Sune 8, 1871] 

AMERICAN NOTES * 
aE HE official report of the geological explorations prosecuted 
authority of the Department of the Interior, has just been pub- 
NATURE 
during the past summer by Prof, F. V. Hayden, under the | 
lished by the Government in a well-printed volume of over five | 
hundred pages, containing a full account of the geology and 
natural history of the region traversed. 
It embraces an article | 
by Prof. Hayden upon the physical character and local geology | 
of the different sections of his route, which extended from 
Cheyenne, by way of Fort Fetterman, South Pass, Fort Bridger, 
the Uinta Mountains, to Green River, and back again, wii 
Bridger’s Pass, to Cheyenne. This is followed by an account of 
the Geology of the Missouri Valley from Omaha to Salt Lake 
Valley, with observations on the mines, ores, coals, and salts. | 
An appendix contains an article by Prof. Cyrus Thomas upon the 
agricultural possibilities of the country, with a list of the orthop- 
terous insects, including a number of new species, followed by a 
number of special reports—as one by Prof. Meek, on the inver- 
tebrate fossils ; on the Tertiary coals of the West, by Prof. 
Hodge; on the ancient lakes of Western America, by Prof. 
Newberry ; on the vertebrate fossils of the Tertiary formation, by 
Prof. Leidy; on the fossil plants of the Cretaceous and Tertiary 
formations of Kansas and Nebraska, by Mr. Lesquereux ; on the 
fossil reptiles and fishes of the Cretaceous rocks of Kansas, the 
fossil fishes of the Green River group, and the recent reptiles 
and fishes, by Prof. Cope; and on the industrial resources of 
Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado, by Mr. Elliott. Lists 
of the mammals, molluscs, and birds, of the coleoptera, 
hemiptera, and plants, are also included, together with an 
account of thie general meteorology of the expedition. A large 
number of new species of different kinds are described, and the 
whole work forms a very important addition to our information 
relative to the geology, geography, and natural history of the West. 
- The second and third annual reports of the Peabody Academy 
of Science of Salem (for 1869 and 1870) have just been pub- 
lished, giving a gratifying account of the activity of that young 
and energetic society, which, although only in the third year of 
its existence, already ranks among the best establishments of the 
kind in the country, and which, in the number of excellent work- 
ing naturalists associated with it, is rapidly making its mark, 
The donations to the museum of the academy during 1870 alone 
amounted to 195, received from 148 different persons. The 
identification of the specimens presented has been accomplished 
by the officers of the academy, aided by specialists in other parts 
of the country, The reports embrace references to several 
exploring expeditions instituted in the interests of the academy 
in different parts of the United States, as well as in Central 
America. The second number of the first volume of the Memoirs 
of the academy has also just appeared, and closely resembles 
typographically, as well as in size and other features, the well- 
known Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, and 
of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. This part is occupied 
entirely by a paper upon the embryology of certain neuropterous 
and other insects, by Dr. A. S. Packard, jun., the Secretary of 
the Council.—Attention is called by the Panama papers to the 
extraordinary meteorological conditions that have lately prevailed 
throughout Central and South America, especially in the falling 
of large quantities of rain where previously such an occurrence 
was almost unknown. This unusual amount of precipitation is 
understood to have first occurred on the Isthmus of Panama, and 
to have resulted in disastrous floods at Aspinwall and elsewhere, 
of which an account has already been given. The climatic change 
seems to have travelled southwardly from that region, and to 
have involved successively a large portion of the chain of the 
Andes in its operations. The latest advices from Peru show that 
in localities hitherto perfectly rainless torrents have fallen to such | 
an extent as to produce very great disasters. These have 
occurred at Payta, San José, Lambayeque, &c. The villages on 
the western slope of the Andes in Chili and Peru are not pre- 
pared for such an occurrence (of which many of the inhabitants 
had never had any practical experience), the sites and material 
of the buildings being alike unsuited to resist storms. The town 
of Lambayeque, containing seven or eight thousand inhabitants, 
is reported to have been entirely destroyed by the rain. The most 
southerly point reached by the rain at last dates seems to be the 
valley of Canete, which was inundated to the great damage of 
the sugar and other plantations. Much land has been totally 
ruined by the washing out of its soil, leaving behind a mere 
collection of gravel and stones. Vessels passing along the 
. * Communicated by the Editor of Harper’s Weekly. 
109 

| western coast at a distance of hundred miles and more exs 
perienced heavy rains where previously nothing but fog had been 
met with. The electric phenomenon visible around Mount 
Tacora, to which we recently referred, seems to have been a part 
of this same system of atmospheric disturbance, and connected 
with it was a widely extended arrangement of the telegraph 
lines in Chili, an event of extreme rarity. 

SCIENCE IN VICTORIA 
ONE or two interesting subjects were discussed at a recent 
meeting ot the Royal Society of Victoria, and we are fa- 
voured by a correspondent with the following particulars :—Notes 
on the working of the great Melbourne telescope, which some 
time ago was inconsiderately pronounced to be a failure, which 
were read by Mr. Farie MacGeorge, who has had charge of the 
instrument since Mr, Le Sueur left. It was stated that the 
speculum polished by Mr. Le Sueur had worked very satis- 
factorily, and some fresh discoveries with regard to Sirius and 
the star ¢@ were thus described by Mr. MacGeorge :—‘‘ On oth 
Dec. 1870—indifferent evening—TI noted all the faint stars near 
Sirius for future identification. On the 18th Jan, 1871, for the 
first time, I chanced upon Lassell’s observations of Sirius in 
the ‘ Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society,’ 1867. Mr. 
Martin there mentions having suddenly found a very faint star in 
the neighbourhood of Sirius which had, until then, escaped keen 
observers like Struve, Lassell, and himself, in the exquisite 4ft. 
equatorial at Malta. On comparing the position of this faint 
star—now called Lassell’s Companion—with the faint stars noted 
by me on 9th December, it evidently corresponded with one 
noted on that date, so that with our great equatorial my eye, un- 
biassed by previous knowledge, detected at the first inspection 
on an indifferent evening an object which had long escaped these 
careful and experienced observers in the great Malta equatorial, 
an instrument of acknowledged excellence and equal aperture to 
our own, Several still fainter stars have since been seen near 
Sirius, two of them between Lassell’s Companion, the star d, and 
Sirius. So far as I have yet seen, any want of definition is 
evidently due to atmospheric defects, not instrumental ones, the 
power of definition being at all times in direct ratio with the 
goodness of the evening.” Prof. Wilson made a suggestion to 
the society respecting an expedition to Cape York, in a steamer, 
to witness the Total Eclipse of the Sun on the 12th December 
next, the eclipse being visible along a portion of the northern coast 
of Australia. The proposal was favourably entertained, and an 
understanding arrived at that it should receive fuller consideration 
at the next meeting. The annual meeting of the Acclimatisation 
Society of Victoria was held on the roth March, Dr. Black, the 
President, occupying the chair. In their customary report to the 
subscribers, the council, while regretting the smallness of their 
numbers, stated that under the management of the new secretary 
Mr. A. C. Le Sceur, the society bade fair to again become ex- 
tensively useful. It was mentioned that four ostriches which 
had been received from South Africa had been taken charge of 
by Mr. Samuel Wilson, of Longerenong, and had now increased 
to sixteen, and there was every reason to suppose that their num- 
bers would be considerably augmented in the course of this 
season. So far the experiment had been a marked success. 
Ostrich farming was a profitable occupation at the Cape colony, 
and it was hoped it wou d ultimately become so here. The cli- 
| mate of the Wimmera district, it was remarked, appeared to be 
well adapted to their habits; asa proof of which, the young 
Australian birds were now taller than the parent stock. It was 
stated, amongst other subjects dealt with in the report, that the 
society had done and was doing all in its power to encourage 
sericulture in the colony, and to this end had, in conjunction with 
Dr. Von Mueller, sent white mulberry cuttings and plants to all 
parts of Victoria, Some months ago a box of silkworm eggs 
was sent by the Governor of India to his Excellency the 
Governor, who kindly handed them to the society for dis ribution, 
and lately a supply of very superior Japanese eggs, such as were 
seldom sold to foreigners, had been forwarded by Dr. Bennett, 
the hon. secretary of the Acclimatisation Society of New South 
Wales. The Silk Supply Association of London, it was men- 
tioned, in one of their reports recently published, recognised no 
less than 36,000 square miles of country in Victoria as well 
suited to the growth of silk; and when the numerous young plan- 
tations came into bearing a great stimulus would be given to this 

industry, which in all probability would, before many years, add 
| materially to the wealth of the colony. 
