March i6, 1899J 



NA TURE 



471 



conjunction with the high pressure over part of the North 

 Atlantic. The subsidiary maxima occur in September and 

 November. The first minimum occurs in March, and is very 

 marked. It appears to be due to the low pressure over the 

 Atlantic, and to the diminution of the continental anticyclones. 

 The second, or summer minimum, occurs in July and August. 

 It is caused by cyclonic formations developed by the high 

 temperature over Europe and Asia. The subsidiary minima 

 occur in October and December. 



In the Iniian Meieoroiogical Memoirs, vol. vi. part iv. , Mr. 

 J. Eliot, F. R. S., discusses the occurrence and distribution of 

 hailstorms in India during the fifteen years 18S3-97. In- 

 formation of all important hailstorms is collected by the revenue 

 authorities, with the view of remitting the collection of part or 

 the whole of the land tax over the affected areas, and Mr. 

 Eliot has wisely arranged for copies of the data to be supplied 

 to the Indian Meteorological Office. In the very interesting 

 discussion, he points out that 94 per cent, of the hailstorms 

 occur during the north-east, or dry monsoon (December to 

 May), when the diurnal range of temperature is large, and that 

 they are almost entirely absent during the south-west, or wet 

 monsoon (June to November). A noteworthy feature of the 

 distribution is that in certain districts the storms occur chiefly 

 during the first part of the dry monsoon, i.e. during the cold 

 weather season, while in other provinces they originate chiefly 

 during the hot weather. As regards the diurnal distribution, 

 during the hot weather period the hailstorms occur chiefly (about 

 74 per cent, of the total number) between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. 

 In the cold weather season, they are most frequent during the 

 hottest time of the day, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. 



We are glad to learn from a Report, just published, that the 

 stimulus supplied by the visit of the British Association to 

 Bristol last year, and the special efl'orts made by the Committee, 

 have resulted in increased interest being taken in the Bristol 

 Museum, one consequence of which has been a succession of 

 valuable gifts to the collections. In April 1898 an important 

 discovery of animal remains belonging to the Pleistocene period 

 was made at Uphill, near Weston-super-Mare. Steps were at 

 once taken by the Committee to secure for the museum collections 

 the results of an exploration of the site. The exploration was 

 carried on as far as was possible at the time, and the result has 

 been that a large and representative collection of the bones and 

 teeth of animals, including those of the hyena, mammoth, horse, 

 cave-bear, cave-lion, rhinoceros, fox, &c., has been secured. 

 Peculiar interest attaches to certain other bone fragments that 

 have been identified as those of man, and to a small collection 

 of chipped flints and rounded stones. A selection from these 

 interesting objects was exhibited by the present curator, Mr. 

 Herbert Bolton, at the British Association, and he also com- 

 municated the substance of the notes on the subject of the 

 exploration, left by his predecessor, Mr. E. Wilson. The 

 Council of the Association have shown their interest in the 

 matter by making a grant of ;A30— towards any further expense, 

 and the Chairman of the Committee (Mr. W. R. Barker) and 

 Mr. Bolton are now associated with Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 

 Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, and others, in determining what 

 further can be done. 



The ILiyti earthquake of December 29, 1897, is the subject 

 of an interesting paper, by Dr. G. Agamennone, in the last 

 BoUettino of the Italian Seismological Society. The epicentre 

 was situated in the valley of the river Yaque, in lat. 19^° N. 

 and long. 71° W., and the intensity in this district was from 9 

 to 10 of the Rossi-Forel scale. The total disturbed area was 

 not less than 125,000 square km. ; but, as usual, the seismic 

 waves were recorded by pendulums in distant observatories, the 

 NO. 1533, VOL. 59] 



furthest being that of Nicolaiew, 9370 km. from the origin. 

 The earlier tremors travelled with a velocity of about 10 km. 

 a second, and the subsequent slow pulsations with a velocity 

 of about 3 km. a second. The estimates of the period of the 

 latter vary with the instrument employed, ranging from seven 

 seconds at Rocca di Papa, near Rome, to eighteen seconds at 

 Catania. 



We have received the first instalment of a " Catalogue of the 

 Types and Figured Specimens in the Palseontological Collection 

 of the Geological Departmer^t, American Museum of Natural 

 History," issued as vol. xi. • part I of the Bulletins of that 

 Museum. The importance of the proper cataloguing of type- 

 specimens of fossils needs no pointing out, and the work before 

 us, prepared by Mr. R. P. Whitfield, assisted by Mr. E. O. 

 Hovey, is a model of clear and careful arrangement. The speci- 

 mensare arranged firstly according to geological systems, secondly 

 in biological classes, and then alphabetically. Generic names 

 appear in Clarendon type, species in_Roman, and synonyms in 

 italics. The catalogue is arranged in seven columns, stating in 

 turn (i) the geological series (initials only) ; (2) catalogue num- 

 ber ; (3) whether " type " or " figured " ; (4) genus, species, and 

 author ; (5) reference — subdivided into five columns for work, 

 volume, page, plate, and figure ; (6) locality ; and (7) remarks. 

 The only improvement that we would suggest is the printing of 

 the name of the geological system on every page, instead of only 

 once. The present part covers the Cambrian and Lower-Silurian 

 systems. 



The third instalment of the International Geological Map of 

 Europe, which has recently been issued, is specially interesting to 

 British geologists from its containing the three sheets that cover 

 the British Isles (A4, B3, and B4). For the sake of symmetry, 

 sheet A3 is added, but this resembles a certain famous map in 

 " representing the sea without the least vestige of land" ; while 

 A4 contains such a small fragment of Ireland that the margin 

 of B4 has been broken, and the fragment repeated there, the 

 two sheets B3 and B4 thus including the whole of the islands. 

 The British Isles, treated from the international point of view,, 

 present a somewhat unfamiliar aspect. This is due not so 

 much to violet Trias and blue Jurassic as to the representation 

 of Drift. Ireland, in particular, is one mass of stripes, in- 

 dicating known older strata covered by quaternary. As no 

 allowance is made in the Index of Colours for non-metamorphic 

 pre-Cambrian beds, the Longmynd and Charnwood Forest 

 have perforce to reappear as "Cambrian"; but the insertion 

 of such comparative novelties as the Permian of Devonshire, 

 and the Cambrian of the north-west Highlands clears the map 

 of any suspicion of being out of date. Besides the British 

 sheets the new issue includes C5, which forms by itself an ex- 

 cellent map of the Alps, and D5 and D6, which take in most 

 of Austria-Hungary, the Balkan peninsula and Greece. 



At the Institution of Civil Engineers on March 7, two papers 

 relating to recent advances in marine engineering were read. 

 The first paper, on " Water-Tube Boilers for Marine Engines," 

 by Mr. J. T. Milton, consisted mainly of a description of the 

 various types of water-tube boilers most in use for marine 

 purposes in this country. For all recent vessels of the Royal 

 Navy water-tube boilers of dfterent type had been adopted, 

 while very few had been fitted in merchant steamers. The 

 second paper, on " Machinery of Warships," by Sir A. J. 

 Durston,K.C.B.,andMr. H.J. Oram, R.N. , gave particulars and 

 remarks on the construction of warship machinery and details 

 of the results obtained since the date of the paper read at the 

 Institution in November 1894. It was pointed out that further 

 experience with water-tube boilers had led to their general 

 adoption for warships. In considering the type most suitable, 



