NATURE 



{Feb. 4, 1875 



1,000 feet were clear, it seemed desirable to go deeper, as no one 

 could tell how soon the Palseozoic rocks would be readied ; but 

 surely if it is to be recommenced de novo, it would be belter to 

 select another site. We already know from the bormg nearly all 

 we care to know— that we are not there on the axis of Palaeozoic 

 rocks, but in a basin. 



The Kimmeridge day, which is 240 feet thick at Marquise, 

 becomes thicker in a south-westerly direction to 360 feet near 

 Boulogne, and now we know that it reaches some 660 feet at a 

 point six times the distance in a direction ^\.N.W., which 

 thickening is continued to its outcrop under St. Alban s Head, 

 though it thins again to the west. The coral rag which occurs 

 in the Boulonnais is here gone through ; it sets in again near 

 Weymouth, and since this is followed in the former locality by 

 -,8s feet of Oxford clay and Lower Oolitic rocks, we may expect 

 at least 600 fett of them at Xetherfteld before we reach Palaeozoic 

 rocks, which will be almost ceriainly lower than the coal. 



The facts so far ascertained by the boring prove, thtrefore, as 

 much as we could wish to know, except the age of the Pateozoic 

 rock wkenm.et with, if that could be discoveied from the small 

 core Tfev show that the spot is to the south of the axis we 

 are seeking^ and the thickening of the Kimmeridge clay would 

 tend to throw that axis some considerable distance to the north. 



No such Jurassic beds occur at London, Harwich, 01 Calais ; 

 but the Cretaceous beds directly overlie the PaL-eozoic. The con- 

 ditions on one side and on the other are therefore very different. 

 To the north the Pak-eozoic rocks are spread out not so far from 

 the surface, and on this side only have the coal measures been 

 proved ; to the south they are scooped, or dip, into a Jiollow, 

 in the midst of which is the Nttherfield boring, and which hol- 

 lowing out would have removed all coal-bearing strata, even if 

 originally there. 



This verification of what might have been argued from facts 

 already known has been given us by the Sub-Wealden bonng ; 

 what more can it do ? It has proved that our interest is in 

 localities further to the north, as Jlessrs. Godwin Austen and 

 Prestwich supposed it to be. Doubtless no better locality, near 

 Bri'^hton, could have been chosen ; but if what is essentially 

 another boring is to be made, why not select a locality from 

 which some fresh information might be obtained? A bore at 

 Folkestone would probably pass thiough little or none of the 

 Jurassic series ; but the best place fcr a new experiment would 

 be somewhere in the neighbourhood of Goring, which would be 

 on the line both of Mr. Godwin Austen's and Mr. Prestwich's 

 supposed range of coal-fields, and would afford a cnicial test 

 whether the Palaeozoic rocks are really continuous between 

 London and Frome at an accessible deptli ; and this is what we 

 most want to know. 



If a new boring is put dov^m at the same place, it would be 

 well to have a third (or some small depth, in order to obtain the 

 dip by a comparison of corresponding beds. 



Jaii 25 J. F. Blake 



The Rhinoceros in New Guinea 

 I AM quite of your opinion that the occurrence of a rhinoceros 

 in New Guinea is very sei-iously to be doubted (see Nature, 

 vol. xi. p. 24S), but I beg leave to mention a report of a very 

 large (juadruped in New Guinea, which I got from the Papuans 

 of llie south coast of the Geelvinks Bay. When trying to cross the 

 country from there to the south coast, opposite the Aru Islands, 

 — m which I did not succeed, but only saw the sea-shore at a 

 great distance from the height of a mountain chain (I afterwards 

 succeeded in crossing the continent ot New Guinea from the 

 Geelvinks Bay more to the north, over to the Maclure Gulf),— and 

 when hunting wild pigs along with the Papuans, they told me, 

 without my questioning them, of a very lari;e fi^, as they called 

 it, fixing its height on the stem of a tree at more than six feet 

 I could not get any other information from them, except that 

 the beast was very rare, but they were quite precise in their 

 assertion. I promised heaps ol glass pearls and knives to him 

 who would bring me something of that large animal, but none 

 did. I cannot suppose, so far as my experience goes, that the 

 Papuans are remarkably prone to lies ; notwithstanding 1 seriously 

 doubted the existence ol such a large "pig ; " and as the sons of 

 that country are very superstitious, and see ghosts and absurd 

 phenomena everj-where, I may just mention as an example, 

 ihat when I shot, on the same hunting party, a specimen of 

 A'aiit/iemi/iis aureus, that most briUiant gold-orange Bird of 

 Paradise, they said they could not kill this bird, because it would 

 lighten and thunder when they did. I booked that report as an 



efflux of their lively imagination, though not without discussing 

 in my diary the possibility and significance of the occurrence of 

 a large quadruped in New Guinea. 



It is true this statement does not strongly support Lieut. 

 Smith's apcrfti, but the one gains a grain by the other ; I mean, 

 the probability of the existence of a large quadruped in New 

 Guinea increases a shadow. 



The other "fact" mentioned by Mr. Walker (/.c), concerning 

 the skins of a brilliant red Bird of Paradise, which were obtained 

 on the north-east coast, is an interesting fact indeed, because it 

 appears to confirm M. d'Alhertis' discovery of Paradiwa rag- 

 ri'ana on the south coast. It would be most valuable to com- 

 pare the skins of the red Bird of Paradise from the north-east 

 and the south coast, or at least those from the first with the 

 coloured figure given by Mr. Elliot in his Monograph of the 

 Paradiseidce, to become sure of their identity. At all events, 

 if Von Rosenberg maintains (see Noll's " Zoologischer Garten, " 

 January 1S75), that P. rag^iaiia is an " artificial " skin, his 

 assertion is strongly to be repudiated. " Similar frauds " he pre- 

 tends to have seen in New Guinea, an assertion which is the 

 bolder and the more inconsiderate, as he has not had under his 

 eyes d'Albertis' skins. A. B. Meyer 



Dresden, Feb. I 



I WAS no doubt wrong in speaking of the occurrence of the 

 rhinoceros in Papua as a fact without the qualification "if con- 

 firmed ; " but I wrote in a hurr)'. 



From the details supplied by Mr. Smith, which I annex, I 

 think there is at least a very strong probability that there is a 

 rhinocercs in Papua, and the object of my letter will have been 

 attained if it causes explorers on the north coast of that island to 

 look after it, and at the same time places Mr. Smith's name on 

 record as the discoverer of its indications. 



" I. The heap of dung first seen, which was quite fresh (not 

 having apparently been dropped more than half an h^ur), was so 

 large that it excited Mr. Smith's curiosity, and he called Captain 

 Moresby to see it. Neither of them knew to what animal to 

 assign it. Quantities of dry dung were afterwaids seen. 



"2. Shoitly afterwards, the /jiz.f//;j/?' being at or near Singa- 

 pore, Capt. Aloresby and Mr. Smith paid a visit to the Rajah of 

 Johore, who had a rhinoceros in confinement. Mr. Smith at 

 once observed and pointed out to Capt. Morejby (wlio agreed 

 with him) the strong resemblance between the dung of this 

 animal and that they had seen in Papua. 



" Seeing there is no animal known in Papua bigger than a 

 pig ; seeing also that Mr. Wallace has pointed out the African 

 affinities of many of the animals in the islands he associates with 

 Papua ; seeing also that the Sumatran rhinoceros approaches the 

 African in having two horns and no shields or folds in its hide, 

 why should there not be a rhinoceros in Papua apijroaching still 

 nearer to the African type, or furnishing an additional jiiece of 

 evidence in favour of ilr. Wallace's hypothesis of a submerged 

 continent connecting New Guinea, &c., with Africa?" 



Chester, Feb. i Alfred O. Walker 



Geology and the Arctic Expedition 



In the last number of Nature, p. 253, it is stated Ihat the 

 appointment of a botanist and zoologist has been recommended 

 by the Royal Society, but it does not appear that anything is 

 being done for geology. 



It may be deemed by some an erroneous view of the matter, 

 but I am quite disposed to believe that if the necessary arrange- 

 ments can be made, geology is more likely to derive important 

 results from this expedition than any other branch of science. 



We are continually having additions to the long series of papers 

 on the Glacial Period, but the still more remarkable tim/7« /t;wi/ 

 in the extreme north is altogether neglected ; no one seems 

 capable of even suggesting a probable explanation. It is quite 

 evident, in the first place, that we want more facts, and there 

 will probably never be a better opportunity of obtaining them 

 than in the course of the new expedition. Carefully conducted 

 researches would probably reveal the existence of a still further 

 extension than has hitherto been suspected of the fossiliferous 

 Miocene beds which have already yielded such valuable results. 



Even now, it can hardly be doubted, that just before the 

 advent of the cold period, a magnificent flora, which would 

 require at least as much light and warmth as we now enjoy in 

 England, was flourishing in luxuriance as far north as the 7Sth 

 parallel. The contemporaneous fauna may now be discovered, and 



