August 21, 1890] 



NATURE 



403 



while the face of the glacier was some hundreds of feet high. 

 The water seemed to have tunnelled under the ice, which, 

 attacked above and below, gave way at last with a deafening 

 crash, while the flood hurried down the mountain-side into the 

 Rhone. The lake is nearly 8000 feet above the sealevel, and 

 usually discharges its surplus water by subterranean channels, 

 occasionally bursting its ice barriers as on the present occasion. 

 The cantonal Government are constructing an overflow canal, 

 which, it is hoped, will put an end to these periodical outbursts. 



In a paper printed in the new number of the Transactions 

 and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, Mr. Taylor 

 White describes an extraordinary meteor which he saw at 

 Wimbledon, Ilawke's Bay, on May 4, 1888, between 8 and 9 

 o'clock p.m. The nucleus, or head, was of oval form, of a 

 transparent light-yellow colour, as of iron at a white heat. 

 The tail was in the form of the tail of a pheasant, expanded — 

 that is, the two centre streamers were of uniform length, the 

 outer ones gradually shortening, so that the outermost streamer 

 on either side was very much shorter than those in the middle. 

 These streamers were of a dull, opaque orange. They were 

 distinctly divided each from each by dark bands, which con- 

 sisted of several fine black lines, to, probably, the number of 

 five in each band. Mr White is unable to fix the number of 

 orange streamers, but would guess ten as probably correct. 

 The colours blue and green were also certainly present. No 

 sound was audible while the meteor was in view. "But," says 

 Mr. While, "after I had gone into the house, and was describing 

 what I had seen, the sound of its striking the earth or sea was 

 heard — a loud and lengthened noise, to me like the violent 

 shaking of all the forest trees, and evidently above ground, 

 thereby differing from the sound accompanying an earthquake — • 

 coming from the westward ; and this was followed, after a 

 hardly perceptible interval, by a fainter sound, like an echo, to 

 the north-east. The time which elapsed till the sound was 

 heard was from three to five minutes." Various New Zealand 

 daily journals gave full descriptions of the phenomenon at the 

 time. According to the New Zealand Times, the apparent size 

 of the meteor was "quite half that of the full moon." 



The editor of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural and 

 Commercial Society of British Guiana contributes to the June 

 number some interesting notes on luminous larva;. Speaking of 

 a form referable to the Elateridix, or spring beetles, he says its 

 luminosity, when observed in a dark place, is singularly striking 

 and beautiful. The light is emitted along the whole length of 

 the body— the head, the front part of the anterior segment, and 

 the last segment of the body, being altogether luminous, while 

 each intermediate segment gleams from a small area on each 

 side of the back, two regularly-arranged rows of golden brilliants 

 being thus observable. The light is continuous, and very bright, 

 but it is intensified when the little creature is irritated. At 

 intervals, one or more of the dorsal lights will be observed to be 

 very dull or nearly extinguished, but apparently they are never 

 quite put out. 



Mr. T. D. Latouche, who contributes to the Records of the 

 Geological Survey of India a paper on the sapphire-mines of 

 Kashmir, takes the opportunity to offer some remarks on the 

 extent to which the natives of India know the mineral resources 

 of their country. He thinks he is not far wrong in saying that 

 in very few instances in India have useful minerals bean dis- 

 covered in localities that were unknown to the natives, and in 

 which the ores had not been worked by them at one time or 

 another. Even the more uncivilized hill tribes are more or less 

 well acquainted with the minerals their hills contain, and are by 

 no means in the condition of the Blacks of Australia or the 

 Bushmen of Southern Africa, in whose country the European 

 NO. 1086, VOL. 42] 



prospector has found so great a field for his energies. To take 

 a single instance : the Khasis of Assam, who, till the beginning 

 of the present century, had hardly felt the influence of Wcsterrt 

 civilization, have for ages obtained their iron from an ore which 

 occurs as minute grains of magnetite disseminated in the granite 

 of their hills. Many a highly- trained European geologist might 

 justly have been sceptical as to the possibility of obtaining a pro- 

 ductive iron ore from granite, and would very possibly have 

 passed the rock over as being utterly useless for such a purpose. 

 Yet the Khasis discovered the mineral, and in all parts of the hills 

 ancient heaps of slag testify to the use they made of their discovery ^ 

 moreover, they obtained the ore by a process which was inge- 

 nious and even scientific— in fact, a kind of hydraulic mining 

 somewhat similar to the latest process devised for obtaining gold 

 in California. Can it be doubted that, if any other useful mine- 

 rals existed in their hills, the Khasis would have found and 

 worked them long ago ? Similarly, in Kashmir, any mineral 

 deposits that exist are probably well known to the natives, and, 

 if useful, are already worked, and these are not of any great 

 importance. 



At a recent meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society, 

 New Zealand, Mr. Hulke exhibited a specimen of a strange 

 spider that carried its young on its body without web or fila- 

 ment, but simply attached to the body, until they were able to 

 run by themselves. 



Mr. John Wheldon has issued Part I. of a catalogue ot 

 botanical works, including the library of the Rev. M. J. 

 Berkeley. 



The Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College his 

 issued its Calendar for the year 1890-91. The main objects of 

 this institution are to afford a suitable education to those who 

 wish to qualify themselves for following an industrial profession 

 or trade, and to train teachers for technical schools. 



We have received the author's Hairless Paper- Pad Holder and 

 Paper-Pad, issued by the Leadenhall Press. The Paper-Pad 

 consists of a block of fifty sheets (7^ x 8f ) of smooth and cream- 

 tinted paper mounted together on a stout piece of blotting- 

 paper, the price charged being only that for common scribbling- 

 paper. The Paper-Pad holder is made of light wood, and should 

 be grasped by the left hand, the right hand being free to travel 

 over the surface of the paper-pad which is placed on it. After 

 each sheet is used, it is torn off and placed under the pad and so 

 blotted, and by this means the height of the pad and holder 

 is kept constant. For writing in railway carriages, and for 

 reporting, this form of support will be most serviceable, and it 

 might also be used for the support of sketching-blocks. 



j Messrs. Marlborough, Gould, and Co. are issuing what 

 they call Marlborough pamphlet cases, the object of which is to 

 preserve pamphlets from dust and destruction. The cases have 

 no springs or other contrivances that could injure the contents 

 by pressure, and in the bookshelf they resemble ordinary 

 volumes, being "rounded and cloth-backed." The makers have 

 sent us a case specially intended for numbers of Nature. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include two Brown Bears {Ursus arctos i 9 ) from 

 Russia, presented respectively by Mr. A. C. de Lafontaine 

 and Mr. D. B. Gellibrand ; a Panolia Deer {Cervus cldi c5), a 

 Common Goat {Capra hircus 6 ) from British Burmab, presented 

 by Mr. Charles C. Galbraith ; ?i\\z.itT V\^\X.{Aitthus spipoldta), 

 European, presented by Commander W. M. Latham, R.N., 

 F.Z.S. ; ten Common Chameleons (Chamaleon vulgaris) from 

 North Africa, presented by Mr. W. Mauger ; seven Oyster 

 catchers {Hccmatoptis ostralegtis), European, purchased ; an Axis- 

 Deer {Cervus axis), born in the Gardens. 



