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glaciers reduced to their smallest dimensions. The author 
; noticed the various rocks in which these cirques were cut, and 
expressed his opinion that they are the beds formerly occupied 
by glaciers, the power of which to excavate even comparatively 
hard rocks, such as felspathic, amphibolite, and chlorite-schists, 
he considered to be proved. The author then referred to the 
mouths of the Alpine valleys opening upon the plain, which he 
described as being generally very narrow in proportion to their 
length, width, and orographical importance; and he pointed 
out that in the case of the valley of the Stura, at any rate, the 
outlet of the valley has been cut out by the river. This pecu- 
liarity he accounts for by the fact that whilst the calcareous and 
felspathic rocks are easily disintegrated by atmospheric action, 
certain other rocks, such as the amphibolites, diorites, syenites, 
amphibolite-schists, euphotides, serpentines, &c., resist atmo- 
spheric denudation ; and he indicated the peculiar distribution 
of these rocks in the region under consideration, by reason of 
which portions of them occupied the points which are now the 
mouths of the valleys. 
Anthropological Institute, April 22.—Prof. Busk, F.R.S., 
president, in the chair.—The following papers were read :— 
The Religious Beliefs of the Ojibois or Santeux Indians resident 
in Manitoba and at Lake Winnepeg, by A. P. Reid, M.D.— 
The predominating Danish aspect of the local nomenclature of 
Cleveland, by Rev. J. C. Atkinson.—Rock Inscriptions in 
Brazil, by John Whitfield.—Remarks about the consecration of 
the Serpent as an Emblem but not an Object of Worship among 
the Intelligent Druids, by James Hutchings, 
Entomological Society, April 7.—Prof. Westwood, pre- 
sident, in the chair.—Mr. Champion exhibited specimens of 
Tribolium confusum and Ftinus testaceus, which be had ob- 
served in British collections mistaken for Z. testaceum and 
P. fur.—My. Verrall exhibited several new species of Diptera 
belonging to the families Asi/ide and Syrphide, taken in Britain. 
—Mr. McLachlan stated that he had been informed by Lord 
Walsingham that he had observed Dragon flies in California and 
Texas preyed upon by other large insects which seized them 
whilst flying through the air. The latter were, no doubt, some 
species of Asz/us ; but it was the first time he had heard of 
Dragon flies being preyed upon by other insects, as they had, 
hitherto, been supposed to be free from such attacks,—Mr. F. 
Smith made some remarks on a species of Penfatoma sent from 
Calcutta by Mr. Rothney, which was of the same colour as the 
bark of the tree on which it was observed in great numbers.— 
Major Parry communicated a paper on the characters of seven 
nondescript Lucanoid Coleoptera, with remarks on the genera 
Lissotes, Nigidius, and Figulus.—Mr. Frederick Bates commu- 
nicated ‘‘ Descriptions of new Genera and species of Zene- 
brionide from Australia, New Caledonia, and Norfolk Island.” 
—Mr. Miiller read some interesting remarks on the habits of the 
Cynipfide, communicated to him in a letter from Mr. W. F. 
Bassett, of Waterburg, U.S.—Part I. of the Transactions for 
1873 was on the table. 
Meteorological Society, April 16.—Dr. Tripe, president, 
in the chair.—A discussion took place on the following ques- 
tions which had been submitted to the consideration of the 
Meteorological Conference held at Leipzig in August last :— 
No. 2. Barometers for Stations of the second order. No. 4. 
Maximum and Minimum Thermometers. No. 5. Instruments 
for determining Solar Radiation. No. 18. Uniformity in Hours 
of Observation. No. 20. Division of the Year for the Calcula- 
tion of Mean Results. On question No. 2, several spoke in 
favour of aneroids, and several that they were not to be trusted; the 
opinion of the meeting was that for hard rough work where the 
aneroid is exposed to low and high pressure it is not suited for 
taking correct observations, and that the Kew barometer is much 
to be preferred. On question No. 4 the testimony of the meeting 
was in favour of Phillips’ and Negretti’s maximum thermometer. 
On question 5, reference was made to a paper by Rev. F. W. 
Stow, M.A., on ‘Solar Radiation,” which is printed in the 
Journal of the Society for April 1873. Time would not allow 
of questions 18 and 20 being fully discussed, so they will be 
brought up again at the meeting on May 21. 
MANCHESTER 
Literary and Philosophical Society, April 15.—R. Angus 
Smith, F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair —Mr. Francis Nicholson 
exhibited two fine eggs of the golden eagle (Fadco chrysaétos) taken 
the previous week from a nest in the north of Scotland. For- 
19 
tunately some of the large landed proprietors both in Scotland 
and Ireland are now preserving this noble bird from persecution 
during the breeding time.—A letter was read from Mr. William 
Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., who, as Secretary of the Committee of 
the British Association for carrying on the exploration of the 
Victoria Cave, felt obliged to notice the ‘‘ Notes on Victoria 
Cave,” by Mr. W. Brockbank, published in the Proceedings, 
March 10, 1873. Mr. Dawkins submitted that until the work 
of the Committee, to which the cave has been handed over by the 
kindness of the owner, be finished, and the observations, to 
which Mr, Brockbank has had no access, be recorded, his notes - 
must of necessity be imperfect and liable to error. Mr. Dawkins 
then calls attention to two matters of fact, in which he shows Mr. 
Brockbank’s statement to be entirely unfounded.—‘‘ On some 
Improvements in Electro-Magnetic Induction Machines,” by 
Mr, Henry Wilde. 
PHILADELPHIA 
Academy of Natural Sciences, October 15.—Prof. 
Leidy directed attention to the collection of fossils, from 
the vicinity of Fort Bridger, Wyoming, presented by Dr. 
J. Van A. Carter, Dr. Joseph K, Corson, U.S.A., and 
himself. Some of the fossils were referred to a huge pachy- 
derm with the name of Uintatherium robustum. [This subject 
has already been several times referred to in NATURE. See 
Mr. A. H. Garrod’s letter last week]. Prof. Leidy further 
called attention to a multitude of chipped stones, which 
he had collected about ten miles north-east of Fort Bridger. 
Many of the fragments are broken in such a manner that 
it is difficult to be convinced that they are not of artificial 
origin. The materials of the splintered stones consist of jaspers, 
quartzites, some of the softer rocks of the tertiary strata, and 
less frequently of black flint identical in appearance with that of 
the English chalk. 
December 3, 1872.—The president, Dr. Ruschenberger, in the 
chair.—Joseph Wilcox made remarks about some glacial 
scorings lately observed by him in St. Lawrence County, N. Y. 
December 10, 1872.—The president, Dr. Ruschenberger, in 
the chair.—Jos. Wilcox made the following remarks : —Having 
lately visited many mineral localities in Canada, I desire to place 
them on record, as many of them are not mentioned either in 
the “ Geological Report of Canada,” or in Dana’s ‘‘ Mineralogy.” 
At the falls of Ottawa River at Grand Calumet Island, black 
mica (phlogopite), pyroxene, hornblende, serpentine, tremolite. 
The following localities are all in the Province of Ontario :—At 
Arnprior, Calcite (dog tooth spar); near Packenham, Horn- 
blende ; in Bathurst, pyroxene, scapolite, sphene, apatite, peris- 
terite ; two miles south-west of Perth, bronze mica (phlogopite), 
having beautiful hexagonal marks on the cleavage planes ; near 
Otty Lake, in North Elmsley, Apatite, pyroxene, black mica 
(biotite), zircon, red spinel—chondrolite; in Burgess, apatite, 
black mica (biotite) ; near Bob Lake, twenty miles north-west of 
Perth, the best crystals of apatite are found ; near the St. Law- 
rence River, six miles south-west of Brockville, large octahedral 
crystals of iron pyrites, some of them four inches in diameter. 
All of these minerals are well crystallized, except the peristerite 
and chondrolite.—Prof. Leidy directed attention to some fossils 
recently received from Dr. J. Van A. Carter, of Fort Bridger, 
Wyoming. They were—/aleosyops junior, Uintacyon edax, 
Uintacyon vorax, and Chameleo pristinus:—Remarks on silver 
ore from Colorado, by George A. Kénig. 
December 17, 1872.—Dr. J. L. LeConte in the chair.—Prof, 
Cope made some remarks on the Geology of Wyoming, es- 
pecially with reference to the age of the coal series of Bitter 
Creek. He said that discovery of the Dinosaur Agathaumas 
sylvestris had settled the question of age, concerning which there 
had been much difference of opinion, in favour of the view that 
they constitute an upper member of the Cretaceous series. It ap- 
peared to the speaker, that the explorations directed by Dr. 
Hayden during the past season had contributed largely to our 
knowledge, proving the existence of an interruption between the 
cretaceous and tertiary. formations: less it is true than that 
which exists elsewhere, and similar to that insisted ion by 
Clarence King’s survey in the region of Bear River and the 
Wahsatch country.—Prof. Cope defined a genus of Saurodont 
Fishes from the Niobrara Cretaceous of Kansas, under the name 
of Zrisichthe. He stated that it agreed with Portheus and Jch- 
thyodectes in the absence of nutritious dental foramina on the 
inner face of the dentary bone, and especially with Portheus in 
the irregular sizes of the teeth. 
