2t)8 



KNO^A^LEDGE ♦ 



[October 1, 1887. 



the writer to be common in a rockpool at Oddicomba Bay, 

 Devon. It was provided with numerous rays in the form 

 of long slender cones, terminating in sharp tips. The body 

 was full of opaque particles, which prevented any structure 

 being detected. Some of these objects kept their rays 

 steadily and fully extended, others had drawn all or part 



Fig. 4. 



in and some of them did not preserve the globular shape 

 of the body. 



Watching one of the fully-expanded specimens at in- 

 tervals for several liours I was rewarded by the sudden 

 disappearance of all the rays. They vanished like light 

 rays suddenly stopped by a screen. They soon came out 

 again, but not so quickly. The animal evidently had full 

 control of these processes, as on other occasions it withdrew 

 them slowly, and sometimes varied the mode of protrusion, 

 and also of retraction. These movements sometimes occurred 

 symmetrically, all the rays moving in or out in imiform 

 proportion. At other times some rays were fully re- 

 tracted, while others were left partially out, and once 

 the protrusion was quite irregular, some pseudopods being 

 tlirust across the others, deranging the pattern. This, 

 perhaps, occurred wlien the creature was tired or lazy. I 

 do not know whether any one has been fortunate enough to 

 trace the life-history of this marine form, and I have seen 

 no account of it. Mr. Gosse told me it was very common. 



Under the name of Actinomonas niirahilis, Kent figures 

 a singularly beautiful object i-ayed like a delicate actinophrys, 

 standing upright upon an extremely slender and long stalk, 

 and provided with a long whip, whose wavings and lashings 

 would cause currents in the water, and thus bring food 

 within its reach. He found this type in ajar of sea-water 

 he had kept sundry creatures in for some weeks at Jersey. 

 The rays were so close and fine that, under low powers 

 they looked only like a haze surrounding the little globe, 

 and required a magnification of 800 to display their true 

 character. Kent's remark that the develop men t;il and re- 

 productive phenomena of this remarkable group (Actino- 

 monas) have yet to be determined is probably still true, and 

 leaves ample room for further interesting observations. 



HEIGHT OF CLOUDS. 



By Dh. K. F. Hutjuinson. 



USSOOREE is one of our favourite hill- 

 stations in the great Himalaya range, and 

 is very easily reached by rail and road. Its 

 position can be found by running the eye 

 northwards (on any good map) from Agra 

 on the Jumna. Its Mall is 6,000 feet, and 

 its highest peak 7,026 feet above the sea. 

 Below it, and 2,239 feet above the sea, is 

 the wonderful valley of Dehra Dun, 3,761 feet below the 

 Mall. Of this more anon. No locality in the world can 

 boast of such views as Mussooree. Stand on the Mall and 



look towards the plains of India, stretching away to the 

 south and melting away in the purple distance ; turn to the 

 left, and you see the holy Ganges emerge from its rugged 

 glacier-headed rift in the mighty Himalayas, struggle across 

 the Dun, burst through the barrier of the fossiliferous 

 SiwAlik hills at the sacred shrine of HardwAr, and then 

 commence its long pilgrimage seawards. Just below 

 Hardwar its right bank is tapped by the huge Ganges 

 canal, a river in itself, 654 miles long, rejoining the parent 

 stream at Cawnpore, after giving off 3,078 miles of dis- 

 tributaries. We distinctly see the canal, and Roorkee, the 

 head-quarters of the Royal Engineers, with its enormous 

 workshops on its left bank ; and on a very clear day the 

 church at Meerut has been recognised with a telescope. 

 Turning to our right, we see the Jumna, glacier-born like 

 the Ganges, crossing the Dun, passing through the Siw4.1ik 

 range, and flowing away Delhi- wards, to join the Ganges at 

 Allahabad. Let us climb one of the hilltops above the 

 Mall, and what a sight meets our gaze I Snow-clad peak on 

 peak and Alp on Alp stretching away, away to the north- 

 west and .south-east, and lo.st in the shimmering haze of 

 their own exhalations — all giants varying from 21,000 to 

 26,000 feet high. 



We can now revert to the subject of the paper, bearing 

 in mind that the Mall is 3,761 feet above the Dun level. 

 On two occasions I witnessed the following glorious sight 

 from the Mall. Below me lay a vast expanse of the purest 

 flocculated cotton wool, entirely obscuring the plain of the 

 Dun ; above me the pure cerulean. My sky was clear ; 

 that of the valley was obscured by cumulus. Aware of the 

 chance that I now had, I looked about for landmarks 

 whereby to measure the height of the stratum, and caught 

 a house 900 feet below me, which was first touched by the 

 woolly expanse, and therefore enveloped in fog. The figures, 

 therefore, were clear — I was 6,000 feet above the sea level, 

 and the valley below me was 2,239 feet above the sea, or 

 3,661 feet below me. But the cumulus stratum was 900 

 feet below me, and therefore 2,761 feet above the Dun 

 vallej'. 



On another occasion, in the Rains, I was watching the 

 ever-changing panorama of the Dun, and caught sight of 

 three thunderstorms slowly passing up the valley from the 

 south-west, and apparently a mile apart, perhaps two. As 

 they came abreast of me it was most interesting to watch 

 the warfare of these storm-clouds. The dark nimbus was 

 triangular, the apex downwards, shading ofl' into the lines 

 indicating rain, illuminated now and then by lightning 

 flashes. The three storms were to me most businesslike in 

 their movements and actions, and each seemed determined 

 to assert its own dignity and importance. I watched them 

 with interest and amu.sement, for while I was in sunshine 

 and under a cloudless sky, each village over which each 

 nimbus passed had its " heaven black with clouds and wind 

 and great rain." The most remarkable foct regarding these 

 vagrant nimbi was the constant fire of their artillery. One 

 would have fancied that their electricity would have been 

 exhausted soon after they left the far south-west, where I 

 first detected them ; but, on the contrary, they acquired 

 strength as they went. Were they Leyden jars kept full as 

 they went by the friction of their own movements ? 



Now, about the height of these storm clouds. As before 

 stated, I was looking at them from an elev.ation of 3,761 

 feet above the Dun valley, which is bounded to the south 

 by the Siwalik hills, which rise to a height of 1,.500 to 

 2,000 feet above the plain. I caught them pas.sing a 1,500 

 feet peak, and they were below my line of vision, say by 

 300 feet roughly; then each nimbus would be 1,300 feet 

 above the Dun, while the cumulo-stratus was 2,761 feet 

 above the valley. The average elevation of both phenomena 



