August 21, 1 8 84 J 



NA TURE 



3B5 



of Mount Cassius, and separates it from the first of the valleys 

 of that chain, the Wadi Kondil ; and from the Mediterranean 

 on the west to the Nusairy Mountains on the east. A little to 

 the north of Lattakia the plain juts out into the sea, in the Ras 

 Ibn Hani. The portion of the plain north of Lattakia is low, 

 flat, and separated from that lying east and south-east of the 

 town by a low ridge which divides it from the valley of the 

 Nahr-el-Kebir. The eastern and south-eastern portion of the 

 plain is traversed by three streams, flowing south-south-west 

 from the Nusairy Mountains, and emptying into the Mediter- 

 ranean east of the meridian of Lattakia. The first of these is 

 the Nahr-el-Kebir, the second the Nahr-el-Snowbar, and the 

 third the Nahr-el-Beidha. The surface line of the plain rises 

 gradually from the western limiting ridge of the Nahr-el-Kebir 

 to the base of the mountains, about five hours (by camel) east of 

 Lattakia. The plain, however, in this portion is so channelled 

 by the deep valleys of the above-mentioned streams and their 

 affluents that it can only be called a plain with reference to an 

 ideal surface tangent to the tops of its hills, or rather ridges, 

 which occupy but a small portion of the total area. The height 

 of the ridges near the centre of the table-land is about 350 feet, 

 and increases gradually, with each successive ridge, until the foot 

 of the mountain is reached. The flanks of these ridges are 

 steep, often at an angle of 45°, and the bottoms of the main 

 streams on the parallel of Lattakia are about 100 feet above 

 the sea. 



The soil of this table-land is a tenacious clayey loam, the 

 product of alluvial deposit from the streams which now flow 

 through its valleys. The deposits of marine shells are found at 

 various points in the valleys of all three of the streams flowing 

 through this plain. In my recent visit to some of these localities 

 with Dr. Dodds of Lattakia, my aim was rather to survey the 

 general character of the sites and the nature of the deposits 

 than to make an exhaustive collection of the species, which 

 would require much time and labour. 



The nearest locality is in the basin of the Nahr-el-Kebir, 

 about an hour and a half north-east of Lattakia. Dr. Dodds 

 has visited it, and found it less productive than that which we 

 chose for our search. Our route lay nearly due east from Lat- 

 takia to a village called el-Qutrujeh, three hours away from the 

 town. At a distance of about an hour and a half from Lattakia we 

 came upon a detached mass of conglomerate, the clay of which 

 was barely solidified, containing many of the species of shells 

 and corals which we afterwards found loose in the soil. The 

 mass was about two feet long by a foot broad and six inches 

 thick. It was the only one we found, and the only one found 

 by Dr. Dodds in all his journeys through this plain. Near it 

 were many detached shells, but of two or three species only. 

 The most productive locality is the sides of the ridges east of 

 el-Qutrujeh. What seems most curious is that the shells are 

 almost all found between the levels of 150 and 250 feet (measured 

 by the aneroid). We found few above 250 feet, and those below 

 that level were manifestly carried down by water. 



The shells are found loose on the surface of the soil, or pro- 

 jecting from the steep slope of the hillside, associated with recent 

 snail-shells. In a subsequent article I hope to give the names of 

 the species found. 



So far as I know, no similar deposit has been found in the 

 alluvium of Syria. In a recent journey through Northern Syria 

 we searched in vain for any traces of marine shells in the western 

 portion of the Lattakia Plain and the valley of the Orontes. I 

 have never seen them in the plains of Akkar, or Esdraelon, or 

 Sharon. George E. Post 



Syrian Protestant College, Beirut, Syria 



A Carnivorous Wasp 



A FEW days ago a wasp, which had created some mild excite- 

 ment by sailing over our luncheon-table, was observed to seize a 

 fly which was on the back of an arm-chair. It settled on the 

 fly, and when I came to look at the butchery — for I cannot call 

 it a fight — the poor fly was minus its head, and I was in time to 

 see one of its wings fluttering down to the ground. The wasp was 

 stretching over its victim and holding him as a spider might do, 

 and on my approach he spread his wings and carried off the body 

 to the other end of the room, presumably to eat it. Both the 

 wasp and thehouefly seemed to be of the common sort which 

 have given so much trouble to the Queen's lieges in this hot 

 weather. I never heard before of a wasp that imitated the 



habits of a spider. Could you tell me if this is an ordinary 



thing, or whether it was merely an individual eccentricity of 



this wasp ? F. N. 

 August 16 



Intelligence of a Frog 



Last night I rescued a frog from the claws of a cat, and, to 

 my great surprise, it turned, and, after gazing at me for a few 

 seconds, jumped slightly towards me, halting after each leap and 

 looking up into my face. It thus gradually approached, and in 

 about two or three minutes had actually climbed upon one of my 

 feet. Its mute appeal for protection was most remarkable, and 

 could not possibly be misunderstood. R. R. 



Lawton, August 15 



Meteor 



Last night, about 10.20 p.m., I happened to see a meteor 

 worth recording. It moved horizontally, from south to north, 

 across the middle of the western sky) about half way down from 

 the zenith. The sky was cloudless : had that sky not been 

 flooded by the light of a moon that was scarce on the wane, and 

 that extinguished all but very few stars, the meteor would, no 

 doubt, have been a brilliant phenomenon ; under the circum- 

 stances its splendour was much dimmed. Its course was indi- 

 cated by a series of small sparkling spangles, which flashed forth 

 beautifully amid the gold-gray glow ; the intermission of its lustre 

 is a noteworthy fact. J. IIoskvns-Abrahall 



Combe Vicarage, near Woodstock, August S 



Podalirius minutus 

 In Prof. Mayer's recent work on the Caprellidae (" Fauna u. 

 Flora des Golfes Neapal") there is a species figured and de- 

 scribed as Podalirius minutus, in which the anterior of the three 

 posterior pairs of thoracic appendages are very minute, contain 

 only two joints, and are attached about midway between the 

 two ends of the segment which bears them. With this marked 

 exception this species agrees very closely on all points with 

 Caprella lobala and C. linearis. My object in drawing attention 

 to it is to ascertain if it has been recorded as a member of the 

 British fauna. H. C. Chadwick 



SCALES 



C CALES, as used by the architect and surveyor, may 

 •^ be roughly divided into two classes. In the first we 

 have scales of equal parts, in the second scales of unequal 

 parts, by means of which results may be obtained which 

 otherwise would require more or less calculation. The 

 fundamental idea of a scale of equal parts is that any 

 assigned magnitude may be represented by a line of de- 

 terminate length, and that thus any relation between 

 magnitudes of the same kind may be indicated by a rela- 

 tion between lines in the same ratio. The simplest form 

 in which they can be used is to represent in an enlarged 

 or diminished size the magnitude of a length, as when, 

 for instance, a mile is represented by an inch. By alter- 

 ing in two rectangular directions the magnitude of an 

 area, we obtain a plan of it in which the scales used may 

 be different for the two directions, as when the cross- 

 section of a stretch of country has one scale for 

 horizontal distances, and a different scale for vertical 

 heights. 



By introducing the system of coordinates, and repre- 

 senting, according to selected scales, the magnitudes of 

 two or three related and dependent quantities, by lengths 

 measured in two or three perpendicular directions, we are 

 able to represent by geometry the connection between 

 those quantities. This is done in innumerable cases in 

 which the plotting of a quantity is effected and is the 

 basis of the methods employed for obtaining continuous 

 records of charging magnitudes. The important subject 

 of graphical arithmetic and statics, curves of velocity, 

 indicator diagrams, curves of bending moment, &c, as 



