October i8, 1894J 



NA TURE 



603 



overlies the " ferretto " crust of a moraine of the second 

 glaciation. In the evening, Riva, at the head of the 

 Lake of Garda, was reached by steamer. 



On the 20th the party took train to Innsbruck. The 

 following day was spent in examining the deposits at 

 Hotting, close by the town. 



The breccia of Hotting, considered by Penck a 

 cemented cone of dejection or talus of rock-fragments, 

 contains fossil plants (all but four of existing species). 

 It overlies one moraine and underlies another, and is 

 held to indicate an inter-glacial epoch. 



On the 22nd Munich was reached, and some most in- 

 teresting sections at HoUriegelskreut, seven and a half 

 miles south of the city, were examined. Three successive 

 fluvio-glacial deposits were seen, superposed one upon 

 another, each corresponding to a separate glaciation. 

 Here again the weathered (though not red) crust of the 

 older fluvio-glacial deposits underlies the unaltered lower 

 part of the succeeding deposit. The oldest of the three 

 deposits (viz. the Deckenschotter, alluvion des plateaux) 

 consists here almost exclusively of limestone pebbles, 

 which are so solidly cemented together as to form a 

 conglomerate used as a building stone. 



The 23rd (last day of the excursion) was rainy, but 

 the morainic amphitheatre of the Isar glacier around the 

 Starnberger (Wiirrn) See, near Munich, was examined as 

 far as the weather would permit, and at the close of the 

 excursion all members joined in an enthusiastic vote of 

 thanks to its most excellent conductors. 



B. HOBSON. 



NOTES. 



A FEW weeks ago the Paris Figaro opened a subscription list 

 in order to enable the Pasteur Institute to supply Dr. Roux's 

 anti-diphtheria serum to all medical applicants. The appeal 

 has resulted in a sum equivalent to about ;/^io,ooo being 

 raised. It is hoped that institutes in which experienced phy- 

 sicians will administer the cure will soon be established. The 

 Paris Academy of Medicine has reported in favour of Dr. 

 Roux's treatment. 



We learn with much regret that Mr. George Knott died at 

 Cuckfielfl, Hayward's Heath, Sussex, on the Sth inst., at the 

 age of fifty-eight. He was an eminent authority upon double 

 and variable stars, to the observation of which he devoted his 

 astronomical life. So long ago as lS6i he read his first paper 

 before the Royal Astronomical Society, the subject being the 

 variable star R. Valpecula. From that date to April 1892, 

 when he communicated a series of observations of the magni- 

 tude of Nova Aurigae, he contributed no less than twenty-four 

 papers to the Society. In 1877 he completed a valuable 

 series of micrometrical measures of double stars, taken 

 by himself between i860 and 1873. For many years he was a 

 member of the Council of the Society. He was highly respected 

 by his fellow workers, not only for his astronomical labours, 

 but also for his sterling character. His death will be deeply 

 regretted by all who were acquainted with him. 



Krom a circular bearing the imprint of the University of 

 Minnesota, Minneapolis, we learn that Mr. Claike Barrows 

 proposes to supply a complete up-to dale reference to all zoo- 

 logical literature by means of a card catalogue arranged alpha- 

 betically by authors, an I supplemented with a subject catalogue. 

 It is proposed to begin the catalogue with ihe current volumes 

 of the more important periodicals devoting the whole, or a por- 

 tion, of their space to zoology, to print the new titles as they 

 appear, and t,ike up the back volumes as rapidly as possible. 

 It is hoped that arrangements will .soon be made 10 get the titles 



NO. I 303. VOL. 50] 



of all other important zoological writings, and thus a catalogue 

 of all the zoological literature not recorded in the " Bibliotheca 

 Zoologica " up to l86l will be produced. Each card will have 

 printed upon it the name of the author of a zoological paper, 

 the full title of the paper, and the name and date of the 

 periodical in which it was published. The cards will be punched 

 so that they can be stacked in drawers with a wire through 

 them. They should be of great assistance to curators of zoo- 

 logical libraries. 



The Sunday Lecture Society will commence a new series of 

 lectures next Sunday afternoon, at St. George's Hall, Lang- 

 ham Place, when Sir B. W. Richardson, F. R.S., will discourse 

 on " Muscle and Athletic Skill." 



The steam yacht Windward, with Mr. Jackson's party on 

 board, which left Archangel on August 5, is reported by the 

 captain of a Norwegian walrus-hunting vessel, but the news is 

 vague, being without exact dates, and the ship does not appear to 

 have been " spoken." She was first seen about the middle of 

 August off Matochkin Schar, the strait separating the two 

 islands of Nova Zembla, where the ice was very heavy ; and 

 again about the end of August in lat. 75° 45' N., and long. 44° 

 £., steaming up a clear lead through rotten ice in the direction 

 of Franz Josef Land. 



Mr. A. Trevor-Battye and Mr. Hyland landed on the 

 island of Kolguef, south-west of Nova Zembla, at the end of last 

 June, with the special object of studying the ornithology of 

 the island. His companion, Mr. Powis, returned for him in 

 the steam-yacht Saxon on .\ugust 6, but not finding him at the 

 landing place considered further search unnecessary and 

 returned. Another Arctic steam-yacht made a remarkably 

 cautious attempt to reach the island at a later date, but returned 

 unsuccessfully, and Mr. Trevor-Battye has been left behind toface 

 the Arctic winter without an adequate outfit. It is probable 

 that when the winter ice unites the island to the continent, he 

 will be able to cross to the mainland, a distance of less than 

 sixty miles, and thence travel overland to St. Petersburg 

 by sledge. It is to be hoped that he will be able to bring back 

 his collections, which should be of considerable scientific 

 value. A rescue expedition is proposed by Captain Battye- 

 Trevor, but it is doubtful whether it can be carried out by sea 

 at this advanced date. There seems no reason for anxiety, as 

 game is usually plentiful on Kolguef, and there are habit- 

 able houses used temporarily in summer by Russians and 

 Samoyedes. 



WE'have received a letter, written by Lieut. Peary to the 

 President of the American Academy of Natural Sciences, which 

 contains more detailed accounts of his expedition last season. 

 When on the ice-cap in the spring of 1894, the average air- 

 temperature experienced for forty-eight days was -31 '5 f^-p 

 and the average wind velocity for forty-three days 159 miles an 

 hour. During the worst weather there were thirty-four hours 

 with an average temperature of - 50° F. and a minimum of 

 -62°, the .average wind velocity being 48'I miles per hour. 

 The experience has convinced Mr. Peary that the human frame 

 can stand any degree of natural cold without permanent injury. 

 He intends to spend the coming winter in studying the Eskimo 

 dog, and devising means to keep this invaluable animal alive 

 I and in health during extreme cold. There has evidently 

 been some friction amongst ihe members of the exploring 

 parly, most of whom seem to have had enough of Arctic 

 hardships, as the leader refers to the two men who remain 

 with him as those who "decline to desert." The 

 lelter concludes: " Vou may rest assured ihat I shall not 



