230 
account of Aosa stediata and #. minutzfolia, recently discovered 
in New Mexico and California respectively. These roses are 
characteristic, the first having its leaves, or rather the three 
terminal leaflets, arranged like those of a Potentilla and unlike 
any other allied species. 2. mznutifo/ia, as its name implies, 
has very small leaves which are deeply toothed. These forms 
are alike in having red flowers, and in habit they resemble the 
Scotch rose, Kosa spinosissima. Only the second species has as 
yet been grown in this country, and that with little success. The 
question of the origin of the hybrid tea rose was touched upon 
by the Rev. J. H. Pemberton in his general paper on this form. 
Mr, Alexander Dickson stated that as a result of almost a life’s 
work in the hybridisation of roses he had not been able to reduce 
a single theory to a certainty, and not one feature as regards 
colour, shape or fragrance could the experimenter ensure in an 
artificial hybrid. The need for a strain of roses that will 
stand the English climate was emphasised by Mr. Edward 
Mawley. Many points of cultural interest were raised, and many 
papers will appear in the report which time did not permit of 
being read, such as those on ‘‘ The Production of New Hybrid 
Roses,” by M. Viviand-Morel, ‘* Wild Asiatic Roses,” by M. 
Maurice de Vilmorin, and ‘‘ Recently Discovered Chinese 
Roses,” by Mr. George Nicholson. 
A PECULIAR appearance at and after sunset was noticed by a 
number of observers several evenings last week. Dr. C. B. 
Plowright, of King’s Lynn, and some friends with him, 
observed after sunset a number of rose-red beams of light 
radiating upward in the western sky, with the sun as the centre. 
These beams were not of long duration, and changed in position 
and brilliancy in the course of a few minutes. Sometimes they 
extended 30° or 40° upwards towards the zenith. On Wednesday, 
June 25, the beams were brightest about 9.10 p.m. On Friday, 
27th, the phenomenon lasted from about 8.50 to 9.10 p.m. After 
the beams died away, the upper part of the western sky was tinged 
by a delicate pink haze. Mr. A.’ R. Jenkin sends a similar 
account of the beams as seen by him at Trewirgie, Redruth, on 
June 27, at 8.45 p.m. He noticed at first ‘a pink glow low down 
in the south-east, exactly opposite the sun ; this soon sent out 
streamers. Meanwhile, a pink patch of considerable extent had 
appeared about midway between the horizon and the zenith in 
the north-west above the sun, and this also quickly resolved 
itself into rays converging towards the sun corresponding to 
those in the east, so that at one time they could almost be 
traced right through the zenith, and one of the rays lower down 
to the north could be plainly seen right across from west to east. 
As the western glow increased so the eastern diminished, until at 
9 p.m. there was nothing to be seen in the east, but in the west 
the rays were most striking. Appearing to rise out of a clear 
belt of lemon-yellow colour along the horizon, they extended 
high up into the sky. As the sun got further north below the 
horizon the rays rotated on their axis (the sun) in the opposite 
direction. They could be distinctly seen up to 9.20 p.m., when 
they had almost sunk into the belt on the horizon, which by 
this time was of a similar pink colour.” 
Ir is officially declared that the statement recently made to 
the effect that the Meteorological Department in India has 
indicated the probability of a deficiency of rain, more especially 
in Gujerat, is incorrect. The Government of India have, 
however, decided not to make public the forecasts which the 
department submit to them from time to time, on account of 
the imperfect data on which such forecasts are necessarily based. 
The weekly reports which are sent home by the Government of 
India, and published in this country, give the most trustworthy 
indications that can be obtained, both of the actual facts and of 
the prospects for the future. The last of these reports, for the 
week ended June 22, stated that the monsoon had given heavy 
NO. 1705, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
[JuLy 3, 1902 
rain in the west coast districts, light rain in the Deccan and 
Sindh, and showers in Gujerat. Good rain has also fallen in 
Burma, Assam and Lower Bengal, and agricultural prospects up 
to the present are on the whole satisfactory. 
THE discussion of the origin of eskers has led to a large 
amount of literature. Many geologists now believe that these 
winding ridges of glacial gravel are the product chiefly of the 
subglacial drainage of an ice-sheet. Mr. W. O. Crosby (Proc. 
Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. xxx. May, 1902) seeks to show 
that under normal conditions the deposits of gravel and sand 
formed in a superglacial channel may be let down upon ¢erra 
firma without obliteration and without loss of the distinctive 
features of an esker. 
Dr. S. Hepires has recently issued the fifteenth volume (for 
1899) of the Avalele of the Meteorological Institute of Rou- 
mania. One of the most valuable memoirs contained in it deals 
with the rainfall of the kingdom, and is illustrated by a map 
drawn to the scale I : 1,000,000 and based on observations made 
during the fifteen years 1884-1898. Dr. Hepites also describes 
briefly six slight earthquakes felt during 1899. 
Ear Ly last month the Standard and other newspapers con- 
tained reports of tremors and rumbling sounds observed on the 
night of June 3 chiefly in the west of Essex. The times given 
are not very exact, but were roughly about 11.15 and 11.45 
pm. The resemblance to earthquakes must have been some- 
what close, several persons accustomed to earthquakes in other 
countries being convinced that the disturbances were of seismic 
origin. The long duration of the vibrations, however, and 
their apparent transmission through the air, point to an artificial 
origin, and there can be no doubt that they were caused by the 
firing of heavy guns that took place at the mouth of the Med- 
way at about the times mentioned. The tremors were noticed 
and were attributed to earthquakes at places as far as North 
Mimms and Elstree in Hertfordshire, which are 46 miles from 
the mouth of the Medway, and at Little Shelford, near Cam- 
bridge, distant 55 miles. 
Tue third volume of the A4vzza/les of the National Observatory 
of Athens has been published recently. Besides the usual 
meteorological tables, it contains two memoirs by the director, 
Dr. D. Eginitis, one on the observation of shooting-stars at 
Athens during the years 1897-1899, and the other on the earth- 
quakes felt in Greece during the year 1899. From the latter 
we learn that 567 earthquakes were recorded, the mean annual 
number for the six preceding years being 531. Of this large 
number, 421 were felt in Zante, though some were not entirely 
confined to that island. The most important earthquake was 
one that occurred on january 22 in the province of Triphylie 
on the west coast of the Peloponnesus. This was strong 
enough to throw down houses over a district 184 miles long 
and 10 miles wide, though the total area disturbed was less than 
15,000 square miles. It was recorded at Shide, in the Isle of 
Wight, the mean velocity to that station being 2°1 km. per 
second. 
PHYSIOLOGISTS have during late years regarded hzemoglobin 
and its derivatives in the animal organism as occupying a some- 
what analogous position to that of chlorophyll and its derivatives 
in the vegetable kingdom, a view which may be said to be the 
outcome of recent chemical and spectroscopical research. It is 
well known, for example, that these complex organic pigments 
produce characteristic absorption bands in the ultra-violet part 
of the spectrum. Just lately, however, it has been shown by 
MM. L. Bier and L. Marchlewski (Budletin International de 
? Académie des Sciences de Cracovie, April, 1902) that this fact 
is not apparent in the spectra of all the derivatives of the 
colouring matter of the blood (haemoglobin) ; for these observers 
