June io, 1897] 



NATURE 



"^-hl 



total value is made for the benefit of the Office. The valuation 

 of European plants is settled by the director, who is willing to 

 receive Vascular Cryptogams and Bacteria in addition to the 

 groups mentioned above. Descriptions of some new species of 

 Fungi are published in the current Catalogue. 



Dr. Richard Hertwig's " Lehrbuch der Zoologie," which 

 was reviewed in Nature in June 1893 (vol. xlviii. p. 173), has 

 reached a fourth edition. The section on the Sporozoa has been 

 revised, and some additions have been made in the section on 

 the Vertebrates. The work is published by Gustav Fischer, 

 Jena.— Messrs. Blackie and Son have published what is 

 nominally a fourth edition of Mr. Jerome Harrison's " Text- 

 Book of Geology " ; but the additions and changes are so 

 numerous that the work is practically a new one, the type 

 having been entirely re-set. The book is "intended as an 

 introduction to the study of rocks and their contents," and it 

 will, we believe, be the means of adding to the number of out- 

 door students of geology, notwithstanding the fact that it 

 belongs to the class of examinational text-books. The text is 

 clearly printed, and the illustrations are numerous and generally 

 instructive. — Messrs. J. and A. Churchill have published the 

 second edition of "A Manuah^of Botany," by Prof. J. Reynolds 

 Green, F.R.S. Very few changes have been made in the work. 



We have upon our table a number of important geological 

 memoirs and reports lately published. Geologists will be glad 

 to have their attention drawn to these publications. From the 

 Geological Survey of India we have received the first memoir 

 of a new series (Series xvi.) of the Palseontologia Indica, in- 

 tended to comprise a description of the fossils found in 

 Baluchistan. The first part of the new series comprises the 

 Jurassic Fauna of Baluchistan, and in the present memoir, 

 Dr. Fritz Noetling deals with the fauna of the Kellaways of 

 Mazar Drik. The geology of the Bellary district, Madras 

 Presidency, is described by Mr. R. Bruce Foot in vol. xxv. of 

 the memoirs of the Survey ; and the geology of Hazara and the 

 Black Mountain is dealt with by Mr. C. S. Middlemiss in 

 vol. XX vi. of the same memoirs. Both of these papers are full 

 of details referring to the geology of the district surveyed by the 

 authors, and each of them throws light upon problems of more 

 than local interest. 



A REPORT on explorations in the Labrador Peninsula along 

 the East Main, Koksoak, Hamilton, Manicuagan, and portions 

 of other rivers, made by Mr. A. P. Low in 1892-95, has been 

 published by the Geological Survey of Canada ( Part i. , Annual 

 Report, vol. viii.). This is an interesting account of explor- 

 ation, containing much new information in regard to the geology 

 and natural history of the Labrador Peninsula. A concise and 

 readable summary of the observations made, and the conclusions 

 reached from them, takes up one part of the report, and the 

 remainder consists of detailed descriptions of the routes, the 

 rocks noted, and other observations for the use of future 

 explorers in the region traversed. Lists and notes on the fauna 

 and flora of Labrador, and a meteorological record are printed 

 as appendices to the report. We have also received Part R of 

 the same annual report (vol. viii.) containing an account of the 

 work carried out in the Laboratory of the Survey during 1896, 

 by Dr. G. C. Hoffmann. In this report reference is made to 

 several interesting and, in some instances, valuable minerals, not 

 before known in Canada. Two other recent publications of 

 the Geological Survey of Canada are : " Report on the Country 

 between Athabasca Lake and Churchill River," by Mr. J. Burr 

 Tyrrell, assisted by Mr. D. B. Dowling ; and " Palaeozoic 

 Fossils," by Mr. J. F. Whiteaves. The latter paper is the 

 third part of the third volume on Palaeozoic Fossils now in course 

 of publication by the Canadian Survey. 



NO. 1 44 1, VOL. 56] 



The twenty-second and twenty-third annual reports of the 

 Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, referring 

 to the work done during 1893-94, have been received from the 

 State Geologist, Mr. N. H. Winchell. The latter report con- 

 tains a paper by Mr. Winchell on " The Origin of the Archean 

 Greenstones." The paper is a critical examination of a paper 

 by Dr. G. H. Williams, tending to the conclusion that the 

 greenstones, as a body, may be referred to dynamic meta- 

 morphism of massive eruptive rocks. Mr. Winchell believes 

 "that the great bulk of the 'greenstones' as an Archean 

 terrane, ought to be classified as pyro-clastic, i.e. that they 

 originated from eruptive agencies, as tuff and all kinds of 

 volcanic debris, sometimes very coarse, and were distributed 

 and somewhat stratified by the waters of the ocean into which 

 the materials fell." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Vervet Monkeys ( Cercopithecits lalandii, 

 (J 9 ), two Crested Porcupines {Hystrix cristata) from South 

 Africa, presented by Mr. J. E. Matcham ; a Brown Bear ( Ursus 

 arctos), European, presented by Mr. William Forbes ; a Black- 

 necked Grackle ( Gracupica nigricollis) from China, presented by 

 Mr. B. H. Jones ; a Ring-necked Parrakeet {Pahwrnis 

 torqtiatd) from India, presented by Mrs. Doyne ; five Common 

 Chameleons {Chammhon vulgaris) from Egypt, presented by 

 Dixon Bey ; a Ring-tailed Lemur {Lemur catla), two Black- 

 headed Lemurs {Lemur brunneus) from Madagascar, two Korin 

 Gazelles (Gazella rufifrons, <J 9 ) from Senegal, a Fennec Fox 

 {Cattis cerdo), six Egyptian Foxes {Canis niloticus), a Pale 

 Genet (Genetfa senegalensis), three Leith's Tortoises (Testudo 

 leithi) from Egypt, a Harnessed Antelope ( Tragelaphus scriptus, 

 9 ) from West Africa, deposited ; a Californian Sea Lion 

 {Otaria californiana, 9 ) from the North Pacific Ocean, two 

 Ostriches {Struthio camelus, i 9 ) from Africa, purchased ; a 

 Long-legged Jackal (Cam's variegatus) from North-east Africa, 

 three North African Jackals {Canis antkus), a Striped Hycena 

 (ffycena striata) from Egypt, received in exchange ; an Eland 

 {Orias canna, $), a Patagonian Cavy {Dolichotis patachonica), 

 born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Latitude of the Royal Catania Observatory. 

 — The Italian Royal Geodetical Commission have just published 

 a detailed account of the determination of the latitude of the 

 Royal Astronomical Observatory of Catania by Dr. T. Zona, of 

 the Royal Observatory of Palermo. All the observations were 

 made during the year 1894, and the method adopted was that of 

 Tafcott. The pairs of stars used amounted to twenty-three in 

 number, and their places were obtained from each of the three 

 separate catalogues, viz. Respighi, Bradley- Auwers, and the 

 British Association Ten -Year. 



Dr. Zona has not attempted to amalgamate the positions of 

 each star as given by the three separate catalogues, by using a 

 mean value, but has preferred to determine three values for the 

 latitude, basing each on the separate catalogue star positions for 

 the pair employed. 



In this way computation has given for the final values of the 

 latitude, based on the star positions of each catalogue, the follow- 

 ing results : — 



Respighi 3"7°30'i3"'239 ± o"-ii5 



Bradley-Auwers 13-216 ± 0132 



Ten-Year I3"302 ± o-io8 



The final value adopted for the latitude of the transit instru- 

 ment of the observatory was 



37°-3o'-i3"-254±o"-o68. 



Physical and Micrometrical Observations of Venus. 

 —The amount of detail visible on the disc of Venus is not so 

 very prominent, according to the observations recently recorded 

 by Prof. Barnard {Astrophysical Journal^ vol. v. No. 5). Those 

 observers who up to the present time have only made out dusky 



