again advanced, but only for a short time, and this 

 was followed by a marked retreat. But from 1770 to 

 1779 there was a great advance (which probably buried 

 the marble quarry, and, so far as is known, hid it 

 for nearly a century). But since then the oscillations 

 have been considerable, for two periods of advance are 

 recorded, one from 18 14 to 1822, the other from 1840 

 to 1855, the effect of the latter remaining, as has been 

 said, for four or five years. It is at present difficult 

 to explain these singular changes of volume in the 

 glaciers ; very probably they are connected with both 



bilities of nature, upon the imago of lepidoptera, the 

 pupa of which have been thus treated. The cold, 

 speaking generally, seems to reduce the size of the 

 imago and makes it paler in .colour, the heat having the 

 contrary effect. The second memoir, " Monographie des 

 Genus Elaphoglossum," by Dr. H. Christ, illustrated by 

 four plates, is an elaborate botanical study. 



Vol. .xxxvi. (1900), Part ii. also contains two memoirs. 

 One is by Prof. Ed. Fischer, " Untersuchungen zur 

 vergleichenden Entwicklungsgeschichte und Systematik 

 der Phalloideen," illustrated by six plates and four 

 cuts in the text, in which the relationships of the 

 several forms are elaborately worked out. The other, by 

 Dr. Emil Hugi, " Die Klippenregion von Giswyl," with 

 six plates of sections and scenery, gives a full and careful 

 description of one of these remarkable isolated rock 

 masses, which are so frequent on the northern margin of 

 the Alps and Carpathians. Sections representing the 

 actual stratigraphy of the district are followed by others 

 showing how this has been produced ; namely, by an 

 overfolding followed by denudation, more especially 

 affecting one of its limbs, and that by a second folding 

 in this portion which has resulted in an overthrust. 



The Unter Grindelwald Glacier in 1895. The white lines show the extent of the glacier in 18 



winter snowfall and summer temperature, but the 

 former, as chiefly affecting the upper part of a glacier, 

 may be some years before it produces an effect at the 

 lower end, while that will be more immediately sensi- 

 tive to summer warmth. Hence each glacier must be 

 separately studied, as this one has been by Prof Baltzer. 

 The importance of the investigation is now generally 

 recognised, and that not only in the Swiss Alps. In 

 these, according to Dr. Richter {Archiv. Genev. vi. 

 1898, p. 22), of fifty-seven glaciers observed in 1897, fifty 

 were still decreasing, five were stationary, and twelve 

 were increasing, so that it will evidently be difficult to 

 fix very precisely a date for the maximum and minimum 

 of a whole region. 



Other memoirs recently issued by the Swiss Society of 

 Natural Science deal with various subjects. Vol. xxxvi. 

 ('899), Part i. contains two memoirs. One, by Dr. M. 

 Standfuss, " Experimentelle Zoologische Studien mit 

 Lepidopteren," illustrated by five plates, is an investiga- 

 tion of the effect of temperature, either continuously 

 higher or lower than the average, but within the possi- 

 NO. 1636, VOL. 63] 



Dr. Zschokke's memoir on " Die Tierwelt der Hoch- 

 gebirgsseen," vol. xxxvii. (1900), pp. 400, with three 

 maps and eight plates, gives much information on the 

 physiography of the lakes of the Higher Alps, as 

 well as a full account of their fauna. Here we find 

 local reproductions of almost Arctic conditions in the 

 midst of a temperate zone, and the fauna, in many 

 respects, may be representative of glacial times. 

 During these the lakes would be mostly, if not wholly, 

 occupied with ice, but as it gave place to water this 

 would be peopled by organisms, partly transferred by 

 birds, partly making their way up stream irom lower 

 levels. Of this fauna Dr. Zschokke gives lists and 

 descriptions. It is far from inconsiderable, having 

 representatives of the majority of the invertebrata from 

 the rhizopods upwards, with fishes and amphibians as 

 vertebrates. Of the former, thirteen species are men- 

 tioned as occurring in lakes over 1400 m. above sea-level, 

 Salmo lacustris and i". salvelinus having the highest 

 range, for they occur in the Finailsee, 2690 m. Of 

 amphibians six are enumerated, of which Rana fusca 

 reaches the greatest elevation, being found up to 2400 m. 



