July 14, 1898] 



NATURE 



257 



they increase in bulk, or decrease, and to which extent. For 

 eight glaciers the measurements extend already for the past 

 eight to ten years, and they show that these glaciers have been 

 steadily decreasing, their lower ends having retreated at an 

 average speed of from 9 to 38 metres every year. Taking the 

 northern and the southern slope of the Caucasus separately, the 

 average speeds of retreat are 22 metres a year for the former, 

 and 25 metres for the latter. Several new glaciers were dis- 

 covered in 1896 by the botanists Bu^h and Schukin. In Turkes- 

 tan, the expedition of Lipskiy and Barschevskiy discovered in 

 the Hissar Range a great number of large glaciers, formerly un- 

 suspected, the biggest ones lying at the headwaters of the 

 \'agnob River. Their lower ends descend to altitudes of from 

 10,500 to 11,000 feet, and their nives lie at altitudes of 13,000 

 feet and more. They are all much smaller now than they have 

 been formerly, as may be seen from the moraines and debris 

 with which they are surrounded. Photographs of the Zerafshan 

 glacier, which were procured in 1896 by Maslovskiy, show 

 that it has considerably decreased since 1881. In Siberia, 

 a number of formerly insufficiently-known glaciers was de- 

 scribed by Prof. Sapozhnikoff ; the main ones, much greater 

 than the well-known Berel, belong to the system of the 

 Byelukha mountain— the Katufi glacier consisting of two 

 branches, 3I and i,\ miles long. The Altai glaciers reach by 

 their lower ends the 6600-feet level. Three big ones were 

 discovered at the headings of the Bukhtarma, and one in the 

 Kimas Range of the South Altai. All are much smaller now 

 than they were formerly. 



The Fauna of the Neocomian Belemnite Beds of Baluchistan 

 is described (in the " Palaeontologia Indica") by Dr. Fritz 

 Noetling. Two plates suffice to illustrate the species, which 

 include only Gryphiva Oldhami (n.sp. ), and four well-known 

 Neocomian Belemnites. A further contribution to the Palaeon- 

 tology of Baluchistan, by Dr. Noetling, is entitled " Fauna of 

 the Upper Cretaceous (Maestrichtien) Beds of the Mari Hills." 

 As remarked by the author, the species described are of special 

 interest, inasmuch as they shed quite a new light on the 

 geographical distribution of the Upper Cretaceous fauna. 

 Seventy-seven fossil forms have been obtained at present from 

 the strata, and of these sixty-six have been described specifically 

 —of the others only the genus could be determined. Twenty- 

 three plates are devoted to their illustration. No less than 

 twenty-four of the species have been identified with forms 

 previously described, and these naturally are the more interesting. 

 They include Heinipneustes (two sp.), Ostrea acutirostris, 

 Gryphea vesicularis^ Pecten ( Vola) quadricoslata, Corbula 

 harpa. Nautilus sublavigatus, &c. The author concludes 

 that the strata (" Hemipneustes beds ") are of Upper 

 Senonian age, and most probably represent the " Etage 

 Maestrichtien." The fauna bears hardly any resemblance 

 to that of similar age in southern India or northern Africa ; it 

 belongs rather to the European province of the Upper Cretaceous 

 sea. This sea was most probably divided by a comparatively 

 narrow land-barrier from the sea in which lived the Upper 

 Cretaceous fauna of southern India, a view first expressed by 

 Dr. W. T. Blanford. 



The Cephalopoda of the Lower Trias of the Himalayas are 

 described by Dr. Carl Diener in a recent memoir of the 

 Geological Survey of India ( " Palseontologia Indica"). The 

 fossils figured, in twenty-three plates, as in the above-mentioned 

 monograph, are mostly Ammonites, together with a few 

 speciei of Nautilus, and one Orthoceras. Among the forms 

 described are Prosphingites naluy Hedenstroemia Afojsisovici, 

 Nannites kindostanus, Xenaspis {Vishnuites) Pralambka, 

 Ophicerxs Sakuntxla, Koninckites Yudishlhira, Kingites 

 Varaha, and Lecanites sisupala. The work bears evidence of 

 NO. 1498, VOL. 58] 



great care, minute study, and research ; but it seems a pity that 

 generic or sub-generic names coined on a more uniform system 

 should not be adopted, even for the sake of the palaeontologist who 

 confines his attention to the Order of " Ammonea," to which 

 all the before-mentioned forms belong. Dr. Diener also describes 

 the Permian fossils of the Productus-shaXts of Kumaon and 

 Gurhwal. These shales are intimately connected with the 

 lowest Triassic deposits in the Niti area of the Himalayas, and 

 they rest on an eroded surface of Upper Carboniferous rocks ; 

 nevertheless, they contain species of Productus of late Carbon- 

 iferous or Permian type. The fossils are figured in five plates, 

 and they include the well-known European form Athyris 

 Royssii. 



The Gasteropoda of the Trias of Halstatt form the 

 subject of a well-illustrated and important monograph by Dr. 

 E. Koken {Abhandl. der K.K. geol. reichanstalt. Band xvii., 

 Wien). Twenty-three plates are devoted to the illustration of 

 the fossils, and they include species of Pleurotomaria, Murchi- 

 sonia, Trochus, Natica, Chetnnitzia, and other genera ; and 

 multitudes of subgenera (as most geologists would prefer to 

 regard them), but the names of these, which are legion, can 

 only be appreciated by the specialist. 



Recent researches on metallic lithium have shown that this 

 metal cannot be distilled in either hydrogen or nitrogen gases, 

 vigorous combination occurring in both cases. The metals of 

 the alkaline earths would appear to behave similarly ; so that if 

 it should be necessary to heat these substances in an indifferent 

 gas, argon or helium must be employed. In the current 

 number of the Comptes rendus, M. Moissan shows that if 

 pure calcium be heated in hydrogen, the metal takes fire and 

 burns energetically, forming the hydride CaHj, a transparent 

 crystalline substance which is stable at a high temperature. 

 It behaves as a strong reducing agent, and is violently de- 

 composed by cold water, giving off one-seventh of its weight 

 of pure hydrogen gas. It differs from the corresponding lithium 

 hydride in that nitrogen is without action upon it at a red 

 heat. 



The Cambridge University Press announce a series of mono- 

 graphs upon material obtained by Dr. Arthur Willey, Balfour 

 Student of the University of Cambridge, from New Britain, the 

 Loyalty Islands, and other islands of the South Pacific during 

 the years 1895-97. The work, which will be illustrated, will 

 embody the zoological results of the expedition, and will, it is 

 expected, be completed in five or six parts. The first part (to 

 be published in August) will contain the following contribu- 

 tions : ( I ) On the anatomy and development of Peripatus 

 nova-brittanntcE, by Dr. Arthur Willey ; (2) on a little-known 

 sea-snake from the South Pacific, by G. A. Boulenger ; (3) 

 account of the Phasmidse with notes on the eggs, by D. 

 Sharp; (4) Metaprotella sandalensis, n. sp., by Dr. Paul 

 Mayer; (5) report on the Millipedes and Centipedes, by R. I. 

 Pocock ; (6) report on the Arachnida, by R, I. Pocock. 



The series of "Museum Hand-books" issued by the Man- 

 chester Museum has been added to by a paper on " The 

 Nomenclature of the Seams of the Lancashire Lower Coal 

 Measures," which was read before the Manchester Geological 

 Society in January last by Mr. Herbert Bolton. Many students 

 will doubtless be glad to have the paper in its present handy 

 form. 



From time to time we have noticed papers, chiefly of local 

 interest, dealing with the Hereford earthquake of December 17, 

 1896. We understand that Dr. Davison's detailed report will 

 shortly be published by Messrs. Cornish Bros., Birmingham, 

 provided that a sufficient number of subscriptions be obtained 

 to defray the cost of printing. 



