ASIA. 153 



Wojeikoflf, — . [A Russian Account of Scientific Progress in India.] 

 Iswestija Imp. Boss. Geogr. Obiv. no. 3. Noticed in Nature, no. 

 411, p. 425(1877). 



Treats of the " black earth," which is taken to be the result of her- 

 baceous steppe-vegetation . 



Wood, H. Notes on the Lower Amu-darya, Syr-dar^a, and Lake 

 Aral, in 1874. Journ. R. Geogr. Soc. vol. xlv. pp. 367-413, map 

 (not geological). 



Deals with the present and former courses of the Amu or Oxus 

 river. As late as 75 b.c. traffic passed down it to the Caspian ; after 

 that it flowed into the Aral ; again (before the 14th century) it flowed 

 into the Caspian, and by the cud of the 16th century' reached the 

 Aral by the S.W. comer. The author thinks these changes due to 

 diversion of water for irrigation, the volume left in the natural channel 

 being insufficient to keep it clear of silt, while the surplus water from 

 the irrigation gradually enlarges the channel by which it is allowed to 

 flow away. There are a few notices of ferruginous sandstone and fos- 

 siliferous beds in the low hills about the Amu delta. The Shaikjaili 

 Hills, 3000 feet high, are of metamorphic rocks. Two whirlpools, at 

 the junction of several channels of the Amu, one 60 ft., the other 

 120 ft. deep, are considered to be the craters of extinct mud-volcanos. 



With regard to the Syr-darya, it is suggested that its deflection to 

 the N. from a little below Khojend is due to causes similar to those 

 which made the Ai6u vary its course. Many observations on the 

 depth and volume of water contained in Lake Aral are given ; and the 

 hypothesis is put forward that, at a former period, being at a much 

 higher level than now, it communicated with the Caspian both from its 

 N.W. and S.W. corners. F. D. 



. The shores of Lake Aral. London. (See above.) 



. On the former physical aspects of the Caspian. Geogr. Mag. 



vol. iii. pp. 8-11, 34-38. 



It is calculated that the Volga brings about five sevenths of the 

 whole supply of water to the Caspian ; a diversion of that river to the 

 Black Sea would reduce the Caspian to two small lakes more or less 

 surrounded by marshes. This is its condition as described in ancient 

 writings. At Baku there are ruins some 50 ft. below the present 

 surface ; and tradition points in the same direction. The Volga, in 

 great probability, flowed into the Palus Moeotis; the Black Sea must 

 have been much less salt than now, and a large body of water must 

 have flowed out by the Bosphorus. F. D. 



. Geological exploration in the Amu Darya District. Geogr. 



Mag. vol. iii. pp. 22, 23. 

 Combats some of Barbot de Marny's conclusions as to the late ex- 

 tension of water over the Aralo-Caspian area, and as to the origin of 



