86 
gas at the high temperature also caused difficulties with the 
thermocouple, and many determinations failed owing to the 
brittleness produced at the point of contact of the two metals. 
Pror. H. A. Miers, who paid a visit in 1901 to the Yukon 
gold-fields, has published a brief account of his observations, in 
a letter addressed to the Hon. Clifford Sifton, Minister of the 
Interior, Ottawa. Tis principal object was to study the mining 
methods and the auriferous deposits of the Klondike district. 
He describes the various methods of thawing the frozen gravel, 
the latest process being the forcing of water into the ground by 
means ofa pulsometer pump. While admitting the enormous 
wealth of the district, he points out that it is ceasing to be a 
poor man’s camp, and requires extensive capital and labour for 
its development. The failures connected with English capital 
have been disastrous, not necessarily on account of any want of 
judgment in selecting claims, but mainly because the representa- 
tives of English companies ‘‘in many cases lacked the judgment 
and the stability of character which were needed, or had not the 
interests of their employers sufficiently at heart.” At present a 
comparatively small portion of even the Klondike district has 
been worked out, while the Yukon territory is auriferous over 
considerable areas and has been very imperfectly prospected. 
Moreover, there is nothing to indicate that the gravels and the 
gold which they contain have been transported any considerable 
distance, or have been derived from any rocks which differ from 
those now found in the district. The search for auriferous 
quartz is therefore hopeful. 
THE Summary Report of the Geological Survey of Canada 
for 1901 (Ottawa, 1902, price 25 cents) extends to 269 pages, 
being considerably larger than previous reports. This increase 
has been made by the director, Dr. Robert Bell, in response to 
the general desire for early information on all points which may 
be of immediate value to the public. Prominence is therefore 
given to observations and discoveries which may have an 
economic bearing. Moreover, the amount of work recorded 
in this report is believed to have far exceeded that of any previous 
year. No less than thirty-one parties were engaged in explora- 
tions, including those conducted by a number of competent 
geologists, principally college professors, whose temporary ser- 
vices were secured during the summer season. Dr. Bell con- 
tributes an interesting statement on the aims and methods of 
the work in the field and at headquarters ; and the reports of 
the members of the staff are published under their own names. 
The Yukon district naturally occupied attention, and mention 
is made of the occurrence of dendritic gold on a boulder found 
in one of the creeks, a fact which serves to show that some of 
the gold has been deposited from solution. Examinations have 
been made of the Cretaceous coal-fields of Crow’s Nest Pass, 
where there is a vast amount of workable coal of excellent 
quality; of the oil-fields of Lambton county, Ontario, and of 
Westmoreland county, New Brunswick ; of the natural gas in 
Essex and Welland counties ; and of the Carboniferous Coal- 
measures of New Brunswick, in which water-worn coal-pebbles 
have been noticed. In an account of the Cambrian rocks and 
fossils of Cape Breton, reference is made to the solitary character 
of the Ostracods, which in other formations occur in profusion. 
Some remains of Trionyx from the Cretaceous rocks of Alberta 
are described and figured. The glacial origin of cirques or 
corries and of certain mountain tarms in western Canada is 
pointed out; and many other topics of general interest are 
dealt with in the various reports, such as agriculture, including 
fruit farming, water supply, &c. The occurrence of the mineral 
faujasite is mentioned as new to Canada. 
IN the Report of the Selborne Society for 1901-2, the 
council emphasises the need of new members in order that the 
work of the association may be carried on with efficiency. 
NO. 1699, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
| May 22, 1902 
In No. 1266 of the Proceedings of the U.S. National 
Museum, Messrs. Jordan and Snyder continue their account of 
the fishes of Japan, dealing in this instance with the wrasses 
and their allies. Several new forms are described. 
JupGING by the enlarged size of the April number, the 
Australian ornithological journal, Zhe mu, appears to be 
gaining a well-deserved popularity. Among the contents of 
this issue are a paper on various Tasmanian birds, by Colonel 
Legge, and a continuation of Mr. D. le Souéf’s notes on 
protective coloration in Australian birds and their nests. Of 
several excellent illustrations, a group of gannets nesting calls 
for especial commendation. 
A Most remarkable instance of collateral budding in two anne- 
lids belonging to the genus Trypanosyllis is described by Dr. 
H. P. Johnson in the Amerzcax Naturalist for April. Both species 
are inhabitants of the Pacific coast of America; and the sexual 
**z00ids’ they produce by this peculiar mode of budding are 
very numerous, and, with the parent animal, look like a bunch 
of fern-leaves. The most remarkable feature about the 
phenomenon is that the full-grown and detached zooids, although 
provided with generative organs, entirely lack any functional 
structures for alimentation. ‘‘ The zooid is, therefore,” as the 
author remarks, ‘‘as incapable of leading a prolonged indepen- 
dent existence as the famed palolo of the South Seas. It is no 
more than a living engine for the dissemination of the genital 
products which it carries, and that duty must be accomplished 
solely by the expenditure of the stored up energy which it had 
derived from the stock.” Other members of the family are 
known to produce zooids by linear budding ; but in this case the 
zooids are provided with digestive organs. The zooids of 
Trypanosyllis are regarded as an extreme specialisation of those 
of the linear type. But there is another curious circumstance. 
In the group producing zooids by linear budding the adult stock 
is sessile, or nearly so, and the object of having freely moving 
zooids is therefore apparent. But in Trypanosyllis the adult 
stock isnot fixed ; and the reason for the development of zooids 
thus remains to be discovered. 
Tue Austrian Meteorological Office (Dr. J. M. Pernter, 
director) has published its Jahrbuch for 1900, This valuable 
series of observations has been issued im practically the same 
form for thirty-seven years; the present volume contains 
monthly and yearly results at more than 400 stations, and daily 
observations at twenty-two stations, including, among a few 
foreign ®places, Port-au-Prince (Haiti) and Jerusalem. An 
interesting feature of this laborious compilation is the reduction 
and publication of the results obtained from the autographic 
records of several mountain observatories, including the Sonn- 
blick (3106 metres), Obir (2144 metres) and Berghaus (2044 
metres). Dr. M. Margules contributes a detailed discussion of 
the barometric pressure and wind conditions based on the 
results of a number of stations in Lower Austria. 
Dr. P. Ports, superintendent of the Meteorological Obser- 
vatory at Aix-la-Chapelle has contributed to the April number 
of the Aleteorologische Zeitschrift an interesting paper on the 
daily period of rainfall. The paper is based chiefly on very 
careful observations at his own station, and the results have 
been compared with those obtained at several other European 
observatories. We can only refer to a few of the conclusions 
arrived at. He finds that (1) in northern and central Europe 
the summer and winter seasons have opposite daily periods. In 
summer the heaviest falls occurin the afternoon, and the lightest 
near noon and midnight. In winter the maximum occurs from 
8h. toroh. a.m. and from 4h. to 8h. p.m. (2) Maritime cli- 
mates have a more marked daily period in the winter season, and 
continental climates in the summer season. (3) At his own 
