July 9, 1891] 



NATURE 



233 



deposited over glacial sands containing boulders of northern 

 origin. Further research, however, is wanted. It is certain 

 that, both during the first invasion of the ice-cap and its ultimate 

 retreat, its outer limits must have been subject to very great 

 oscillations. We know that, in Greenland, parts of valleys 

 which for hundreds of years were covered with vegetation, are 

 sometimes invaded again with ice," and that lacustrine deposits 

 must arise in this way between purely morainic deposits. The 

 same must have taken place in the ice-cap of Russia ; and the 

 oscillations of the glaciers on the outer border of a large ice- 

 cap are on on a much greater scale than the oscillations of 

 isolated glaciers in Alpine regions. When the ice-cap began to 

 invade Middle Russia, its advance was undoubtedly accompanied 

 by many oscillations ; regions invaded by ice must have been 

 set free of ice for a succession of years, and they became the 

 seats of lakes. The same oscillations must have taken place 

 during the retreat of the ice-cap. The existence of a warmer 

 inter-glacial period, therefore, though not improbable in itself, 

 can be proved only by means of a very wide exploration of the 

 boulder-clay, and such an exploration has not yet been made. 



The system of meteorological observations in Alsace-Lorraine 

 has now been centralized, a meteorological service for the Reichs- 

 land having been established. The control of the new service 

 lias been intrusted to the geographical seminary in connection 

 with the Slrassburg University, and has been definitely under- 

 taken by Dr. H. HergeselJ, who desires to organize the service 

 in accordance with the best modern ideas. A meteorological 

 record will be issued as a part of the German meteorological 

 Jahrlnuh. 



A REMARKABLE series of three hailstormi which passed over 

 Graz on August 2i lait year, about 5, 6, and 7 p.m. re- 

 spectively, has been carefully studied by Prof. Prohaska {Met. 

 Zeits.) Stones from i*6 to 24 inches in diameter fell in the 

 town, forming a compact ice-mass, in some places about 3 feet 

 thick, and a white cloud of vapour formed over the ice. It is 

 noteworthy that all three storms took a nearly quite straight path 

 over mountain, valley, and plain ; no influence of mountains on 

 the direction was perc.ptible. The advancing strips of hail were 

 10 to 14 km. in width ; the first went 173 km. east-south-east ; 

 the second and third almost exactly east ; one no km., the other 

 201 km. The 70 km. siretch of country from Stiwoll over Graz 

 to the Hungarian birder lay in the path of all three, so the ice 

 deposited by the first offered no hindrance to the others. 

 Mountains seem to have affected the velocity, if not the direc- 

 tion, of the storms ; they were passed more slowly than plains 

 or undulating ground (35 km. an hour against 49 km.). A 

 violent wind came out from the hail column, a west or north, 

 west wind in front, north on the south side. But further out, in 

 front especially, there was a well-marked air-current towards the 

 hailstorm ; and this was especially strong on the lee side of a 

 mountain. Whirling movements were not observed, and there 

 was but little thunder and lightning. The falls of temperature 

 were very pronounced : e.g. in the first storm from 26" C. to 5°. 

 The barometer went down before each hailstorm, then suddenly 

 rose. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 

 on May 27, Mr. Henry Deane stated that in April, while travel- 

 ling by night through the Big Scrub in the Richmond River Dis- 

 trict, his interest was aroused by the remarkable effect produced 

 by luminous insects which abounded by the roadside. Specimens 

 were secured and sent off in the hope that they would arrive in 

 lime to be exhibited at the previous month's meeting, but they 

 came a day too late, and in the meanwhile had died. From their 

 general resemblance to the larvae of Ceroplalus inastersi, Sk., 

 which are also phosphorescent, Mr, Fletcher, who had seen the 

 specimens forwarded, was of the opinion that these were very 

 NO. I 132, VOL. 44] 



probably also dipterous larvae. Mr. David made some remarks 

 on certain luminous organisms which he had observed in old coal- 

 mine workings in lUawarra, the identification of which it was 

 hoped would not long be postponed. 



Messrs. Cassell and Co. have issued Part 33 of the " New 

 Popular Educator," which is to be completed in forty-eight parts. 

 The present number includes, besides the illustrations in the text, 

 a coloured representation of insectivorous plants. 



The first volume of Messrs. Whittaker's new " Library of 

 Popular Science " will be an elementary introduction to astro- 

 nomy, by Mr. G. F. Chambers. The volume will be ready in 

 the course of a few weeks, and will shortly be followed by 

 others. 



An interesting report, by Mr. Campbell, of the British Con- 

 sular Service in China, has been issued by the Foreign Office. 

 It is the record of a journey of over 1300 miles in districts in 

 Northern Corea, many of which have never before been visited 

 by Europeans. Mr. Campbell started from Seoul, the capital, 

 and crossed the peninsula to the treaty port of Won-san (Gensan), 

 and thence pursued his wayalong the east coast around Broughton 

 Bay, whence he turned north-eastward, crossing the Yalu River 

 to Paik-tu-San, known to Europeans as the Long White Moun- 

 tain, and already visited by Messrs. James, Fulford, and Young- 

 husband. The return journey was partly over the same ground, 

 but on arriving at Won-san Mr. Campbell recrossed the penin- 

 sula, and so made his way to Seoul. Besides the ordinary 

 record of this journey Mr. Campbell gives a great amount of 

 information on various subjects connected with Corea. The 

 chief amongst these is a most interesting section on the pre- 

 valence of Buddhism in the peninsula, and one on the agriculture 

 and productions. He gives a good deal of information in regard to 

 the geography of Northern Corea, and also of the gold produc- 

 tion of the country. That Corea contains gold-bearing strata 

 has long been known through the export of gold-dust from the 

 ports, but from Mr. Campbell's report it appears that gold-fields 

 do exist in considerable numbers, and that some of them are 

 worked with the imperfect native methods. There seems no 

 doubt that, if circumstances were favourable to the proper scien- 

 tific working of the Corean gold-fields, the country would 

 be one of the principal producers of the precious metal in the 

 world. Education in the country seems to be at a very low 

 ebb, and is confined to a knowledge of Chinese. All energy 

 and enterprise is crushed out by an all-pervading tyrannical 

 officialism, and poverty and squalor are universal. 



The new reports of the Inspectors of Sea Fisheries 

 are interesting chiefly for the observations of Mr. Fryer 

 on the oyster fisheries. He mentions the appearance of 

 a curious disease in the neighbourhood of the Thames estuary, 

 in the course of which the shells become so rotten that they 

 will not bear the pressure necessary to open them. The oysters 

 themselves were in good condition, but their round shells, which 

 were muddy, were completely tunnelled in all directions, while 

 the flat valves, which were clean, were uninjured. This points 

 to the conclusion that the ravages were caused by some enemy 

 working from below. The borings were not, Mr. Fryer says, 

 those of either Cliona or whelk-tingle, and it seemed probable 

 that they were the work of a minute Annelid which was present 

 in abundance in the interstices of the shells, and in the adherent 

 mud. In a further example sent to him in June no worms were 

 present, although the oyster-shells were similarly undermined ;. 

 but their place was taken by larvae closely resembling, if not 

 identical with, those of the worm Polyiora ciliala. A means of 

 guarding against its ravages, suggested by Mr. Fryer, is the use 

 of an apparatus recently invented by M. Bouchon Brandely, 

 and employed in some of the French oyster pares for the pur- 



