July 28, 1 881] 



NATURE 



291 



An interesting discovery has been made in one of the lime- 

 stone quarries of Stromberg (Rhenish Prussia). In a small cave, 

 such as occur frequently in the calcareous rock, the skeleton 

 of a cave-bear was found. To judge from the thickness and 

 length of the bones the animal must have measured at least 2^ 

 or 3 metres in length and 2 metres in height. The teeth, of 

 which sixteen were found, are of enormous size. Discoveries of 

 this kind however are by no means rare in this neighbourhood, 

 nor indeed in limestone caves generally. 



An earthquake shock was felt in Eastern France on the night 

 of July 21-22 at Aix-les-Baius, Lyons, Grenoble, Chalons, and 

 other places. The time of the phenomenon was 2h. 3s. a.m. at 

 Lyons and Chalons, and the direction from north to south. No 

 accident is reported in either of these places. The shock was 

 also felt in Switzerland in a large number of places, at Geneva, 

 Morges, Lausanne at about 2h. 45m. a.m. local time; indeed it 

 is stated to have been the sharpest felt in the district since 1854. 

 Nowhere has any accident been recorded. A terrible storm was 

 raging in these regions on the 21st, a few hours before the earth- 

 quake took place. Spontaneous currents have interrupted _also 

 the telegraphic communications. 



(ifA SPECIAL library has been established by subscription in 

 Paris for secular education. The subscribers have resolved to 

 adopt a scientific creed, and to prescribe the u e of fiction in 

 books written for young people. 



Mr. Richard Anderson, the author of the well-known 

 work on "Lightning Conductors," will contribute a short series 

 of articles on "Thunderstorms: their History and Mystery," 

 to the St. yamcs^s Magazine. The first article will appear in 

 August. 



M. Brugsch, conservator of the Boulak Museum, has returned 

 from Thebes \iith the contents of twenty sarcophagi recently 

 discovered behind the ancient Palace of Queen Hatason. 

 Amongst some 5000 antiquities which have been obtained the 

 most remarkable are several mummies in a perfect state of 

 preservation, and of considerable historical interest. 



The boring of the Arlberg tunnel is proceeding with great 

 rapidity. The length finished since June, 18S0, is 1720 metres, 

 and an average yearly advance of 2160 metres is confidently 

 expected after a while. The average of Mont Cenis and the 

 St. Gothard was only 1 112 and 1670 respectively. The St. 

 Gothard tunnel will be completed by the end of September, but 

 the lines of approach are not likely to be ready before next 

 spring. 



The Weserzeitung reports that near the village of Rantrum a 

 quantity of silver has been found buried about one foot deep in the 

 ground. It consists of thirty-four small bars, six fragments of 

 antique silver ornaments, and eight coins ; the latter bear Arabic 

 inscriptions, and may probably be dirhems of the Abassidic 

 Caliph of Bagdad, who lived in the eighth century of tlie present 

 era. The small bars were formerly used as money, and were 

 weighed, before coins had any conventional value. Ornaments 

 were frequently used in the same way. All the objects found 

 were in a va^e. 



The seventh Annual Exhibition held by the British Bee- 

 keepers' Association was opened at the Horticultural Gardens 

 on Tuesday, and will remain open till Monday next. 



A remarkable eruption was recently observed by the pas- 

 sengers of the ss. Gknelg, at the northern end of the Bay of 

 Plenty, New Zealand. The water rose suddenly to a height of 

 four feet, and spread over a circle of sixty feet in diameter, 

 throwing up sand, shells, stones, and mud. The steamer was 

 only about twenty yards outside the circle. The water con- 

 tinued boiling for some time. 



The I/alia Cen'rak, a paper published at Reggie (Emilia) 

 announces that tlie most remarkable mud-volcano, of the 

 province of Emilia, the Salsa di Querzola, has developed an 

 extraordinary activity for a few days past, and has greatly 

 frightened the neighbouring inhabitants. Loud subterranean 

 noise was heard even in the plains around, incandescent lava 

 was ejected to a height of several metres, and an earthquake 

 was also noticed. Large numbers of tourists and curious in- 

 habitants are proceeding to Regnano to witness the spectacle. 



A remarkable natural phenomenon is reported from Cs. 

 Gorbo (Szolnok-Doboka [Comitat, Hungary). On June 27 the 

 Buznau Mountain, situated close to the village of Paptelke, 

 suddenly broke in two. The fissure measures 30 to 40 metres 

 in breadth, 25 to 30 metres in depth, and 400 to 500 metres in 

 length. Some of the houses in Paptelke also show cracks, so 

 that the whole seems to have been the effect of an earthquake. 

 A landslip took place at the same time, and a field with an 

 apple-tree in the middle of it has moved about 10 metres nearer 

 to the village. Great excitement prevails in the neighbourhood. 

 Various antique bronze arms and implements, altogether 

 weighing about four or five kilogrammes, have been found by 

 forest labourers at a place called Friedhofstannen, in the district 

 of Cattenbiihl, near Oberode (Hanover). They were buried 

 in the ground at a very slight depth. The objects consist of 

 battle-axes, a sickle, a knife for taking off the hides of animals, 

 a bracelet, rings. They are supposed to be of Celtic or Phoeni- 

 cian origin. In the neighbourhoad of the spot where they were 

 found there is an ancient earth-mound, dating from a very remote 

 period, and inclosed by a circular pit of some 400 yards in cir- 

 cumference, the so-called ring or " kring." Above it was the 

 Hessian fronter fortress of Friedeweh, below it the Spiegelburg. 

 The tenth general meeting of the Saxo-Thuringian Apicultural 

 Society will be held at Quedlinburg on July 31-August 2. 

 An exhibition of living bees in hives, also of implements and 

 products of bee-culture, will take place simultaneously. 



We have already received the Calendar of the Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne College of Physical Science for 1881 -82. 



An interesting paper on " Prehi-toric HackneyJ" by Mr. J. E. 

 Greenhill, read before the jHackney Natural History Society, 

 has been printed in a separate foim. 



From the Proceedings of the Liverpool Naturalists' Field Club 

 we learn that that society has reached its majority. There is the 

 usual account of excursions and an address by the president, the 

 Rev. H. H. Higgins, on "Animal Defences." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Silver Fox {Canis fuhus, var. argentata) 

 from Nova Scotia, presented by Mr. S. R. Piatt ; three Hedge- 

 hogs (Eiinaceus eKropaus), British, presented by Mr. W. Durni^ 

 C.M.Z.S. ; two Black-tailed Parrakeets {Polytelis melanurits) 

 from New^ South Wales, presented by Mr. Gerald Arbuthnot ; a 

 Green Tree Frog {Hyla arborea), European, presented by Mrs. 

 Humphrey; six Black and White Geese (.4?«.fi'n7waj mclaiioleuca), 

 seven Australian Wild T)\xc\i&(A)ias superciliosa) from Australia, 

 received in exchange. The following, amongst many other in- 

 sects, may now be seen in the Insectarium : — Perfect specimens 

 of the Swallow-tailed Butterfly (second brood from small larvse), 

 Camberwell Beauty, Spurge Elephant and Privet Hawk-moths, 

 Northern Brown Butterfly, Chalk-hill Blue Butterfly and Burnet 

 Moth. There are also fine examijles of the imago of the Atla, 

 Moth, and larvce of this moth larger than any yet grown in 

 England. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 Encke's Comet. — The ephemeris of this comet for its 

 approaching re-appearance was issued from Pulkowa last 

 month ; but unfortunately the editor of the Astronomiscke 



